1). Discuss the idea of Appeal to Emotion. There are different aspects of Appeal to Emotion, which type of Appeal to Emotion strikes you, and why?
There are many kind of emotions that a person can experience. In arguments, emotions plays a huge role. An appeal to emotion uses the manipulation of the recipient's emotions, rather than valid logic, to win an argument. There are a couple kinds of appeal to emotions such as; appealing to fear and appealing to pity. In this chapter, the appeal to pity catches my attention the most because I have experienced it a lot before. An appeal to pity is a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent's feelings of pity or guilt.
An example of an appeal to pity:
The ASPCA has made many commercials that appealed to pity. A majority of their commercials shows pictures of sad and injured looking dogs and or cats with a sad background song to tag a long. These commercials allows the viewers to feel pity for the poor animals so that they can donate money to the organization. The commercials are pretty convincing because they have really vivid pictures of animals that are injured looking. For example, I have seen one commercial where there was a dog with three legs.
I find that an appeal to pity is very popular because it evokes a strong reaction. When a person feels guilt, they usually try to get rid of the guilt by doing something to make a change. That is why many organizations use it to gain support for their cause. I also see many sad commercials with miserable, tortured, and mistreated animals. It is so depressing to watch that I usually have to look away or change the channel. I agree that these commercials are very convincing because they do evoke strong emotions of guilt and pity in most viewers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very good example of appeal to pity. I like it. When you see wandering and lost pets, you want to just take them in and care for them. When they are with a homeless guy asking for money, I feel like you pity them more because there's also a starving animal with them that can't do anything to feed themselves. I remember in Clifford the Big Red Dog, there was a new dog that had three legs and Clifford and his friend pity him because they felt like he can't do anything with three legs. So they just made sure he wouldn't get hurt or anything.
ReplyDeleteYoursTruly,
ReplyDeleteThe appeal to pity is important because it targets a very sensitive spot for many individuals. The appeal to pity often leaves people in guilt. Therefore, many base their decision so that they will not feel guilty. Your example of the ASPCA commercial is a perfect example. Whenever that commercial comes on the television, it makes me feel really sad. I know exactly which song you are talking about that they play in the commercial! That song gets me every time :( When the commercial shows the animals, it makes me feel super guilty for not donating money. Overall, good post on the appeal to pity!