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Abstract

           Domestic violence is an on-going issue in the El Paso community, and it had various problems with it. Problems that occur for domestic violence victims include that they are scared to speak out against their abuser, police help is not really given, and many victims are immigrants and can’t speak out of fear of getting deported. The community must fix this by getting more involved and putting in effort to protect the victims. More shelters and other resources must always be available for these victims, so they feel better about coming out against their abuser. The El Paso community must find ways and come together in order to help domestic violence victims, because once the community comes together as one, it will benefit the victims. More victims will have the courage to come forward and to forever put an end to the abuse. I will include various sources that explain why victims don’t speak out, and the consequences that arise from that.

        Community Problem

           Domestic violence is a horrible issue around the globe, including El Paso. In 2014 alone, there were five domestic violence deaths and ranked in the top five counties in Texas with the highest number of domestic violence related deaths. (El Paso Times) With such high numbers, El Paso must find ways to stop domestic violence. The community needs to come up with better resources and ways for a victim to speak out and leave their abuser. Domestic violence victims live in fear, fear of their abuser, fear of getting judged, just in fear in general. So once they feel that the community will truly take care of them and that they have people supporting them is when they will realize that they can leave their abuser and get the help they need.

Introduction

           11,766 women were killed by their domestic partner between 2001 and 2012. That number is almost double the number of deaths of American troops during the same period. (Vagianos, 2015) All these women were victims of domestic violence, and with no help given, their lives were cut short. Besides high numbers of death, 4,774,000 women experience physical violence by their partner nationwide. (Vagianos) Domestic violence is a big problem, worldwide and nationwide, but it is even bigger in El Paso. Domestic violence victims are more afraid to get the help they need because El Paso is a big border city and many victims are immigrants. This problem is rising at an alarming rate, so the community must find ways to help the victims. Through shelters, support groups, and more police help, the victims will feel safer to leave their abuser and not fear for their life. The community must come together to help victims and to help the problem of domestic violence to stop.

Problems in El Paso

           Recently, a victim of domestic violence was arrested in an El Paso courthouse while trying to get a protection order against her partner, whom she accused of domestic violence. (Steele, 2017) The victim was arrested for being an immigrant. This headline brought a lot of attention to domestic violence and immigration. The news spread rapidly, and brought up an important issue. The issue being that immigrant victims will no longer speak against their abuser simply because they are afraid of deportation. This is especially true for a city like El Paso, because it is a big border city that many immigrants come to. What this victim went through is what many victims fear; that their abuser may not be punished just because their immigration status comes in question. This sends a bad message, and sadly will make many victims fear of ever speaking up. Besides fear of deportation, many victims fear other things. Including that their abuser’s actions will worsen or become deadly, no support from their friends or family, not being financial stable without their abuser. (Admin) This happens to many victims, and some even have reasons to stay with their abuser including blaming the violence on themselves, their abuser showing love on some occasions, having self-worth problems, or simply not believing that they can survive without their abuser. (Admin) All of the reasons happen because victims don’t have knowledge of safety or support they can get, they don’t have a place to go and stay, or because there is a lack of support to victims by law enforcement. (Admin) All this adds up to one big thing: victims don’t feel supported by their loved ones and much less by their community. This is why the community must come together as one, because a victim needs to be saved before anything deadly can occur. El Paso has had a high death rate one year, ranking as on e of the top five counties with high death rates due to domestic violence. This all comes back to the fact that the community doesn’t connect with victims to let them know there is a way out and they can receive help. If nothing changes, death rates will rise and more cases of domestic violence will happen. El Paso must stop these numbers and cases from occurring, because once there is a solution, victims will finally feel safer.

How the Community Can Help

           October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and during this time many local El Paso organizations spread the word about this “big problem.” (Anderson, 2015) Many people know about domestic violence, but aren’t educated on how to help or bring more awareness to the issue. These organizations target young adults in high school and college with billboards and talks on domestic violence, in person and through social media. The director of the Center against Sexual and Family Violence, Cesar Campa said “We can talk about the problem all day long, but if we don’t actually educate the community about what positive relationships look like, that doesn’t address the problem.” (Anderson, 2015) What he said is the big picture; many know domestic violence is a problem but don’t know what a good relationship is. But with organizations speaking up and educating the community, that can all change. Shelters, support groups, and law enforcement must also grow some “sympathy.”Many times when a victim speaks out, law enforcement won’t take it serious, or even shelters and groups might choose to “look away.”  What this does, is that it makes the victims feel like they have no help or nobody on their side. Law enforcement must learn to take all cases of domestic violence serious, and groups and shelters must find more ways to extend their hands to victims. With the help of organizations, people will understand how wrong domestic violence is and how they can reach out and help. These organizations want to “over blow” domestic violence because it is such a huge problem that many think they know, but they truly don’t. (Anderson, 2015) Many in the community may believe that their help is of no use, but the help of one person can potentially save the life of a victim.

