Mark Steven Rodriguez

Prof. Dylan Altman

English 113A
September 9, 2014
Rhetoric Summaries
In the article Dont Blame the Eater, by David Zinczenko, there is Pathos,
emotion, and Logos, logic and facts, being used. Zinczenkos story about himself being
an obese child is a great way to use pathos to attract emotion. By age 15, I had packed
212 pounds of torpid teenage tallow on my once lanky 5-foot-10 frame. Zinczenko uses
this in a way that he can relate to obese children and their problems because he once was
also obese. Zinczenko uses logos, the use of facts and logic, by throwing in some fact
about the obesity rate and an example of an order from a fast-food restaurant. Zinczenko
claims, Today, according to the National Institute of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts
for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country. Zinczenko
also states diabetes in children was general caused by a genetic disorder. This shows
that children today have are getting diabetes from being over weight and eating too much.
Zinczenko uses Pathos and Logos successfully in his article to convey that obesity is a
problem in our nation.

The article Junking Junk Food, by Judith Warner, has all 3 Rhetoric devices,
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos incorporated in it. Warner notes David Kessler on his work
about changing the social norms in the United States that is Ethos, observation. Kessler
observed that in the past generation, cigarettes became unappealing to people after it was

being portrayed as a terribly disgusting, addictive product. Through this observation,

Kessler claimed that social norms could change: that huge proportions, or eating
processed foods loaded with sugar, salt and fat, for example, could come to be seen as
socially unacceptable. Pathos, emotional appeal, is also used in this article when Glenn
Beck claims, Left to your own devices, youre going to eat too much, youre going to
be a big fat fatty. Beck uses the words big fat fatty to make the audience fear being
over weight. Judith Warner uses the rhetoric devices to her advantage to convey that we
can change the obesity rate in children and adults.

Radley Balko uses Pathos and Logos in his article What You Eat Is Your
Business. Balko uses a testimony, Pathos, to discuss the fact that people dont care about
being healthy because theyre not paying for their own health bill. Balko states, Your
well-being, shape, and condition have increasingly been deemed matters of public
health, instead of matter of personal responsibility. Balko keeps going on that people
will not have any incentive at all to stay or become healthy as long as they dont have to
pay for their own medical bill. Balko throws in a couple facts, logos, in this article as
well. One of them being that, President Bush earmarked $200 million in his budget for
anti-obesity measures. Former president bush isnt the only person that had started to
raise money or get into the anti-obesity measures. There are also school boards all over
the United States that have begun banning snacks and soda from school campuses and
vending machines. noted by Balko.

Paul Campos uses Logos and Pathos for the article Being fat is OK. Campos
mostly uses logic, Logos, to back up and explain his ideas. An example of logic is when
Campos claims, We know that fat people are less healthy than thin people because they
are fat. It is obvious that this is true and does not need to be stated in this reading.
Another example of something that doesnt need to be stated by Campos is, We know
that fat people would be as healthy as thin people if they lost weight. Campos also uses
facts to add on to logos. Such facts like The failure rate for diets is estimated to be 90
percent and 98 percent is a great addition to this article because it informs the
audience that becoming healthy can still fail. Although Campos knows what hes
speaking about he isnt using logos to his benefit because what he is claiming just seems
to be unneeded in this article.