Family, Hope, & Resilience on Migrant Trail: A Ted Talk by Jon Lowenstein - Essay Sample

Introduction

Family, Hope, and Resilience on the Migrant Trail is a Ted talk by Jon Lowenstein. The documentary photographer documented the experiences of the migrants from Latin America to the United States of America. He shares pictures of the migrants in their journey and the problems they face in their journey. He shares photos of Central Americans escaping violence and poverty. He tries to explain the reasons why people leave their homes and migrate to another country despite the endeavor being risky (Lowenstein). They escape in search of a better, and no matter the challenges they face, they are resilient. The documentary is relevant for people who wish to learn more about immigration. It is also intentioned to create self-awareness about the reasons why people migrate and the challenges they face.

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The Ted talk speaker has effectively presented his arguments concerning family, hope, and resilience by providing adequate evidence on the migrants' trails as well as incorporating pathos, logos, kairos, and ethos. His arguments are strengthened by logic and supported by evidence, including images. The speaker `is clear about the immigrant's journey in search of better lives. He has developed a rhetorical stance and provided enough evidence in favor of immigration (Lowenstein). The rhetorical stance is essential as it helps in persuading the audience. Jon has been working on this project for 20 years and has solid evidence to support his arguments regarding the journey of the immigrants.

Pathos is a literary strategy used to convince people to believe in an argument by appealing to their emotions (Foss). Authors and speakers use pathos to stir emotions, sympathy, pity, and sorrow. Speakers who effectively use pathos succeed in convincing people with their arguments. Jon has used pathos to appeal to the emotions of the audience through his verbal explanation of the immigrant trail as well as the use of graphics. The speaker had been taking the images of the immigrant journey for 20 years and personally interacted with some of the immigrants. He accounts for the experiences that he witnessed, and through contacts with the immigrants, he understands what they go through and their motivation to persevere.

The immigrants decide to move from their countries where they are not risking their lives to a foreign country where they risk their lives. All these detailed accounts of the immigrants' journey make the audience sympathize with them. One of the instances when the speaker appeals to the emotions of the audience, is when he details how a group of men would wake up at 5:00 am and stand outside MacDonald's waiting for vans that they could jump into hoping to provide labor. The graphic shows men standing on the streets helplessly with another squirting (Lowenstein). To survive in this foreign land, the men have to toil, and they are faced with uncertainty on whether they will get a job to sustain their families.

Ethos is an appeal to ethics and is used by authors and speakers to convince the audience by the use of authority (Purdue Lab). The speaker persuades the audience through his/her credibility. People with experience in a particular field convince people using their authority, and they can easily believe in their arguments. Popular celebrities also use ethos to convince or persuade audiences (Lowenstein). Since they are knowledgeable people, audiences trust their information without interrogating the facts and figures. Jon Lowenstein is a well-known photographer, so the audiences are likely to believe in his arguments regardless of whether they are based on facts on that.

Logos refers to a literary strategy where an author or a speaker appeals to the audience through logic (Foss). This is one of the common modes of persuasion and is commonly used by speakers. It is difficult to argue against facts so it means that any claims made by an author or speaker and backed up adequate and clear facts are indisputable. Before making a talk or writing authors and speakers do adequate research and ensure that they have adequate facts to support their arguments. Jon had been carrying out research and documenting the journey of immigrants from Latin America for 20 years (Lowenstein). He had not only witnessed them illegally cross the border but also took pictures of various immigrants. An account of 20 years is enough to convince people on immigrants and by providing photos during his talk he intended to prove that the accounts he was narrating truly happened.

He, for example, narrates the life of a young man named Pedro. Pedro is photographed crossing the Rio Grande at night with a group of young immigrants to the United States. Jon also uses facts to explain why there are millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States of America. The majority of the immigrants are from Mexico and Central America (Lowenstein). He explains that immigrants start their journey to escape poverty and high levels of social violence in their countries. The immigrants are resilient and are determined to come up with practical ways of improving their lives. They come up with practical ways of improving their lives hence the reason why they work hard to provide for themselves and their families.

The immigrants were willing to work for less pay and with no insurance. Immigrants such as Lupe organized small protests against agencies that were exploiting her and the coworkers (Lowenstein). Her activism affected her as no agency wanted to employ her. She resulted in doing small businesses to survive. Throughout his talk, Jon backs up his argument with facts and photographic evidence. He uses logic to explain why illegal immigrants find it hard to find stable employment. The immigrants also find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and they are sometimes arrested for violent cases. They are in the country illegally, and they facilitate human trafficking. While they are resilient, they are sometimes discriminated against by the locals for fear that there are criminals and may harm them.

Jon's arguments are targeted to the authorities who are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that poverty among the minority groups within the society are assisted using any way possible. The state has the responsibility of ensuring that the people who need help are helped in any way possible to reduce poverty in society and reduce immigration by people searching for greener pasture. The migration in the history of the United States is because of resources as a significant factor and violence has a relationship with poverty. If the leaders solve poverty in society, many things can be solved that are challenging to the society.

The awareness needs to be targeted to the right audience to create awareness and prepare them on ways of reasoning on how they can counter the challenges that they face. People can better their lives through innovation in ways that can reduce poverty. Creating awareness increases the chances of eliminating the challenges facing society by involving all the stakeholders in the fight against the challenges the affect the society as a whole. The awareness will improve society and eliminating the challenges that exist in society-informing the public and the right stakeholders to fight community challenges.

Works Cited

Lowenstein, Jon. "Jon Lowenstein: Family, Hope and Resilience On The Migrant Trail | Tedsummit 2019 | Violence Transformed". Violencetransformed.Com, 2018, Http://Www.Violencetransformed.Com/Jon-Lowenstein-Family-Hope-And-Resilience-On-The-Migrant-Trail-Tedsummit-2019/.

Foss, Sonja K. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration And Practice. Waveland Press, 2017.

Lab, Purdue. "Rhetorical Strategies // Purdue Writing Lab". Purdue Writing Lab, 2020, Https://Owl.Purdue.Edu/Owl/General_Writing/Academic_Writing/Establishing_Arguments/Rhetorical_Strategies.Html.