We hardly realize the value of what we have until we lose it. Opportunities to do well languish with no one to react. People are pressed with the need to serve the here and now needs, but remain ignorant of the future realities. Mistakes recur due to the pressure and urgency of present realties even though we know their impacts. Society continues to journey on in the hope that things will autocorrect, but it gets worse. Kwame Anthony Appiah lays the ax and strikes at the root of negligence that has plagued the prison, food industry, care for the elderly and environmental sustainability. He puts a sound logical argument supported by historical events and statistics. He uses the suffering of man and beasts to raise empathy and reconsideration of human behaviors in this century. I find the ideas irresistible because I can relate to the facts easily. Indeed, we are inconsiderate of our actions and how they affect us today, let alone how our descendants will view this period when they look back.
Article summary
Appiah addresses the madness of humanity expressed in the prison system, industrial food production, and care for the elderly and environmental preservation. The article begins with an introduction recollecting the events in the slavery history. He proceeds to the body, where he addresses the four issues and makes a conclusion. He demonstrates how the entire world, starting from America, is guilty of neglecting one or whole of issues. America, China, Russia, and France are mentioned for their ill in prison, housing, deforestation, and neglect of the elderly, respectively. He recollects the perception and defenses brought forth in the slavery period and the petty justifications that were brought forth. He argues how we perceive the excuses as crazy, but they had force in that period. He seeks to expose how arguments blind us such that we seldom realize the harm we are creating.
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Argument Summary
The arguments' central tenet is that the society is involved in evils that will condemn us before future generations. The atrocities continue in four institutions, prisons, food, elderly care, and the environment. The author argues that the prison system is burdened with prisoners who could be rehabilitated through other means. Their life wastes in prisons, but they do not obtain any value. The food industry experiences the wrong treatment of animals for the sake of providing human beings food. He notes that an impassionate community does not care for the elderly. Finally, he argues that the environment is degraded by human activities, which wastes natural resources and create catastrophes.
Logical Appeals
His use of logic is without contradiction following his appeal to historical events, periods, geographical locations, and personal evidence. He juxtaposes the past and our time at one level, and our time and the future in another level. The comparison and contrast logic allows us to look at ourselves in the eyes of our descendants. We hope to be understood and misunderstood as we do to people in the past. He uses statistical evidence to demonstrate how the US contributing 4% of the world population has 25% of the world incarcerated populations. Besides, he uses geographical locations, such as Russia and China, to address the geographic effect of environmental pollution. Additionally, he identifies personal accounts such as experience with the mother in Ghana to communicate to the audience. There are other instances of logic, but they are built on historical references, geographical locations, statistics, and personal accounts methodologies.
Emotional Appeal
Appiah creates a somber mood in the whole article. He appeals to our senses of guilt, be asking us to consider how our descendants would think about our crazy ideas and actions concerning the four issues. The author hopes that the guilt of bequeathing bad or no inheritance to the future generation would cause people to refrain from their destructive habits. Further, he appeals to our need for care and love in addressing the issue of elderly care. He compares Ghanaian and France settings and the role of cultures in shaping how people handle the elderly. The juxtaposition is a rebuke for negligence and a warning that we would receive similar treatments in the future. The emotional burden of taking responsibility for the death of the elderly in France while the younger generation was on vacation is overweighing. Negligence is the reason carelessness is in plenty. The references to the vulnerable state of the dumb creatures such as plants, chicken, and pigs depict the monster larking in human beings. The reference creates an emotional appeal, to those that are sober, that they should care for the creatures.
Conclusion
Appiah's appeal to logic and pathos were practical. He has succeeded in illustrating how the events and processes he has discussed have geographical, periods, and statistical attachments supporting their credibility. He has appealed to the audience's affections by demonstrating the inhuman attitude we take that kills the elderly, animals, and environment and bequeaths an unsustainable environment to the future. He compels us to consider the issues in the light of how our descendants would view our actions.
References
Appiah, K. A. (2019). How the future will judge us . In D. U. Seyler & A. Brizee (Eds.) Read, Reason, Write: An Argument Text and Reader (pp. 511-513). New York: McGraw Hill.
