Hello, we are Kyle Albornoz, Justin Song, and Morgan Epps. We are currently undergraduate students attending the University of Maryland, College Park that are studying rhetorical analysis. During the 1960’s, the United States experienced many different important events that would forever change our history as we see it. However, we felt that the most important event was the Vietnam War. The 1960’s was the heart of the Vietnam War, as the war began in 1955 and ended in 1975. Although the war caused mass protests to happen all throughout the nation, many people had “anti-war” feelings and wished to remain peaceful in their protests, which is what our group ultimately decided to focus on. Different types of protests against the war could be seen through marches and the media, but our group examined two specific pieces of protests. In order to examine the anti-war feelings of the 1960’s, our group chose to dissect the song “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” by musical artist Phil Ochs, and the sermon “It’s a Dark Day in Our Nation” by Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Both the song and sermon address the previous notion that violence is the key to solving political problems, and thereby challenges people to not simply comply with this previous idea, but rather seek an alternate means of conflict resolution.

Upon choosing our works, we chose people who come from completely different backgrounds, but who share the same ideals. Phil Ochs is a famous, white male musician, as well as an advocate against the war. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was more renowned as a civil rights activist with an African American background, but he also was an anti-war advocate. Both of these men use all three appeals in order to strengthen their works, MLK uses all three very well, while Ochs focuses on pathos and logos primarily. Our blog examines the use of these appeals in strong detail with our own use of pathos and logos to strengthen our findings. The two works point to the concept that war should cease to exist, but along with the push for the end of war,  MLK goes more in depth to explain the issue of race along with the war. The point where these two works coincide the most is through their target listeners and their specific mission. While they both want the whole nation to listen, primarily they target the United States government in order to make real change. Both these men work on platforms that allow them to accrue a large audience. Music, in the case of Ochs, provides the opportunity for the nation to listen because radio broadcasting can play songs at the push of the button. Dr. King was so admired, and revered that when he spoke, people automatically listen. With these platforms the two men were able to spread the message that war was not the solution, but only an addition to the conflicts at hand.

Our blog was structured to examine all the rhetorical appeals in these works, in order to understand the works main ideas. To make our blog effective for the reader, first we identified the key points being argued by Ochs and MLK. From there we moved on to not only analyze the rhetorical appeals in both works, but we also gave our own opinion in the form of our interpretation of the key rhetorical appeals of both the speech and the song. The first appeal we focused on was the kairos of each work as well as stating the stasis theory in both works in order to establish a base to move forward from. Next we explored the ways that ethos and pathos were implemented into both works. This allowed us to understand the kairos deeper, along with the reasoning behind the ideals provided by Ochs and MLK. Our blog strives to connect and reflect on these two pieces in a way that causes our audience to more deeply understand why these men said what they said. Our interpretations of the text, and the appeals in the text provoke our audience to think about the text in a different way than simply reading or listening. As you read our blog, we hope that you will agree, disagree, but mainly think about what makes these effective works of their time, and in the present day. Enjoy!

Ethos of "I Ain't Marching Anymore"

Phil Ochs is the artist of "I Ain't Marching Anymore." He was well known for being a musician and poltical activist, speaking and singing at many anti-war and civil rights rallies. Being exposed to many controversy and being given the opportunity to gain information about the cost and opposing arguments, Ochs had been given enough information to be considered well versed on the topic, well enough to advocate. He may not have been personally affected, but he knew the issue, formed his own opinion and argued it as if he were an expert on the topic.

Logos of "It's a Dark Day in Our Nation"

Logos refers to using reasoning to persuade a certain audience about something. In this sermon, Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to show and persuade the audience that the initiation of the Vietnam War by the United States was wrong. The third sentence of the entire sermon begins with, "Now, let me make it clear in the beginning, that I see this war as an unjust, evil, and futile war." He then goes on to say that the American public has been hidden from the truth about the war, which he claims is that the United States were supporting a man named general Ky during the war. General Ky was the prime minister of South Vietnam from 1965-1967. This bothered Martin Luther King because Vietnam was a colony of France. When France attempted to reconquer Vietnam, they went through 8 years of conflict, and general Ky was fighting for the French against his own people. Martin Luther King also mentioned that general Ky's hero was Adolf Hitler. This is Martin Luther King's use of Logos, telling people that in this war, the United States are aiding this man. - Justin

Aural Elements in "I Aint Marching No More" 
Phil Ochs employs his stance on the war through the use of music. Many people use their music in order to send a message, or show their stance on a particular topic. It is hard for people to listen to speakers speak in a monotonous tone and receive the message the way that it is meant to be received, mainly because people get bored and their mind strays away from the topic at hand. With a song, people enjoy listening to it. People want to hear songs on repeat which puts thoughts and ideas into someone's mind whether they know it or not. Using music as a platform can also make people think about things they may not want to. Someone who could be pro war may listen to the song for the sound of the music, and as a result ideals will be placed in their heads. one cannot play a speech more than once really, but with a song it can be played until the listener becomes sick of the song. The song is sung with a soft but confident sound. Ochs attempts to comfort the listener while sending a message meant to be heard. The Visual elements would be provided by Ochs through his body language while playing the song. Music is the way many people send their message, and in this situation, Ochs sends his message out well.

Pathos of I Ain't Marching Anymore

Pathos refers to the values and beliefs of the intended audience. This song was simply written for the entire American public, showing his reasoning about why he does not support the war. However, more specifically, I think he is targeting the people that do support the war, perhaps in an effort to show them why he believes it is wrong. Throughout the song, he gives a perspective that not many people have seen or heard before; a perspective of a weary soldier of the many conflicts that America has been involved in. In the song, he points out the cruel acts of America throughout history, such as "I've killed my share of Indians" and "I even killed my brothers". Through this, he is criticizing the acts of American military throughout history. By giving this sort of unique perspective of the war, perhaps he was trying to convince pro-war Americans to change their minds about the war. - Justin

Audience for MLK's "It's a Dark Day in Our Nation"
When Martin Luther King Jr. gave this speech, he was speaking out to the entire nation as a whole. While the crowd may not have been insanely large to listen to him speak, with the reputation, and fame he held, people all over the country, including lawmakers and politicians. During this time, the African American community was still struggling to make it through the segregation that continued to exist in America. So the audience during this time was mixed. While Martin Luther King Jr. had earned much respect from many Americans, enough so to win a nobel prize, some people would refuse to listen, and ultimately they would disagree with the ideas of Dr. King. Incorporated into this speech, Dr. King reflects on issues that America has inside its own country, and that these issues must be faced before starting war in other countries. While exploiting these faults in America, he places himself at risk because not many Americans like to listen to how bad they have acted. As a result, Americans who supported the war, and were not open to change did not agree, or appreciate the speech. It seems that Dr. King was targeting those people, and the people in charge who can make change. This strategy creates enemies, but Dr. King believed in what he had to say, to the point of putting his life on the line to make his point.

Logos throughout I Ain't Marching Anymore
Logos is a way to use reason to persuade an audience. In this song, Ochs is trying to persuade his audience the entire time that war is not good, and he was not going to continue the fight. The logos in his song comes out through the examples of the destruction that the United States has caused throughout the world. When Ochs says, "For I stole California from the Mexican land/ Fought in the bloody Civil War/ Yes, I even killed my brothers". These statements exploit the negative aspects that The United States colonization has caused. In order to persuade the audience to not fight any longer, Ochs employs the use of reason and logic, to show why war is wrong. The entire song uses examples of logos to show the negative effects of war. The repetition of logos in the song reinforces the message that Ochs is trying to get across. Logos is used as the main mode of persuasion.