Compare and Contract Brock Turner of Stanford trial vs Cory Batey of Vanderbilt trial

Rhetorical strategies in Kfor-Tv & K. Querry’s Tale of two suspects: Critics draw comparison between two high profile sexual assault cases and Buie’s Brock Turner, Cory Batey meme causing stir on social media.

Kfor-Tv & K. Querry’s Tale of two suspects: Critics draw comparison between two high profile sexual assault cases

     What is the right judgment for sexual assaults in the U.S? It is a topic that has caused a stir in the recent past. On June 8, 2016, news channel KFOR-TV.com published an article giving details on the similarities between the case of Brock Turner and that of Cory Batey and the difference in the outcome of the judgment. The author first gives a summary of Turner’s story and then goes to Batey’s and at the end of the two draws a comparison.

     The author in some instances uses credible sources and appeal to ethos in building credibility to the reader but sometimes fails to do so. The instances where he uses are for instances, when he quotes, “Cory Batey’s minimum possible prison sentence, though, is actually 3000% longer than what Brock Turner was given for a comparable crime,” the New York Daily News reports. An instance where he fails to appeal is where he says, “Despite hundreds of thousands of people calling for Judge Aaron Persky to be removed from the bench, he was given a new 6-year term on Tuesday.” Here he fails to provide evidence of the claim that hundreds of thousands of people calling.

     The author, however, uses strong appeals to logos where he provides a logical examination of the two cases. In the article, he communicates to the reader the similarities of the situations in every aspect and at the end shows the magnitude of the difference in the outcome (3000%). To top it up, he provides an additional lawsuit, although not related to the two, it supports his argument. His inclusion of the quote from the New York Daily News reports logically supports his argument on the lack of a clear judgment on sexual assaults cases.

     In conjunction with strong logos appeal, the author makes appeals to pathos at the beginning of the article. He uses the word ‘sadly’ to evoke sadness emotions in the reader. Although he tries to show the magnitude of the sorrow by talking about how the issue has annoyed a lot of people, he has however not been involved and therefore failed to appeal entirely.

     In his conclusion, he, however, fails to capture his idea fully on the issue at hand which is the two lawsuits by adding an unrelated case which causes him to divert from his main issue. As a result, he fails to have a well-concluded article.

 Buie’s Brock Turner, Cory Batey meme causing stir on social media

    Buie starts his article by going directly to the point and stating the main issue which is the social media buzz. Although not directly, he brings out the comparison of Brock Turner and Cory Batey and makes his point known at the first paragraph.

     He effectively appeals to logos by providing statistical evidence that shows exactly how many people are involved in the issue. He says that “Misee Harris’ Facebook post had already been shared 121,221 times by Wednesday morning.” This statistical information logically supports his topic on stir caused on social media.

     Throughout his article Buie appeals to ethos by providing credible sources for his idea. He is talking about social media and therefore he provides evidence of the post when he says, “Misee Harris’ Facebook post had already been shared 121,221 times by Wednesday morning.” On this statement, he provides a link to the post itself making his argument credible. He also refers to another post on the same issue but by a different author to give weight to his own. ‘Around the same time as Harris’ post on Facebook, NY Daily News Columnist Shaun King wrote a piece contrasting the two men’s cases, pointing out that Batey’s minimum sentence of 15-25 years is “actually 3000% longer than what Brock Turner was given for a comparable crime.”’ The source of this is a newspaper column, and it is credible to people since people learn through them.

     Alongside ethos, the author uses pathos to capture his reader emotionally at the beginning. He evokes the curiosity in the first paragraph which he later quenchers through the utilization of the vivid description of the lawsuits and the posts and people’s reaction to the post. He states, “A meme shared on Facebook Monday has caused a stir on social media by contrasting the rape conviction sentence of a white Stanford student athlete and former Vanderbilt University football player Cory Batey.” He explains the post and then to answer the question how much it provoked, he gives the number of people. “Misee Harris’ Facebook post had already been shared 121,221 times by Wednesday morning.”

     The author has been able to capture the attention of the reader adequately at the beginning, maintain them with vivid description and before long concludes his article leaving his readers informed.

     Comparatively, the two articles talk about the same issue, but one is more efficient than the other. They both speak of the lawsuits of Brock Turner and Cory Batey, which are similar in that, they are both charged with sexual assault, but the outcome is different for each. The articles are on people’s reaction towards the subject.

     However the articles are different in that, they have different themes. The first article addresses judicial system while the second addresses racial discrimination. Although they may be talking about the same thing, the underlying message is different.