Critical Introduction

Hi there! Thanks so much for visiting our blog. Our authors, Amira Walton, Richa Gupta, Sepehr Motamedi and Trayonna Hutchins, are all English 101 students at the University of Maryland, College Park. We are all currently studying and analyzing the use of rhetorical elements within texts revolving around social movements of the 1960s. We chose the Hippie Movement because we were all intrigued by the expansive impact it had during its time. We found the amount of cultural influence it managed to have on its society, such as its music, its fashion, and its revolt against traditional practices, incredible. We decided to rhetorically analyze two opposing texts from the same time period, those being John Lennon’s “Imagine” and a news article written by Mark Harris titled “The Flowering of the Hippies”. The differing views on the Movement as a whole works to show just how controversial the Hippie subculture was.

Harris’ “The Flowering of the Hippies” describes the Hippie movement as a disruption that glorified the use of drugs, promiscuity, disobedience, and laziness. “Imagine” by John Lennon worked to advocate love, peace, and total equality for all of mankind. Harris dismisses the Hippie Movement as an ineffective waste of resources and an unnecessary revolt against authority. Lennon argues that the hippie movement had the potential to bring many positive effects to humanity. These contrasting messages have resulted in several conflicting perceptions about the achievements of the hippie efforts.

We decided to base the methodology of the blog on the presence of each of the rhetorical analysis within the texts.  Some of the rhetorical elements were represented in both texts while others were stronger in one or the other. We found Kairos and Audience to be the most important appeals to introduce first because they are present in each of the texts. Kairos was relevant in each text because even though both texts were published around the same time, the emotional climate of each text differed greatly. At the time the article was published, the creation and cause of hippie movement was largely seen as a mystery to those who were not a part of it.  Parents were confused as to why their children were running away. Those involved in the Civil Rights Movement questioned why the Hippies chose to waste so many resources. Overall, the movement was seen as a mass migration of young, middle-class, white people who decided to abused their privilege and blindly revolt against authority. When Lennon’s “Imagine” was released in the midst of the Vietnam war, the hippie movements was then seen as an anti-war movement that protested against global violence and corruption. We then meant to discuss Audience next event though Ethos is the next thing that appears. The Audience of the texts also works to show how much the texts clashed against one another. While the article was primarily directed toward those who didn’t support the Hippie Movement, the song obviously appealed to those who did.

In the following posts we compared the effectiveness of each rhetorical analysis, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses for each text. Ethos was much stronger in Lennon’s “Imagine” rather than Harris’ article. Lennon already had a great amount of extrinsic ethos and gained the attention of the public due to his association with the Beatles. Harris didn’t have a very long career as a journalist so his extrinsic ethos was rather lacking. Pathos was present in both texts, however it was more effective in Lennon’s “Imagine” since he manages to evoke strong feelings of unity, humanity, and hope from his audience through his lyrics. Harris uses his pathos through diction to evoke feelings of disgust, resentment, and disappointment for the Hippie Movement. Harris’ article wins the appeal for logos through his presentation of facts, evidence, and actual quotes from the event. Lennon purposefully left Logos out of the song, finding its simple appeal to his audience’s pathos to be enough.    

We hope the readers of our blog take away the message of both of these texts, which can be summed up with the fact that it is important not to simply blindly conform to things you may not believe in. While these texts differ greatly, the one commonality is that each text is protesting something in its own way. Harris obviously did not believe in the efforts of the Hippie Movement and thought there was a more effective way to reach peace. Lennon protested the presence of war in the world and the constrictions of religion and politics in society. The act of protest and disagreeing with something that you may find wrong is something that should always be applicable.

Stasis in "Imagine"

Lennon's stasis in his song "Imagine" focuses on the evaluation of the quality of life and of the issues of the era such as war and greed. During this era, the hippie movement embodied ideas such as ending war in Vietnam and reforming society to accommodate for changing norms. Lennon poses questions in his piece in order to influence people to reevaluate their quality of life. The threats publicized in the media such as the imminent growth of communism to around the globe lead to an inclination towards foreign involvement. This "scare" blindsided our natural principles such as love for one another and peace, and in turn led to increased military involvement in other parts of the world. Lennon's simplicity in his tone and words allows for everyone to put themselves in his place and picture a world without greed. In the music video, the space and emptiness in the set emphasizes the simplicity of the message, where Lennon alludes to a better world without the concerns of the time. Lennon's focus on evaluating things rather than blindly following misleading propaganda influences his many listeners to question society's actions.

Logos in "The Flowering of the Hippies"

In "The Flowering pf the Hippies" Mark Harris appeals to logos through facts and evidence. Harris gives background information about the hippie movement. He said the music of the movement was rock n roll, which came from the folk, the Beatles, American pop, swing, African drums, and jazz. The variety of music influences gives an example of the hippies' goal of togetherness. He brings up a book The Psychedelic Experience by Leary, Metzner, and Alpert which was the hippie manual for the use of LSD. This concrete data deepens Harris' appeal to logos by providing the logic for their use of LSD.  Harris touches on the Haigh-Ashbury district, which was the place hippies lived during this time in San Fransisco. The district was located two miles away from Golden Gate Park. On March 28, 1966, the residents of this district stopped Panhandle of Golden Gate, which was a park, from being bulldozed. All this information appeals to logos because strengthen his argument about the hippie movement. One fact he discussed which was very important was the phrases the hippies used. Some them were "The 19th Century Was A Mistake The 20th Century Is A Disaster" and Thou Shall Not Kill This Means You. Caution: Military Service May Be Hazardous To Your Health". These phrases create a better understanding of his claim about the hippie movement.

