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Jon DeMik

Professor Granillo

English 101

26 September 2018

A Delve Into The “Other Side” (Revised)

Rhetoric, first discovered by Aristotle, is the art of creating a persuasive and effective

speech or written piece, by using different rhetorical strategies. Pathos, Ethos and Logos are all

examples of effective rhetorical devices if used correctly. Pathos is the appeal to emotion, Ethos

is the appeal to ethics, and Logos is the appeal to logic. To construct a good argument you have

to use at least one rhetorical device effectively, otherwise the argument itself falls apart. The

rhetorical devices are what can win or lose an argument based on if the reader is influenced by

said rhetorical device. If the reader has more appeal to emotional statements, odds are they

wouldn't be swayed by a Logos-heavy article, but more a Paths driven article. Authors who write

to specific audiences tend to know what sways that group most and use the corresponding

rhetorical device in their work. One example of this is in the article “The ‘Other Side’ Is Not

Dumb” by Sean Blanda, where throughout the article the reader can tell that Blanda had his

audience as his primary motivation. In the article Blanda uses the rhetorical devices of Logos and

Ethos to further establish his argument and effectively persuade his audience of his main point.

Blanda’s primary motivation is his fellow social media users. This is evident to the reader

throughout the article since Blanda is consistently referring to the people who use social media

as “we”, which would dictate that he is including himself as he speaks about them. At one point

Blanda states “Isn’t it possible that you, reader of ​Medium a​ nd ​Twitter ​power user, like me,
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suffer from this from time to time?”(216). This directly implies that Blanda, like his readers, is a

participant in the social media trend he is discussing, or at least a victim of it. Blanda’s statement

makes it undeniable that his audience is his fellow social media users.

Furthermore, Blanda writes almost directly to social media users when he says “On

Twitter and Facebook this means we prioritize by sharing stuff that will garner approval of our

peers over stuff that’s actually, you know, true”(215). Statements like these are addressing the

audience in a straightforward manner which adds to the idea that his target audience is his fellow

social media users. Another one of Blanda’s motivations was the intensely heated political

climate of 2016, the year the article was published.

2016 was a year of substantial strife among the people of the United States. There were

two highly unpopular candidates running for president, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

During this time, many media outlets would pick a side, and pass along information they deemed

as fact to the public. This caused many people to take to social media to spread the new “factual”

information to their followers. This issue is one of the main points Blanda covers when he states

“What happens instead of genuine intellectual curiosity is the sharing of ​Slate​ or ​Daily Kos​ or

Fox News o​ r ​Red State ​links”(215). This comment by Blanda shows that politics were a part of

his motivation since he chose all far right-wing supporting news stations as an example.

Growing on this observation, Blanda states “Read the stories of the 31% of Americans

that own a firearm”(216). Firearms were a hot-button issue in 2016 as a result of the climbing

rates of school shootings. Blanda’s reference to firearms shows just how much politics was on

his mind when he decided to write this article. Continuing forward, Blanda’s credentials, while

they may not be a direct influence, definitely contributed to his motivation.

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Sean Blanda is the editor-in-chief for two websites, and both of the websites are places

for people to get advice on new innovations in the business world. This shows that Blanda

understands how to advise people on ways to be successful. The majority of the article “The

‘Other Side’ Is Not Dumb” is advising social media users, and people in general, to listen to the

other side and not jump to conclusions or judge them for a differing opinion. This skill is not far

from Blanda’s usual topics when discussing business advice. Many people would agree that a

key aspect in being a successful entrepreneur is understanding compromise, and this article is

essentially explaining a different form of compromise, which is social instead of business

related. While Blanda’s motivations make the article relatable, it is his rhetorical prowess that

makes this article so effective.

Blanda strings together masterful use of Logos which makes the article substantially

more persuasive. He shines light on trends that most people follow inadvertently, and once they

read this they may be able to change their ways. One example of this is when Blanda uses first

hand knowledge and states “When someone communicates that they are not ‘on our side’ our

first reaction is to run away or dismiss them as stupid”(214). The action described in this quote is

performed by many social media users daily without them necessarily realizing what they are

doing. They feel like they are just defending their side but in reality they are just shunning the

person for having a different opinion. Since Blanda is writing to his fellow social media users, he

wants to draw logical attention to this type of behavior in hopes to reconcile social media

relations.

Yet another example of Blanda’s use of Logos is his first hand account when he describes

playing “Controversial Opinion” with his friends. He explains the rules of the game and proceeds
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to state how “Usually someone responds to an opinion with, ‘Oh my god! I had no idea you were

one of ​those​ people!’”(Blanda 212). This shows Blanda has actually witnessed this behavior

among his close friend group, and establishes even more credibility, through logos, between the

reader and Blanda. Blanda also uses heavy Ethos to describe the poor ethical trends among social

media and the news outlets.

Ethics are the moral values of people in a given group or society, and most people like to

assume that they have good morals and try to do no wrong. Blanda; however, calls out peoples

poor ethics on social media repeatedly throughout the article. The best example of this is when

Blanda states “It’s preference to see the Other Side as a cardboard cutout, and not the

complicated individual human beings that they actually are”(214/15). This is an ethical flaw with

the social media society. People so frequently view someone as sub-human due to a differing

opinion, that they perceive it as normal, but in most cases the majority would view it as morally

wrong to take this stance. Blanda is trying to call attention to these little ethical issues that

happen behind a keyboard everyday.

“The ‘Other Side’ Is Not Dumb” by Sean Blanda was a very convincing article. It

challenged many of the ethical flaws that we view as normal and was written at the perfect time.

Blanda used the political climate as roots and it made the article relevant for everyone, whether

you followed politics or not . He directed the article effectively at Twitter and Facebook users

and called attention to many of the flawed concepts on debating they share. The reader could tell

that Blanda cared about the topic and he wanted to see change which in and of itself made

Blanda more credible. This article was a great example on how to use Ethos and Logos correctly,

and showed just how helpful successfully using rhetorical devices can be in an argument.
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Works Cited

Sean Blanda. “The ‘Other Side’ Is Not Dumb”. ​They Say I Say, 4​ E, Norton, 2018, P.P.

212-217.