Rhetorical Analysis : Marijuana and the Super bowl

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Rhetorical Analysis on Super Bowl Attracts a Marijuana Message, and visual

English 1311

Alfredo Beltran

Professor Rajendra Panthee

University of Texas at El Paso

May 9, 2014

Rhetorical Analysis on Super bowl attracts a Marijuana Message

The writer of this article, James Barron is heavily basing his article using the idea behind ethos which is credibility. He is a writer for the New York Times which makes him a person with a lot of influence on people and a very credible source. He quotes many people in this article for example Mason Tvert the spoke person for The Marijuana Policy Project and N.F.L commissioner, Roger Goodell. His article is informative; he just wants to inform people about the idea of legalizing Marijuana since the two teams that played in the Super Bowl are from states that legalized Marijuana for recreational use.

In his first three paragraphs the writer starts of by using ethos and pathos by giving out facts that can cause surprise on the reader once he starts off this article. He states that the Marijuana Policy Project posted billboards near Mile High Stadium home of the broncos before their first game which said Marijuana: Safer than alcohol. And football. Here the author is using pathos because he is making people that play and watch football question themselves and maybe feel a bit different with the thought that Marijuana might not be as bad as other people think. On his third paragraph he keeps on telling us that the group has spent nearly 5000 dollars in billboards that are near MetLife Stadium in New York were the Super bowl was played. In this paragraph he is using ethos by telling facts which give him a lot more of credibility.

On his article the author mentions a message that is directed to the National Football League from Mason Tvert the spoke man for The Marijuana Policy Project, Why are players punished for making the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol? In Colorado and Washington State, this is now a legal product, and the N.F.L. has no legitimate reason to be policing marijuana use by players (Tvert,2014). The spoke man for this group uses ethos, pathos and logos in this one sentence. He uses logos when he states that why should players be punished when they take a safer choice of using Marijuana rather than alcohol, it is true that no one has died of an overdose of Marijuana ever and there has been thousands of deaths a year when it comes to the use alcohol, persuasion is being implemented in this sentence because this sentence says that Marijuana is a better choice than alcohol. Logos is also used when its mentioned that Marijuana is a legal product in those states (Washington and Denver) and therefore the NFL should have no reason in for not letting the players in that state use the product. Pathos is being used because it makes a person feel doubtful about the opinion that they have on Marijuana and Alcohol. Mentioning that Marijuana is a legal product is a really good way of using ethos because he references law and a law helps convince people about many things that need settling.

The efforts and campaigning of different groups have changed peoples opinion on what they think of Marijuana use. Many people that said that Marijuana could never be legal are changing their thoughts to it can be used for medical purposes, under this category of people falls Roger Goodell the commissioner for the National Football League. James Barron the author of this article says Roger Goodell, indicated last week that the league might reconsider its policy on marijuana for medicinal purposes, if research showed that it was a viable treatment for concussions (Barron,2014). All three logos, pathos and ethos are being used in this quote. Logos is used when the NFL commissioner says that he might reconsider its policy for Marijuana use if its proven that it can be a viable treatment for concussions. His reasoning is that if its proven that Marijuana can help out players that have concussions that is the only way he might change the NFLs policy. Concussions are a big concerns for many people that enjoy this sport because no one wants to see someone get hurt with something that can end someone career. Pathos is being shown because it makes people concern about the seriousness of a concussion it makes people realize that if medical Marijuana is a good way to help out players with concussions then the use of Marijuana can be okay, specially parents that have their kids playing this sport are going to reconsider their opinions on the Marijuana used for either medical purposes or recreational purposes. Ethos is being used because the commissioner said that he would change is the policy if research showed that Marijuana can help out treating concussions.