Conclusion

           Domestic violence has and is a growing problem for many. Many know what domestic violence is but don’t know how to help and end the issue. El Paso is a city with high numbers of domestic violence cases and domestic violence related deaths. In order to change this, the community must come together as one. Through billboards, talks, social media, support groups; the community must work to change things to help these victims live a better life. When a victim feels love and support from those around them, they have the courage to leave their abuser and get the help they need. The El Paso community must change their ways in order for this to happen. Victims deserve all the love and support, no matter their reasons for staying or immigration status. The community must push all the stereotypes to one side and focus on the big picture: saving lives.

Annotated Bibliography

Admin, N. (n.d.). Understanding Why Victims Stay. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.ncadv.org/learn-more/what-is-domestic-violence/why-victims-stay

This article breaks down why domestic violence victims stay. Many people question why victims stay with their abuser, but they stay for many reasons. They are scared for their life or the life of their loved ones; they might be threatened by their abuser, etc. I will use this article in my paper by showing the reader why victims can’t leave their abuser. Many people blame the victim for staying, without knowing the reality of the victim. So this article will let me explain why they stay and why they truly don’t have a way out.

 Anderson, L. (2015, October 02). Groups launch effort against domestic violence. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/education/2015/10/01/groups-launch-effort-against-domestic-violence/73105546/

This article talks about a group putting together events to spread awareness of domestic violence. This is a local group in the El Paso community. I will use this article to show how one group can help spread awareness, and how easy it is to get the information out there to the people. This will also help me explain how easy it is for one small group to bring out a big movement. If more groups like these pop out in the El Paso community, victims will have more outlets to go to.

 El Paso officials say domestic-violence victim was arrested inside courthouse | Texas. (2017, February 16). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2017/02/16/el-paso-officials-dispute-federal-agents-account-domestic-violence-victims-arrest

This article talks about the arrest of an El Paso woman who was arrested over her immigration status when trying to get a protection order on her boyfriend for domestic violence. This incident is something recent in the El Paso community. I will be using this article to show how this incident can cause domestic violence victims to not speak up, if they are immigrants. This can turn out to be a big problem since El Paso is a border city. This will be a big part of my paper because it will be one of the main problems for victims in El Paso now.

 Figueroa, L. (2015, October 06). El Paso has high domestic violence deaths. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/2015/10/05/el-paso-has-high-domestic-violence-deaths/73398384/

This article talks about how El Paso has a high death rate of domestic violence victims. It ranks as one of the top 5 counties in Texas with the most deaths. I’m going to use this article in my paper by showing how many domestic victims in El Paso don't speak up and unfortunately death might be their ending, this is part of the problem in El Paso, how many victims don't speak out of fear of their abuser, or how they leave their partner and they are killed. This article will show how the community needs to come together to prevent so many domestic violence deaths from occurring.

 Jeltsen, M. (2016, May 26). Should Domestic Violence Victims Go To Prison For Killing Their Abusers? Retrieved March 26, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/domestic-violence-prison-legislation_us_573deaa3e4b0aee7b8e94236

This article speaks about how many domestic violence victims may end up killing their abuser. Those who kill their abusers mostly end up serving long prison sentences. Many people want that to change because they believe it isn’t murder, but self defense. This will be incorporated into my paper by showing the reader that because many victims don’t get the help they need, most end up murdering their abuser. In order to change this, the community must come together to find the resources to help these victims. This article will help my argument that victims need all the help they can get.

 Lord, E. (2015, May 02). How to Help Victims of Domestic Violence? There Are So Many Important Ways You Can Help Victims Become Survivors. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.bustle.com/articles/80424-how-to-help-victims-of-domestic-violence-there-are-so-many-important-ways-you-can-help

This article breaks down how to help victims of domestic violence. Many loved ones don’t know how to help victims, or how to get them the help they need. I will use this article in my paper by providing some ways that the El Paso community can go about with helping the victims. Many of the things talked about in this article can help our community and how we can help victims.

