Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Child Abuse Does Not Discriminate



Child abuse is a sensitive subject. It seems to be the subject that most people just want to sweep under the bed and forget about. For some people, it hurts too much to picture a wounded child. For others, it just creates an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Either way, this is what creates the biggest challenge in raising awareness.

Everyone generally agrees and feels that the Holocaust and persecution of Jews was a terrible thing. Very few people delineate the Holocaust as an event that was beneficial for society. That being said, a lot of people of the time in the United States had the attitude of, well it’s not affecting me, so why should I really care? This is the type of attitude that needs to be eliminated in regards to child abuse. Just like the Holocaust, most people agree that child abuse is an awful practice. Unfortunately, there are few people willing to raise their voices to put an end to it.

Despite the average negative connotation towards child abuse, there are still skeptics out there who ignore the fact that child abuse is a daily occurrence. In the United States, 4 children die every day as a result of child abuse. In Norwalk alone, 149 children were abused in the past year. This statistic only represents the number of reported cases, which means that the actual number is probably much higher. Child abuse does not discriminate against any race, gender, or sexuality—it is everywhere.


            I’m not here to lie and make up some story about how I was abused as a child. The truth is, I wasn’t. I can’t explain to you exactly how it felt when my father hit me, because it has never happened. But, just because it hasn’t happened to me, it doesn’t mean that thousands of other children aren’t affected by child abuse. Although I am not a victim, the issue of child abuse holds a special place in my heart. I will never, ever, be able to justify to myself why an adult would abuse a child, knowing that he is completely defenseless. I had a perfectly happy childhood, and to be frank, I think it is not only unfair, but also wrong, for any other child in this world to have anything less than that.

           
             

3 comments:

  1. You did a really great job bringing a logical aspect to the issue of child abuse-especially since the big emotional side of the topic can be so hard to stay away from. I like how you focused on attention for child abuse, as well as your connection to the Holocaust. It was a really good analogy to use. I also liked how, at the end, you showed that you couldn't relate either, which connected you to the reader, while still keeping the important difference that you are aware of child abuse while the reader may not be. This was a great use of logos! Nice job!

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  2. This was a really great post! I loved the part at the end when you used ethos because it helped me connect and it shows readers that even if they can't relate directly to the topic, they can still care about it, which is important. The reference to the Holocaust puts child abuse in perspective and you had a ton of great logos throughout the blog post! Nicely done!

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  3. I really loved this post. You did a great job applying both ethos and logos to your topic. I like the statistics you used, the one about Norwalk really hits people in the gut, so nice job reaching to the audience of Norwalk. I liked your analogy with the Holocaust, that's another great use of logos that really affects the audience's feelings. I especially enjoyed the last paragraph, you stablish a great amount of credibility here. Great job, I look forward to reading even more.

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