The art of rhetoric

Ava DuVernay is a visionary filmmaker and the director of the 2014's Selma. In her long-awaited documented documentary called 13th, she cleared the air that the United States government's prison system was the biggest shame from the times of slavery. Beyond that, the filmmaker states that it is really continued slavery by the government (DuVernay, 2016). The film shows how denial was portrayed systematically towards the African American and tied it up in the two institutions. The 13th documentary shows that the connections with denial are undeniable. As a matter of fact, the film shows that the current country's incarceration might worsen beyond slavery. As informed by the 13th, there are more black Americans that are kept in corridors of criminal justice than the number of slaves in 1850. Since 1865, slavery would be cut off during the time of amending the 13th constitution hence the title of the documentary, the 13th. However, one small clause was the father of slave trade that represented various crimes and punishment (DuVernay, 2016). The clause stated that there will not again be slavery in the United States not unless it was a punishment of a committed crime and after conviction of such a crime. The government of the United States has not clearly exploited that clause to better profits since that time and thus the 13th criticizes the nation for that.

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When the film chronicles individual fates of those who go through the carceral state, many viewers consider it to be at its best. In an example, a 22-year-old Khalief Browder from New York City committed suicide when he was held for a period of three years in prison as he was awaiting trial on charged crime in Rikers Island. The young man was charged with stealing a backpack and this is portrayed with wrenching grace. Browder's character is considered a courageous person when he denied a plea bargain for a thing he honestly never did. The violence that he had faced in the prison as portrayed in the documentary is clear evidence of his suicidal act after his release. Additionally, the film illustrates a well thought of heated debate among black students and civil activists concerning the behaviors showing sufferings by the black and unexplained killings by the police. The 13th documentary clearly illustrates that criminalization is so persistent in anti-black racism. The film further demonstrates the repetitive nature of law and order politics as it is juxtaposed by DuVernay in various scenes from the speeches by Trump and also rallies with the security officers and attacks by vigilante groups of the black civil activists in the 1960s (DuVernay, 2016). The said scenes in the film together with commentary portray the mission and purposed structure of black lives matters to be a long struggle fighting criminalization. In the film footages, there are underscores of Malkia Cyril's most authoritative comment that the black lives matter is all based on making changes in a way the country must understand human dignity.

Mass incarnation is much described in the 13th film as a backlash to the civil society and also the movements by the black powers. There are compelling footages of a black panther by the name of Assata Shakur with other activists. Additionally, the film focuses mostly on the director of FBI Edgar Hoover and also the president of the state Nixon thinking more than on what they could do. CNN reporter referenced and made contributions to the imprisonment and exile or dismissal of the black activists in the early 1960s and clearly brought in the context why there is less opposition to the crime committed. In his contribution, the CNN reporter added that there is the importance of examining various mass incarnation foundations in the 1960s political repression and social movements. There are no discussions in the film on the policies that give greater authority to the nation's police, prosecution bodies and prison warders in those years. As observed in the film, mass incarceration started via doubled campaigns of targeted ant radicalization paired along with a broad political-economic group of employed class. The film is not simply a racial caste evolution as stated by Michelle Alexander but it is mass incarceration which has severally been half partisan political social control project (DuVernay, 2016). The social control project was mainly a counter to the revolutionary movements by liberals as well as the conservative elites. The film narrowly shows that date mass incarceration towards Reagan's expansion of the war on drug abuse in the year 1980 and Clinton's war on crime.

The anthology of 'Everything is an Argument' shows the political divisions and a culture that is driven by entertainment in the United States (Daughton, 2015). In the United States culture, the word argument has various primary and negative aspects. The anthology explains hoe the politicians have an angry face and shaking fists who want to kick the rest out of an argument and win at all costs. The anthology views this type of an argument so as to explore it and challenge it in the book. As a matter of facts, there are other various ways of making arguments which include the invitational arguments that are described by researchers like Josina Makau, Foss and Cindy Griffin. The various forms of arguments bring interest in inviting the other people to come together in a mutual exploration which is based on respect. Adding to the invitational argument, there is another kind of argument by the name Rogerian argument that approaches the audience in a more friendly way as the people arguing try to look for common ground as well as establishing trust about who oppose the argument. The argument writers who take the latter type of argument try to imagine where the other arguing partner comes from as they look for both solutions as much as possible (Daughton, 2015). Accordingly, there are various reasons that make people argue and again not all reasons aim at winning the arguments. Adding to convincing and persuading the audiences, arguments could also be used for informing and exploring and also mediating or praying.

Aristotle made identifications of three-time surveyed ways that the writers can appeal to their audiences and gave them names like pathos, ethos, and logos. These appeals are of great affection in the current time as it was in Aristotle's time even if people think of it in different ways. Pathos is an emotional appeal that leads to either fear, love, or other emotional feelings. Concrete, as well as a language that describes painted pictures in the minds of people reading a certain situation, make an emotional appeal that brings a bond between the readers and their authors. In an opportune moment of an argument, the Greek mythology brings in Kairos who was a god of opportunities. In the mythological images, Kairos is shown as the most unusual character with so much air in his head (Daughton, 2015). As one considers their rhetorical situations, there is a need for thinking about the most appropriate time for a person to make an argument and a way of making such an argument. Pathos is evident in an announcement that was made by a White House blog that announced that the coming night the president of the republic made announcements to the public that Osama bin Laden had been killed by the United States. The people of the United States reacted differently in various social media platforms as the citizens of the nation recalled how devastating the attacks by al Qaeda were. The people showed their reactions emotionally as it was observed in social media platforms.

As explained earlier, ethos is an argument that is based on characters. When a person reads an article in an advertisement, it is no doubt that they will make an analysis concerning the article in a sense of character and also its credibility. Establishing a character takes more time than repetition and this is known by various kinds of marketers. In the automobiles industry, companies are making trials of reinventing fuel-efficient cars and they have kept huge campaign posters. The posters have convinced the buyers that their product character has changed for the better. The last kind of arguments as stated is the arguments that are based on facts and reason. The images in the anthology in one of its chapters show a lot about the reactions of people using them in different places of logic. The images in the book show very ordinary places where logic is placed like an example of CSI investigations (Daughton, 2015). The viewers of the actions go on to want access to various assumed facts that may help them in a certain argument.

The various rhetorical uses and acts shown in the documentary and the anthology of 'Everything is an Argument' show various services, approaches, human practices and behavioral therapies that are considered more of human dignities. The documentary shows how human dignity is disrespected by modern colonial masters who are so tribal in their deeds. The anthology shows how human beings respond to various acts that are against human dignities or attract their attention in various ways. Considering the scenes in the film, there is needed at least a little amount of dignity as well as humanity included in the plans of the government.

Works Cited

Hart, Roderick P., and Suzanne M. Daughton. Modern rhetorical criticism. Routledge, 2015.

DuVernay, Ava, S. Averick, and H. Barish. "13th [Documentary]." US: Netflix (2016).