Rhetorical Analysis Of The Coming Hunger Wars By Michael T. Klare

Great Essays
All great pieces of writing consist of the same three rhetorical elements: Logos, Pathos and Ethos. They are strategically used to persuade the audience to believe something they hadn’t before. Michael T. Klare effectively practices these methods in his 2012 article, The Coming Hunger Wars: Heat, Drought, Rising Food Costs, and Global Unrest, to hook his reader and to coax them into viewing his topic differently. He exploits experienced sources, hard facts and fear driven emotions to inform his readers on the seriousness of food shortages in our world today. Ethos allows for the audience to trust what the author is speaking upon, however, if there is a lack of ethos, the audience will turn their attention to different reliable source. Ethos is extremely important to establish early on in an essay, article, and even a TV commercial. Klare, a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, has a natural self-less presence. He establishes and supports his self-less authority through his teachings, articles and books; many of which focus on the increasing dangers to our environment. Not only does Klare prove himself to be a reliable figure, but he also sites helpful sources that will back-up his position. Klare’s use of ethos in this article is supported by the expertise of various sources as well. …show more content…
He cites Ernie Gross, an agricultural economist at Omaha’s Creighton University; Robert Thompson, a food expert at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Mohamed Bouazizi a young, rebellious food vendor; and even Christian Parenti, author of Tropic of Chaos, a novel based off of the troubles and hardships of global warming. Klare strategically named many men who have more in-depth experiences than him, granting him a higher authority presence. This rhetorical method is extremely effective because it attracts the audience to the text and provides a trustworthy, authoritative narrator. In the article, The Coming Hunger Wars: Heat, Drought, Rising Food Costs, and Global Unrest, Michael T. Klare takes full advantage of the available facts on global warming, spontaneous droughts and declining food surpluses. Logos contributes an undeniable truth to his argument. The writer begins by stating that 13% of the American Household Budget is food related. He explains how the lower classes in America will suffer due to the food shortage or “Hunger Games” (1). This gives a general glance into what could occur if food surpluses declined and the food prices increased; making numerous people much more aware of the seriousness of the situation. The effectiveness of his use of logos is measured in the amount of awareness it creates. Klare mentions the “intensified backlash against incumbent politicians” from discontent citizens in countries such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, Egypt and Haiti (1-2). I believe Klare is spot-on with his use of factual evidence here, however I don’t think the remainder of his statistics strengthened his argument. Using statistical logos is a very precise method, but if used too generally, it could be fatal to the overall persuasiveness of an article. Unfortunately, Klare is too broad with his statistical data and his article suffers because of it. When he states that food prices rose 100% in paragraph five and 50% and 32% in paragraph seven, he leaves too much room for questioning (1-2). The audience is left to use their imagination, which in this style of writing, isn’t fitting. The author cannot say that a price has increased by 100% when the audience doesn’t know how much it cost in the beginning. The statistic is counterproductive and may attract/fool the average Joe reading this article, however this type of logos cannot be allowed to stand. Overall, logos is ineffective in this article and is just for show. Pathos, or the emotional rhetorical approach, is the most prominent in this article. The author is particularly gifted in relating to the audience and prying an emotional reaction out of them. “Take that[food] away and people become anxious, desperate andt could, however, produce considerable hardship for poor and unemployed Americans with limited resources” (1). Families domestic and abroad should read this and fear for their well-being. They should fear for their starving children and sick relatives. Klare makes sure to hit this theory hard time and time again in this article. Not

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