The Burning Room
Fighting the good fight. Is racism being allowed to simply run rampant among our nation without any severe consequences? “It Stops With Me” seems to think so, and has targeted Google for their latest ad. The picture of a google search box, followed by the suggestions given by Google that state “Black men are failures, criminals, hopeless, etc.” is coupled by a black man in the background of the image, adding even more emphasis to their ad as a whole. This stern reminder comes in the recent wake of many lawful and unlawful acts regarding men and women of different ethnicities, on both sides of the laws. These yet-to-be fully justified killings of black teens have sparked the overarching theme that black men are the root cause of these killings, and should be to blame. This mindset is taken into consideration and proves to be the root of inspiration for “It Stops with Me” and their latest ads. |
The Slow Dance
“Arguments try to change your mood, your mind, and fill you with the desire to act” (20).
Jay Heinrichs, author of “Thank You for Arguing”, describes these three elements as the goals for persuading people. Sometimes, as in the case of my chosen artifact, it takes all three to get some action.
“It Stops with Me” adeptly uses their position as an anti-racism campaign to immediately grab your attention. If there’s one thing people will always pay attention to, it is racism, or the prevention of it. The words 'You're Wrong Google' posted in plain view grab one’s attention towards the ad, in the same way a political ad would smear a competitor in an election race. This changes the audience’s mood, making it a serious topic of interest, as opposed to a lighthearted topic that one would just breeze over.
“It Stops with Me” adeptly uses their position as an anti-racism campaign to immediately grab your attention. If there’s one thing people will always pay attention to, it is racism, or the prevention of it. The words 'You're Wrong Google' posted in plain view grab one’s attention towards the ad, in the same way a political ad would smear a competitor in an election race. This changes the audience’s mood, making it a serious topic of interest, as opposed to a lighthearted topic that one would just breeze over.
It then calls to big companies, like Google, to combat this racism, intended or not, and to stop it in its tracks. This is the ad’s attempt to change your mind, finding a replacement for this injustice, rather than accepting it.
Finally, filling you with the desire to act is the ultimate goal. Allowing Google to continue its discrimination would be unethical in the fight to combat racism, so the ad portrays YOU as the beginning of the end for racism. Google, being as popular as it is, makes the reality of racism seem that much more real, where you feel compelled to act, and that a failure to act would be even more of an injustice.
The ad uses these tools for the simple purpose of persuasion, and their added emphasis contributes to their overarching goal of pleasing the audience, you, to join the fight against racism and eradicate it once and for all.
Finally, filling you with the desire to act is the ultimate goal. Allowing Google to continue its discrimination would be unethical in the fight to combat racism, so the ad portrays YOU as the beginning of the end for racism. Google, being as popular as it is, makes the reality of racism seem that much more real, where you feel compelled to act, and that a failure to act would be even more of an injustice.
The ad uses these tools for the simple purpose of persuasion, and their added emphasis contributes to their overarching goal of pleasing the audience, you, to join the fight against racism and eradicate it once and for all.
In any type of argument, the arguer tries their best to please the audience, no matter their own personal views. Appealing to your audience, after all, is the key to motivating them to conceding to your own agenda. “Character-based agreeability” (48) is what Heinrichs calls it, or moreover, decorum. Acting in decorum is simple: please your audience. But what happens when you act out of decorum? Can you still be just as effective?
The answer is an astounding yes, and in some cases breaking decorum would actually be more beneficial than actually following it. Take the case of this ad: appealing to the audience at hand, those who pursue racial equality, would seem to be the logical choice. However, if the standards set forth by the ad-maker are true, then showing a different side of this fight for equality wouldn’t be doing any justice, which is everyone’s goal in this fight.
The answer is an astounding yes, and in some cases breaking decorum would actually be more beneficial than actually following it. Take the case of this ad: appealing to the audience at hand, those who pursue racial equality, would seem to be the logical choice. However, if the standards set forth by the ad-maker are true, then showing a different side of this fight for equality wouldn’t be doing any justice, which is everyone’s goal in this fight.
