Olivya Fundora ENC 2135 Esther Okwonko July 24 2022 Rhetorical Rationale I decided to base my argument around the fact that no matter the environment people who hold high positions of power are likely to fall into corruption due to the power they hold Power can make people selfish impulsive and reckless My main goal is to bring awareness to people who might be prone to falling into that type of behavior and who might lose sight of what s important when it comes to being in a position of leadership Leaders should use the power they hold in order to help the greater good That being said my audience was those who are in positions of power and those who work in environments subject to corruption Hoping to reach this targeted audience I used three writing genres using different rhetorical devices in order to spread my message across The genres I used to get my argument were an opinion piece I wrote myself an email and a Powerpoint I believe that each one of these genres helped bring awareness and inform people of the effects and dangers of abusing power The first genre I used was an opinion piece on the topic The opinion piece talks about the reason behind why so many people fall to corruption and what can be done to stop it People use power to get things done The targeted audience was for people who have witnessed corruption taken place within their own community or others and who wish to help The piece talks about the difference between using power to benefit society and using power for personal gain When people use power for personal gain it affects everyone around them and usually in a negative way Working to make our society a better place and advance socially should be the main focus in any community Throughout the piece I used pathos in order to appeal to the audience s sense of having a community in order to make them realize that whatever other people do doesn t just affect one person but multiple people The tone of the piece emphasizes that this is something that should not be ignored and can be fixed if we work together as a community to do better On the other hand power can have a positive side It can make people confident determined and assertive when it comes to getting things done The entire piece gives my perspective on how I believe that abuses of power can really hurt our society socially economically and environmentally and how we as individuals can do our part to make sure that power is used for good The second genre picked in order to help bring awareness and spread my message about the dangers of abuse of power was an email Since many people do use email nowadays to communicate to each other in a faster and more effective way I thought it would be a good idea to compose an email and target an audience that could understand the importance of using power for good and making sure it doesn t corrupt the individual In order to do this I created a fake email address and talked to them as if I was a psychologist The reason behind this was to give the audience evidence as to why power can lead to corruption and the negative effects it has on others that they knew came from a credible source The rhetorical appeals I used in the email were ethos and logos By writing from a psychologist s standpoint it is more likely that the information given to the audience will make them realize that this topic is important I used informative diction and examples of case studies as well as experiments where people s desire for power grew overtime For example I included details such as how one of the primary issues with authority according to psychologists is that it makes us less understanding of the worries and feelings of others This makes it hard for people to use the power they have to help others and instead only focus on using it for personal gain Although some people might not even have time to read the email I m sure there will be a small majority that the message will reach and that makes just as much of a difference The third and final genre I used to help spread my message across was a video that I created using bits and pieces from other videos in order to create one huge outlet I thought the video could be an effective and fun way to provide information on signs that point to a possibility of corruption and to prevent it I included details of things to watch out for within certain environments that point to corruption or wrong use of power For example signs of greed conflicts of interest irrational decisions etc Throughout the video I also included different ways people could use resources in order to prevent this from happening such as empowering others being transparent and using different outlets to help others get involved as well locally and globally I tried not to overwhelm the audience with a lot of information and instead kept it short including only the most important information The video contained different images background sounds and overall made it more entertaining for the audience and kept them engaged while watching the video The main rhetorical appeals used throughout the videos were logos deductive reasoning and pathos The Powerpoint allows the audience to take what they learned and apply it to a real life situation Overall I think that the genres that I picked helped bring my argument across to the audience and did a good job informing those who may not have been aware of how power can tremendously affect people s lives I feel like the opinion piece email and video were informative and effective ways that people could use in order to better understand why concentration of power can be dangerous to our society With a better understanding of the effects that power can have on our society we as a community can work together to make sure it is being used in a way that benefits everyone Works Cited Ted Ed How to understand power Eric Liu YouTube uploaded by TED Ed 4 Nov 2014 www youtube com watch v c Eutci7ack feature youtu be Psych SciShow How to Keep Power from Going to Your Head YouTube uploaded by Sci Show Psych 31 Dec 2018 www youtube com watch v dDGeISed3Tg feature youtu be Seeker Does Power Make You Corrupt YouTube uploaded by Seeker 1 Sept 2015 www youtube com watch v Mj x6Uq0YlQ feature youtu be