Firstly, I would like to introduce myself as an honest and
honorable return missionary who makes delicious Brazilian treats and is dating
a Brazilian. It is obvious that all
would love to try one of these mouthwatering chocolates. We’re all college students with a desire for
free and delectable foods, right? So why
not take a couple minutes and treat yourself to an exotic chocolate by
commenting on this post?
How can one effectively persuade another? This is an important skill when it comes to
job interviews, debates, convincing your roommates to wash the dishes or even
getting others to comment on a blog post for a rhetoric class. Through the use of ethos and knowledge of one’s
audience, one can easily persuade others to act or change.
To the Greeks, ethos, or the credibility of the speaker, was
very important. This is seen in The
Iliad when Agamemnon is introduced before addressing those fighting in the
war. It is made known ahead of time that
he is recognized and has authority.
Thersites on the other hand is not credible at all and is mocked when he
opposes Agamemnon. I used this in my
introduction by letting you know my background as an honest person and with Brazil and their foods.
Have you ever tried convincing a child to go to bed? It doesn’t work out so well. Another aspect of persuasion is to know your
audience. Children have no interest in
sleep. I knew that like me you are poor
college students who most likely enjoy eating.
Ulysses knew that glory in war and pride were important to the Greeks so
he called upon that to convince them to continue to fight. He also knew their strong belief in the gods
and asked them to trust in the prophecies.
When you know another’s interests, persuasion becomes an easy task.
Now comment and let me know if the techniques I learned from
The Iliad in persuasion work for you. And
I really will make you Brazilian chocolate.
Go persuade the world to be better!
I agree completely! First, I love your use of ethos and persuasion so that I had more incentive to comment and win a brazilian chocolate. I also agree completely with the way you related it to the credibility established for Agamemnon and I even mentioned something very similar in my own post. It's just like you established the fact that you were an honorable returned missionary. It is clear that Agamemnon has clear recognizable legitimacy. I couldn't agree more that this had a large affect on his audience. t enjoyed your post and analogy!
ReplyDeleteVery well said. Credibility is everything. Even when using solid, undeniable logic I think one can lose the audience, if said audience has no trust or confidence in the speaker. Just like you built trust by identifying all your Brazilian ties to build confidence that the chocolate would be legit. When I first read the post title, I was skeptical that the reward be anything, overly authentic, but then you built that credibility and all of the sudden I'm a little jealous that I'm the second post! :)
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