Get On Board Little Children

On September 11, 2001, the lives of many Americans changed forever. The

terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center & The Pentagon caused a range of emotions

for Americans. Many were angered by the attacks, while others were frightened and

some were confused, among other things. In an attempt to lead the people during

those turbulent times President George W. Bush held a state of the Union address. The

basis of his address was, those who committed those acts would be bought to justice and

things would be put into place to prevent such a terrible act from happening again.

President Bush was able to reassure the American public using pathos to drive home his

points.

President Bush begins his speech by immediately addressing and involving his

audience. He does this by giving examples of Americans showing patriotism and self

sacrifice to save others. He goes as far as asking that the wife of an airline passenger,

which was aboard one of the flights on 9-11, be welcomed by the audience. In addition

he went out of his way to thank those abroad as well, from England, to South Korea and

Latin America. But he didn't limit his thanks to countries alone. He continued on to

thank those at a mosque in order to show that he didn't blame all Muslims for the acts

committed by a few extremist. This allowed for inclusiveness as opposed to

exclusiveness. And finally he spoke of other citizens who lost their lives

from other countries. By including the other nations President Bush showed that the

attacks weren't only America's problem. Those were excellent use of pathos, given the

mind state of the country and the world.

Once he got his audience involved President Bush began to identify the attackers.

He didn't paint a bland picture of terrorist, for that would've left doubt. He described them as murderers, radicals and extremist. He let the audience know this wasn't the first time we were attacked by this group. And once again he let it be known that we weren't the only ones attacked, which promoted inclusiveness. He also put a name to those who attacked Americans, by doing this he eliminated more doubt. He went on to talk about Al Queda practices and training. He talked about where they trained and their belief system. He painted a picture of al Queda as not only being terrorist to the U.S., but also terrorizing the people in the Middle East. He told tales of men being jailed if their beard wasn't long enough or even for owning a television. Once he identified the attackers he was able to tell why they attacked America. He spoke of al Queda hatred for democracy and the freedoms that Americans enjoyed.