Who Do You TRUST?

     The chapter "Arguments Based on Character: Ethos" was mainly an informative text telling of how the credibility of people and companies have an affect on their consumers.  In America and throughout the world today billions of people are basing almost every single move they make on the ethos of what they see around them.  Ethos is the main argument of how we make our decisions and how we decide which path to take.  When we decide between which president we want to elect we look at there previous history in politics, what they stand for, and how they portray themselves to their audience.  These are all ways that they prove their credibility to us and make us want to vote for them.  When a parent buys a new family mini van they check how safe each company's model is to determine what is the best option for them.  The company with the most credibility of safety is often the company of choice.  While taking classes in college for a career you want to pursue it is important to know how credible the teacher is in knowledge of the subject and what is their past experience in what they do.  A task that we all have to prove our ethos is when we apply for a job. The company wants to know if you have experience in the field and your previous schooling in order to hire the best man for the job.
     The section in this chapter that I found particularly interesting was "Establishing Credibility".  It was very informative to me and will help me in any future career I take.  It is all about the little things and minor changes that will affect how you are being viewed and how credible of a person you really are.

ARGUMENTS ALL AROUND

   I have always had a pretty good understanding of how arguments have impacted the course of history but after reading chapter fourteen in “Everything’s an Argument" I was given another hard hitting reminder of how closely they effect our day to day lives. Our entire existence is based on how we view the world around us and the arguments that are behind shoved into our brains. Without us even realizing it we are constantly being feed information that is turning us in one direction or another. Movies, television, magazines,billboards, posters, and food packaging are just some of the many ways arguments are reaching us. Starting from a very young age our minds are being programed with propaganda of images and sounds that stick with us for the rest of our lives. We associate almost all of everything we see around us to certain objects or sounds,( for example the McDonald's arches)
.   While reading through the text, the particular section that caught my attention the most was "Visual Arguments That Appeal to Emotion". This was especially intriguing to me because I believe by way of our emotions is the number one way companies are trying to target there audiences. This section talked mostly of how our emotions can be manipulated and effected by advertisements and how even the slightest change in the ad can trigger a different emotion. For example a picture of Barack Obama can portray completely contrasting views to different audiences depending on how it is viewed.

 

  

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