Janae Redmond
Janel Spencer
Writing 101S
September 18, 2019
Homelessness
Crisis
The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board, who wrote the article, “Los Angeles’
homelessness crisis is a national disgrace”(February 25, 2018), argues that the
severe homelessness issue is a pressing nightmare that has affected Los Angeles
for years and since the citizens of Los Angeles have now been given the
opportunity to take action on the situation, they need to take advantage of it.
The authors support their claims by illustrating to the readers images of the thousands
of homeless individuals on skid row and providing us with solid political and
non-political facts about how serious the situation is, using strong opinions
about the subjects brought up. The authors’ purpose is to persuade us that we
have no option but to do everything we can in order to fix the failures of the degenerate
city. The authors write in a frustrated, but passionate tone to appeal to a
local audience who also feels strongly about the topic; readers of The Los
Angeles Times.
The L.A. Times authors
use credible quotations, factual data, and examples, which appeal to logos, to convince
the audience to recognize the severity of the issue and take what they have to
say seriously. The authors start off the article with a fact about the dangers
homeless men and women face on a daily basis, “Criminals prey on them, drugs
such as heroin and crystal meth are easily available, sexual assault and
physical violence are common and infectious diseases like tuberculosis,
hepatitis and AIDS are constant threats.” This was an excellent choice because
this evoked a rational and emotional response from the readers for, they know
that these are problems that do
exist and are persuaded of the severity of these issues, in particular, for the
homeless. They go on to say that there are currently
over 57,000 people in the county that don’t have a reliable place to sleep. They provide data that fewer than 1 in 10 of those people are in skid row, which
is still quite a lot if you think about it numerically.
The authors use pathos,
such as emotionally loaded language and vivid descriptions, to compel the
audience to feel empathy towards the homeless individuals on skid row and feel
the need to do what they can to help make the situation better. The Times
states their opinion of the matter, “Skid row – and long has been – a national
disgrace, a grim reminder of man’s ability to turn his back on fellow man.”.
They feel very strongly that our behavior as a society is shameful and that nonchalantly stepping over curled up men and women in sleeping bags, should be
frowned upon. They want others to feel the same way. The authors claim that no
matter where the people in Los Angeles are, whether it be a beach or a wealthy
place like Beverly Hills, you cannot escape the cities within the city of tents and camps full of the homeless and it’s a miserable sight to see.
Stating this makes the audience think about their surroundings and draws them
into the subject that much more. This gives the author the opportunity to
inform the audience of the new astounding actions that were made to better the situation,
“To your credit, to all of our credit, the citizens of this city and this
county voted in November 2016 and again in March 2017 to raise our own taxes to
fund an enormous multibillion-dollar, 10-year program of housing and social
services for the homeless.”, writes The Times authors. They write in a hopeful/happy
tone here to ensure the audience that this is a great accomplishment that has happened and
it’s an opportunity that just simply cannot be wasted. The author continues to
start making jabs at and blaming politicians for the worsening of the issue,
specifically Mayor Eric Garcetti, due to the yearly 49% increase of
homelessness since 2013 (when Garcetti took office). They boldly claim that we
need to start holding county officials accountable for their destructive
actions.
Throughout their
argument, The L.A. Times authors used appropriate language for their audience
and precise grammar, which appeal to ethos, to reassure the readers that they
are knowledgeable, fair-minded, and ethical. When talking about California’s
severe housing shortage which resulted in the price to rent a studio apartment,
increase by 92%, the authors also refer to a quote said by former UCLA law
professor, Gary Blasi, “In America, housing is a commodity. If you can afford
it, you have it; if you can’t, you don’t.”. The authors quoted Blasi to
emphasize the credibility they possess and prove their point that in
California, even if you have a steady job, it will still be very difficult to
find a reliable place to live, to be valid. The authors use words such as
victims, vulnerable, mistakes, and inequality when talking about Americans
tendency to blame the homeless for being homeless, to appear sincere and
fair-minded. I consider these ethos tactics to be successful because they came
off as caring individuals, while also sounding very knowledgeable. One weakness
I spotted was that they left out information about themselves as writers, for
example, their individual backgrounds.
“Yet we all know the
truth: The men curled up in the sleeping bags and the women pushing the
overflowing shopping carts or talking to invisible interlocutors on the subways
could, if the world were just a slightly different place, be our mothers, our
brothers, ourselves.” (The Times) The L.A. Times authors effectively used all
three rhetorical appeals to convince their audience that the homeless crisis in
Los Angeles, California is severe, and it needs to be fixed. They support their
case using facts about skid row and the dangers that come with being homeless
along with vivid descriptions of the reality homeless people live in, such as
sleeping on the side of the road in a pee covered sleeping bag due to no
bathroom access, to enlighten the audience of their blindness towards the
issue. Emotionally loaded language was used as well, to voice that the homeless
are human too, create empathy towards them, and convince the audience that it’s
important to take the opportunities we have, to fix the problem. The authors
used quotes from credible people to back up their claims and support the fact that
the authors themselves are credible. I think the authors fulfilled their
purpose of persuading the audience into changing their opinions on the homeless
and making the crisis a priority. I am part of the audience because I’m African
American, middle class, I currently have a reliable home, and can make a change.
I was moved by this piece. It helped me realize that I had the same toxic views
and made me feel ashamed that I’m part of the problem. I now want to do what I
can to help the people in need and stop lying when they ask if I have any
change to spare. I believe this is exactly what the authors were trying to
achieve with their piece.
Work
Cited
The
Times Editorial Board. “Los’ Angeles’ homelessness crisis is a national
disgrace.” Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2018, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-homeless-crisis-overview-20180225-htmlstory.html.
Accessed September 27, 2019.
Janae’s Blog 