English discussion

Pathos  is related to the words pathetic, sympathy, and empathy. Whenever you accept a claim based on how it makes you feel without fully analyzing the rationale behind the claim, you are acting on pathos. Appeals to pathos touch a nerve and compel people to not only listen, but to also take the next step and act in the world because pathos is often the strongest of the emotional appeals. In addition to the generic idea of something being "emotional" or "sad" or "moving," other strong emotions can include humor, patriotism, love, guilt, etc.

Men get in bar fights when someone insults their girlfriend because of their emotions, not their logic. They don't stop to consider, “Well, if I punch this dude in the face, I’m going to probably break some fingers, maybe get my butt kicked, and probably go to jail.” Instead, it’s simply "go time" because they have been persuaded to get in a fight by their emotions, not their logic.

Here's another example:  Imagine that I was trying to persuade you to volunteer at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen. I could give you all the statistics in the world regarding homelessness and the lack of funds, space, and resources. That would appeal to your logic and it would “make sense” to volunteer your time and/or money. But that doesn’t mean you would do it. Imagine instead that I tell you the story of just one homeless person. His name is Charlie.  I went into detail about his personal experiences and the specific conditions and situations he has had to deal with. I stood Charlie in front of you and made you look him in the eye to tell him you weren’t going to help. You’re probably more likely to help now, right? This is because I’ve appealed to you emotionally.

Some of your introductions for WP3 contain the use of pathos as well. You draw readers in emotionally so that they care that you care. Perhaps they feel a bit of sympathy for you. That sympathy makes them more likely to be persuaded by you.

As mentioned above, pathos is often considered the most powerful of the rhetorical appeals. This is because the results of using pathos can be dangerous, more dangerous than a bar fight. Consider Adolf Hitler. Unfortunately, Hitler was an excellent public speaker. He could stir a crowd into a frenzy with messages about the "Fatherland" and a safe, pure world. But Hitler used those persuasive abilities to motivate people to commit horrible atrocities. His writings and other communications were rife with logical fallacies. It made no logical sense to try to eliminate all the Jews in the world, but for Nazis, it made emotional sense.

Let's consider another great speaker, President Obama. Now wait, before you look up the phone number for the Chair of the English Department, NO, I am NOT comparing Hitler to Obama. Okay? The only similarity I am drawing is that they both gave good speeches.Ok....so.... Obama was first elected because he was a rockstar. Seriously. Some of you might remember the music videos created by musical artist will.i.am that featured dozens of celebrities singing the words of one of Obama's campaign speeches (available here if you are interested:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsV2O4fCgjk ). He was the first presidential candidate to make widespread use of Facebook and his own website during a campaign. And of course, he was trying to be the first African American president. Voters wanted to be a part of that history. His opponent, John McCain, the old, grouchy white guy, had no chance. Young people voted for Obama not because of his politics, with no logic other than "change." They voted for the way he made them feel.

Of course Hitler and Obama are extreme examples (still not comparing the two). People outside of Germany could see through Hitler's emotional appeals, but they couldn't stop it. Many voters believed Obama's speeches where style over substance. Therefore, in writing, you need to use pathos sparingly, not because you may become the next Hitler, but because when overused, emotional language crosses over from persuasive to corny. If it is obvious that you are trying to pull at the heart strings of a reader, they are less likely to listen.

For example, when I was in college at Ohio University, I got a part-time job calling alumni asking for donations. It was a terrible job, or maybe I was just terrible at it. Here's why: the rule was that once the person answered the phone, I could not ask them for a donation for at least five minutes. For those five minutes, I was supposed to talk to them about their experiences when they were at OU. I was supposed to make them feel nostalgic, get them laughing and reminiscing. I must not have been very good at this, or it was obvious what I was trying to do because after about 30 seconds, I usually heard something like, "Yeah, ok, so what do you want?" or "Yeah, school was fun. You're calling for money aren't you?" I wasn't persuasive because I wasn't genuine, and that came across as corny.

Consider these other examples:

· A little kid that whines to get his way. It works on Grandma, but not on his parents who see it every day.

· The car salesman going on and on about wanting to protect your family during an accident.

· The boss who jokes around with everyone, all the time, constantly, right before he asks you to work late.

Here are some of the features of the pathetic appeal:  

· Concrete language

· Emotionally loaded language

· Emotional examples

· Vivid descriptions

· Narratives of emotional events

· Emotional tone

· Figurative language and metaphor

· Repetition

· Imagery

· Connection with the audience