Nonviolence as compliance- Ta-Nehisi Coates
The appealing of credibility is that the author has done their
research because there are quotations of what people who have been victimized
has said. The author appears likeable because he seems like an “average joe”
who lives in a city full of chaos and violence and shows how the community
fears the police. The specifics of violence like “the skin was gone on my face”
and “blood was dripping down my nose and out my eye” really makes the reader feel
connected to these victims and it tugs on our heart strings. We empathize for
these people because we do not know why they are being treated so horribly. The
reason behind this article is to show the dishonesty in our law enforcement and
to show the unnecessary actions that have been taken to a person of color and
who was not even violent toward the police.
Letter from Birmingham Jail- Martin Luther King Jr
From the history books and the inspiration of MLK Jr, he is
already credible to anything he writes. He is known as a nonviolent Civil
Rights Activist. MLK Jr catches the reader’s emotions when he says he was
invited into Birmingham to help with nonviolence, and the reader will find it
unfair of the community to have invited someone in and now he is in their jail.
MLK Jr can catch the attention and emotion of Christians when he says he is
similar to Apostle Paul and his doing. MLK’s reason is to show that inequality may
affect someone directly but it also affects everyone indirectly. His intention
was to show that America should be united together instead of against each
other because of race. We were all born in the same country, we should not
treat each others as foreigners and try to consider certain people as
outsiders. His reason is to show that the black community is Birmingham have
taken all the steps of a nonviolent campaign (collection of facts, negotiation,
self purification, and direct action.)
To compare the two authors, MLK has more credibility and authority
because he is a historical figure who actually accomplishment many of his goals
in civil rights compared to the other author who is complaining about the
situation and hasn’t done anything to fix it. They both appeal to the reader’s
emotions because they are both situations that will make people uncomfortable
and it shows that what is happening in society is not right. MLK looks like he
has more knowledge based on the fact is was a part of an organization for
nonviolence compared to a citizen of the community. We do not know much about
Coates but we do know that MLK had a higher education and took action against
these unjust worthy actions in America.
Both pieces use ethos, pathos, and logos, though each chooses to rely on 1 or 2 of these techniques versus all 3. In “A letter from Birmingham Jail”, Martin Luther King Jr uses pathos to create a sense of connection between him and his audience, he ultimately accomplishes this by creating sense of furry towards the inequality present in society. Choosing to do so makes it a very strong argument, since as a society we typically care more strongly about things that provoke emotions in us. However, because of MLK’s history as a black activist prior to this piece, he is also unknowingly using logos because he already had obtained a position of credibility and authority – making us more likely to trust his words. Though Ta-Nhisi Coates’ use of pathos isn’t as prevalent in “Nonviolence as Compliance”, the author still is able to make a strong argument. Their argument is mostly strengthen because of their ethos, they incorporate facts and knowledge to help emphasize their point, which makes the audience more likely to agree with their point of view.
ReplyDeleteWhile both of these arguments are sound and concern the same issues, the two take somewhat different approaches to convincing the reader of their points. “Nonviolence as Compliance,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates is much more of an emotional work than the other. It uses graphic examples of instances of police brutality to make the reader understand a little more why this issue is important. Phrases like, “The skin was gone from my face,” and, “The blow was so heavy, My eyes swelled up,” taken from real people makes the reader empathize with victims of police brutality. The author also uses rhetorical questions like, “Why is mere eye contact and then running worthy of detention at the hands of the state? Why is Freddie Gray dead?” in order to appeal to the reader’s reason. Asking these sorts of questions forces the reader to question the entire concept of police brutality, which is the point of this work. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” is much more centered on logic and authority than emotion. The letter is worded very formally and written by a minister present at the demonstrations mentioned, giving him authority on the subject and the education to express his feelings eloquently. The author carefully describes the events leading up to the demonstrations in order to use the reader’s reason to make them understand that demonstrations were absolutely the only option left. While neither of these arguments are poor, Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter is a bit more powerful, as he lends his credibility and sound logic to it in order to fully convince the reader of his position.
ReplyDeleteBoth authors use multiple examples of pathos, ethos, and logos. Pathos and logos are used by both to appeal the most to the audience. Martin Luther King author of " A letter from Birmingham Jail", uses logos heavily. MLK extracts a criticism about his actions being " untimely and unwise", he evaluates it and explains why his actions are both timely and wise. This appeal to logos is hard to argue with and therefore a solid argument. MLK also uses pathos to appeal to the audience, using the evidence of witnessed injustice. The use of pathos is good but not as strong as Ta-Nehisi the author of " Nonviolence as Compliance", use of pathos. Ta-Nehisi uses vivid descriptions of injustices such as the example of Venus Green and an officer saying "Bitch, you ain’t no better than any of the other old black bitches I have locked up". The disrespect the officer shows is unacceptable and Ta-Nehisi uses this to raise emotions within the audience with an account of such a quantity of disrespect. Ta- Nehisi's pathos argument is stronger, but the use of logos is not as developed as MLK's. MLK utilizes language on a deeper level than Ta-Nehisi, MLK uses a direct criticism and evaluates it. Ta-Nehisi's logos argument is still effective but the development is lacking compared to MLK's.
ReplyDeleteIn both of these texts, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and “Nonviolence as Compliance” there are different ways that the authors appeal to the reader. Both of the texts use logic, emotion, and authorial character in different ways. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King jr. uses logic to appeal to his readers by explaining why the demonstrations happened and because they were denied a negotiation the demonstration was the last resort. Throughout MLK’s letter he uses logic to appeal to the reader on why the demonstrations happened, why things need to change, and why the community is wrong. MLK also uses emotion to appeal to his reader by listing the disadvantages and mistreatment of black people in detail potentially making the reader feel that same emotion, for example, “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen, hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters...” Ta-Nehisi Coates author of “Nonviolence as Compliance” also uses emotion to appeal to his reader by listing the victims of police brutality and stating that the amount of money used to cover up the brutal acts could be used to reconstruct 30 playgrounds or build a new rec center. Coats also uses authorial character to make himself credible by telling the reader that he grew up in the same area where the riots began and in the same house projects as Freddie Gray, the man who was killed. As Coates continues he tells the readers that instead of admiring the police the people in that town fear the police and since he grew up in the area this statement is credible. Both of the texts make their point but between the two texts I think that “Letter from Birmingham Jail” is better because the way it appeals to the reader with logic and emotion throughout the text.
ReplyDeleteStayci, I completely agree with you when you say that Martin Luther King, in the article “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, has way more credibility and authority due to his historical background. But I also fell as if the article “Nonviolence as Compliance” was way more effective and understandable, it was even more relevant only because of the fact that is more so focused on today’s issues, not so much of the past. I also felt that “Nonviolence as Complaisance” was also way more informing than the other article because it uses a lot of examples and grounded statistics to back up their points. He shows us the problem, gives us examples, then gives us reason and guidance to fix the situation. Overall I get more clarity from the nonviolence article. I don’t have much relation to the Martin Luther King Jr. article and I could really get into it, I could pick out the different appeals but couldn’t get a very good overall understanding. Like you said though, Martin Luther King is already credible to anything he writes or does, so my opinion does not totally disqualify his words, others might agree that his article was stronger just because of that, Authority and credibility can take you a long way.
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