english hw
abzul13
3 Arguments Based on Character: Ethos
Whenever you read anything — whether it’s a news article, an advertise- ment, a speech, or a text message — you no doubt subconsciously ana- lyze the message for a sense of the character and credibility of the sender: Does this reporter seem biased? Why should I be paying attention to this speaker? Our culture teaches us to be skeptical of most messages that bombard us with slogans, and that skepticism is a crucial skill in reading and evaluating arguments.
The mottoes associated with various sources of global information aim to “brand” them by helping to establish their character, what ancient rhetors referred to as ethos. And sometimes, slogans like “Fair & Balanced,” “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” or “Do No Harm” can be effective: at the very least, if a phrase is repeated often enough, it comes to sound natural and right. Maybe CNN is the most trusted name in news!
But establishing character usually takes more than repetition, as marketers of all kinds know. In the auto industry American companies
42
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 42 10/1/12 10:54 AM
C h a p t e r 3 arguments based on character: ethos 43
like Ford or GM are trying to reinvent themselves as forward-looking producers of fuel-efficient cars like the Volt, and they have mounted huge campaigns aimed at convincing buyers that their ethos has changed — for the better. Other companies are challenging them: Toyota’s third-generation Prius has developed a strong reputation, a “good character” among buyers; the Nissan Leaf—which describes itself as “100% electric. Zero gas. Zero tailpipe”—was named “world car of the year” at the New York International Auto Show as well as a “top safety pick” by the Institute for Highway Safety, thus building an ethos of clean energy and safety. Tata Motors, whose motto is “We care,” offers the Nano, the world’s cheapest car whose character, they say, can be described as “the people’s car.” All of these companies know that their success in sales will be directly linked to their ability to establish a con- vincing and powerful ethos for their products.
If corporations can establish an ethos for themselves and their products, consider how much character matters when we think about people, especially those in the public eye. We’ll mention only two very different examples: actor Charlie Sheen and football star Tim Tebow. Despite film credits that include Platoon and Young Guns, Sheen earned a hard-drinking, womanizing “bad boy” ethos after the questionable behavior of the character he played on TV sitcom Two and a Half Men
charlie sheen
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 43 10/1/12 10:54 AM
reading and understanding arguments44
tim tebow
crossed catastrophically into his real life. And though Heisman Trophy– winner Tim Tebow won two NCAA football championships with the Florida Gators before moving into the National Football League, his fame and ethos owe almost as much to unequivocal displays of his Christian faith, signaled on-field by the kneeling gesture now known as Tebowing.
As is often the case, fame brings endorsements. Tebow’s “good guy” ethos was on display controversially yet believably in a pro-life Super Bowl ad he made for the Christian group Focus on the Family in 2010. But the athlete is also on the payroll for Nike and for Jockey underwear— usually fully clothed in his ads. And Sheen? What corporation would want to associate its products with such a questionable, and some might say self-destructive, character? In 2012, automaker Fiat hired him to sell Americans on the “Abarth” performance version of its tiny 500 sedan. A TV spot shows him hurling the Abarth at top speed inside a mansion filled with beautiful women: “I love being under house arrest,” Sheen muses. In this case, celebrity ethos matches the product perfectly— especially given Fiat’s target audience of men.
So you can see why Aristotle treats ethos as a powerful argumenta- tive appeal. Ethos creates quick and sometimes almost irresistible
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 44 10/1/12 10:54 AM
C h a p t e r 3 arguments based on character: ethos 45
connections between audience and arguments. We observe people, groups, or institutions making and defending claims all the time and inevitably ask ourselves, Should we pay attention to them? Can we trust them? Do we want to trust them? Consider, though, that the same ques- tions will be asked about you and your work, especially in academic settings.
In fact, whenever you write a paper or present an idea, you are sending signals about your character and reliability, whether you in- tend to or not. If your ideas are reasonable, your sources are reliable, and your language is appropriate to the project, you will suggest to academic readers that you’re someone whose ideas might deserve at- tention. You can appreciate why even details like correct spelling, grammar, and mechanics will weigh in your favor. And though you might not think about it now, at some point you may need letters of recommendation from instructors or supervisors. How will they re- member you? Often chiefly from the ethos you have established in your work. Think about it.
Understanding How Arguments Based on Character Work
Put simply, arguments based on character (ethos) depend on trust. We tend to accept arguments from those we trust, and we trust them (whether individuals, groups, or institutions) in good part because of their reputations. Three main elements — trustworthiness/credibility, authority, and unselfish or clear motives — add up to ethos. To answer serious and important questions, we often turn to profes- sionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, pastors) or to experts (those with knowledge and experience) for wise and frank advice. Such people come with some already established ethos based on their back- grounds and their knowledge. Thus, appeals or arguments about charac- ter often turn on claims like these:
● A person (or group or institution) is or is not trustworthy or credible on this issue.
