The weirdest thing that a person can meet in their life. Born with blue blood or wearing black lipstick on campus every day are some of the things that people win society would consider weird. Other than the weird nature of such tendencies, wearing black lipstick and having blue blood are some of the various features that may be considered as deviant behavior hence can bring out ethos and pathos (Miller 123). To be specific, being deviant can be separated to two different kinds including being and doing, so blue blood is being, and black lipstick is doing. According to Patrick Buchanan and John Curra, a hematologist from the University of Kentucky, deviance can be a seen not only in the things that people do but also through the traits that people are born with. In his paper, Being Deviant, John did a lot research on the topic of deviance. The author provides a definition of deviance, a matter of being or being doing. He further states many examples to show the behavior of deviance, which helps audience, understand the definition. According to John, being born with deviant traits is similar to choosing to be deviant. In addition, his research further demonstrate that deviance often has little to do with the person engaging in deviant acts because in most cases, these acts are only seen as deviance when judged by society.
Patrick Buchanan is a professor, political commentator and employs the use of ethos in some of his works. Before he wrote the book about deviance, he did a lot of research on this topic, combated with his background He was advisor to President Richard Nixon and hosted Crossfire show. From the information above, he has full confidence to write about various political topic because he has accomplished a great deal on this. According to courses that he taught, most of them are related to society (Miller 101). He cared about and focused on social problems, and through his own research, he also found social problems that led to these conclusions. Deviance is a hard topic to explain to readers, he used his own knowledge to recombine some stories and true examples in real life. In addition, he received some important awards, which can prove he has strength to make his writing more convincing. In this chapter, he used own words to explain the definition of the word deviance, and then used a research on a child with a blood disorder to spread out the topic. Deviance covers ordinary subject matters, applicable to an average person’s life. He contends that the minor decisions people make each day, build up character and ends up defining an individual’s destiny and finally shaping their future. This may sound usual or secondary but the authors gives it a new dimension and unique perspective hence a fully balanced picture of the situation.
Most of his works highlights the plight of the society and blood disorder. It also uses blue blood condition to introduce the reader to the meaning of the term deviant. The blood disorder makes the child deviant as he was borne with blue blood. After examination of blue blood condition by medical experts, the researchers found a sustainable solution to the condition. According to the author, people with the disorder had to take a pill each day for the effects of blue disorder to subsidize and for them to live a normal life frees from the effects of the disorder. To the residents of Kentucky, methylene blue fail to meet all the requirements of a disorder since it is common within the area (Fishman 159). Hence, it seems like a normal phenomenon but they were ignorant of the effects of the condition. Furthermore, the author utilizes ethos while discussing about intriguing stories. For example, Karle Chapman exemplifies engaging in deviant issues. The author narrates the story of a young woman who wears black lipstick at her elementary school, which is against the school rules and regulation governing the institution. The school principle warns the student multiple times but she holds her ground. Later, the school takes action against the girl faces disciplinary actions for her disobedience. Even after the punishment, she continues to put on the prohibited lipstick. At the end of the story, if the student had nature black lips, the principle would still find her deviant of the school rules and regulation but expelling the student would be difficult and uncalled for. More so, from the story, the reader can gather that the principle of the school thinks that wearing black lipstick is suitable at a school going age. More so, the principle prohibits black lipstick to distinguish her students from the rest of the academic institutions. The author notes that if the student had no option with the lipstick, then the elementary had no choice either.
The author uses logos to talk about interesting stories an example being his focus on what he refers to as Doubting Lips. The main character, Karle Chapman, is a good example of doing something deviant. The story tells audience about a girl who wears black lipstick at elementary story, which is not allowed, and continues to do so even after being cautioned by the principle (Fishman 155). The girl continues to use the shade of lipstick even after being suspended from school and this is when true deviance is seen. From this story, Karle is trying to go against the authority, she knows the story rules, but she chooses not to follow. She chooses this way to show the difference between her and other students in the elementary school. The principle of the school thinks this is not a right age for wearing discrediting lips color. In the event that a principles fails to take shape and suit application, one would not throw it out completely but gain favor on any similar aspect of the entire standard gesture.
In terms of facial interpretation, some experts mentioned that Karle has a choice on what color of lipstick to use but the principle has no choice but to punish her for being deviant. Here readers can see that someone is choosing to be deviant but other has no choices. Another story is a baby born with blue skin (Hargreaves 345). The baby was born with blue blood because of the genes from his mother and therefore did not have any options in the matter. When he grows, he might be very sad why he is different from other people, but he cannot change it. This is possible lead to a very different life in the future for him. From the research, Curra demonstrates that deviance has more to do with opinions held by people in society rather than the type of actions a person engages in or the traits they are born with. The author gives a good example of the Fugate boy born with blue skin. Despite being a common occurrence in Kentucky, people still consider blue skin to be a deviance despite it having no effects on the individual or the people around him.
Similar to the act of being born deviant, choosing act of deviance is also mostly determined by what society deems normal and appropriate. In most scenarios, wearing black lipstick is considered a fashion choice and accepted society (Rubington 56). In However, when Karla Chapman wore the same shade of lipstick to school, she was suspended as it was seen as deviant behavior. While the same act is acceptable in society, it is treated as deviance by the principal on the belief that it distracts other students even if this is not what Karla intended. In conclusion, the author uses rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos and logos to persuade readers the facts, people who are born to be different to other people are seen like freaks, and they probably will not fit into their group. Nevertheless, some people set themselves apart in order to show that they are different from others or to fell that they belong to another group. Normal people will express and make different opinions about these two kinds of deviant people. Deviance is therefore not a matter of being or doing but rather what society classifies as deviance depending on personal opinions, experiences and other factors.
References
Fishman, Joel. "Bunkum as History: The Revisionist Quest for Lost Innocence." (2009): 153-161.
Hargreaves, David H., Stephen Hester, and Frank J. Mellor. Deviance in classrooms. Vol. 213. Routledge, 2011.
Miller, Eric C. "Patrick Joseph Buchanan, “Culture War Speech: Address To The Republican National Convention” (17 August 1992)." (2013).
Rubington, Earl, and Martin Weinberg. Deviance: The interactionist perspective. Routledge, 2015.
