Rhetorical Analysis On Unanswered

Unanswered Calls for Help The Military Times states “New VA study finds 20 veterans commit suicide each day.” An editorial from the Denver Post suggest that this is an alarming rate and actions need to be taken to greatly decrease this. They found that oftentimes veterans literal calls for help were left unanswered. Often calls to the veteran suicide hotline are met with the ring of a busy signal, or simply sent to a voicemail. The writer of this editorial uses logos, pathos and grim diction to convince the reader that something needs to be done about these calls going to voicemail and help reduce the amount of calls left unanswered. The writer of this editorial targets the reader's emotions to help convince them that actions need to be
taken about the unanswered calls. “An average of 20 veterans who served their country take their life everyday. Some of those veterans survived war, returned home, and were unable to find the help they needed within the VA.” The writer displays the fact that 20 veterans commit suicide a day which makes the reader feel upset about the amount. “One veterans’ advocate said the hotline has worked for him every time he’s helped a veteran make the call, and he knows it personally has saved two lives.” Establishing that the VA hotlines do in fact help, makes the reader feel that all calls should be answered.
“Only six of the roughly 20 suicides that happen every day are veterans who have accessed some form of mental health care.” If only one and six veterans have successfully accessed help it makes the reader feel as if the VA is not doing its job correctly and needs to fix it so help can be accessed by all veterans. The writer also tries to convince you by other methods too. The writer also tries to connect to the reader and convince them to help improve the amount of calls answered by using facts with numbers. “An average of 20 veterans who served their country take their life everyday.” The writer says that on average 20 veterans commit suicide. This makes the reader think logistically about the amount of veterans taking their own lives daily. “Only six of the roughly 20 suicides that happen every day are veterans who have accessed some form of mental health care.” If only six out of every twenty suicides are receiving any kind of help, this reader will think that that number needs to largely increase. “The volume of calls is staggering — nearly half a million a year.” The amount of calls the VA receives is very large, and the writer wants to spread awareness about the unanswered calls. The writer attempts to convey the reader another way as well. The writer uses a series of grim word choices to convey the seriousness of the situation. “failure.” They describe the failed calls as failures to stress that the calls should not be left unanswered. “Unthinkable.” The writer describes the VA’s actions as unthinkable in allowing veterans pleas for help to be ignored. “Struggling.” The veterans are struggling for help and the VA needs to be able to offer help to every call they receive. In conclusion the writer uses logos, pathos, and grim diction to describe the seriousness of the situation and successfully get support to get the VA’s calls answered. One out of every six suicides receiving help is an alarming rate which needs to be fixed.