For my rhetorical analysis speech, I’ve decided upon the Pink Floyd song “Us and Them,” which happens to be one of my favorite songs by the band.

As for the artifact that I’m comparing it with in my essay, I’m choosing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

If you have not listened to “Us and Them” before, I HIGHLY recommend that you listen to it. Not only will you understand the points I make more clearly, but you’ll also get to hear an excellent rock song.

Without further ado, here is what I’ve crafted for my outline:

Topic – “Us and Them” by Pink Floyd

Purpose – To explain how “Us and Them” persuades its listeners to understand the harm of the “us vs. them” mentality.

Thesis Statement – Pink Floyd employs logic and the creation of an emotional response through lyrics and music in the backdrop of the Cold War to call listeners to civic action by challenging the dominant “us vs. them” ideology.

Introduction

Attention Strategy – Recite opening lyrics of “Us and Them”

Orienting Material – Release of “Us and Them” on Pink Floyd’s landmark 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon, setting of Cold War and its divisiveness

Preview – Lyrical content and clip display fictional/real anecdotes about “us vs. them” moments, lyrics about how war is illogical, emotion brought out by crescendos and decrescendos of music, application to Cold War

Body

1. Main Idea – The song’s lyrics and interview clip used describe the illogicality of war and provide anecdotes about “us vs. them” moments to show the “us vs. them” ideology is destructive.
   1. Lyrical content about illogicality of war
      1. “We’re only ordinary men,” “It’s not what we would choose to do,” etc.
      2. “Who knows which is which and who is who,” “only round and round”
   2. Anecdotes about destructiveness of “us vs. them” moments
      1. “Forward he cried from the rear and the front rank died,” “Listen, son, said the man with the gun, there’s room for you inside,” “For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died,” etc.
      2. Interview clip with roadie Roger “The Hat” Manifold about violent encounter with motorist
2. Main Idea – The lyrics and music of the song provide an outlet for emotional response toward the piece’s argument.
   1. Emotional response brought about by lyrics
      1. Fictional anecdotes about war scenarios display emotion-invoking imagery of death and disregard for others
      2. Real anecdote about Manifold’s encounter displays an outlet for anger and/or astonishment at actions and nonchalance of Manifold
   2. Emotional response brought about by music
      1. Soft “valleys” of piece are natural flow and allow for somber reflection on pitfalls of “us vs. them” ideology
      2. Loud “peaks” of piece appear as a stark contrast with soft “valleys” as a means of frustration and anger with “us vs. them” ideology
3. Main Idea – The Kairos of the Cold War provides Pink Floyd with a backdrop with which it can compare the arguments made in “Us and Them” to a real-life situation
   1. Ongoing Cold War provides strong comparison point in logical terms
      1. Lyrics acknowledge unhappiness by men in song, unhappiness in real life with Cold War
      2. Lyrics acknowledge seemingly endless fighting and bickering, strong similarity with Cold War
   2. Ongoing Cold War provides strong comparison point in pathological terms
      1. Fear may be evoked through lyrical anecdotes, similar to fear about destruction in real life from Cold War tensions
      2. “Valleys” and “peaks” of “Us and Them” can be compared to moments of low tension and high tension throughout the Cold War

Conclusion

Summary Statement – Pink Floyd was able to use the kairotic moment of the Cold War, logical argument, and the evoking of emotional response in the audience to describe why people must change to prevent any more destruction or separation caused by the “us vs. them” mentality.

Concluding Remark – With “Us and Them,” Pink Floyd was able to make a profound statement and a darn good rock song.

If you like, leave a comment about what you think about my setup and the points I’m going to make.

I love Pink Floyd. Classic rock is my favorite genre of music, and Pink Floyd just so happens to be my favorite band. The genius quarter of David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, and Nick Mason made some of the best music ever from the 1960s to the 1990s.

1973’s The Dark Side of the Moon is likely their most well known album. (In fact, I wrote a ten page research paper on this album for English class during my senior year of high school). Perhaps their second most well known is 1979’s The Wall.

The Wall is the brilliance of Roger Waters displayed in something tangible. By the late 1970s, Waters was taking creative control of the band, turning Pink Floyd in a more political direction. This is evident on  the 1977 album Animals. In 1979, Pink Floyd released The Wall, a massive double album about a fictional singer’s life. This album was BIG. In fact, it was nominated for best album of the year and is one of the highest selling albums of all time.

In short, The Wall is about the life of Pink. Throughout his life, Pink faces many traumatic experiences, such as the death of his father in the war, an overbearing mother, and harsh schooling. These traumatic experiences are materialized into bricks that Pink puts into a mental wall. The last straw occurs when Pink learns that his wife has cheated on him while he was performing at a concert, causing Pink to place the last brick into his mental wall. At least point, Pink is completely mentally isolated from society. After Pink is forced to perform on-stage under the influence of sedative drugs, he comes to the realization that his wife, mother, teacher, and others are not to blame for his mental isolation. He is. Realizing this, Pink tears down his mental wall and returns to life a changed man.

