The work called Killing Monsters by Gerald Jones, which was published in 2002, is a piece that contains many great forms of persuasive rhetoric. Within Killing Monsters, Jones expresses his belief that the violence found in all forms of entertainment is beneficial to the development of youth by eliminating violence in “real life”. His belief contradicts what the general public commonly notes. According to Jones, most parents and psychologists for many years have thought that violence in entertainment actually promotes violence in “real life”. Through the use of certain rhetorical writing tools, Jones attempts to use the three appeals of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos to promote his viewpoint. The attempts however, fail to prove that the violence…show more content… Jones states, “Soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, many toy retailers reported sharp increases in sales of G.I. Joe and other militaristic toys.”. This is a form of Logos because it gives a type of statistic which backs his point that following the attack on September 11th, kids found a sort of joy in violence that had taken place and implemented it into their imaginations and play. When someone hears the words “retailers reported sharp increase in sales” they instantly think of a line graph with numbers and dates. The image of a graph that flashes through an audiences’ minds screams out viable and reliable information. Though this information can be seen as viable it has a lack of relevance to his goal of convincing the audience that violence in entertainment is a positive thing for youth. The only thing that this information does is back the known fact that kids have a love for violence, not necessarily that it is good or bad.
Throughout the excerpt Jones makes statements that are supposed to convince readers of his credibility and knowledge on the topic of violence in entertainment. He does this specifically in the beginning where he writes:
So I interviewed psychiatrists, pediatricians, family therapists, teachers, screenwriters, game designers, and parents. I read the research. I asked children and teenagers what stories, movies, songs, and games they loved and what they meant to them (Jones).
By interviewing all of these knowledgeable people, Jones tries to set himself up as the influential person that is found behind the appeal,
