Checkpoint Week 1

Identify examples of bias, fallacies, and specific rhetorical devices in the speech.

The first example of bias in this speech is stated by the campaigner, ‘There is only one man who can rid the politics of this State of the evil domination of Boss Jim Gettys. I am speaking of Charles Foster Kane”. The campaigner is identifying Charles Foster Kane s the one and only person that can rid them of the evil Jim Gettys. Secondly the campaigner also shows bias against Jim Gettys as he is referred to as evil.

The main technique of the speech is the appeal to emotion fallacy. Favorable emotions are felt towards Kane as he has been given hope to step in and replace the evil and dishonest Jim Gettys. In the speech there are several statements depicting Kane as the winner of the election. The statement “Every straw vote, every independent poll shows that I'll be elected” includes a premises and a claim and assumes that the conclusion is true this sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because the truth of the

Throughout the speech several phrases evoke emotion from the reader, persuasive power of words and writing techniques called rhetorical devices. The introduction of Kane refers to him as, “the fighting liberal, the friend of the working man” this is an example of hyperbole, a rhetorical exaggeration that is commonly used for emphasis and effect. Another example of a rhetorical device is alliteration in the following statement,” the underprivileged, the underpaid, and the underfed”. A consistent sound is repeated in a sentence in this figure of speech. In all cases there is a premise to the conclusion however the premise may fail to support the conclusion, the support is the rhetorical device and does not provide justifiable proof for accepting a conclusion.

How did the speaker address arguments and counterarguments?

There are several arguments and counterarguments throughout the speech. The campaigner’s arguments are, Jim Gettys is...