Critical Introduction

This blog was written by University of Maryland honors students in order to inform readers about different methods of peaceful protest that occurred in the 1960s to oppose the Vietnam War. “Masters of War” by Bob Dylan and the photograph “Flowers in the Gun” are both powerful texts that represent the turbulent period of change that occurred in America throughout the 1960s. Bob Dylan was an obvious source of many protest songs but “Masters of War” was selected due to the hatred and anger that the lyrics revealed. Protest songs in general were peaceful methods of protest and advocated for non-violent resistance, but “Masters of War” caused Dylan’s audience to become angry with the war effort. He uses this anger to inspire action from his audience of mostly young adults. The photograph on the other hand contrasts with the song because it completely exemplifies peace. The young woman gesturing towards the line of soldiers with guns with a single flower is the very definition of nonviolent protest. Both texts advocated for an end of the Vietnam War but used very different methods to call their respective audiences to action.

America has been fighting non-stop in the Middle East since 2001. As the war drags on, Americans have questioned the reasons why we are fighting. Compared to Vietnam protests, current movements in the Unites States are very minimal. However, the United States will rarely be without a fight and the reasons for and against war will always create distaste for both sides. Our current audience could learn how to express their opinions about the wars between the United States and the Middle East by using the peaceful protest methods exemplified in these texts from the 1960s.

Both the song and the photograph show that a peaceful movement was a successful way to inspire people to fight for their beliefs. Despite their different appeals to pathos, both “Masters of War” and “Flowers in the Gun” called upon the same crowd of people to defend their ideals of non-violent protest. These texts were necessary for the time and spoke to the urgent nature of the Vietnam War. Every day in Vietnam, hundreds if not thousands of young soldiers died fighting for a cause that most didn’t fully support. Protesters wanted to save the lives of as many men as possible by stressing the fact that these deaths were unnecessary and needed to be stopped as soon as possible. In our blog we believe that the most successful way to portray these different texts was to highlight their similarities and differences. They both advocated for peaceful protest against the Vietnam War and targeted the same audience of young liberals. They did inspire their audiences in different ways, the song calling upon the audience’s anger and the photograph calling on the audience’s search for peace.

Logos – What is the methodology of your blog?  What comes first?  Second?  Third?  How do you go about proving your major argument? Why do you choose this system?

In our blog we started out by posting about the stasis theory and kairos of each of the texts. This was done first in order to introduce the texts before we analyzed them. We talked about the time period in which each was produced and their intended purpose towards an audience. This order was chosen so that we could talk about the different rhetorical elements of each text (ethos, logos, and pathos), and our readers would understand background knowledge that was essential in analyzing the rhetorical devices. We proved our arguments in posts that quoted specific lyrics of the song and pointing out visual elements of the photograph.

     Readers should care about these posts because they introduce people to a world much different than that from today. With modern technology and social media, our generation of young adults has become much more apathetic towards movements and change. It is far easier to show support today but hitting the “like” button and not physically attending a protest. These texts had the ability to organize a group of people who were determined to make change. Analyzing texts such as these can help Americans understand the importance of active protest over idleness. Maybe our generation could learn something, and we could rally behind an important cause instead of showing our support through status updates or hashtags.