ONE LIFE's Use of Pathos
SEE. HELP. TELL. This is the simplistic yet empowering motto of ONE LIFE, a student led non-profit group at MSU. ONE LIFE is an organization dedicated to connecting students with other non-profit organizations and helping to raise money for causes that all parties are passionate about.
ONE LIFE has been a campus organization here at MSU for approximately one year and has already made pathos a prominent part of its rhetorical strategy. Pathos is used by members of ONE LIFE to not only attract new members and supporters, but to keep current members impassioned. By interviewing the current chapter leader, social media chair, and a newer member, we discovered that this new organization has been integrating emotional appeals into various aspects of their rhetorical campaign, and their overall strategy is to inspire empowerment through emotionally evocative appeals. For example, according to ONE LIFE President Shanice Akoto, even selecting a photo for an event page on Facebook is a rhetorical opportunity to use pathos: “We usually try to select photos that we know will trigger an emotional response from others. We live in a generation that uses so many various forms of social media to convey emotions, ideas and opinions... we usually try to select photos that we know will trigger an emotional response from others. We live in a generation that uses so many various forms of social media to convey emotions, ideas and opinions.”
Although Akoto may not realize it, her organization uses a classic pathetic appeal with a modern twist that is emotionally evocative to their specific audience. ONE LIFE uses what the authors of Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students call Enargeia, which is the practice of effectively making an issue come alive for the audience and see “vividly what is at stake with an issue (Crowley Hawhee 184).” Traditionally, this is done by telling a highly descriptive story with an emotional outcome. However, ONE LIFE uses pictures like the one below to evoke sympathy from their audience in order to empower them to take action and join the event. By using a photo on a Facebook invite, One Life is using a medium it’s audience respects and understands in order to get a better response.
When targeting emotions to appeal to, ONE LIFE has learned that bringing out certain emotions in an audience can produce more favorable results than others. ONE LIFE member Mara Ohorodnik has noticed that compassion is a very effective emotion to appeal to. “The appeal that gets the biggest response is compassion. Most people feel empathy for those that are suffering, which makes them more likely to volunteer for ONE LIFE. People feel compassion towards others who are less fortunate and immediately want to make a difference.”
According to Ancient Rhetorics, compassion was one of the main emotions studied by Aristotle and Cicero, and was found to be an effective emotion to appeal to when using rhetoric (Crowley Hawhee 170). In addition, compassion is also the main emotion targeted by the founding chapter of ONE LIFE (located in Ohio) which was learned by researching their website. On the site, the organization displays the motto See|Help|Tell. This motto relies on the reader to see the content on their webpage, and feel an overwhelming amount of compassion that will lead to involvement in the organization.
Finally, It became apparent that emotion plays a huge rule in every aspect of the organization when the leader of ONE LIFE responded to the question of if emotions had any role in her decision to join the organization: “I think there has to be some level of emotion that drives us to want to give back to our community and try to make our world a better place, so emotions were a huge part of wanting to start this up.” In conclusion, ONE LIFE is a student organization that was founded by emotional drive and as a result, is fueled and sustained by the use of modern pathos.
According to Ancient Rhetorics, compassion was one of the main emotions studied by Aristotle and Cicero, and was found to be an effective emotion to appeal to when using rhetoric (Crowley Hawhee 170). In addition, compassion is also the main emotion targeted by the founding chapter of ONE LIFE (located in Ohio) which was learned by researching their website. On the site, the organization displays the motto See|Help|Tell. This motto relies on the reader to see the content on their webpage, and feel an overwhelming amount of compassion that will lead to involvement in the organization.
Finally, It became apparent that emotion plays a huge rule in every aspect of the organization when the leader of ONE LIFE responded to the question of if emotions had any role in her decision to join the organization: “I think there has to be some level of emotion that drives us to want to give back to our community and try to make our world a better place, so emotions were a huge part of wanting to start this up.” In conclusion, ONE LIFE is a student organization that was founded by emotional drive and as a result, is fueled and sustained by the use of modern pathos.