This video is a campaign ad put out by Joe Manchin, candidate for senator of West Virginia. Manchin takes an aggressive approach to this ad by pulling out a gun from the start. Obviously he is strongly in favor of keeping guns in West Virginia, and even lets us know that the NRA (National Rifle Association) is supporting him. Manchin took a big chance in including this. The second amendment is a very controversial subject. Many people are against having guns, but Manchin apparently doesn't care. The second amendment seems to be his main focus of the video, and uses his apparent interest in guns to relate to his other points. The incorporation of his rifle makes Manchin's argument feel as if hes going to use this rifle to get "the federal government off our backs and out of our pockets".
The intended audience of the ad is clearly that of supporters of the second amendment. Therefore it is going to either be a hit or miss from the get go. The very second an audience sees this, they will with or against Manchin. But I think he knows what he's doing. As a more southern state, it is likely that a large percentage of voters do support guns. That is what makes it work. In a northern state such as Massachusetts, Manchin would have been eaten alive by the public. Although we do accept the second amendment as a law, we don't accept it as much morally. A very small population in our state owns guns, which is why we never see anything like this in our part of the country.
According to what Orwell writes in his essay Politics In The English Language, he would not approve of this campaign ad. This is exactly what Orwell tells us is bad writing, and what politicians often use to get their support. Manchin hardly tells us anything about what his intentions are. We know already that he strongly supports the second amendment, but other than that he tells us the usual vague intentions that politicians always use to sway us. We know none of the specifics. He could be planning on doing something that most people would disagree on. But he doesn't include that. It's bad writing, but candidates need to make themselves seem like the best choice. Manchin probably does have a few things he wants to cover up. It's bad for the people, but it is the best choice for him. It is the same with the use of the rifle, a distraction from the truth.
sorry this is a few minutes late, Comcast was screwed up at my house and the internet was down for about an hour.
ReplyDelete“I’ll repeal the bad parts of ‘Obama-care’”! Seth, that has to be the worst line I’ve heard in this entire campaign. What a terrible ad. I’m glad you found it because it incorporates so many rhetorical strategies. The rifle is classic! You’re right; he seems to pick a safe issue – the 2nd Amendment – and exploit it. He must know that W.V. voters will respect this. I didn’t know that the 2nd Amendment was an issue in this campaign. It’s probably not, but that doesn’t seem to matter. I also agree that Orwell would laugh at this ad. I only wish you included some more textual evidence to support this claim. Surely, it’s loaded with political speech.
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