Menken vs. Kroll

After reading both articles written by Menken and Kroll, I would say Kroll was more effective because his appropriate use of pathos and appeals outweighed that of Menken's primarily logos-based argument. Throughout his entire piece, Kroll portrayed his friend, a cold-blooded killer, as tortured by the process of being executed, which really evoked a feeling of guilt from the audience. His portrayal of the victims' families as cruel and unforgiving also made the reader sympathize with the executed; nevertheless, Kroll's fallacies do present a good case to the reader. Specifically, the quote, "The two other stays-including one signed by ten judges-were based on the pending suit challenging the constitutionality of cyanide gas as a method of execution." really was appropriate and was a great use of appeal to authority when he mentioned the 10 judges who the reader would respect. In contrast, Menken's piece did not change my views on the issue as did Kroll's because of his logos appeals did not really make any sense to me because of his faulty logic that was apparent.