The First Genre: Political Cartoon

The rhetorical situation that I was approaching was racism and police brutality. Police brutality is when a law enforcing agent uses excessive force against a citizen which can lead to serious injuries or death. Modern American society is greatly affected by police brutality as it is all over the news and social media. Police brutality is usually targeted towards minorities (mainly African Americans). This problem need to stop and come to an end because police officers are supposed to protect us and make us feel safe rather than harm us and make us feel worried or anxiety when around them. My audience is the people who are higher up in law enforcement who can cause changes to occur within the agencies. To appeal to them I chose a political cartoon. This is because political cartoons are usually shown in the news and are seen by politicians and governmental officials. Since my audience gats most of their information from newspaper and other news sources, they will most likely see the cartoon. Usually the more ironic and truthful the cartoon the more it is spread around to other people. This will allow my audience to become aware of the problem of police brutality and racism in the law enforcement agencies. Which I hope will in turn cause them to create changes that will help to decrease the rate that police violence occurs and will one day end the problem of police brutality.

The Second Genre: A Meme

The rhetorical situation I am approaching for this genre is also racism and police brutality. However, this time my audience is young people. I am targeting my audience towards young people because they are the future of this nation. They need to be aware of this situation and need to know that there is a problem with police using excessive force on citizens, and police officers being racist and targeting minorities. If they are aware of this problem, then they will be able to make changes in the future of this country since they will be running it. The genre I used to appeal to this demographic through the use of a meme. A meme is a picture found on the internet with a caption which is usually a recurring joke which sends a message. Memes are all over the internet and social media. It is spread by being shared between friends and family and by being reposted on different platforms. Usually the funnier and/or more controversial the meme, the faster and more widely it is spread. By using a meme, it will appeal towards young people since they are always on social media and the internet. Additionally, this is were they get most of their information, so having them view this meme could change their view on the topic and can persuade them to fight for change in law enforcement agencies.