CAJ Rhetoric Analysis

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2410931,00.asp

In his argumentative text “Cyber War? Bring It On!” John C. Dvorak undermines the credibility of recent publications mentioning the imminent threat of cyber warfare by making several assumptions seem ridiculous.

The pathos in this argumentative text was only partly convincing, as the author mainly tried to establish his own credibility by undermining the credibility of other authors. Dvorak, for example, stated that none of the assumed cyber terrorists could possibly have the intention to start a cyberwar. This is either due to their close interaction with the “targets” of cyber attacks, or because they simply do not possess the means to start a cyber war.

Dvorak succeeds, however, in making good use of ethos in his article, as he takes on the role of a calming friend who refutes one by one, each claim that believers of the theory of an oncoming cyberwar make. What is even more important, he makes those claims look ridiculous in his readers’ eyes and therefore makes them feel embarrassed for having taken those claims seriously. The effect of this use of ethos is, that readers start to believe that the threat of cyberwar is nothing but simple “fear-mongering”.
The logos in this text is also well succeeded, as Dvorak logically links his ideas with each other and gives detailed explanations for each of his train of thoughts. He mentions, for example, that a similar situation of panic spreading within the population due to a computer programme already happened in the past and that this threat had turned out to be quite harmless. He even gives credit to the usefulness of the momentary situation, in saying that this new threat might lead to improved cyber security.
All in all, the article is quite convincing, though the author could have done a better job in convincing his reader by establishing himself as a more credible personality.