Sports Mascots free essay sample

The controversy over sports mascots is nothing new in today’s society. From the early 1960’s it has created an immense campaign against stereotypical sport mascot names. In articles, Indian Mascots—You’re Out, and So Sioux Me each author demonstrates how many people including Native Americans perceive certain mascots to be offensive. The authors’ first goals are to raise attention to this topic by creating pathos in their writing. Although Mark Hyman, author of So Sioux Me, has many good examples and facts, Jack Shakely, author of Indian Mascots – You’re Out, has a more credible argument. He implements pathos by describing a story that happen to him at a young age and also establishes credibility early in his article, which proves to the reader he understands the topic he is writing about. By creating emotional and logical appeals and establishing credibility, Shakely is successful and writes a persuasive and interesting article. We will write a custom essay sample on Sports Mascots or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In order to be successful with his argument Shakely must gain his readers’ attention so he creates an emotional appeal in his first and second paragraphs. Shakely begins stating how in the early 1950s when he brought home a Cleveland Indians hat back home in Oklahoma. His mother was â€Å"fighting against Indian stereotypes all her life† when she ripped the hat off his head, tore it up and threw it in the garbage (646). His mother ripping his hat creates an emotional appeal for the readers and also shows how strongly some people disagree about having Indian mascots in sports today. Additionally, Shakely creates a logical appeal describing the Braves’ mascot in the 1970’s: â€Å"It was that cringe-worthy Chief Noc-A-Homa who came stomping and war-dancing his way out of a tepee in center field every time the Braves his a home run that got to me (647).† He creates a picture demonstrating that its not the Braves name that is stereotyping Native Americans, it’s the actions of the mascots that are being offensive. Colleges and universities such as Dartmouth College, changes their school mascots’ name in the 1960’s from the Indians to the Big Green so they wouldn’t offend anyone and it created uproar with their alumni that wanted to keep the original name. The last way for Shakely’s argument to be effective, he needs to prove to his readers how he is credible enough to be writing about this topic. Skakely does this by explaining how his friend of his â€Å"was president of Stanford at the time. He said the university lost millions of alumni dollars in the short run, but it  was the right thing to do.† (647) This demonstrates how he is credible because he must be a successful person and knows first handed how changing a teams’ mascot name can effect a university because a good friend of his is or was Stanford University’s president at the time. By Shakely effectively proving to his readers that he is credible, he earns their trust and the readers are more likely to agree and take his side with the topic. In the articles, Indian Mascots—You’re Out, and So Sioux Me both authors illustrate to the readers many different persuasive writing techniques. Many of these techniques include using pathos, logos, and establishing some sort of credibility. Jack Shakely, the author of Indian Mascots—You’re Out, does the best job using these techniques and writes a more persuasive article. The readers are first reeled into the topic with the pathos in the beginning of the article and at the end Shakely shows how he is credible.