Rhetorical Analyzes of a visual

As we all know football is the most popular sport in the United States, its a sport that is played in all 50 states. Everyone can play this sport age doesnt matter because theres many different age leagues. One beverage that is common around most of the fans of this sport is beer. They sell it in all of the professional football stadiums and college stadiums; they drink it in pre-game parties, inside the stadium and even when they are having that Sunday cookout to watch their favorite team play. Marijuana falls in this visual because its making headlines in the news because of legalization. The two teams that made the Super bowl (one of the most watched games around the country and the world) this year are from states where Marijuana for recreational use has been legalized. The Marijuana Policy Organization is a campaign that is trying to make Marijuana legal in all 50 states of the United States and its using billboards and pictures as medium to get their message to people, if they want to get information about Marijuana and how its safer then beer and football what better way to do it but to make it relatable to a very broad public.

Pathos is being used in a very simple way, we start when you look at the names, on top of the picture of beer is the word beer can be seen, on top of the a football helmet is the word football can be seen, on top of the Marijuana leaf the word safer can be seen. This can cause a lot of different emotions in many people, it can cause some people lots of anger because many people that play football view Marijuana as an illegal drug and they think that there is no way that Marijuana can be safer than football or beer. It also makes people feel the necessity of getting informed about Marijuana and to do research on and that is exactly what this organization wants them to do, they want the public to have a shift of emotions. If we look at the helmet we can see that the helmet is cracked, this cause people to think that football can be unsafe at times specially with all the injuries that many player have gone through. This cracked helmet can cause many of the parents that have kids playing football feel many different emotions because when you play, people do run a risk of getting hurt, the chances of getting hurt can be big or can be small it all depends on the situation. A cracked helmet is something that no football player nor parents and coaches want to see because only a very hard serious hit can cause a helmet to crack, as a parent if you see a helmet cracked on your kids head it makes you feel defenseless and very scared because you dont know what kind of injury could of happen as a result from getting hit in the head. A beer just gives you a mix of emotions because you can right away find a relationship between football and beer, they go together since a long time ago. When you think of beer people think of many of the different times that they have drank it, either when they were with family or with a bunch of friends having a good time but lets remember that when someone is under the influence of alcohol it can make them feel happy or depressed, beer is something that triggers many different kinds of emotions on people.

Ethos can help a person that is looking at this picture understand it more, because it deals with credibility. Many people might think that there is no way that Marijuana is safer but under the picture you see a link and when you go to this link, you will immediately see another picture related to this topic. Theres a small article that is directed to the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and if you agree with all that this small article is saying you can sign an online petition, so you can be part of the people that made a change in this country. Ethos is also being used because this small article and picture can help convince people and that is what the author wants, he wants to make people change their thought on Marijuana, Football and Beer.

Marijuana is an illegal drug when it comes to recreational use in 48 states, its legal for medical purposes in 20 states. Its legal in one country for recreational use in and that country is Uruguay this was all over the worlds news. Yes, Marijuana is illegal but many people think while looking at this picture, why beer would be compared to Marijuana, and that reason is very simple, not many people know that beer is a drug. Its a legal drug; it was illegal in the United States back in the 1920s throughout the 1930s. A lot of people became rich because they would smuggle beer into the United States and would sell it illegally, sounds familiar? This is exactly what is going on with Marijuana in the United States, once beer got legalized in the United States the economy started getting better because people had jobs as a result of it. The economy boosted because the government could tax beer and got a lot of money that they could use to fix up schools, roads and many other things. If we legalize Marijuana, the economy will boost, there will be jobs for people, and the government can tax it not mentioning that it can take a lot of power and money from drug lords that smuggle drug into the United States. Even though beer or alcohol is a legal drug it is one of the main reasons for death in the United States. Alcohol is by far the drug that has killed the most people in this country; there have been no deaths by overdose on Marijuana in the United States.

Images and articles can help out a person understand a lot but you need rhetorical analyzes which includes the use of Logos, Pathos and Ethos to understand everything in a better way. There is always a background to any kind of information and Logos, Pathos and Ethos are help you figure out the message. The legalization of Marijuana will always be an issue in the United States and around the world; today people are trying to legalize Marijuana who knows what kind of thing people are going to try to legalize 10 or 20 years from now. Logos, Ethos and Pathos will always help us understand what kind of message the author is trying to tell us.

Citation Page

Barron, J (2014, January 28) Super Bowl Attracts a Marijuana Message.

New York Times. Retrieved from https://www. nytimes.com