Visual Rhetoric Paper

Poverty is one of the leading causes of death in the world today. The countries of Asia and Africa seem to be hit the worst by this growing pandemic. Poverty is caused by a number of reasons. Among these are conflicts between countries, lack of resources, low or no income, a lack of education, and lack of food. Statistics show that one out of every two children live in poverty in the world. Children have been the most affected by the harsh worldwide spread of poverty.

Poor nutrition is the most cause of death in these suffering countries. It has been estimated in 2004, that there are about 850 million people who are undernourished in the world. Malnutrition has made up half of the child deaths each year. Children that are undernourished are ill more than half of the days in an entire year. Also, over two million children die each year from lack of immunization. Most of these are in countries that cannot afford medical supervision or do not provide any. Because the HIV and AIDS virus is so brutal in these underprivileged countries, it leaves about fifteen million children each year without anyone to care for them or provide for them.

Most people in developing countries around the world are not educated because of the lack of money to provide for books, a classroom, and supplies needed to teach. Therefore, people are not as informed and cannot have substantial jobs. Statistics have shown that when the twenty-first century began, almost a billion people were illiterate. Also the lack of money provides no food or shelter for families and can leave them homeless and abandoned. In the developing countries, there are no homeless shelters or places of refuge for these people to turn to and most die.

Although, poverty is lessening over the years, amazingly nearly half of the world is living on only two dollars and fifty cents per day. Poverty is decreasing because most of the world is increasing in knowledge and people are reaching out to help in any way that they can. This video that I have chosen shows a further step made by Sarah McLachlan to inform the population of what we can do to help and give back to others all over the world.

I chose this video by Sarah McLachlan not only because it made such a significant impact on me, but also because it displays the art of rhetoric. To me, she is a proactive celebrity whose qualities I wish would be found more in the world. She uses her fame to her advantage and sends a positive message to people all over the world. She made this video in order to persuade people to help with the struggle of ongoing poverty, and to inform others of the suffering many encounter on a day to day basis in the world. This video uses ethos, pathos, and logos to attract the viewer’s attention.

The visual rhetoric is apparent from the graphics and visual icons used to enhance the video and attract more thought from the viewers. The pictures used are to elicit an emotional response of the viewer. Most of the pictures show suffering and barren land. In one part of the video she shows a single mother from Ghana, Africa and tells us that she works two jobs in a sixteen hour day, seven days out of the week, just to provide the two-hundred dollars that she needs to pay for her son’s tuition for a year of school. She sells oranges for two cents and might only sell fifty a night which only adds up to a dollar. Two-hundred dollars does not sound as much to us as it does to the people that are suffering, having to work hard for long hours each day receiving barely any pay. That segment of the video especially appealed to my emotions because I feel that we are all extremely lucky to live in the United States, where we can always receive help. It is easy to sometimes forget how fortunate we are and not appreciate the life we have been given. That is not the only example of pathos in this video. She also has video clips of small children suffering that will make anyone watching the video feel very sympathetic of these poor children’s pain. She also conveys logos throughout this video because she is expressing her thought on the situation and doing something productive about it; trying to show her reasoning. If you listen to the lyrics of this inspiring song, she is trying to convey the message that the ones who suffer are not alone, and the pain that they feel is heard by her and many all over the world. Just like in the line she wrote saying, “the more we take, the less we become,” she is trying to open the eyes of her listeners and persuade people to perform more selfless acts of generosity and kindness. The last form of rhetoric she displays is ethos. We believe everything that Sarah McLachlan has stated and sung about because we respect her strong efforts to make a change in the world. This is not the only effort she has made to improve lives. She is also actively involved with ASPCA, an organization devoted to helping rescue abandoned animals.

This video is an inspiration because instead of using the one-hundred and fifty thousand dollars it would have taken to pay for all of the needs of an extravagant music video, she decided to use all of the money to pay for necessities in the developing countries. She sent money to pay for school fees and supply classrooms in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, to pay for a machine that will generate power for a whole community, to provide a mobile medical unit in India, to provide money to help rebuild the lives of seven children soldiers, and so much more.

The main reason why I chose this video for the basis of my visual rhetoric paper was because I believe it perfectly exemplifies ethos, pathos, and logos. The other reason of why I picked this music video is because not only did I like the song, but the lyrics and video truly moved me. I think that the fact that Sarah McLachlan sent all of the money she would have used for a more popular music video to the countries overseas to help people in need was such a selfless act that made me want to take part in. I really look up to her and respect her because of her talent and what all she has done with it. I only hope that one day I can give back in the way she still does. I have further realized the importance of being truly grateful and appreciative by reminding myself of my blessings while watching this video.

The statistics from the video and what I researched really astonished me. I could not believe that half of the entire population only lives on about two-dollars and fifty cents per day. I could not even imagine trying to live off that little money neither in one day nor for my whole life. I know that I could not survive with so few of resources. I began to feel emotional at the thought of the poor people suffering and the pain they endured that I will most likely never feel in my entire lifetime. To look at these pictures and video clips of emaciated people living on the streets crying out for help when none is available made me thankful for the family and the country I have been blessed to be a part of.

I plan on visiting some of these countries that are in need and helping out by getting involved in mission trips and other organizations. I normally send money every Christmas to a charity or to Oprah’s charity for the girls of Africa to provide for the schools she has set up there. I want to give back to the world what I have taken, and this video has proven to me that easy steps could be made every day to do my part in the war on hunger.