 Vagianos, A. (2014, October 23). 30 Shocking Domestic Violence Statistics That Remind Us It's An Epidemic. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/domestic-violence-statistics_n_5959776.html

This article talks about 50 facts about domestic violence. Including how many women will be abused in their lifetime, how many men will be abused, etc. I will use this article by showing the facts and statistics and how these go hand in hand with El Paso victims. This article will be my main source because it’s full of facts that will be the back story to my paper.

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Rhetorical Analysis on Salvation Army Advertisement

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” (Fred Barnard, 1927) One picture has the power to convey a powerful message across the world, it has the ability to bring out various emotions from the audience, and it can influence the audience to get out and support the cause they are fighting for. In order the author to convey all of this, the picture must have the following: logos, pathos and ethos. Logos is the logic of the writer’s argument, pathos deals with emotion, and ethos deals with the credibility of the author or the source. Without any of these three things, the picture won’t do its job of connecting to the audience. The reason the author must connect to the audience is because they are the most important part of the cause, because without them the cause won’t be supported or eventually get solved. So in order to get the job done, the audience must feel a connection.

Domestic violence is an ongoing issue around the world; it is the leading cause of injury to women. One in every four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. (The Clark County) Sadly, many victims won’t speak out about their abuse or abuser; because of this organizations seek the help of others who may know of a victim and their abuse. Many organizations speak out on this topic to help out victims and to prevent it from occurring. The Salvation Army is one of these organizations, founded in 1865 by William Booth; it has helped people in 125 countries without discrimination. It assists about 29 million individuals nationwide. (The Salvation Army, 2017) The Salvation Army speak out about social issues by the advertisements the put out; one of them being this advertisement. This advertisement is a very powerful and strong one, not with just the caption, but the picture of the battered woman. The Salvation Army got the problem across by using the three most important things: logos, pathos and ethos. With the picture solely, the caption has logic behind it, it stirs up the audiences emotions with anger and sadness, and it is has a credible source: The Salvation Army. Right off, the audience attention has been grabbed and they are going to want out to help out domestic violence victims.

The logic the Salvation Army uses in the advertisement is strong and simply: it is the two quotes on it. Logos is the logic of the Salvation Army’s argument. “Majority of women who are abused never report it. If you are in need of, or know someone who needs help…” This quote is based on statistics, “only about half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police.” (Feminist.Org) many victims don’t report out of fear that their abuser will retaliate against them or that the police will not do anything about the incident (Feminist.Org). Since this occurs very often, many victims families or close friends will report the abuse if they know of it. They do this to protect their loved one and not put them in a dangerous situation if they did it themselves. The other quote, “Because they cover it with white and gold.” means that the majority of victims will cover up the bruises and marks with makeup, to make everything seem fine and happy. Victims will do this so that the ones around them won’t know the truth about the abuse they endure at home. Many people know this occurs with victims, so again the Salvation Army’s logic persuading is helping the audience understand more and to help out the cause. Both of these facts are common knowledge worldwide, so the Salvation Army includes this because it appeals to the audience’s logic, and this persuades them by reason to help out the cause.

The pathos in the advertisement is the picture of the battered woman. Pathos is the how the Salvation Army will persuade the audience using emotional appeal. Seeing the picture of the battered woman makes the audience feel three different emotions. One being sympathy for the victim and what she is going through, second seeing a beat up woman with bruises will invoke the feeling of sadness, and lastly anger towards the abuser is also brought up with the advertisement. This is what the Salvation Army wants the audience to feel, so they feel they need to help domestic violence victims. Pathos helps a lot when it comes down to persuading the audience because many people act upon their emotions. So if they feel sadness, anger, sympathy, they will act and help victims who are suffering from abuse. This is the main goal of the Salvation Army putting out this advertisement, to get help for the cause and the victims. By putting such a strong and emotionally picture, they will achieve just that.

The ethos in this advertisement is the Salvation Army themselves. Ethos is the credibility of their author in order to persuade the audience. The Salvation Army was founded in 1865, and it is an organization that helps those in need. The organization has helped 125 countries worldwide, and has assisted about 29 million people nationwide. They were called “by far the most effective organization in the U.S” by Peter Drucker in Forbes magazine.  They help different causes from domestic violence to the homeless to the missing persons program. Dealing with domestic violence, the Salvation Army has many domestic violence shelters around the United States, where the victims and their children can stay and eventually get work for a fresh new start. (The Salvation Army) This organization is one of the most popular organizations, not just in the United States, but nationwide. Many people are aware of what they’ve done to help people better their lives, so they know how establish they are. They are known by their advertisements, posters, commercials and their work with big named business, for example the National Football League. So the Salvation Army is constantly in the spotlight with the amazing work they do and how they get their organization and word out to the public. With this built-up credibility, the audience knows they are a credible source and they are worth listening to because their “word” is believable. This helps the Salvation Army’s effort to help domestic violence.

