Sanders, Bob Ray. “Don’t Remove Jefferson Davis Statue – Rather, Learn from It.” Star-telegram. Star Source, 15 May 2015. Web. 11 Aug. 2015.
Chevelle, Innocent. “NO! Do NOT sign his hateful thing. The premise that Jefferson was some kind of white supremacist is wrong, absurd and doesn’t have any factual basis. Davis and his wife adopted an abused orphan black child named Jim Limber Davis who lived with them and their own children. After the war, Union soldiers kidnapped and murdered Jim Limber. Davis was a US hero of the Mexican War, a US Senator, US Secretary of War, and was elected as president of the CSA. This was truly a great man who should be admired, similar to George Washington. People such as Zim are free to make fools of themselves, as he has done with this moronic ‘petition’.” Facebook. 17 May 2015. 10:32am [11 August 2015. <www.facebook.com>]
A major incident recently hit the media. A teenage boy named Dylann Roof murdered a group of African Americans at a local bible study in South Carolina. When investigators researched him, they found Roof with Confederate pictures. Following the release of Roof’s Confederate pictures, a new wave of hatred towards Confederate-related symbols rose up in America. Along with the many other attacks towards these symbols, most University of Texas students oppose the Jefferson Davis statue being on campus. As the majority wishes this statue be removed, other students wish that wed keep the statue on campus. A current UT student, Innocent Chevelle, poses herself as an unreliable source when she uses fallacies to claim that the Davis statue petition is wrong.
This is where Chevelle’s post and Zim’s comment can be found.
Chevelle uses an Ad Hominem Argument to open up. “The premise that Jefferson was some kind of white supremacist is wrong, absurd and doesn’t have any factual basis,” she attacks Zim for assuming that Jefferson was a white supremacist. I disagree, because Jefferson spent a good portion of his life fighting for slavery to be legalized. I feel that her argument is illogical, because she gives no clear evidence as to how Jefferson was not a supremacist. She goes on by saying,”Davis and his wife adopted an abused orphan black child named Jim Limber Davis…After the war, Union soldiers kidnapped and murdered Jim Limber Davis,” (Chevelle). Chevelle doesn’t thoroughly explain how this adopted slave ties back to Jefferson not being a white supremacist. As the readers, we don’t know if Thomas Jefferson adopted a slave because he wanted to use that slave for house work. We don’t know if he actually wanted to save a slave from working under someone.
Chevelle appropriately labels Davis’ roles, which is acknowledged by the reader. Her use of facts and appeal to ethos makes her more credible. Chevelle uses Name Calling by saying, “ People such as Zim are free to make fools of themselves, as he has done with this moronic ‘petition’.”. Although, Chevelle feels that Zim is a fool and moronic for commenting about the petition, personally attacking Zim leads her to lose her credibility. Chevelle also fails to explain herself. Why did she feel that his petition post was moronic?
Overall, Chevelle based the majority of her argument on fallacies. This does not make the readers feel she is a trustworthy person, because she uses little evidence and no explanations to backup her claims. The audience, people who read this blog, should not believe this post. Chevelle’s claim is not backed by any evidence that would support her argument. Also, her heavy appeals to pathos overwhelm readers, because they feel as though Chevelle is just talking randomly in an angry way and not organizing her reasons in the right way. Appeals to pathos are heavily shown when Chevelle demeans the author through her use of negative adjectives and the style she writes this in.