Since September 11th, the United States has found itself fighting terrorism both abroad and at home. In light of the Times Square bomber, the president has come under scrutiny and the ugly head of terrorism has reared its head on United States soil once again. This political cartoon personifies terrorism as a wolf-like creature. This type of association means that terrorism is brutal, aggressive and a force to be reckoned with. By drawing such parallels it becomes clear that the cartoonist uses pathos to show the evil wolf preying on the United States. The point to this seems to be an advocacy for more stringent security measures when dealing with terrorism. The cartoonist turns to his greater point, which is to criticize the president for his inability to stop the Times Square bomber from ever even designing and planting such a deadly bomb. The cartoonist relies on negative associations with terrorism to create pathos with the viewer. As the president is shown as unprepared, the viewer's sentiment against him grows because different emotions are conjured when thinking about attacks of terrorism, especially 9/11. The cartoonist also relies on ethos and its associations with stopping terrorism. The usual rhetoric used by politicians against terrorism is that it is everything that America is against - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If Obama does not protect these rights from evil, he may be no better than the terrorists himself. This could be an ad hominem by the cartoonist as Obama has often attacked by the right wing becaused of his more sympathetic policies when dealing with negotiating with Iran, etc. Thus, the cartoonist relies on a mixture of pathos and ethos to sway public sentiment to create change. While different anti-terrorism mechanisms were not up to date to deal with the Times Square Bomber, the United States government should invest more money in homeland security in the upcoming months and years.
This cartoon means that while terrorism has been raging abroad and at home, the president, and the government have been sitting by taking care of other affairs, paying no attention to terrorism until it came back in full force in the Time Square bomb incident. This incident has caused the president to pay more attention to terrorism and not leave it just sitting by, hoping other people will take care of it.
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Since September 11th, the United States has found itself fighting terrorism both abroad and at home. In light of the Times Square bomber, the president has come under scrutiny and the ugly head of terrorism has reared its head on United States soil once again. This political cartoon personifies terrorism as a wolf-like creature. This type of association means that terrorism is brutal, aggressive and a force to be reckoned with. By drawing such parallels it becomes clear that the cartoonist uses pathos to show the evil wolf preying on the United States. The point to this seems to be an advocacy for more stringent security measures when dealing with terrorism. The cartoonist turns to his greater point, which is to criticize the president for his inability to stop the Times Square bomber from ever even designing and planting such a deadly bomb. The cartoonist relies on negative associations with terrorism to create pathos with the viewer. As the president is shown as unprepared, the viewer's sentiment against him grows because different emotions are conjured when thinking about attacks of terrorism, especially 9/11. The cartoonist also relies on ethos and its associations with stopping terrorism. The usual rhetoric used by politicians against terrorism is that it is everything that America is against - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If Obama does not protect these rights from evil, he may be no better than the terrorists himself. This could be an ad hominem by the cartoonist as Obama has often attacked by the right wing becaused of his more sympathetic policies when dealing with negotiating with Iran, etc. Thus, the cartoonist relies on a mixture of pathos and ethos to sway public sentiment to create change. While different anti-terrorism mechanisms were not up to date to deal with the Times Square Bomber, the United States government should invest more money in homeland security in the upcoming months and years.
This cartoon means that while terrorism has been raging abroad and at home, the president, and the government have been sitting by taking care of other affairs, paying no attention to terrorism until it came back in full force in the Time Square bomb incident. This incident has caused the president to pay more attention to terrorism and not leave it just sitting by, hoping other people will take care of it.
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