● A person (or group or institution) does or does not have the authority to speak to this issue.
● A person (or group or institution) does or does not have unselfish or clear motives for addressing this subject.
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 45 10/1/12 10:54 AM
reading and understanding arguments46
Establishing Trustworthiness and Credibility
Trustworthiness and credibility speak to a writer’s honesty, respect for an audience and its values, and plain old likability. Sometimes a sense of humor can play an important role in getting an audience to listen to or “like” you. It’s no accident that all but the most serious speeches begin with a joke or funny story: the humor puts listeners at ease and helps them identify with the speaker. When President Obama spoke at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 30, 2011, he was coming off escalating attacks by “birthers” claiming that he was not a citizen of the United States. Obama used the opening of his speech to address those claims — in a humorous way aimed at establishing his credibility: To the tune of “I Am a Real American” accompanied by iconic American images interrupted every few seconds by a pulsating copy of his birth certificate, the president opened his remarks with a broad smile, saying “My fellow Americans,” to loud laughs and cheers. After offering the traditional Hawaiian greeting of “Mahalo,” he went on to say that, this week,
the State of Hawaii released my official long-form birth certificate. Hopefully, this puts all doubts to rest. But just in case there are any lingering questions, tonight I am prepared to go a step further. Tonight, for the first time, I am releasing my official birth video.
President obama tells jokes at the White house correspondents’ dinner
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 46 10/1/12 10:54 AM
C h a p t e r 3 arguments based on character: ethos 47
What followed was a clip from Disney’s The Lion King, which brought down the house. The president had shown he had a sense of humor, one he could turn on himself, and doing so helped to build credibility: he was, in fact, a “real American.” A little self-deprecation like this can en- dear writers or speakers to the toughest audiences. We’ll often listen to people confident enough to make fun of themselves, because they seem clever and yet aware of their own limitations.
But humor alone can’t establish credibility. Although a funny anec- dote may help dispose an audience to listen to you, you will need to move quickly to make reasonable claims and then back them up with evidence. Showing your authority on a topic is itself a good way to build credibility.
You can also establish credibility by connecting your own beliefs to core principles that are well established and widely respected. This strategy is particularly effective when your position seems to be — at first glance, at least — a threat to traditional values. For example, when conservative author Andrew Sullivan argues in favor of legalizing same- sex marriages, he does so in language that echoes the themes of family- values conservatives:
Legalizing gay marriage would offer homosexuals the same deal society now offers heterosexuals: general social approval and spe- cific legal advantages in exchange for a deeper and harder-to-extract- yourself-from commitment to another human being. Like straight marriage, it would foster social cohesion, emotional security, and economic prudence. Since there’s no reason gays should not be allowed to adopt or be foster parents, it could also help nurture children.
— Andrew Sullivan, “Here Comes the Groom”
Yet another way to affirm your credibility as a writer is to use lan- guage that shows your respect for readers’ intelligence. Citing trustwor- thy sources and acknowledging them properly prove, too, that you’ve done your homework (another sign of respect) and suggest that you know your subject. So does presenting ideas clearly and fairly. Details matter: helpful graphs, tables, charts, or illustrations may carry weight with readers, as will the visual attractiveness of your text, whether in print or digital form. Even correct spelling counts!
Writers who establish their credibility seem trustworthy. But some- times, to be credible, you have to admit limitations, too, as the late biologist Lewis Thomas does as he ponders whether scientists
the National Institute of Mental
health boosts its credibility by having
a spokesperson acknowledge how
difficult it is for an immigrant to
admit suffering from depression.
link To p. 611
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 47 10/1/12 10:54 AM
reading and understanding arguments48
have overstepped their boundaries in exploring the limits of DNA research:
Should we stop short of learning some things, for fear of what we, or someone, will do with the knowledge? My own answer is a flat no, but I must confess that this is an intuitive response and I am neither inclined nor trained to reason my way through it.
— Lewis Thomas, “The Hazards of Science”
As Thomas’s comments show, a powerful way to build credibility is to acknowledge outright any exceptions, qualifications, or even weak- nesses in your argument. For example, a Volkswagen ad from the 1970s with the headline “They said it couldn’t be done. It couldn’t,” shows that pro basketball star Wilt Chamberlain, at seven feet, one inch, tall, just can’t fit inside the Bug. This ad is one of a classic series in which
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 48 10/1/12 10:54 AM
C h a p t e r 3 arguments based on character: ethos 49
Volkswagen pokes fun at itself and admits to limitations while also promoting the good points about its car. As a result, the company gains credibility in the bargain.
