Reference 2

William Ellson. Facebook. Facebook, 26 August 2015. Web. 3 September 2015.

Summary: Will’s purpose in creating this Facebook post was to call to action the people who are friends with him to try harder to prevent these types of tragedies from happening. He doesn’t use fact of evidence but his own ethos to gain people’s attention and respect for what he says. He also links an article that highlights the wonderful lives of the two reports killed in the recent Roanoke shooting, which exemplifies why we need to try harder to prevent shootings.

Critical reflections: Will’s audience is obviously his Facebook friends since they are the only ones able to see his post. This plays a large role is his ability to make his tone less formal and more personal. He is known by everyone as a respectable and educated young man, which allows him to have influence over his peers already without having too many rhetorical devices. Also since he has a small audience of his peers and friends, it allows him to put more emphasis on other appeals such as pathos. He brings connections to the fact that this tragedy was so close to VT and that it’s our job as a community around VT to protect and help the people around us. Compared to the other sources, Will is a lot more formal and less effective to the general public. Since his audience is just his Facebook friends it allow him to write in such a way. Like the other source, he appeals heavily to people’s emotions but doesn’t establish his ethos as much through fact and numbers because it already has been established.

Quotes: “I am a gun owner and responsible shooter myself, but something must be done to prevent these tragedies for occurring.”  

“It is not just the responsibility of one individual, it is an issue that we must all address, as a community, as a country”