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James Melton

Professor Olivas

Eng 101

11 April 2017

The Importance of Rhetoric

In Guy Winchs TED Talk, Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid, he uses

different types of rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos, and diction in order to persuade his

audience of his purpose of his presentation. The purpose of his presentation is to persuade his

audience of the importance of mental health, including emotional hygiene. He argues that we

show favoritism towards our physical health and treat our physical injuries, but we are not taught

or we do not teach the importance of mental health and treating emotional injuries, especially in

children. Because he is presenting at a TED Talk, he can assume that most of his audience is

actively seeking out new information and are critical to what he has to say as they tend to have a

higher education. This requires him to establish his credibility in the beginning of his

presentation which he does using ethos.

One of the most important and earlier strategies we see is ethos. He does exactly that

here, In fact, the hardest thing Ive ever done in my life is move across the Atlantic to New

York City to get my doctorate in psychology(Winch). When displaying ethos as a rhetorical

device, it is very important that it is used early on to let the audience know you are a reliable

source of information, so they dont critique you the entire time instead of listening. In order for
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him to persuade his audience of the importance of mental health, he needed to establish

credibility in order for them to listen or take him seriously. Ethos is an important rhetorical

strategy to establish early on in order to effectively persuade an audience, and he did that well.

After his credibility has been established, the next rhetorical device we see with the same

amount of importance is logos, Chronic loneliness increases your likelihood of an

early death by 14%(Winch). He uses absolutely alarming statistics with objective findings that

cant help but to create anxiety for the recipient of this presentation. After these finding create

that rift of severity you look for a way to compensate and that leads you back to his purpose

which is the importance of mental health and emotional hygiene. These facts cause the

audience to now see his side of the argument that we show favoritism towards our physical

health and treat our physical injuries, but we do not teach the importance of mental health and

treating emotional injuries, making it an effective way to persuade them.

In addition to ethos and logos, diction has a strong effect on how words are perceived

when reading and especially when giving a presentation. For example,We were apart then for

the first time in our lives, and the separation was brutal for both of us(Winch) when speaking

about his relationship with his twin brother. When he uses the word brutal he implies a more

connotative meaning: Its basic meaning being savagely violent(Google Search). The brutality of

the separation from his twin was enough to cause him serious mental and emotional harm which

is why emotional hygiene is so important. His use of diction effectively communicates to the

audience the importance of his purpose which solidifies his argument.

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Guy Winchs Ted Talk, Why we all need to practice emotional first aid was an

excellent example of rhetorical devices and how to use them effectively. He established

credibility early on. Also he used statistical facts to support his argument. He included diction by

his wording choice throughout the presentation. He effectively shared his purpose and persuaded

his audience.
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Sources

Winch, Guy. Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid. TED.com. Nov 2014. Web.
07 April 2017.