I’m teaching my kids rhetorical appeals as part of a unit on persuasive reading and writing.
As a very introductory example to the idea of pathos, I explained that I always purchase the brand of toilet paper with the picture of a puppy on the package. No, I don’t know the brand name offhand.
I put it to them like this —
I am very drawn to puppies. It makes me happy to purchase something with a picture of a puppy on it and to take that puppy home with me.
What my puppy attraction doesn’t address, though, is whether this particular brand and package of toilet paper has the right number of square feet for my household needs, whether the strength and softness are optimized for our wiping preferences (because, um, yes — wiping preferences are A Thing), or whether it’s the best value for the price.
I point out that by checking my facts, I am potentially sacrificing a lot of practical TP benefits for the emotional satisfaction of puppies.
And they are all like, “But miss, what about the kind with the cartoon bears?!?!?”
One of my dogs growing up was a MAJOR chewer as a puppy, and we gave up on having the toilet paper on the toilet paper hold for a while, because it was low enough to the ground that she could steal it and destroy it. (Which she ALWAYS did.) She also destroyed a pair of eyeglasses.
That’s a really cool analogy! Too bad some of them missed the point.
They got it right after; I just cut the story at the punchline.
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