Rhetorical Analysis: Too Much of a Good Thing
Rhetorical Analysis: Too Much of a Good Thing “At least 25% of all Americans under age nineteen are overweight or obese, a figure that has doubled over the last 30 years.” says Greg Crister in his article titled “Too Much of a Good Thing” which appeared on July 22, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times. In his article, Crister uses three common rhetorical strategies, ethos, pathos, and logos, in an attempt to persuade his audience, anyone raising children or interested in children's health issues, of how prevalent this epidemic has become and provide them with some solutions as to how they can help prevent childhood obesity. Overall, Crister's argument succeeds and his audience walks away convinced that childhood obesity is, in fact, an epidemic that plagues children in their own country and that they must act immediately themselves to help fight the fight and insure that it does not become a problem with their own children. One common rhetorical strategy is ethos, which is the use of credible sources to support a claim. Since Crister is a writer and not an expert on childhood obesity himself, it is important that he uses creditable sources to persuade the audience of the epidemic that childhood obesity is becoming. Crister uses ethos very well in his argument by providing current findings from reliable sources that are relevant to the immediate problem of childhood obesity. At the beginning of his article, Crister says, “Obesity,' the U.N. proclaim[s], 'is the dominant unmet global health issue, with Westernized countries topping the list." It is a common belief that the United Nations predominately only deals with epidemics that plague children in third world countries so by bringing to the audience's attention that the U.N. is now focusing on the United States, Crister encourages them to look closer to home to see what an immediate crisis that childhood obesity has become. By making the audience aware that childhood obesity is being treated as an epidemic by a
Cited: Crister, Greg. "Too Much of a Good Thing." Los Angeles Times 22 July 2001. 16 November 2012 .