“It Stops with Me” does not try to make their ad “fit or suitable” to their target audience, as Heinrichs states as the basis for decorum (48). The remarkable aspect however, is their distinct focus to break decorum rather than follow it. This “dark side” to the fight for equality adds an extensive look into the heart of decorum, and how the uses on both sides of its spectrum can have equal effect on its audience. In fact, their use of breaking decorum expands its reach and focus to beyond their target audience, and spreads to any audience, any man, any woman, any child who wants to fight the good fight, and be a part of the right cause. |
What’s a good cause without virtue? Heinrichs argues that it is allowing the audience to perceive that you have the same values than them (57). But moreover, emitting one’s own virtues into a case is the true rhetoric that will carry you the extra mile.
“It Stops with Me” is rhetoric in and of its own title. It doesn’t stop with “you”, it stops with “me”, and that minute detail is what involuntarily transmits the idea that we are somehow that much more engaged in stopping the injustices across the globe, and that we fight for those pressed down with inequality.
The cause is blatant in the ad; it advocates for anti-racism and harps on these strings of inequality. The lack of prevention by Google, only acceptance, is the root cause for the continuation of this injustice.
This use of causes and virtues is what allows the audience to inhabit such strong emotional responses towards the cause they’re now subconsciously fighting for, and these unexpected tyrants of inequality they are now fighting against.
“It Stops with Me” is rhetoric in and of its own title. It doesn’t stop with “you”, it stops with “me”, and that minute detail is what involuntarily transmits the idea that we are somehow that much more engaged in stopping the injustices across the globe, and that we fight for those pressed down with inequality.
The cause is blatant in the ad; it advocates for anti-racism and harps on these strings of inequality. The lack of prevention by Google, only acceptance, is the root cause for the continuation of this injustice.
This use of causes and virtues is what allows the audience to inhabit such strong emotional responses towards the cause they’re now subconsciously fighting for, and these unexpected tyrants of inequality they are now fighting against.
Stopping The Fire
You’ve been moved to words, and moved to action, and your passion against the continuation of these inequalities is at an all-time high. But now what, where do you go from here? That is the million dollar question, and the ad-makers answers is just a few dollars short.
“It Stops with Me” gives basically zero insight on what to do with all your newly found emotions, ideas, and responses. Fighting the good fight is the ultimate goal, but where do you enlist? My main problem with this ad is that it is simply that: an ad. Propaganda. It doesn’t allow any distressed citizens to voice their opinions, or more importantly, find a way to make a change.
“It Stops with Me” gives basically zero insight on what to do with all your newly found emotions, ideas, and responses. Fighting the good fight is the ultimate goal, but where do you enlist? My main problem with this ad is that it is simply that: an ad. Propaganda. It doesn’t allow any distressed citizens to voice their opinions, or more importantly, find a way to make a change.
"This unbacked cry for war is good and all to the select few in your audience, but reaching a broader, more diverse collective of members needs to be combated with a better delivery system. Scrolling through my timeline, or seeing the ad on the wall of Lakeside is a good enough sign to get me thinking for 3 to 5 minutes, but what about after that?
Letting your words just be words, and your thoughts just be thoughts is great if you’re trying to summon a troupe of thinkers and nothing more. That’s not what I would like to see for this fight however, and I think I can accurately speak for “It Stops with Me” and their campaign when I say they desire more as well.
Stopping the fight is the motive, so achieving the goal is going to need help. Thrust knowledge upon your audience, your readers. Town hall meetings, rallies, state-wide events, petitions, the sky is the limit.
Letting your words just be words, and your thoughts just be thoughts is great if you’re trying to summon a troupe of thinkers and nothing more. That’s not what I would like to see for this fight however, and I think I can accurately speak for “It Stops with Me” and their campaign when I say they desire more as well.
Stopping the fight is the motive, so achieving the goal is going to need help. Thrust knowledge upon your audience, your readers. Town hall meetings, rallies, state-wide events, petitions, the sky is the limit.
"Unless we stop the steady deterioration of our nation, we will simply continue to be Slow Dancing In a Burning Room."