Assignment: Bias, Rhetorical Devices, And Argument Essay

Assignment: Bias, Rhetorical Devices, and Argumentation

Justin Stennett

Com220

5/23/2010
Stacey Bagwell
Bias, Rhetorical Devices, and Argumentation

There are many fallacies that I have seen within this speech. Scapegoating is used when Kane implies that Boss Gettys is responsible for the economic and political downfall and accuses him of not caring about the ordinary citizen and not keeping his promises. Slippery Slope is also used in this speech, Kane implies that if Gettys continues to have control over the state that no one will watch out for the working class citizens. If Boss Gettys stays in office, he will face a decline due to Kane's vision of a dangerous future. The speech also uses the fallacy False Dilemma, Kane offers voters just 2 choices. Continue to let Boss Gettys control the state or vote for Kane and let him fix all the problems with the state's economic and political issues. This speech does also use a Scare tactic. Kane implies that if the citizens do not vote for him then the continuing decline of the state is inevitable under the control of Boss Gettys. Kane also uses Ad Hominem in his speech. Kane tells the audience that Boss Gettys is a downright villain, but does not explain what actions Gettys has taken to be called a villein, any issues with actions concerning the political or economic issues of the state and never offers one single piece of evidence.

Kane employes the use of rhetorical devices within his speech. The one that stood out, Kane calling himself the “fighting Liberal”, is used to force the audience to like him or dislike him. He also uses a specific tone and gestures that were used to put emphasis on the words he speaks. He uses specific words and phrases to also catch the audience off guard like, “slum children” “underprivileged” “underfed” and “ordinary citizens” All of these are used to pull at the emotional strings of the audience.

The Speaker addressed the arguments and the counter arguments in a...