Greenpeace's Use of Pathos
Below is a podcast we recorded in order to explore the use of pathos as a persuasive technique by MSU Greenpeace, a long established student group on campus. For our podcast, we chose pathos as a rhetorical concept to study, MSU Greenpeace as a culture group and college students as an audience. Within the podcast, we explore how MSU Greenpeace uses a unique blend of logos and pathos to persuade their various audiences. The podcast is made up of several different interviews with Greenpeace members.
We chose Greenpeace as our first culture group, because as a national organization they have a reputation for their emotional protests. However, after interviewing Peter Rustad, Natalie Davenport and Cassie Zylinski, three active Greenpeace members, we learned that the MSU chapter of Greenpeace has introduced a logical aspect to their pathetic appeals. For example, one of the interviewees explained;
“We primarily try to appeal to emotion because that is what appealed to us before we became involved in the movement but at the same time we are very pragmatic and we know that the things we are asking for we cannot change overnight.” The podcast project allowed us to realize that the Greenpeace group on campus is not just a collection of bleeding hearts, but a group of tactful rhetors who realize that raw passion is not enough and that they must pay attention to their audience, and how best to influence that particular audience.
By conducting three more interviews with three different members of the campus Greenpeace movement, we were able to take a deeper look at how emotional rhetoric is used internally and externally within the organization.In the recent interviews, we discovered several MSU Greenpeace activists share the same views on the logical use of pathos that were expressed by the members in the podcast. For example sophomore member Connor Meston said the following when answering a question about how emotional persuasion plays a role in getting individuals to take action. “We usually take a mixed approach of logic and emotion when trying to get people to act on issues concerning the environment."
Member Jordan Lindsay further supports the group’s image of being tactical rhetors by answering a question on the emotional aspect of group decision-making.“We utilize very logical analysis to do what we do. Usually we this is based on…what we see as most pressing at the time, what we can make the most impact by doing. Emotion does affect what we do however because without the emotional charge behind it, we would not be motivated to create change.” It can be concluded by these multiple interviews that while emotional rhetoric does have a role within the organization, it is accompanied by strategic thinking. That being said, further questioning led to the realization that Greenpeace uses strong emotional rhetoric when addressing current members. When asked a question about how leaders within Greenpeace inspire fellow members, Community Coach Jordan Lindsay shared the following:
“We primarily try to appeal to emotion because that is what appealed to us before we became involved in the movement but at the same time we are very pragmatic and we know that the things we are asking for we cannot change overnight.” The podcast project allowed us to realize that the Greenpeace group on campus is not just a collection of bleeding hearts, but a group of tactful rhetors who realize that raw passion is not enough and that they must pay attention to their audience, and how best to influence that particular audience.
By conducting three more interviews with three different members of the campus Greenpeace movement, we were able to take a deeper look at how emotional rhetoric is used internally and externally within the organization.In the recent interviews, we discovered several MSU Greenpeace activists share the same views on the logical use of pathos that were expressed by the members in the podcast. For example sophomore member Connor Meston said the following when answering a question about how emotional persuasion plays a role in getting individuals to take action. “We usually take a mixed approach of logic and emotion when trying to get people to act on issues concerning the environment."
Member Jordan Lindsay further supports the group’s image of being tactical rhetors by answering a question on the emotional aspect of group decision-making.“We utilize very logical analysis to do what we do. Usually we this is based on…what we see as most pressing at the time, what we can make the most impact by doing. Emotion does affect what we do however because without the emotional charge behind it, we would not be motivated to create change.” It can be concluded by these multiple interviews that while emotional rhetoric does have a role within the organization, it is accompanied by strategic thinking. That being said, further questioning led to the realization that Greenpeace uses strong emotional rhetoric when addressing current members. When asked a question about how leaders within Greenpeace inspire fellow members, Community Coach Jordan Lindsay shared the following:
“I inspire my members using their own emotion. As a Community Coach with Greenpeace, I help people to tell their story about why they care and then recruit others and take action…I only ask questions to draw their own inspiration and empowerment out so that they can help share with others and build the movement. Stories help to do this. I use my own stories and stories I have heard from fellow members.”
When asked about using emotional appeals to move outside audiences to action, Jordan once again mentioned story telling: “It is the stories that we can tell about the actual people suffering from (pollution and climate change) that move us to act. It is the most successful strategy we have.” Jordan could not be more right about story telling being a great means of inspiration. In fact, according to the authors of the textbook Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, the method of using emotion provoking, vivid stories to move an audience toward action is called Energia, and is considered one of the most effective pathos based rhetorical techniques (Crowley Hawhee 178).
When asked about using emotional appeals to move outside audiences to action, Jordan once again mentioned story telling: “It is the stories that we can tell about the actual people suffering from (pollution and climate change) that move us to act. It is the most successful strategy we have.” Jordan could not be more right about story telling being a great means of inspiration. In fact, according to the authors of the textbook Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students, the method of using emotion provoking, vivid stories to move an audience toward action is called Energia, and is considered one of the most effective pathos based rhetorical techniques (Crowley Hawhee 178).