Article: “There's No Benefit to Lowering the Drinking Age”
The article revolves around a rhetorical issue of minimum drinking age in an extensively persuasive discussion, which provides exclusive measures which may be undertaken to control the problem. Drinking among children below the minimum drinking age has been an extensive problem in the American society.
The article has been made attractive by various things that the author has chosen to do. One of the things that he has used in his analysis is proper use of language and vocabularies. In persuasion, the target party must understand what the author says in his or her article. The language used in this article is simple to understand and respond to for proper analysis. Well thought sayings also make the article attractive to the reader. For example, “If you're old enough to go to war, you should be old enough to drink,” (Voas, 2006) shows the stand of the author in his analysis that young people should not be allowed to take alcohol. Also, statistics plays an extremely critical role in understanding any issue. The author has involved findings from various researchers, which may extremely persuasive to various readers.
Rhetorical strategies are usually used to make it easy to understand the activity in an article. Voas has been keen enough to employ various rhetorical strategies in his writing. Ethos is one of the strategies that the author has been able to bring up in this article. Following the extension of this problem in the American society, the author has been able to present the belief of the nation on the issue through excellent presentation of the belief of the community. For example, he says “Ask platoon leaders and unit commanders, and they'll tell you that the last thing they want is young soldiers drinking” (Voas, 2006). This shows that the society has a belief that alcohol should not be consumed by young ones as it is harmful to their health as well as their contribution in the society. Logos have also been used as a rhetorical strategy. For example, when he says “If you're old enough to go to war, you should be old enough to drink,” (Voas, 2006) he wants to bring up an argument that the drinking age should not be created to bring argument on support for an individual to become a drunkard. Pathos as a rhetorical strategy has also been used keenly well by the author when he says "Europeans let their kids drink, so they learn how to be more responsible,” (Voas, 2006). This is provocative among Americans to stop the drinking habit among their children.
Drinking among young individuals remains a major problem in the society. Voas is one of the writers who have keenly addressed the problem among youths with an aim of completely eliminating the problem in the society. Voas has been able to create a rhetorical situation that has been equally informative to his audience. He has been persuasive enough through use of well coined words and language to suit meaning to his article. However, he nails it up by proper use of rhetorical strategies such as logos, pathos and ethos.
Work Cited
Voas, Robert . "“There's No Benefit to Lowering the Drinking Age” ." The Christian Science monitor weekly. 2006. Reprint. Boston, Mass.: Christian Science Pub. Society, 2006. 463. Print.
