Essay About Terrorist Attacks And President Bush

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On September 11, 2001, the lives of many Americans changed forever. The
terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center & The Pentagon caused a range of emotions
for Americans. Many were angered by the attacks, while others were frightened and
some were confused, among other things. In an attempt to lead the people during
those turbulent times President George W. Bush held a state of the Union address. The
basis of his address was, those who committed those acts would be bought to justice and
things would be put into place to prevent such a terrible act from happening again.
President Bush was able to reassure the American public using pathos to drive home his
points.
President Bush begins his speech by immediately addressing and involving his
audience. He does this by giving examples of Americans showing patriotism and self
sacrifice to save others. He goes as far as asking that the wife of an airline passenger,
which was aboard one of the flights on 9-11, be welcomed by the audience. In addition
he went out of his way to thank those abroad as well, from England, to South Korea and
Latin America. But he didnt limit his thanks to countries alone. He continued on to
thank those at a mosque in order to show that he didnt blame all Muslims for the acts
committed by a few extremist. This allowed for inclusiveness as opposed to
exclusiveness. And finally he spoke of other citizens who lost their lives
from other countries. By including the other nations President Bush showed that the
attacks werent only Americas problem. Those were excellent use of pathos, given the
mind state of the country and the world.
Once he got his audience involved President Bush began to identify the attackers.
He didnt paint a bland picture of terrorist, for that wouldve left doubt. He described them as murderers, radicals and extremist. He let the audience know this wasnt the first time we were attacked by this group. And once again he let it be known that we werent the only ones attacked, which promoted inclusiveness. He also put a name to those who attacked Americans, by doing this he eliminated more doubt. He went on to talk about Al Queda practices and training. He talked about where they trained and their belief system. He painted a picture of al Queda as not only being terrorist to the U.S., but also terrorizing the people in the Middle East. He told tales of men being jailed if their beard wasnt long enough or even for owning a television. Once he identified the attackers he was able to tell why they attacked America. He spoke of al Queda hatred for democracy and the freedoms that Americans enjoyed.