Ethos, Logos, Pathos...

It is clear that different protests emply different appeals. The appeals are one of the following three: ethos, logos, or pathos. Now I'm not going to debate that one is more effective than another, because that is simply relative to the situation and the audience.

The past weeks reading shows multiple examples of appeals through logos, pathos, and ethos. In particular, the Stokely Carmicheal speech at the University of California at Berkeley uses strong appeals to emotion and feeling. The speech is lengthy but effective for his audience, who he so bluntly describes as "the white ghetto of the West."

Carmicheal points out that white supremacy is the idea "that white people can give anybody their freedom." Carmicheal continues, "a man is born free. You can enslave him after he is born free. And that is what this country does." Now Carmicheal is completely correct in his statement, it is logical (falling under the logos appeal). However, Carmicheal moves on to further his argument using a more emotional arguement.

Carmicheal uses the Vietnam war (an already controversial and emotionaly charged issue at the time) to further his emotional argument supporting the oppression of blacks. He describes the people fighting in the war as "black mercenaries," those creating a sense of division among the whites and blacks. He makes it sound as though the black troops are not fighting as Americans but simply being used by the Americans.... These are harsh ideas, and surprisingly enough actually results in applause.

Carmicheal makes statements that invoke strong sense of duty for whites when he repeats the "racism must die." He also creates a sense of duty for the black community when he claims that "black people must be seen in positions of power, doing and articulating for themselves." This appeals to the sense of ethos, or personal responsibility.

My Egocentric and Sociocentric Thoughts

I believe Jesus Christ gives salvation. I believe that hollywood is its own sort of cult, constantly preaching its beliefs. I believe pornography is degrading and dehumanizing toward women. I believe we are responsible for our actions. I believe that all children are a gift from God. I believe in a child's innocence. I believe in a loving embrace. I believe in the power of our words. I believe in a person's ability to change. I believe in trusting friends. I believe tears and laughter are the best medicine. I believe there is global warming. I think Janet Jackson and Micheal Jackson are the same person... I believe that Area 51 exisits. I believe that the pyramids were built by the Egyptians. I belive that nature matters more than nurture. I believe there are ghosts. I wish Santa was real, I never got to believe in him. I think all news is biased. I believe the beauty of a smile. I believe in the smell of Christmas morning. I believe in the look in my grandma's eyes when she says she loves me. I belieive in the comfort of my best friends arms. I believe in the satisfaction of earning my own paycheck. I believe in the sunset. I believe in the tranquil Hawaiian beach in the evening. I believe in the cool breeze on a hot day. I believe in the significance of reaching a goal. I believe in long horn pride. I believe in romance. I believe in miracles. I believe in my little sister's hugs. I believe in life.

Successful Protests...

So what makes a protest successful? At first thought, I concluded that a protest must lead to change in order to be successful or effective. I also thought in order to be effective there should be many people involved.Is this always true? Well, many protests especially violent protest (such as the riots in Watts, California), do lead to change but it is not necessarily a positive change. I think destroying buildings is a successful way to draw attention to a matter, but it may prohibit people from seeing the true issue. In other words, the observers may be more focused on the form of protest instead of the reason for the protest. Sure there were a lot of people involved and yes they has a significant impact on the community, but none of that was positive.
This is why non violent protests have proven to provide more positive results. For example, sit ins of the 20th century, which were often dangerous but remained effective. The civil disobedience route tends to draw more attention to the matter at hand and less attention to the way the protesters are portraying the message. I think this is what constitutes a successful protest. It is a protest that clearly sends a message in the most civil way possible, so that the focus is on the reason of protest.