The Genocide Project that was on the Pedestrian Walkway this week was, to say the least, very interesting. It made an attempt to use the rhetorical appeal of pathos. Yes, the demonstration, with all of its pictures (located below), plays on the emotions of people, however, it does not play on emotions correctly. The Genocide Project is simply just too graphic and grotesque. It does a terrible job of getting the point across. All it does is make people feel bad. The group displayed many pictures of aborted babies. The message that the group was trying to send is that aborting unborn children is genocide or the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part of a group of people. The group’s presentation did not change the minds of the thousands of passing by students. It simply just made them feel uncomfortable. The members of the group basically harassed the students. I, myself, actually chose an alternative route to classes on Wednesday just to stay. The appeal of pathos is supposed to either positively affect one’s emotions, or if it does cause a negative affect it is supposed to make people rethink their ideas on a certain situation. The Genocide Project did not accomplish either of these. Their tactics were poor and need serious revision in order to see better results.