Making such concessions to objections that readers might raise sends a strong signal to the audience that you’ve looked critically at your own position and can therefore be trusted when you turn to arguing for its merits. Speaking to readers directly, using I or you, can also help you con- nect with them, as can using contractions and everyday or colloquial language. In a commencement address, for example, Oprah Winfrey ar- gues that the graduates need to consider how they can best serve others. To build her case, she draws on her own experience — forthrightly noting some mistakes and problems that she has faced in trying to live a life of service:
I started this school in Africa . . . where I’m trying to give South African girls a shot at a future like yours. And I spent five years making sure that school would be as beautiful as the students. . . . And yet, last fall, I was faced with a crisis. . . . I was told that one of the dorm matrons was suspected of sexual abuse.
oprah Winfrey in south africa
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 49 10/1/12 10:54 AM
reading and understanding arguments50
That was, as you can imagine, devastating news. First, I cried — actually, I sobbed. . . . And the whole time I kept asking that question: What is this here to teach me? And, as difficult as that experience has been, I got a lot of lessons. I understand now the mistakes I made, because I had been paying attention to all of the wrong things. I’d built that school from the outside in, when what really mattered was the inside out.
— Oprah Winfrey, Stanford University Commencement Address
In some situations, you may find that a more formal tone gives your claims greater credibility. You’ll be making such choices as you search for the ethos that represents you best.
Claiming Authority
When you read or listen to an argument, you have every right to ask about the writer’s authority: What does he know about the subject? What experiences does she have that make her especially knowledgeable? Why should I pay attention to this writer?
When you offer an argument, you have to anticipate and be able to answer questions like these, either directly or indirectly. Sometimes the claim of authority will be bold and personal, as it is when writer and activ- ist Terry Tempest Williams attacks those who poisoned the Utah deserts with nuclear radiation. What gives her the right to speak on this subject? Not scientific expertise, but gut-wrenching personal experience:
I belong to the Clan of One-Breasted Women. My mother, my grand- mothers, and six aunts have all had mastectomies. Seven are dead. The two who survive have just completed rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.
I’ve had my own problems: two biopsies for breast cancer and a small tumor between my ribs diagnosed as a “borderline malignancy.”
— Terry Tempest Williams, “The Clan of One-Breasted Women”
We are willing to listen to Williams’s claims because she has lived with the nuclear peril she will deal with in the remainder of her essay.
Writers usually establish their authority in less striking ways. Attach- ing titles to their names, for example, subtly builds authority by saying they hold medical or legal or engineering degrees, or some special certifi- cation. Similarly, writers assert authority by mentioning their employers
at the opening of his radio interview
on the Berkeley Bake Sale, host
Michael Krasny announces his guests
along with their credentials—both are
presidents of student political
organizations—to establish their ethos.
link To p. 743
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 50 10/1/12 10:54 AM
C h a p t e r 3 arguments based on character: ethos 51
and the number of years they’ve worked in a given field. As a reader, you’ll likely pay more attention to an argument about global warming if it’s of- fered by someone who identifies herself as a professor of atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Wisconsin, than by your Uncle Sid, who sells tools. But you’ll prefer your uncle to the professor when you need advice about a reliable rotary saw.
When your readers may be skeptical of both you and your claim, you may have to be even more specific about your credentials. That’s exactly the strategy Richard Bernstein uses to establish his right to speak on the subject of “Asian culture.” What gives a New York writer named Bern- stein the authority to write about Asian peoples? Bernstein tells us in a sparkling example of an argument based on character:
The Asian culture, as it happens, is something I know a bit about, hav- ing spent five years at Harvard striving for a Ph.D. in a joint program called History and East Asian Languages and, after that, living either as a student (for one year) or a journalist (six years) in China and Southeast Asia. At least I know enough to know there is no such thing as the “Asian culture.”
— Richard Bernstein, Dictatorship of Virtue
When you write for readers who trust you and your work, you may not have to make such an open claim to authority. But making this type of appeal is always an option.
Authority can also be conveyed through fairly small signals that read- ers may pick up almost subconsciously. On his blog, writer and media analyst Clay Shirky talks easily about a new teaching job. The italicized words indicate his confidence and authority:
This fall, I’m joining NYU’s journalism program, where, for the first time in a dozen years, I will teach undergraduates. . . . I could tell these students that when I was growing up, the only news I read was thrown into our front yard by a boy on a bicycle. They might find this interest- ing, but only in the way I found it interesting that my father had grown up without indoor plumbing. What 19 year olds need to know isn’t how it was in Ye Olden Tymes of 1992; they need to know what we’ve learned about supporting the creation and dissemination of news between then and now. Contemplating what I should tell them, there are only three things I’m sure of: News has to be subsidized, and it has to be cheap, and it has to be free.
