Essay: Justin Trudeau on The Daily Show – Allowing Syrian Refugees into Canada

I chose to analyze the video of Justin Trudeau on The Daily Show, this topic is about allowing Syrian Refugees into Canada. The host, Hasan Minhaj, uses a variety of ways to show his audience that Syrian Refugees are not as bad as many Americans might think. Minhaj uses all 3 appeals; pathos, ethos and logos throughout the show to get his point across. Furthermore, i strongly believe that Hasan Minhaj took this opportunity to take people’s concerns about the following issue and try to persuade Americans to rethink their thought on letting Syrian Refugees into the United States.
From the start, Minhaj interviewed five Canadians who are very passionate about this world wide event. This group created a program called “ Private Sponsorship of Refugees” that allows the refugees to come into Canada and stay with canadian families if needed. Another interview that Minhaj encountered was with a Syrian family he questions them about running away from danger and into safety and gets a their side of the issue. It seems like he makes this comment to try and kindly joke that these people are coming to this country to cause trouble. He also states that only 2 people have tried to come into America, 1 being a refugee. This concludes that there is only a 0.00019% chance that a Syrian Refugee comes to the United States to cause chaos.
Next, on The Daily Show Hasan Minhaj interviews the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. During the interview Trudeau explains us why he is allowing Syrian refugees into Canada. In this part of the show, Minhaj uses pathos to help get his point across to his audience. Pathos is a quality that evokes pity or sadness. An examples of this is when Minhaj uses the phrase “ that’s the American way” in this context he uses it to try and make it seem like all Americans are bad. This statement appeals to citizens of the United States not in sadness but in anger because Americans don’t want to be viewed as “bad” so this will make them act upon this issue and hopefully consider to allow more Syrian Refugees in!
Additionally, ethos is also used in this video. Ethos is an argument that is constructed based on credibility of the person making the argument. Mr. Hasan uses this first when he is interviewing with the group of Canadians who want to help the Refugees. Hasan Minhaj will be given credibility because he wants to show viewers both side of opinions. This groups wants everyone to know that the Syrian refugees are harmelss and they are just trying to get their fmaily somehwhere that is safe. Another example Minhaj has shown us in this video is that he met first hand with a Syrian Rerfugee family to show his audience that they are just like an averge American family. This eliminates many negitive thoughts that could possibly be running through Americans minds about how allowing these Syrian Refugees could lead to trouble. And lastly, the interview with the Prime Minister of Canada gives Minhaj a huge amount of credibility because this man is the one who has the overall say to allow Syrian refugees come into the country.