The advertisement done by the Salvation Army has everything it needs in order to connect with the audience in order to help the fight against domestic violence. The advertisement has its logos with the quotes, pathos with the picture, and ethos with the credibility of the Salvation Army. With all this included in their advertisement, they get their point across to the audience to help out domestic violence victims. This advertisement is truly worth a thousand words.

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Introduction

Izaak Walton (1653) wrote, “Good company and good discourse are the very sinews of virtue.” By this he meant that having good people and good communication is the bond of excellence. All of which describes a discourse community, and what it should be built upon.  From child-hood to adult-hood, numerous individuals are part of a discourse community.  A discourse community, as stated by John Swales (1990), is a group of communicators that share a common goal or interest that deal with the public. A discourse community has to have 6 distinct characteristics, which are: they have broadly agreed sets of common public goals, they have mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, they use participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, they utilize and hence possess one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, they have acquired a specific lexis, and they have a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of knowledge and expertise. A discourse community must have all 6 characteristics, and one that falls under all these characteristics is the Humane Society of El Paso.

The Humane Society of El Paso is a private, nonprofit organization that cares for animals, mostly dogs and cats but also small animals. The shelter takes in more than 3,500 animals. The Humane Society’s goal is to prevent suffering, neglect, abuse and cruelty to animals while providing information and awareness on responsible guardianship. Its main mission is to find the animals a better life with a loving family and home, and making sure the public has knowledge on how to treat animals with love and respect. It is their responsibility to look after the animals at the center, and bettering the animal’s lives while they are in the HSEP’s care. HSEP has to make certain that one day; each animal can leave and live a happy life. To make sure this goal is achieved, it takes the whole team. A team that includes the board of directors, executive director, executive committee, coordinators, managers and staff that oversee things in each category for example volunteer, financial, kennel services, etc. This team must keep close communication in order to achieve the organizations goal.

Literature Review

           “The Concept of Discourse Community” an article written by John Swales, is used to define what a discourse community is and how it slightly differs from a speech community. A discourse community uses the “same” language to communicate making it a speech community, yet that doesn’t work the other way around. Swales argues the differences by saying, “Thirdly, in terms of the fabric of society, speech communities are centripetal (they tend to absorb people into that general fabric), whereas discourse communities are centrifugal (they tend to separate people into occupational or specialty-interest groups). A speech community typically inherits its member-ship by birth, accident or adoption; a discourse community recruits its members by persuasion, training or relevant qualification.” (Swales, 1990, p. 471) A discourse community is made so people can go into a group with others that share the same goals as them, unlike a speech community. Membership to a discourse community is limited thus creating the threshold number of members. While with a speech community, membership is mostly given. This allows one to understand how distinct a discourse community is.

           Discourse communities look to past members and their writing, as stated in James Porter’s article, “ “intertextually” means looking for “traces”, the bits and pieces of text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to create new discourse.” (Porter, 1986, p. 34) Intertextually means that ideas, writing, statements aren’t “taken” from one another but simply passed down from one to another. Individuals seek inspiration from others, and that’s exactly what occurs in a discourse community. Members look to one another for a little push of motivation and inspiration to reach the ultimate goal. That motivation and inspiration can come from past writings, and members can add more to add new discourse.

Discussion

           The Humane Society of El Paso is a group of people striving for the well-being of the animals in their care. They must bring public awareness to their cause in order for their goal to be heard and eventually reached. The Humane Society follows all of Swale’s six requirements, to which they can be categorize as a discourse community.

           The first requirement is that “a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.” (Swales, 1990, p.471) The goals of HSEP include preventing animal abuse, providing information about animal issues, and eventually finding the animals a loving home. They also take the dogs on weekend hikes, participate in playgroups and are trained to learn basic manners. While cats are provided with a variety of toys to make them happy. They even have cat treadmills and fountain to keep the cats healthy, mentally and physically. The HSEP say that these activities reduce stress, fear and reduce the chance of the animals getting serious behavioral problems from sheltering. (Humane Society Website, 2017, Enrichment) Doing all this, they help the animals and the public. The public is made aware of the measures taken to take care of the animals and what they can do on their part to help. All members of this organization do their part to reach the main goal, from the board of directors to the ones taking care of the kennels. The members are committed to providing safe and sanitary housing for the animals, appropriate veterinary care, assisting customers with finding the right pet and educating the public about responsible pet parenting.

