The Harshness in Captivity
Orca captivity is inhumane and unfair. How would you feel if you were trapped inside of a small space for the majority of your life? It would be uncomfortable and it would make you angry. Just because animals aren’t human, it doesn’t mean that they don’t feel the same way.
When an orca is held in captivity, it makes their life miserable. Orcas are used to being in the ocean where they can swim miles and miles in just a day. In captivity, they are enclosed in tank. To humans, the tanks seem large, but when orcas are used to the ocean, a tank is very tiny.
Orcas should be able to live their lives freely in the ocean. I am against orca captivity and I wish sea parks like Sea World and Miami Seaquarium would let these animals go.
We as humans wouldn’t like living in horrible conditions like that, and animals are no different. Releasing orcas from captivity is the right thing to do.
Rose’s Plan to Free Tilikum
In Naomi Rose’s article “How to Free a Killer Whale,” she insists that Sea World should release the captive whale Tilikum.
She first gives some background on Keiko, the lead whale in the movie “Free Willy.” Keiko lived in captivity for nineteen years before those who held him captive released him into the wild. After they released Keiko into the wild, it created a better life for him and it made him more independent. The author puts an emphasis on the similarities of Keiko and Tilikum’s living situations before Keiko was released.
She includes all of this in her article in hopes that people will realize the harshness of captivity on the animals. She wishes Sea World would let Tilikum follow in Keiko’s footsteps.
The author wants a better life for Tilikum, and believes that letting him out of captivity would be the best way to improve his life. If he isn’t released from captivity, another fatal incident will most likely occur. Releasing Tilikum from captivity will create a better life for him, as well as create a safer work environment for Sea World employees.
Getting People on Our Side
In this article, Rose shows her practical wisdom on marine mammals and the topic of orca captivity. Having practical wisdom is important because not only does it show off a sense of trustworthiness, but it also makes an author seem like they know what they are doing. Jay Heinrichs, author of TYFA, informs us that someone with practical wisdom “appears to know the right thing to do on every occasion” (p. 57). If the author shows her readers that she has practical wisdom, it may convince them to listen to her and get them to do what she wants. It will make her more trustworthy as an author.
For instance, Naomi Rose includes in her article that she has a Ph.D. and works as a marine mammal scientist for The Humane Society of the United States. Including this bit of information about herself lets readers know that she had knowledge on the topic of orca captivity before she wrote this piece.
Through including this information about herself, Rose convinces readers that she knows what she is doing and talking about. Rose shows off her successful accomplishments like a trophy case when she informs readers about her Ph.D. She includes the information about herself so that people will know her power and knowledge.
Naomi Rose’s practical wisdom proposes that she is knowledgeable in the background of marine mammals, their life, and the harsh reality of orca captivity. She seems to know the right thing to do in the subject of orca captivity wanting whales like Tilikum released.
We can make the assumption as readers that Rose is a trustworthy author through her accomplishments. If people want more evidence of this, they can search for more articles written by Rose.
Naomi Rose does not believe in holding orcas captive. In this article, she lets readers know that she wants Tilikum released from Sea World of Orlando. In addition, she believes that holding him in captivity any longer will cause another fatal incident to occur. He has been involved in multiple fatal accidents including killing his trainer, Dawn Brancheau in 2010.
The author makes it easy for readers to draw conclusions about her beliefs. Much of her audience will probably believe in the same things. Heinrichs tell us about how Aristotle believed that “Emotions actually come from belief, […] about what we value, what we think we know, and what we expect” (p. 82). If her audience can make an emotional connection to the article through various beliefs, then she has successfully won her argument.
In this article, Naomi Rose relates some of her beliefs to something that the “audience has experienced, and what it expects to happen” (Heinrichs p. 94). People have already experienced quite a few fatalities since Tilikum has been in captivity. She believes in releasing him, to prevent this from occurring again.
By sharing her beliefs with readers, Rose can hopefully change her audience’s perspective on orca captivity.
