Rhetorical Appeals Used in “The Coddling of the American Mind” Author, educator and constitutional lawyer Greg Lukianoff collaborated with social psychologist and college professor, Jonathan Haidt, to address and discuss the growing trend of “censorship” on college campuses in the article. The authors use ethos to establish personal credibility and thus the credibility of their arguments. Almost immediately, the audience is informed of both author’s qualifications and expertise. This establishes the credibility of both authors in the mind of the audience because both are academics, authors and professionals in their respective fields. This establishment of personal credibility (ethos) complements their arguments since in their article they…show more content… This is using pathos, where the rhetors are trying to persuade their audience by making them feel certain emotions. The authors note several examples of what they believe are extreme and irrational cases of microaggression in their article, such as the water-buffalo event and Hump Day at the University of St. Thomas. Clearly, by mentioning these examples, the authors are trying to agitate, anger, and frustrate their audience to convince them to believe their claims and encourage readers to act against “political correctness run amuck.” Additionally, the authors use highly-charged, histrionic language to elicit a negative emotional response from the reader. For instance, throughout the article there are many noticeable instances of appealing to emotion in the language the authors use such as: “emotional reasoning,” “I feel it, therefore it must be true,” “…your negative emotions reflect the way things are…,” “Emotional reasoning is now accepted as evidence,” “extra-thin skin,” “vindictive protectiveness,” and “catastrophizing.” The authors use this kind of language to emotional sway the reader to accept their
