Class Presentation Blog

This Law and Order episode was heavily centered on persuasion. After all, the man (I am forgettting his name now) worked to persuade nearly everyone he came in contact with. In one of my other classes, multimodal communications, we discussed Lunsford's book "Everything's an Argument," which basically reiterates its title, and I found it to be pretty convincing. Most of the things around us, from flyers to the internet to people, to street signs present some form of argument. However, the book also made reference to how argument was not always a bad thing, even though the word may bring up negative connotations. For example, a stop sign is making an argument, but it is for safety reasons. One thing I noticed about this episode was that the man made so many arguments, but they were self-centered arguments and they were also very persuasive. I just realized that our blog post was about our class presentations so I am sorry about that but I am going to switch gears! I found that emotional appeals, or pathos, were most effective in our class presentations. I noticed that each group used an example of a person or family and how their lives were affected by the different issues. This made their issues relatable, and in my opinion, more persuasive. Similar to the law and order episode, the man's use of appeal to pathos when questioned about burning the house down also helped to "tip the scale" for the jurors. In addition, logos also may help to tip the jury. For example, in our class presentations, we discussed how should it be required that McDonalds post their nutrition facts on every menu? I mean, doesn't everybody know that a diet of hamburgers, fries, and soda isn't healthy and if consumed regularly will likely lead to weight gain? Also, in the law and order episode, the man used an appeal to logos in asking what his motive would be and what evidence did they have against him. While I still thought him to be guilty, he had a decent argument, good enough to sway the jurors. The authors view in When Law Goes Pop is that media plays a very persuasive role and can influence law, just as law influences media. As we have talked about in class, Law and Order can play a big role in influencing the perceptions that average American citizens have of our legal system. When you spend more time watching Law and Order or other legal based television shows than you do in a courtroom, then it is understandable how this can occur. Also, I think that the author of When Law Goes Pop would agree with me when I say that appeal to pathos is not only the most persuasive, but also might be the most common. Emotion plays a large role in our lives, and rhetoric that is aimed at this is likely to be effective.

Virginia Bruch