Ebola in the USA: David Dausey is concerned

During the last week, the country’s fear has switched from ISIS to just as immediate a threat: Ebola. The virus, which saw recent outbreaks in Africa, was contracted by a man in Texas who had recently traveled to Liberia. David Dausey, a columnist for USA Today, published an article criticizing the general populations reaction along with the defense mechanisms in the US for disease control. In a simple statement with momentous truth, Dausey alerts, “The public needs to be cognizant of these real and present dangers to calibrate their expectations about the limited capabilities of our health care and public health systems and to increase our community resilience to deal with these threats.” He continues, warning of an underfunded and underprepared Center for Disease Control, as well as the sugar coated ideas Americans have about Ebola.

Dausey is no medical expert; he is a journalist with an opinion, and he doesn’t claim otherwise. With this article, he wants to spread that opinion, one which he intends to serve as a warning and call to action in the face of a possible health crisis. While the article is intended to inform and alert citizens to the issues Dausey sees, it has a disapproving tone. Dausey seems to condemn the CDC and government for their lack of preparedness, and he evens seems to condescend on the American people for having such naive conceptions.

Dausey’s argument relies heavily on logos, an appeal to logic. He believes that there are many false conceptions about the containment of the disease, and as this crisis is faced, ignorance can no longer be accepted. His argument relies on the facts, information which is often sugar- coated to instill false security. The facts don’t lie, and they are horrific; Dausey reports, “... we could face a public health challenge like we haven't seen in this country since smallpox or polio.” Dausey places equal emphasis on ethos. He attacks the CDC’s founding, stating, “The annual budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is about $11 billion. To put that number into perspective, there is a chance that Americans could spend close to that amount on Halloween festivities this year.” He attacks the media, insinuating that they are not telling the whole story, rather keeping alarming or frightening truths to themselves. By slandering these entities, Dausey puts himself on higher ground; he is just an honest guy, someone who is trying his best to get out a hidden truth. Appeal through pathos is ever- present in this article. As Dausey meant it to serve as a wake up call, the whole piece is full of frightening facts and harsh realities about the disease and its importance.

The rhetorical techniques used to give this column weight are closely linked to the pathos appeal;
Dausey scares the reader by warning them of our lack of readiness, the true reach of the disease, and the lack of an easy solution. The argument introduces the problem, explains our inability to deal with Ebola, and leaves the reader pondering how they may be soon effected, directly or indirectly, by this new health threat. The article raises many questions about the American approach to Ebola, forcing the audience to internalize the issue rather than reading over it and being told how to fix what is wrong.

Dausey’s article provides an alerting truth about an issue that is just starting to catch national attention. Through simple factual delivery and critique, he created an effective argument that is only going to gain relevance in the following weeks. The piece is superb, and the message is petrifying; Dausey exemplifies the perfect commentary on a hot piece of current news.