If you want the full story, these guys have you covered:

www.thewallanalysis.com

The Wall Analysis is a website completely dedicated to deciphering just what Roger Waters meant by analyzing every lyric of every song on the album. ‘Analyze’ may be an understatement. These guys pick apart every little thing about this album.

I respect the people who worked on the website, because their time and dedication really shows. They clearly have put loads of research into this blog. They may have been a bit wordy, but this only drives home the point that they’ve gone to the max on their analyses. Despite the length, the work is clear and concise. The way they analyze The Wall makes the reader truly believe what they have to say. In this way, the blog is quite persuasive. I only I hope I can have as much diligence and clarity as The Wall Analysis when I try to make persuasive works.

Well, The Wall Analysis and I share a love of Pink Floyd. Maybe that’s a sign!

In this project, I’m hoping to find two really good artifacts that can draw both similarities and differences between them that make for good rhetoric.

Here’s a few ideas I’ve got so far:

1. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech

One of the most well known speeches of all time, MLK Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ Speech has lasted all these years due to its powerful message.

2. ShamWow commercial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ne1qRoHyk

Who doesn’t love Vince Offer? ShamWow has become a successful cleaning product, and I think a lot of that has to do with this timeless commercial.

3. ‘Us and Them’ by Pink Floyd

One of the most well known anti-war songs of all time, Pink Floyd’s classic ‘Us and Them’ is a reminder of Cold War era tensions that conveys strong political messages of war and unity.

4. Guernica by Pablo Picasso

This painting by Pablo Picasso displays the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, particularly the bombing of the village of Guernica located in Northern Spain.

5. Joe Greene Coca-Cola Commercial

The 1979 Super Bowl commercial features Steelers defensive lineman ‘Mean’ Joe Greene. It is one of the most well known commercials of all time.

If you guys any other suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

I love football. Anyone who knows me knows that this is no secret. As such, I love the NFL and all the elements that come along with it. I try to catch as many games as I can, I’m always involved in fantasy football, I frequently keep up on player stats and team schedules, I follow the yearly draft and my favorites teams’ training camps to an extent, and I even religiously watch the totally arbitrary top 100 players list every year just because I love me some football.

Another thing I love about the NFL is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I’ve always been fascinated by pro football history, and I admire the terrific athletes throughout NFL history who played at a high enough level to earn induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Not only do I love the Hall of Fame for its recognition of football’s all-time greats, but I always find myself invested in the process of narrowing down the year’s candidates until a final list of seven or eight names are announced in February. For anyone who doesn’t know, the process goes a little something like this:

1. Every August, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announces one or two senior nominees (senior nominees are players who retired more than 25 years ago) and one or two contributor nominees (contributor nominees are people involved with the NFL that did not play nor coach).
2. In mid-September, the Hall of Fame makes a list of about 100 preliminary nominees from the modern era (past 25 years). For a player to be eligible for Hall of Fame induction, he must have been retired for at least five years.
3. In November, the list of 100 candidates is reduced to 25 semifinalists.
4. In January, the 25 semifinalists are cut even further to 15 finalists, who join the senior nominees and contributor nominees as the official Hall of Fame finalists for the induction year.
5. On the day before the Super Bowl, the Hall of Fame announces its yearly class of inductees, usually harboring about seven or eight names.
6. In early August, these seven or eight men are formally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio through a ceremony.

I’m not sure why I’m so obsessed with the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but I am, and I doubt there’s a way to stop it.

This brings me to my next point: the upcoming 2018 Hall of Fame class. Last week, the senior nominees and contributor nominee were announced, and, soon the list of 100 or so modern era nominees will be revealed. I love forecasting what’s going to happen in the future, and so do the writers at Football Outsiders.

Football Outsiders is a website known for its in-depth analyses of players, statistics, and pretty much all things football-related. One of the writers, Scott Kacsmar, has his fair share to contribute. Every year, Kacsmar releases his analysis of the upcoming Hall of Fame class by thoroughly examining the incoming candidates, reviewing the Hall of Fame’s past voting history, and predicting his eventual Hall of Fame class.

Anybody can make their predictions for something like this on a whim, but Kacsmar clearly puts his time and effort into every sentence. I’m very impressed with the staggering amount of research and data that he put into his blog post, and it really shows. The webpage is riddled with fact nuggets, statistics, and intriguing graphics and data that help drive his points home. If someone were to read the post, they may notice the rather simple language and shorter sentences, but I think that’s a good thing. Kacsmar takes on the arduous task of converting huge amounts of sometimes confusing information into an understandable format, and he does this fantastically.

Hats off to you, Scott Kacsmar.

If you’re as interested in this kind of thing as I am, I would definitely check out Kacsmar’s work. You can find the article I’m writing about in this blog here:

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2017/predicting-2018-pro-football-hall-fame-class

If you’re interested in my thoughts about the Pro Football Hall of Fame or the NFL in general, you may find some in the future on my passion blog:

https://sites.psu.edu/djbauerpassion/