Logos in "Imagine"

Perhaps one of the most prominent arguments against John Lennon's "Imagine" is that the song lacks reason. Clearly evident within the lyrics "You may say that I'm a dreamer/ But I'm not the only one" the piece obviously portrays certain ideas that one may deem fanciful, even impractical. "Imagine" doesn't necessarily contain any logos pertaining to hard facts and statistics. It simply acts as a consolidation of peace and a message of awareness for what counterculture stood for as a world movement. Of course a world without nations, religions, and any conflict whatsoever doesn't adhere to any actual realistic outcomes.
The very reason "Imagine" has obtained such universal acclaim is due to its lack of logos, or rather, its simplicity as a whole. "Imagine" doesn't offer any data or solutions to support its claim. Instead it acts more like a plea. A plea for morality and brotherhood. It chooses to speak directly to its audience in an intimate and personal way. There are no signs of pretension, conceit, or preachiness. Its message is basic. Let's all work together to end suffering, hunger, oppression, and lets gain freedom for all of humanity. Yes, it's understandable how one could find these sentiments a bit too saccharine. However there's no denying the feelings of unity, humanity, and hope that it can evoke from its listeners. In doing this, it goes without saying that "Imagine" appeals to an audience's pathos much more than their logos. But the logic can stem from what the listeners can discover to be their own truths. The fact is: Why wouldn't people what to achieve a world like this? As Lennon himself so eloquently put it:

"Because the best stuff is primitive enough and has no bull----. It gets through to you, it's beat, go to the jungle and they have the rhythm. It goes throughout the world and it's as simple as that, you get the rhythm going because everybody goes into it…It gets through; The thing about rock and roll, good rock and roll – whatever good means and all that s--- – is that it's real and realism gets through to you despite yourself. You recognize something in it which is true, like all true art. Whatever art is, readers. OK. If it's real, it's simple usually, and if it's simple, it's true. Something like that."

Pathos in "The Flowering of the Hippies"

The text from "The Flowering of the Hippies", which comes from a newspaper article published in 1967 by Mark Harris, pretty much does everything in its power to evoke feelings of disgust, disappointment, and even scorn for the Hippie Movement. Harris' use of Pathos highlights, in cutting detail, the short-comings and worthlessness of the hippie's "Summer of Love" which primarily took place on  Haight Street.
He presents the hippies as the outcasts of society, going so far as to juxtapose them against African Americans and immigrants who were the primary outsiders. He describes the hippies as "dirty from head to toe". He calls their "hip-shop" products "nonsense". He presents them as ignorant fools who proudly wore Nazi swastikas just because they offended the "Establishment". This all works in tandem to elicit anger or shame. He painted the hippies as delusional brats who believed authority only existed to retrain humanity and withhold solutions to problems.  His diction is harsh, using words such as "unreason", "devil theories", "inexperience of life", and "failures of perception" to describe their beliefs. He is sure to let us know that the hippies and their unhygienic lifestyle brought "mountains of garbage", an  increasing amount of rats, food poisoning, hepatitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, and meningitis.
Perhaps his most powerful use of Pathos is when he compared the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement to that of the Hippie Movement. He makes the argument that if the hippies revolved around "community" and "love", what were they contributing to the African Americans in their district? He describes the overwhelming burdens of African Americans in great detail, saying that they "desired the attention of the health department, desired the attention of agencies whom hippies monopolized with appeals for food and housing for the "summer of love." The needs of African Americans were much more urgent than the "needs" of the middle-class, runaway, white hippies who had access to many things. He recalls seeing a young black child working hard to repair his bike next to a group of grown adult hippies just playing around the streets. Overall, through the author's description, the hippies come across as inconsiderate, aloof, irresponsible, immature and self-absorbed. The audience comes away from the reading feeling resentful.

Pathos in Imagine

Through his peaceful tone and lyricism, John Lennon is able to reach out to the audience in a manner that appeals to their sense of humanity. He appeals to pathos by questioning the morality of society as well as creating an image of society as one rather than conceited individuals. Lennon (as well as The Beatles as a whole) reached out to a very large audience, not simply those of the movement, which allows him to reshape the image of the Hippie Movement as a whole by generalizing the main ideals, such as anti-war and anti-materialistic sentiments. His tone conveys a sense of tranquility, which is intended to make the audience focus more on the lyrics rather than the beat. His lyrics, rather than inciting immediate action and change, encourages us to reflect on a different world where all of our reasons for concern are gone. He effectively encourages us to think about the problems with our society and redesign our image of a utopia on Earth. This appeal to our sense of pathos allows for us to better understand the anti-war sentiment and one of the main engines behind the Hippie movement.

Audience in Imagine

In the video, "Imagine" by John Lennon was intended for the skeptics of the Hippie Movement. It was meant for the people who criticized the movement for its radical beliefs. John Lennon uses certain phrases to shed light on the main ideas of the hippie movement. He uses phrases like, "Imagining all the people living in peace", "As we live as one", and "Imagine as one". These phrases shape the audience to perceive the Hippie Movement in a different way. The words he uses makes the movement more relatable to the skeptics. To some people, the Hippie Movement was looked as this crazy and wild movement where people just smoked weed and did drugs. John Lennon changes that image creates a different atmosphere. He shows the Hippie Movement being peaceful, loving, and an environment where people come to be filled with happiness. The video also helps to create this atmosphere but it showing this white house with him playing the piano and singing when his wife Yoko Ono sitting next to him. This image just reflected the message as being one and peaceful.