Rhetorical Analysis of Social Media's Political Power

This assignment analyzes the rhetorical techniques used by author Clay Shirky in his article 'The Political Power of Social Media' published in Foreign Affairs on February 13, 2011. The analysis focuses on logos (appeal to reason), pathos (appeal to emotion), and ethos (appeal to ethics) as Shirky describes how social media has impacted political issues across different time periods. He illustrates the power of social media in various ways, including its ability to document events and create emotional reactions.

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RHETORICAL ANALYSIS WRITING ASSIGNMENT

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Summary of the Author’s Argument:..............................................................................................2
Logos...............................................................................................................................................2
Pathos...............................................................................................................................................3
Ethos................................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
Works Cited.....................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
The main motive of this assignment is to conduct a rhetorical analysis of the article the “Political
Power of Social Media”, which was published in FOREIGN AFFAIRS on 13th February 2011.
This article was written by Clay Shirky. He is the professor of New Media at New York
University and he has penned down Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected
Age.
Summary of the Author’s Argument:
The main themes of the article are to describe how social media has an impact over the political
issues in several time periods. Through the implementation of the social media in various ways
by the various political leaders and parties, it is possible to attract the huge population in their
favor.
Logos
Logos is a way of persuasion to the audience by reason (Burnyeat). Introduction of Logos has
been made by the author while describing The Theatre of Collapse, the drastic of communism in
the Eastern Europe. In the words of the author “The ability of these groups… simple
photocopiers, provided a visible alternative to the communist regimes” (Shirky 28-41). The
importance of the documentation has been described here as he described that a single secret like
poor economic condition of the communist government was out and that made impossible for the
governments to order their troops. The evidence of the practice of Logos by the protestant is
sound and it has a positive effect on undoing the rule of communist party.

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Pathos
Pathos is an appeal to the emotion, and a way of stating arguments to the audience by creating an
emotional reaction (Emanuel, Cameli and Marcos). Clay Shirky has referred to Hillary Clinton’s
speech “Arguing for the right of people to use the internet freely … it resonates with American
beliefs about freedom of expression” (Shirky 28-41). The implementation of pathos is very
prolific here and it has the positive as well as negative outcomes, like using it on specific country
or use the idea of Internet Freedom to achieve short-term goals will be particularly disastrous for
the country.
Ethos
Ethos is an appeal to ethics and it is a way of convincing someone by the character by the
credibility of the persuader (Samuel-Azran, Moran and Gadi 149-162). While discussing The
Conservative Dilemma the author stated “Disciplined and Coordinated groups, whether business
or governments have always had an advantage over undisciplined ones: they have an easier time
engaging in collective action because they have an orderly way of directing the action of their
members” (Shirky 28-41). This is a great example of introduction of Ethos, because it describes
the credibility of the disciplined groups. With the help of social media it is possible to
compensate the disadvantages of having undisciplined group.
Conclusion
Through several ideas and several modes of implementation by the political leaders, social media
can efficiently introduce in the political agenda. Though always not positive consequence it has
several impacts over the people in several time periods and the proper way of the author's
description is rhetorically analyzed in this assignment.

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Works Cited
Emanuel, Barbara, Camila Rodrigues, and Marcos Martins. "Rhetoric of Interaction: analysis of
pathos." International Conference of Design, User Experience, and Usability. Springer
International Publishing, 2015.
Samuel-Azran, Tal, Moran Yarchi, and Gadi Wolfsfeld. "Aristotelian rhetoric and Facebook
success in Israel’s 2013 election campaign." Online Information Review 39.2 (2015):
149-162.
Burnyeat, Myles F. "Enthymeme: Aristotle on the logic of persuasion." (2015).
Shirky, Clay. "The political power of social media: Technology, the public sphere, and political
change." Foreign affairs (2011): 28-41.