Exercise 6:
An appeal to spite is people reacting to things for their beliefs. Politicians take advantage of this type of appeal because they know that if they can say the right thing then the people will react and vote according to their beliefs and what the politician has said. Here is a piece of a speech that Woodrow Wilson gave on the topic of war:
"Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must
be made with a moderation of counsel and temperateness of judgment befitting our character
and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be
revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication
of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion."
In this portion of the speech Wilson is making it believable that the war will not be for revenge, but for the rights of the people. Saying this will get people to think that this war is only for their own rights and not just to get back at another country. This is also very effective because some people are selfish and if there is something that can be done to benefit them then they will be all for it.
I liked your example of an appeal to spite. It seems that politicians are always entering troops into war for certain reasons. In order to make the war more appeasable, the politician will use different appeals to the citizens in order to generate support for the war. War propaganda has been very effective for years and years, and has also proven to be very successful. Countries have gone to war simply because of the claims or accusations that a politician has made. The usage of war propaganda is a perfect example for the appeal to spite, and demonstrates the meaning clearly.
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