Analysis of Persuasive Rhetorical Techniques in Yuval Noah Harari’s “In the Battle Against Coronavirus, Humanity Lacks Leadership”

Analysis of Persuasive Rhetorical Techniques in Yuval Noah Harari’s “In the Battle Against Coronavirus, Humanity Lacks Leadership”

The article “In the Battle Against Coronavirus, Humanity Lacks Leadership” by Yuval Noah Harari looks at the crisis that humanity faces in the modern-day that is far removed from the Coronavirus pandemic. The author underlines the idea that the antidote to the pandemic is not segregation but rather cooperation that is being held back by the lack of leadership. The author does use the appeals of ethos pathos and logos in the presentation of his argument but majorly dwells on the appeal to logic as he intends to show the readers the consequences of failed leadership. The effect of the appeals used does drive one to compare the actions taken by their leaders in light of the pandemic.

The author relies on the appeal of ethos in the presentation of his argument surrounding the world’s failure to beat the virus. The author uses the ethical appeal in his article as a means to convince the reader of his credibility as well as his character concerning the subject matter. The appeal is noted in the fact that the author does use an appropriate writing style that carries professional and strong words that do not carry any emotional connotation. The author writes that “the real antidote to the epidemic is not segregation, but rather cooperation.” (Harari, 5) In the line, the author shows his professionalism by avoiding pointing out individual mistakes of the leaders but summing up all the failures that exist at the moment in addressing the problem. The author further presents the appeal of ethos through the establishment of a mutual common ground recognizing all the authorities in his field of study and showing he has conducted extensive research. The author mentions Richard Preston’s Crisis in the Red Zone in the description of the spread of the Ebola virus. (Harari, 3) The appeal of Ethos is presented through the author’s use of expert support which demonstrates that he does know what he is doing in the presentation of his facts and arguments surrounding the idea of failed leadership.

The author further entails the use of the appeal of pathos in the presentation of his argument. The use of this appeal is meant to persuade the reader by appealing to their emotions thereby invoking sympathy and also to invoke anger as well. The author does this by presenting an admittance of a wrong in that the article appears to take collective responsibility for the failure in understanding of how to curb the spread of the virus. The author writes that “Today humanity faces an acute crisis not only due to the Coronavirus but also due to the lack of trust between humans.” (Harari, 4) Through this, the author manages to throw the reader off balance as there is no refutation of guilt but rather acceptance of a common mistake that tells the reader that the author is also human and has noted the error of our ways. In addition to this, the author appeals to the emotion of the reader by invoking a patriotic response in addressing the fact that countries need to work together. The author writes that “To defeat an epidemic, people need to trust scientific experts, citizens need to trust public authorities, and countries need to trust each other.” (Harari, 4) The premise in this is simply to drive the reader’s emotion towards collective thoughts as well as action.

The author also does incorporate the use of the appeal of logic to forward his idea surrounding the failure of leadership in curbing the spread of the pandemic. The appeal of logos is presented as a tool that focuses on the use of logic and reason. The argument that the author presents surround the fact that the current world leadership is taking on measures that are not progressive in terms of curbing the spread of the Coronavirus. The argument presented is logical and is well supported in terms of evidence. The author writes “Today, China can teach countries all over the world many important lessons about Coronavirus, but this demands a high level of international trust and coop.” (Harari, 3) This presents a logical argument because China did withhold information concerning the emergence of the virus thereby contributing to its spread. In addition to this, the argument that the author present is filled with statistical information that adds evidence to the argument. The author presents statistical information concerning past epidemics that killed millions of people around the world. Harari presents this information as a way of presenting refutable facts as well as examples that would show how the decisions that were made in the past led to the death of millions and how the same would happen if a change isn’t considered.

The author uses counter arguments in the article as a means to present evidence that globalization is not to blame for the spread of the Coronavirus but rather leadership failures.  A counter argument to this comes in the sentence “However, while short term quarantine is essential to stop epidemics” in an attempt at driving towards the idea surrounding cooperation as a key element in curbing the spread of the virus. The author also addresses counter arguments by providing alternative perspectives to the ideas presented. For example, in addressing the issue of locking down cities as a measure to curb the spread, the author used the word “Perhaps” in presenting the other side of the argument that the spread of the disease would affect the entire human species. Within this context, the author uses the counter argument as a way to engage the reader on the logical level concerning how the world is handling the spread of the disease.

Works Cited

Harari, Yuval Noah. “In the Battle Against Coronavirus, Humanity Lacks Leadership.” Time. Recuperado de https://time. com/5803225/yuval-noah-harari-coronavirus-humanityleadership (2020).