Rhetorical Analysis Of Gerry Smith: The Capability Of Sympathy

The Capability of Sympathy
Imagine a woman desperately scrounging for crumbs in the cupboards of her kitchen. Her face sunken with grief as she looks for anything that might quell the pleas of her starving son. Her search turns up empty-handed, and she is then forced to either let her child go hungry or find another means of obtaining food. Many scenarios like this can be found in Gerry Smith’s “How a Government Computer Glitch Forced Thousands of Families to go Hungry. It is an article about a recent event occurring back around 2010 of how faulty programs provided by the Accenture Company left many families without food on the table. Not only were food stamps affected by their flawed programing, but so were other welfare applications regarding insurances. While the topic of the core reading is interesting enough on its own the author uses a number of methods to keep the reader’s attention. Through the use of rhetorical appeals the author plays off the sympathy and moral of his audience by providing examples of individuals affected by the lack of food stamps, pointing out the lack of effort put toward computer programs designated for use by the poor, and by calling North Carolina out for its many technological problems.
Smith heavily
relies on the sympathy of his audience to keep their attention. Using the stories of real life individuals he paints a picture as to how some rely greatly on their missing food stamps. Photos from these cases are included to further escalate the emotion brought about by the scenarios.
One of the examples used by Smith states how Janette Simon, a mother of four, must divide a minimal amount of food between herself and her kids. The woman is struggling to feed her children, and as a whole they all are often forced to let the hunger gnaw at their empty bellies. Telling her “…two youngest kids to play outside “so they ain’t thinking about eating.” (Smith) In this example it’s obvious times are hard. For some the strife experienced when sustenance or some other necessity isn’t present is a relatable one. With the involvement of children in this and multiple other cases Smith offers he hits home with a lot of his audience. No one wants their child hungry. “I gotta look at these kids with their sad faces and no food,” (Smith) says Simon when interviewed by Gerry Smith. Such a quote as this is chosen to bring about the sympathy of the audience and pull their attention toward the seriousness of the situation.
Another example used by the author is the case of Ken Chapman, a 54-year-old man who “…earns $50 a day digging ditches and removing debris as a temporary laborer.” (Smith) By shedding light on the already poor situations these people are in, Smith further beckons sympathy from his readers. By choosing certain words that might trigger ones thought he is able to easily maintain attention throughout his article. Not to mention he offers quotes that just hang on an individual’s conscious for a while after the reader has finished the piece. Such a quote again comes from Ken Chapman within the reading saying “I’m not starving, but I’m about to starve.” (Smith).
Another attention grabbed within Gerry Smith’s article is how he boldly points out how poor the equipment used for the poor is stating “The high profile failure of the federal health care exchange last fall illustrated what many low-income people have encountered for years: faulty computer systems and websites that prevent them from receiving public assistance on time.” (Smith) Again, this is something relatable to the public by bringing up the general frustration of technology as a whole. Albeit, here he is singling out just how bad the poor have it. That on top of their trouble with receiving food stamps and other welfare types the technology used by them for these purposes is extremely unreliable. It expresses a certain lack of value for the families with these types of income.
A number of programs were merged into one computer system and as stated by state officials, “they did not have time to properly test the system and ran into glitches that created the food stamp delays.” (Smith) That statement offers lack of character on the official’s part as any system used for the public should be tested and the glitches fixed before exposure. By showing the lack of interest in technology used for the poor the author further draws his readers in. It is even stated within the article by Camilla Lewis that “…state officials don’t seem to care much about families like hers.” (Smith)
Throughout the core reading there are numerous times where it appears the author is calling out North Carolina for its actions: said actions referring to the state sticking with a company that’s provided it poor service and even other technology blunders. Already it partnered with a company whose project was “behind schedule and $100 million over budget” (Smith) in a separate state and ethic is swiftly called into question here as Smith brings up multiple situations where Accenture failed as a reliable service providing company. He brings up the fact that when the contract came up that “Accenture was the only company to bid on the contract. (Smith) With money influencing North Carolina, of course they’re going to keep a company around that backs them! Unfortunately it is made evident that with the presence of said company, the interests of the poor don’t appear to be too valued. The state also ended up mailing “49,000 children’s Medicaid cards with their private medical information to the wrong addresses.” (Smith) Another blunder put out there so Smith might bring up the unethical behavior of the state, regardless how accidental the incident was.
While Gerry Smith used a great deal of sympathy and moral questioning in his piece to keep his audience’s attention he doesn’t always use the same methods.
In another of his pieces, “Why Credit Card Companies Couldn’t Stop Hacks At Target And Home Depot” he provides a gratuitous amount of evidence in supporting the ideas presented. Using such statements as “Companies are issuing new credit cards that use an embedded microchip and a PIN code instead of a magnetic stripe and a signature to authorize transactions,” (Smith) to offer present days facts and fixes. Many of the author’s titles to his pieces also tend to be rather long and descriptive as to what the article is about. Using choice words to better catch his audience’s
attention.
Drawing one’s sympathy is an easy way to make anyone invested into something. Smith does this in his piece and also brings about the questionability of North Carolina’s ethics. By providing examples of the individuals affected with the loss of their food stamps he offers an image as to how difficult the times were. Additionally he talks about the technology used by the poor and how dreadful it is. Both the examples and sorry technology are relatable situations and might be used to beckon sympathy. Finally, he brings up multiple situations where North Carolina’s actions were questionable on moral grounds. Smith does well in keeping his reader’s attention. The play on character is a big help, and ultimately the topic itself was just blatantly interesting.