Because We Can, We Must

I recently read a commencement address by Bono (lead singer of U2 and co-founder of DATA- Debt AIDS Trade Africa) at the University of Pennsylvania in May of 2004. This speech turned out to be an excellent representation of the persuasive nature of Pathos, Logos and Ethos when used together. His main agenda was to persuade the graduating class to make use of their education and knowledge by taking hold of opportunities to create change. His point was that if one has the ability to make a change for the better, then one is obligated to make that change a reality. Early on in his speech, Bono uses ethos by recalling how his own thoughts on change progressed, saying:
“I didn’t expect change to come so slow, so agonizingly slow. I didn’t realize that the biggest obstacle to social and political progress wasn’t the Free Masons, or the Establishment, or the boot heal or whatever you consider ‘the Man’ to be, it was something more subtle… our own indifference…”
Later on he talks about his experience with a Live Aid concert he participated in, as well as a trip he took to visit Ethiopia. He combines ethos and pathos, telling his audience that an Ethiopian man had begged him to take his son back to America with him. The man had said that his son would die if Bono did not take him. Since many people do not get a chance to see the horrific conditions with their own eyes, he used his story to rouse an emotional reaction from the students. He asks them to “be the first [generation] to end this sort of stupid extreme poverty, where in the world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in it’s belly.”
He then uses logos by bringing up examples of “massive moral blind spots” of recent history, such as slavery and segregation. These examples are used to show that there are ideas of society that are worth betraying. He also uses logos to encourage people to overlook the expenses that are often needed to make changes happen. He mentions that, though the Marshall Plan was expensive, it helped to save Europe from communism and fascism.
Bono uses pathos as well, as he plays off of his audience’s love of their country. He tells the graduates that America is more than a country, it is an idea. It was built on revolutionary ideas and actions, and the continuance of such actions is what makes this country what it is.

I found this speech at http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/between/2004/commence-b.html