ChrisMerrill

Mr.CoxUSHistory,Period4
Mr.Korling:ISEnglish3
15May2014
WordCount:
TheNuclearRose
The topic my classmate and I chose to debate upon was Nuclear Energy. Clean,
inexpensive and proven...but every rose has its thorns. I portrayed an environmentalist that
was making the cons of nuclear energy known, while my colleague was lobbying to make
nuclear power the national standard and was putting forth the pros. I used three images in
my presentation to convey the fact that nuclear energy was dangerous and unstable. These
included a photo of a lone man amid the rubble of Hiroshima, a Hiroshima nuclear burn
victim, and a cavern where nuclear waste is stored deep underground. The historical
context of this topic contains the cold war as the backdrop, as well as the still fresh
memories of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The rhetorical methods I used most frequently was
were pathos and logos primarily, although employing the rhetoric of nomos proved to be
usefulaswell.
The first image I chose was of a lone man among the rubble of Hiroshima, looking
toward the burnt and grey horizon of the now destroyed city (Miller). The lone man gives a
sense of lonely desolation, as if he is still not believing this is all that remains of his city. The
rhetorical device I played here was pathos, attempting to evoke pity for the man at first, but
then fear at the consequence of using nuclear energy not that different from what caused so
much death, and I explained that power of that magnitude could be within miles of the
populaceshousesifitbecomesthenationalstandardofpower.
The second image I chose was of a cavern where nuclear waste is buried and
stored (Enformable). I used this image as a form of logos to show that SURELY this is not
an efficient way to dispose of massive quantities of toxic waste, that common sense shows
this isnt the solution. I wanted to shock the audience by showing how primitive and
immature the disposal methods are. The photo is of a huge underground cavern about the
size of a football field, half of which is piled high with yellow barrels of radioactive waste.
This is a modern photo, which shows that even after all this time, we have not found a better
methodtodisposeofsuchwastesinceitwasfirstproduced.
The third image was of a Hiroshima burn victim (ww2incolor.com). I decided to go
with the Pathos method again, to evoke fear and consideration of the consequences of a
plant exploding and the injuries that could be caused even from afar. The main point I used
through my debate is the waste being the biggest risk, but it doesnt hurt to evoke some
responses to other possibilities, and some members of my audience gasped at the
picture. The picture is of a young Japanese woman with cancerous radioactive growth on
herleftarm,andburnsalloverherface,takenshortlyaftertheexplosion.

WorksCited
Mitchell, Greg, and Wayne Miller. "Famed Photographer, Who Took LongSuppressed Pictures in
Hiroshima,DiesAt94."N.p.,28May2013.Web.
"NuclearWaste|Enformable."Enformable.N.p.,n.d.Web.16May2014.
"PublicDomainWorldWarIIPictures."DramaticPhotos.N.p.,n.d.Web.16May2014.