Question

In other cases, the censoring has been direct and brutal. On February 28, 1981 the morning newspaper carried a story about the burning of my novel, Bless Me, Ultima. The book was banned from high school classes in Bloomfield, New Mexico, and a school board member was quoted as saying: “We took the books out and personally saw that they were burned.”

Which type of rhetoric used most shows how the powerful use censorship to silence the powerless?
an appeal to emotion
an appeal to ethics
an appeal to logic

Answer 1

An appeal to emotion. The vivid, charged language ("direct and brutal," "burning," the quoted school board member) is meant to provoke outrage and sympathy, not to present logical proof or an ethical argument.