Harsh Patel's RAP

Rhetorical Analysis Portfolio: Bullying

        Gay bullying has obviously become a huge issue in America. We all know how terrible and harmful it is in our society. The problem is that the intensity of bullying the gay youth has lead to a significant amount of suicide among the teens. Unfortunately, a 15 year old had just recently committed suicide due to intense bullying both in person and online. I just found this out while I was doing research for this blog. In an article on The Huffington Post website entitled, "Jadin Bell, Gay Oregon Teen, Taken Off Life Support After Hanging Himself", it stated that, “15-year-old Jadin Bell attempted suicide by climbing on a playground structure and hanging himself.” Unfortunately, he succeeded. Another teen dead from the impact of bullying.  Obviously, it has to stop. Read more on this article here.

            The short but impactful article on The Huffington Post uses pathos to reach to the audience. The news station interviewed a family friend of Jadin Bell, Bud Hill. He told the news station about his character. Hill describes him as being outgoing, “gentle, and (a) caring friend”. He also told them that “’if someone was down and out he would walk into a room and say a couple quick words and everybody would just forget about their problems and smile. He just had a gift.’” Another friend, Jody Bullock said that “’If he saw a wounded butterfly [as a child] he wanted to heal it … He is an amazing young man who is smart and very social; he has a persona and a presence that you want to be a part of.’” The descriptions that Jadin’s friends made of him, makes us feel horrible that a sweet and innocent kid had to leave the world because of all this bullying; just because he was gay. The article pushes the emotions out of us using pathos. With descriptions like these, it makes us, as audience, feel for Jadin and for all gay teens that need to be protected in our society. Just reading this article makes me think of what a sick world we live in where an innocent kid had to kill himself because of bullying, and the worse part is that these suicides happen regularly, just because some kids are hurtful inconsiderate towards someone else’s sexuality. The article opens our eyes so we can see what’s actually going on in the world, why people are getting hurt because of their sexuality, and it’s articles like these that make us want to go out and do everything in our power to prevent suicides from happening. At the end of the article, they list the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number and a link that will definitely help prevent suicides from occurring. They also list The Trevor Project website and their number so kids who need help can actually get the help they need. This is just one step closer to solving a national problem.

            Bullying usually happens in the classrooms, and it’s sad because schools are supposed to be one of the safest places a kid should be in. Since kids usually spend most of their times in schools, bullying prevention should start there. However, some schools need mandatory and stronger anti-bullying policies. Bianca Solorzano, the author of an article on the CBS News website, entitled, “Bullying: Do Schools Need a New Approach?” would definitely agree. Using ethos in her article, she stated that “The Department of Education reports that 25 percent of American students say they were bullied at least once a day.” This provides credibility in her article. Another use of ethos is when Solorzano mentions that, “Yale professor Young-Shin Kim has done research on what’s been termed ‘bullycide’ and has found that victims of bullying are 5.6 times more at risk of attempting or thinking about suicide. These powerful statistics shine more light on the magnitude of the situation. Again, this article opens our eyes wider so we can see what’s actually happening. The simple “tell the teacher” method of bullying prevention is ineffective. The fifth grader that the author interviewed has confirmed, “’what they used to tell us was as soon as you get bullied go right to the teacher to tell,’ a fifth grader says, ‘That just doesn’t work’” Obviously, schools need to adopt a new method to prevent bullying. Here’s a picture I found on the Internet that relates to the issue: 

Even though some schools have anti-bullying policies, “some advocates question whether these initiatices fix the problem or make it worse” (Solorzano), regarding a death of a teenager. Not only gay bullying but also bullying in general should be prevented. Fortunately, “Getting solutions that work is now Sirdeaner Walker’s mission (mother of Carl Walker who committed suicide). She’s been instrumental in pushing Massachusetts to pass its first anti-bullying law. It feels good to know that this country is making progress in this issue. This article is effective in providing statistics (ethos) but it also makes school’s anti bullying policies look useless. Not all schools have bad policies. Solorzano uses a rhetorical device called hypophora; She poses a question in her title, and she answered it herself in the article.

            MTV decided to interview a famous actor, Neil Patrick Harris, on this issue and because he wanted to get involved.  There is a video of him on YouTube, submitted by, Liqitimi, as a message to the gay youth. It was a response to gay teens committing suicide.  MTV used ethos as their main rhetorical device because teens respond more to celebrities than they do to regular people. It has a sense of credibility because Neil Patrick Harris is gay himself so he can have the ability to sort of relate to the gay community. He gives good advice to the gay youth by saying that you should stick it out and be “normal” and just fit in because in the future it will get better. In the real world, people admire individuality and being proud of who you and Neil provides a sense of hope to all the gay teens out there who need help, that things will get better and that they just have to be strong. Here’s the video:

            I found that all 3 texts provide useful solutions to the problem of bullying in general. The Huffington Post article provides links to organization like The Trevor Project, Solorzano’s article makes us notice schools’ anti-bullying policies and that we should make them stronger, and Neil Patrick Harris gives good advice to the gay youth that will help them. All 3 texts can bring about social change. Bullying is a huge problem in society. It causes stress among teens and even suicide, and it needs to be prevented as much as possible. Everybody should take a stance on this issue because it could affect everyone’s lives. You never know who’s in danger and who needs help.