Love Conquers All: Rhetoric paper

“A Rich man is nothing but a poor man with money”
-W.C. Fields

Living in country where the economy is booming we sometimes forget about other countries around us. We live in a country that has advanced in technology, where education is provided through our government, and where food is unlimited. We are apart of the first world country that have it all. But what about other countries that are not as fortunate. Poverty is a huge problem in this world; it is a problem that has been neglected by many.

In making this video, a cause and effect would be the author main goal or strategy in capturing to audience attention. The author hopes that in watching this video the audience will acknowledge the extent of poverty around the world and by acknowledging it, the audience will hopefully take actions to help decrease poverty rate. Along with the images and text of facts, the author also used music as part of his/her video. The song that author used is call ‘Mr. President’ and it starts off as, “Dear Mr. President, come take a walk with me….I would like to ask you some questions, we can speak honestly. What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street.” This song is obviously directed to the president who represents America. The video is therefore directed towards America.

In the YouTube video, the author uses logos in the form of various pictures and facts to support her argument. The video consists of clips of young children with barely any clothes on, children who looks like they haven’t ate in weeks causing their ribs and joint area to protrude, a woman working in a factory, a homeless man sitting outside next to his cart. All these video clips are her strategy of trying to get us to acknowledge the extent of poverty that some people have to endure everyday. It allows us to see visual images of what it means to live in poverty. Some facts that were used in the video were:

-“About 24,000 people die everyday from hunger or hunger related causes. This is one death every 3.6 seconds”
-“3 thousnd of the deaths are children under the age of 5”
-“Poverty is the main cause of hunger”
-“One in 12 people worwide is malnourished, including 160 millions children under the age of 5”
-“Worldwide more than 850 milllion people are illiterate”

These facts appeared in the beginning of the video and it focuses on poverty in underdeveloped countries. Half way into the video the author then uses facts about our economy which allow the audience to better understand how severe this situation really is. These facts allow the audience to compare and contrast between the first world countries such as United States, Europe, and Japan to the third world countries that are exploited and underdeveloped. We live in a society with high living standards; we buy way more than what is necessary for sufficient living. We spend a great deal of money on materialistic goods such as nice expensive cars and big houses. With as much money as we spend on ourselves for unnecessary goods, we could have fed millions and prevent deaths that are caused by poverty and hunger. The facts that the author used were:

-“Nike paid Michael Jordan $20 million a year to promote Nike sneakers. The combined annual income of 30,000 Asian women who sew Nike sneakers equal less than $20 million”
-“Sweden and the United States have 681 & 626 telephone lines per 1,000 people. Afghanistan, Cambodia, and the democratic republic of Congo have 1 line per 1,000 people”
-Cosmetic in the US equal $8 billion”
-“Perfumes in Europe and US equals $12 billion”
-“Narcotic drugs in the world equal $400 billion”
-“Business entertainment in Japan equals $47 billion”
-“Cigarettes in Europe equals $50 billion”

These facts are significant part of the video in that it made us aware about children and poverty. Another astonishing fact from the book Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism written by Richard Robbins, is that approximately one-fifth of the world’s population, over 1 billion people, earn less than one dollar per day. Facts and images that were used in the video played a powerful role in stirring emotions of sadness, empathy, and sorrow within the audience which gave the effects of pathos. In addition to stirring up emotion within the audience, each person presented in the video showed some sort of emotions ranging from sadness, hopelessness, and hungriness which is also a form of pathos. They didn’t choose to be born into a world of poverty and they have done nothing to deserve such things. Just by looking at the image, you can imagine their daily struggles. Their clothes are torn apart and dirty. They look weak and fragile from starvation. Their life is threatened from poverty and their life span has been cut short because of poverty. The message here is: save the children of mankind!

The main purpose of the second set of facts is to stir up guilty emotions among people from first world countries by using facts to remind us how much money we spend on non-strategic resources. The use of astonishing high numbers caused us to feel guilty that we as a country spends so much money on assets when there are millions of people out there who are struggling to even get by life daily.

In the end of the YouTube video, the author quotes: “Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn’t commit.” This brings in the idea of cultural resonance, as human we have moral obligations to help these people who are getting punish for a crime they did not commit. They didn’t choose or ask to be born into poverty, instead the life of poverty were forced upon them. We have the necessary technology and resources to make changes, to make a difference in this world. The problem is: are we willing to put in the time and effort? That decision is up to you, each and every one of us can make a difference. As the audience watches this video, the author hopes to do just that—to persuade the audience to make a difference in the lives of the unfortunate.