The Power of Ethos

According to this beautiful book about persuation and seduction, you would want or need three things to successfully employ an argument by character, or ethos.

One.
You want the audience to be receptive, or ready to absorb the information you're about to say. If the audience is throwing a variegated number of vegetables towards your general direction, it might be an indicator that either the audience isn't receptive, or a hated teenage singer is right behind you.

Two.
You want the audience to be attentive. If they aren't willing to listen closely to what you'll say, chances are that they would rather play Indignant Birds on their "smartphones" rather than listen to what you have to say about deficit reduction or the new Indignant Birds game (in space!).


Three.
Most importantly, you want the audience to like and trust you. If they don't like you, they'll probably disagree on whatever it is you're stating, whether it be "I favor reducing unemployment" or "two plus two is ten in base four". If they don't trust you, about the same might go on to happen.

I can't agree more with what this guy (which, in this case, is Cicero) is saying. If we look back at the supposed charismatic people back in the old days such as president Abraham Lincoln giving his Gettysburg Address and whatnot, we usually hear all of the previous stuff. People were there, people were willing to listen, and people really liked Lincoln (mostly due to his amazing beard). Although I'm not sure whether the following story is true, I read a story about how a little girl suggested Abraham Lincoln to grow a beard, as it made him look more manly. This manliness, which was quite needed considering his bony body and the contrast he had with his opponent's bulky physique, apparently helped allow Lincoln win the presidency. Now I know. It was all ethos at work.

Bow down before my fancy beard!

Sometimes, you may have the perfect argument that makes so much logical sense. However, if it involves insulting the other person's lack of brain cells, it may not actually convince the other person of anything (in which case the perfect argument would not be perfect at all). Looking back, logos might be the cold and direct way to go, while the other arguments may be more touching. Or something like that.

The power of ethos.