This past week we discussed three types of arguments, pathos, ethos, and logos in accordance with Everything’s an Argument Chapters 1 and 2. Arguments can attempt to convince or explore a topic. In the attempt to persuade, evidence can be presented in the methods of pathos–the use of emotion, ethos–the writer’s personal credibility, and logos–the utilization of factual, statistical, or hard evidence to support a claim. Communicators, whether they be writers, actors, reporters, representatives, or comedians, appeal to their ideal audience through the use of these techniques.

The imagined, ideal audience is the people the person has in mind when arguing. However, the real audience includes those not in this group–therefore, evidence is needed to back these claims. This is where the arguer must go beyond sentimental persuasion and use his or her personal experience and logically infer the issue at hand.An example of this in class was the “Hot Pockets” sketch by Jim Gaffigan. The comedian starts out immediately with a self-test, mentioning background information that he had a bad experience with the meal. This provides the audience with affirmation that he is a credible source, and resonates with other experiencers of the Hot Pocket thrill-ride. To make sure he includes the real–and not just imagined–audience, the comedian makes fun of white trash and then identifies with them, empowering both communicator and receiver as knowledgeable and receptive of one another. Through satirizing NASCAR and mocking NASCAR fans’ perceived view of himself, he appeals to more of the audience. Gaffigan then discusses the horrid effects of eating the meal, satirizing the corporation distributing Hot Pockets and its jingle by use of pathos. Again, he supports this emotional appeal to the weak stomach via his personal experience. This example is powerful in the use of humor to make an argument, involving pathos and ethos to believe such statements.