Persuasive Experiences..

Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King used ethos, logos, and pathos to convey his thoughts and get his point across. The combination of these three is what made this piece of writing so effective and well-known. When we worked in groups to find examples of ethos, logos, and pathos, it was not difficult to find them within the letter. This is a major reason why the letter is still read today whether or not people realize it.

I believe the Letter from a Birmingham Jail was more of an example of persuasive techniques than the Army's presentation was. The Letter from a Birmingham Jail appealed more to us as people while the Army focused too much on copy and paste information off the internet. This is an example of how the internet may be affecting communication today. I felt they did not tune into emotion and explain the true facts of being in the army. They could have used the army as their tool to present persuasive techniques. They seemed more distant to me even though they were a few steps away while this letter was written years ago and it struck me in a bigger way.

The example of persuasive communication I chose should be no surprise to anyone that knows me. I chose one about the importance of spaying and neutering written by the ASPCA. The article can be found at http://www.aspca.org/site/DocServer/Why_SpayNeuter-English.pdf?docID=188.
This article effectively uses logos and pathos. It uses logos by explaining the facts associated with it and also explains the many myths surrounding spaying and neutering. Many people are not educated in this topic and that is destroying millions of animals every day. Pathos is prevalent throughout the article with the ASPCA mentioning the millions of animals killed every day only because they cannot find a home. This article obviously effects me tremendously but I also think that it is written in a way that would persuade anyone in the right direction while tapping into their emotions as well. I believe this article and the Letter from a Birmingham Jail use communication tools correctly and are the most persuasive.