Rhetorical Analysis: The Legalization of Marijuana

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Rhetorical Analysis
The debate around the legalization of marijuana has been around for a long time. The New York Times Editorial Board wrote an article “Repeal Prohibition, Again” on the 27th of July 2014. In this article the board argues that “The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.” The article came out at the right time when several people have raised concerns both for and against marijuana. The board uses several approaches in order to appeal to the audience to side with them on the need to repeal the ban on marijuana. This rhetorical analysis will analyse the use of appeals, language style and organization of the article and its effectiveness in achieving its purpose.
In analysing the appeals of the article, the board has its ethos based on the long standing experience of the New York Times. NYT is an established media house across the USA and their writing are treated as authentic and professional. The NYT has different groups of specialities and the fact that the article is written by the board it gives it a wider view of the argument they are making. Secondly, logical appeals have been employed greatly to support the argument made throughout the article. For instance, the authors have compared the number of arrests for other drugs with those of marijuana; they mention “There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives.” Also, it’s important to note that the authors have cited the source of their data as the FBI database. This makes their content more believable and authentic. The authors have also employed pathos in appealing to the audience by eluding that the arrests on the illegal marijuana use have mostly focused on one racial group. They mention “Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.” By mentioning this, the authors want to appeal to the emotions of the audience.
The language style has also been inf...