I decided to write about the hazing controversy after I had had a discussion in my health class about the risks of hazing in society. My health teacher talked to our class about an incident that had occurred as a result of hazing. She told us that a college student had died as a result of getting brutally beaten by members of a fraternity. It supposedly had started as an initiation ritual, but it ended in complete disaster.This really stuck with me because I have a brother and sister who are both in a fraternity and a sorority in college currently. Hearing about incidents of hazing related deaths truly scares me and so that’s why decided to speak out against hazing.
I decided on my thesis after doing extensive research on this subject. I discovered that over the past couple of years, there has been a surprisingly large number of hazing related deaths in the United States in comparison to the number in previous years.Undoubtedly I felt that hazing should be eliminated regardless of the severity, for fear of any incidents (on any scale) occurring. When considering diction and appeals, I thought about strategies that would work best in getting the message across that hazing must be eliminated to prevent further harm in society.
I wanted to use diction that would really stick with my audience. For example, I incorporated words with serious connotations like “sheer tragedy” and “total disaster” into my paper as often as possible.In addition, I tried to use pathos appeal in order to show some hazing incidents have really affected the lives of people and their families. I wanted to create a sense that in any situation, the person who dies may in fact be a part of your family. I wanted to ask the question: “How would you feel if it was your son involved in a tragic hazing incident? Ultimately I wanted to make a statement that in order to save the lives of young men, hazing simply must be eliminated.