In the article, Rose gives the background on Keiko because of the similarities in his and Tilikum’s situations. She informs readers on how long Keiko was held in captivity, then discusses how he was released. She relates his situation with Tilikum’s in hopes that people will see why Tilikum needs to be released. This background that Rose includes acts like a preview. Before you see a movie, you usually watch a preview to see what the movie will be like. Before you get to the main topic of Rose’s article you get a background on an orca with a similar situation.
Some of Rose’s beliefs relate to value, as some of her other beliefs relate to something that she expects to happen in the future. She sees orca captivity as wrong and harsh, and she believes Tilikum should be released from Sea World. She expects another fatality to occur if he is not released. By including her beliefs in the article, her audience can gather that they share many of the same common interests and beliefs. | "She expects another fatality to occur if he is not released." |
Readers are able to get a sense of what Rose values after seeing her beliefs in the article. The two go hand in hand. By allowing readers to pick up on her values, Naomi Rose makes a connection with her audience.
By sharing these values with the audience, Naomi builds up a sense of trustworthiness. In Heinrich’s terms, “The audience believes you share their values” (p. 57). Rose makes it easy for readers to see that they share similar values.
In this article, readers can easily see that the author values marine mammals and specifically orcas. She wants the best life possible for them. She shows this by giving the background story of Keiko’s life and in the end how he was released from captivity. Rose makes it clear that she wants Tilikum released as well. She thinks it would create a better life for him. Additionally, releasing him would certainly be best for the safety of Sea World employees.
Naomi Rose shows off her various values in this piece. She wants the best life for orcas, and the best life for them is not locked up in captivity.
You can relate orcas being in captivity to a similar situation with a wild horse. You can’t keep a wild horse in a small stable and expect them not to be aggressive. Wild horses are used to running freely for miles. If they are kept in a small stable and not allowed to run freely, they will most likely be aggressive with their caretaker.
The same goes for orcas that are held in captivity. Tilikum has been in captivity for so long that he is responsible for multiple fatalities. If he is returned to the wild where he should be, this could possibly be prevented.
Through expressing her values, Naomi Rose makes a deeper and stronger connection with her readers. This makes her a more trustworthy person because her audience believes they share common beliefs and values. The audience is able to see that Rose has respectable morals.
A Call to Action
In “How to Free a Killer Whale,” Naomi Rose does a successful job in showing her practical wisdom, beliefs, and values. By including all of these rhetorical strategies in her article, she builds up a strong sense of trustworthiness with her readers.
In this article, she makes a strong argument about why orcas should not be held in captivity and if they are, why they should be released. By providing the background on Keiko, she prepares readers for her article’s main topic, releasing Tilikum. The background leads up to Tilikum’s story and his life in captivity.
Rose believes that releasing Tilikum will create a better life for him and prevent another fatality. I already protest orca captivity, so I agree with Rose and her argument. In my opinion, she effectively describes the harshness of orca captivity and the effects of it on orcas and caretakers. The author held my attention throughout the entire article.
In my opinion, Rose created a very successful argument, but that could be because I am already against orca captivity. She probably convinced many other readers on the harshness of orca captivity as well. However, a person reading this article who has no interest in orca captivity may be harder to convince. Adding more information to the article could potentially pull more people in and do the trick.
There are many different techniques that the author could have included in this article to create more interest for readers. To pull more uninterested people in, Rose could have included more information such as facts or statistics. Including a simple infographic or chart like one of these in her article could have given readers more evidence of how harsh orca captivity is.
Showing more research on the topic could also build more interest. Including information about various petitions could have been a tool for Rose to use to create more involvement. Many different types of petitions dealing with orca captivity, breeding, whaling, etc. exist. Using some of these tools and techniques would make for a more intrigued audience.
To me, Naomi Rose’s argument was satisfactory. She won the argument with me. Swaying other readers to her side, however, may require more effort on her part.