           The second requirement for a discourse community is they have “mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.” (Swales, 1990, 471) HSEP communicates among its members through phone, social media, and email and of course in person. Communication is the key to a discourse community, and it is the main key to HSEP. They have to keep communication between members to update on what’s going on, and what is happening that week and what they want to happen in the future. HSEP also communicates with the public. They let the public know about future events, and their goals. Since it is a non-profit, they get their money through fundraisers and social gatherings. So they must reach out and communicate to the public about these events to help the organization. HSEP truly thrives when the organization communicates throughout themselves and the community.

           The third requirement is that “a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.” (Swales, 1990, p. 472) This corresponds to the second requirement. The community can communicate with HSEP through their website. The website provides information about their organization, what they are about, the members, what the community can do to help and how to reach out and contact them. They can be reached by going to the shelter, through email or calling them. They also have various social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. On these accounts, HSEP posts pictures about their animals, the upcoming events, and again how one can help. (Humane Society Website, 2017, Contact)  Having so many ways to contact them, helps them grow and gain more volunteers and get people to go out and adopt.

           The fourth requirement is that “a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.” (Swales, 1990, p.472) The HSEP follows this requirement by providing signs, either online or in the community, articles of clothing, or anything they can put their logo or name on. They advertise this way cause it is one of the many ways to reach out to the community. Their logo is recognized by many, yet some don’t know about them. So when they see it, it will raise questions about the organization and they will look them up. With this, it brings more attention for them. This allows them to reach out to everybody through various resources, and advertise the HSEP and the animals even more.

           The fifth requirement is “in addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.” (Swales, 1990, 473)  This means that the group communicates with one another in their own specific way, their “own” language, their own language that nobody else knows. In the Humane Society are different lexis they use in the different departments the HSEP has, it varies from the board, to the shelter, to the volunteers. The members have a different lexis to deal with different situations, for example to deal with sick animals, how to treat certain animals, how and what to do in the kennels, and even whistles and signals to get the animals to do different things. These lexis are only understood between members and volunteers, and nobody else. Having their own language is one of the most important requirements of a discourse community.

           The sixth and final requirement is that “a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.” (Swales, 1990, p.473) The Humane Society of El Paso must follow some sort of “hierarchy”. HSEP is separated by departments; the first would be the board of directors, followed by executive director, executive committee, and then the coordinators. Following the coordinators would be managers and the staff that supervise things in each category of the shelter. (Humane Society Website, 2017, Our Staff) The members also look back at past members and their rules, “Each forum has a distinct history and rules governing appropriateness to which members are obliged to adhere. These rules may be more or less apparent, more or less institutionalized, more or less specific to each community.” (Porter, 1986, p. 39) The HSEP was founded in 1947, and since then rules and goals have been established there. Current members follow those rules and goals, and that is what has allowed them to be so successful. It follows the requirement because only a certain amount of members can join, and they join the department that they have the best level of expertise in. It also changes members, because some members will leave, creating space for new members to join. Finally, it still follows the founding member’s rules and goals like a discourse community should.

Conclusion

           To conclude, the Humane Society of El Paso meets all six of John Swale’s requirements to be classified as a discourse community. The Humane Society and its members share the same goals, have mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, use participatory mechanism to provide information and feedback to the community, have their own specific lexis, have many different types of genres, and finally they have professional and trained members all from different departments. Their communication, knowledge, and perseverance for change all go hand in hand to reach their goal. Discourse communities may seem small, but their impact on the community, even the world, can be huge.

    References

Happy Happens Here. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2017, from https://www.hselpaso.org/

 Porter, J. (1986). Intertextuality and the discourse community. In E. Wardle & D. Downs (Eds.)              34-39

 Swales, J. (1990). The concept of discourse community. In E. Wardle & D. Downs (Eds.),                        471-473

 User, S. (n.d.). Izaak Walton's "The Compleat Angler" An Introduction to Liberal Arts.     Retrieved February 10, 2017, from      http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/literature/copy-of-izaak-walton-s-the  compleat-angler-an-introduction-to-liberal-arts.html