Katy Hanratty Blog #8

After watching “First Writing Since” it was clear that there were several points when she used logos, ethos and pathos.  I saw how she used logos because she really got her point across to the audience.  She was very emotional and passionate when she was speaking and from looking at the audience, you can tell that she connected with them.  The main point of her poem is how unfair America can be when it comes to people of color and how horrible the stereotypes are.  A quote that proves this is when she said “One more person ask me if I knew the hijackers, one more mother f***** asks me what Navy my brother is in..”  This quote suggests that just because she is Palestinian she knows everything about terrorism.  I saw how she used ethos because she made several points about the war going on today.  Her credibility was never doubted throughout her poem because she was presenting facts within her argument.  “Bush has waged war on a man once openly funded by the CIA, I’ve read too many books to believe what I’m told.”  This quote shows that she has a valid argument because she has done her research on what her poem is talking about.  I saw how she used pathos when the camera showed the audience.  You saw how moved the audience was, especially the woman who was so touched by this poem she cried.  She also used pathos by giving the audience a visual image of the war going on and when she was talking about when the twin towers were hit.
I do believe that she uses poetry to make an argument of how stereotypical people can be.  I definitely find her to be persuasive because she not only speaks with so much emotion but what she is saying I agree with.  I believe that in America we do stereotype people way too much.  If a girl is raped, we automatically assume that the attacker was African American, if something goes wrong at an air port we assume the person is Islamic or Palestinian.  I think she presents a great argument because she gives several examples of personal experiences to back up her argument.