Bob Dylan performing "Blowin' in the Wind"
Bob Dylan developed a large amount of extrinsic
ethos and became known as the voice of the 1960s Vietnam War protests. When
people went to hear him play, they expected songs promoting peace and
denouncing the death and horror that wars brought on soldiers, families, and children.
Though “Masters of War” was only on Bob Dylan’s second album, the incredibly
popular song “Blowin’ in the Wind” came out earlier and defined his period of
rebellion; it can be heard in the background of almost all 1960s documentaries.
This song created Bob Dylan, the protest singer, as he asked rhetorical
questions like “how many times must the cannon balls fly before they’re forever
banned?” and the answer, of course, is blowin’ in the wind. Within the lyrics
of “Masters of War” created a much different type of intrinsic ethos than “Blowin’ in the Wind” because instead of asking questions
about when the world would see
peace and equality, Dylan tells us that there is someone to blame for all the
destruction. They are the mysterious “masters of war” who hid behind desks in
offices and never saw the children crying or the soldiers dying. Dylan appealed
to a morally compelling argument asking if it was right for people to sit back and
collect money while their actions resulted in higher and higher death counts.
One thing Bob Dylan did not do is ethically consider alternative points of view
about war. Instead of appealing to neutral or conservative groups, he was very
liberal and antagonized anyone who didn’t share his opinion. Instead of using
his song to try to persuade politicians that war in Vietnam was wrong, he
personally attacked them by singing “I’ll watch while you’re lowered, down to
your deathbed, and I’ll stand over your grave, ‘til I’m sure that you’re dead”.
This doesn't leave any room for a compromise, Bob Dylan was angry at these
masters of war and had no interest in hearing their arguments for violence,
thus decreasing the amount of intrinsic ethos he developed in the lyrics.
I agree with you when you say that Dylan's inability to consider alternate view points decreases his intrinsic ethos. I also have to say that Dylan was reaching to a very small portion of the population when he wrote the lyrics to this song, and so from that stand point, his audience would be very much appreciative of his lyrics anyway. Do you find it ironic how Dylan presents an ethical dilemma here by telling the masters of war how happy he will be for their deaths after he got done singing about how awful death is?
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