— Clay Shirky, “Why We Need the New News Environment to Be Chaotic”
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 51 10/1/12 10:54 AM
reading and understanding arguments52
Coming Clean about Motives
When people are trying to sell you something, it’s important (and natu- ral) to ask: Whose interests are they serving? How will they profit from their proposal? Such suspicions go to the heart of ethical arguments.
Here, for example, someone posting on the Web site Serious Eats, which is “focused on celebrating and sharing food enthusiasm” online, acknowledges — in a footnote — that his attention to Martha Stewart, her Web site, and a Martha Stewart Living cookbook may be influenced by his employment history:
Martha Stewart* has been blipping up on the Serious Eats radar lately. First it was this astronaut meal she chose for her longtime Microsoft
billionaire friend Charles Simonyi, “a gourmet space meal of duck breast confit and semolina cake with dried apricots.” Talk about going above and beyond.
CUlTUrAl ConTExTs for ArgUMEnT
Ethos
In the United States, students are often asked to establish authority by drawing on personal experiences, by reporting on research they or oth- ers have conducted, and by taking a position for which they can offer strong evidence. But this expectation about student authority is by no means universal.
Some cultures regard student writers as novices who can most effectively make arguments by reflecting on what they’ve learned from their teachers and elders — those who hold the most important knowl- edge and, hence, authority. When you’re arguing a point with people from cultures other than your own, ask questions like:
• Whom are you addressing, and what is your relationship with that person?
• What knowledge are you expected to have? Is it appropriate or expected for you to demonstrate that knowledge — and if so, how?
• What tone is appropriate? And remember: politeness is rarely, if ever, inappropriate.
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 52 10/1/12 10:54 AM
C h a p t e r 3 arguments based on character: ethos 53
Then official word comes that marthastewart.com has relaunched with a fresh new look and new features. The site, which went live in its new form a few weeks before this announcement, is quite an improve- ment. It seems to load faster, information is easier to find, and the reci- pes are easier to read — although there are so many brands, magazines, and “omnimedia” on offer that the homepage is a little dizzying at first.
* Full disclosure: I used to work at Martha Stewart Living magazine. — Adam Kuban, “Martha, Martha, Martha”
Especially in online venues like the one Kuban uses here, writers have to expect that readers will hold diverse views and will be quick to point out unmentioned affiliations as serious drawbacks to credibility. In fact, at- tacks on such loyalties are common in political circles, where it’s almost a sport to assume the worst about an opponent’s motives and associations.
But we all have connections and interests that represent the ties that bind us to other human beings. It makes sense that a woman might be concerned with women’s issues or that investors might look out for their investments. So it can be good strategy to let your audiences know where your loyalties lie when such information does, in fact, shape your work.
Using Ethos in Your own Writing
● Establish your credibility by connecting to your audience’s values, showing respect for them, and establishing common ground where possible. How will you convince your audience you are trustworthy? What will you admit about your own limitations?
● Establish your authority by showing you have done your homework and know your topic well. How will you show that you know your topic well? What appropriate personal experience can you draw on?
● Examine your motives for writing. What, if anything, do you stand to gain from your argument? How can you explain those advantages to your audience?
R E S P O N D. 1. Consider the ethos of these public figures. Then describe one or two
products that might benefit from their endorsements as well as sev- eral that would not.
Cat Deeley — emcee of So You Think You Can Dance
Margaret Cho — comedian
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 53 10/1/12 10:54 AM
reading and understanding arguments54
Johnny Depp — actor
Lady Gaga — singer and songwriter
Bill O’Reilly — TV news commentator
Marge Simpson — sensible wife and mother on The Simpsons
Jon Stewart — host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central
2. Opponents of Richard Nixon, the thirty-seventh president of the United States, once raised doubts about his integrity by asking a single ruinous question: Would you buy a used car from this man? Create your own version of the argument of character. Begin by choosing an intriguing or controversial person or group and finding an image online. Then download the image into a word-processing file. Create a caption for the photo that is modeled after the question asked about Nixon: Would you give this woman your email password? Would you share a campsite with this couple? Would you eat lasagna that this guy fixed? Finally, write a serious 300-word argument that explores the character flaws or strengths of your subject(s).
3. Take a close look at your Facebook page (or your page on any other social media site). What are some aspects of your character, true or not, that might be conveyed by the photos, videos, and messages you have posted online? Analyze the ethos or character you see projected there, using the advice in this chapter to guide your analysis.
03_LUN_06045_Ch03_042-054.indd 54 10/1/12 10:54 AM