Joel Salatin uses the rhetorical proofs: logos, ethos, and pathos very well to make his
argument successful. The argument he is trying to get across is making us, Americans, opt-out
of the industrialized food system by growing our own food or buying it from the local famer's
produce stand so we can shut down the food industry. In a way, he compares the food industry
to the government. He does this by saying Americans are getting robbed of their freedom by
choosing to buy and eat the processed foods.

Salatin uses deductive reasoning when discussing the industrial food products put on the
shelf and how the food has unnecessary additives, preservatives, unpronounceable names, etc.
added to it. 'They've been replaced by an array of pseudo-foods that did not exist a mere
century ago. The food additives, preservatives, colorings, emulsifiers, corn syrup, and
unpronounceable ingredients listed on the colorful packages bespeak a centralize control mindset
that actually reduces the options available to fill Americans' dinner plates' (188). Salatin
proceeds to break down how a farm can work without all the machines and chemicals that the
industries use. He gives specific advice to Americans to show how we can opt-out of the food
industry. His advice to us is to learn how to cook again, buy locally grown foods, buy produce
that is in season, and have a garden of your own. This is rhetorically effective because he clearly
states the problem at large. Then breaks down in great detail the different possibilities to fix the
problem of the food industry that has taken away our freedom.

Salatin uses scientific reasoning with the support of false reasoning. He does this by
introducing the different non-organic substances that are being put into the foods, eaten by
Americans, by the food industry. 'The food additives, preservatives, colorings, emulsifiers, corn
syrups, and unpronounceable ingredients listed on the colorful packages bespeak a centralized
control mindset that actually reduces the options available to fill Americans' dinner plates'
(Salatin 188). Salatin uses false-reasoning by making the reality of the food industry known to
Americans and showing us how messy the process really is by giving examples of how the
animals are treated on the industrialized farms. 'The industrial pig growers are even trying to
find the stress gene so it can be taken out of the pig's DNA. That way the pigs can be abused but
won't be stressed about it. Then they can be crammed in even tighter waters without
cannibalizing and getting sick' (190). By using these types of reasoning, it affects his argument
by informing America that the food we are putting in our mouth is not good for us. He also
makes everyone aware that the food industry is a mirror image to politics. The industries, being
compared to the government, have all the power toward making the regulations on our food.

Since Joel Salatin is a third generation alternative farmer, he uses his knowledge of how
to farm without going through the food industry to his advantage. He knows what to tell people
to do to be able to opt-out of the food industry and gain their freedom back. Although this is
nice to have on his side, there is a limitation because some people will just see him as some
hippie guy that wants every one to eat all organic, home grown foods, as he does. He points out
that the animals are treated horribly on the industrial farms and that if they took all the food off
the super market shelves that has been sprayed with some kind of chemical there would be
practically nothing left on the shelves. 'In fact, if you just eliminate every product that would
have been unavailable in 1900, almost everything would be gone, including staples that had been
chemically fertilized, sprayed with pesticides, or ripened with gas' (187-188). He also discusses
a list of the bad things done to the food we eat on a daily basis from industrialized farms. 'To
make the point clear, here are the hallmarks of the industrial food system: centralized production,
mono-speciation, genetic manipulation, centralized processing, confined animal feeding
operations, things that end in 'cide' (Latin for death), ready-to-eat food, long-distance
transportation, externalized costs'economy, society, ecology, pharmaceuticals, opaqueness,
unpronounceable ingredients, supermarkets, fancy packaging, high fructose corn syrup, high
liability insurance, and 'No Trespassing' signs' (191-192). With this list we can see that we put
so many bad things for us in our body through the consumption of every day foods that we may
not have been previously aware of.

Salatin uses enargeia by using vivid detail about the treatment of the animals and about
the microorganisms that live in our digestive tracts. Throughout the essay Salatin shows the work
he does on his farm and shows what his neighbors think of his farm. 'In fact, to the shock and
amazement of our urban friends, our farm is considered a Typhoid Mary by our industrial farm
neighbors. Why? Because we don't medicate, vaccinate, genetically adulterate, irradiate, or
exudate like they do' (190). Through this display of work he shows reasoning for caring. He
also suggest that we do not need to listen to the food laws about safety when buying or selling
food from our neighbors. He makes this point by stating, '' realize that many of the same
power brokers (politicians and the like) encourage citizens to go out into the woods on a 70-
degree fall day; gun-shoot a deer with possible variant Creutzfeld-Jacob's disease (like mad cow
for deer); drag the carcass a mile through squirrel dung, sticks, and rocks; then drive parade-like
through town in the blazing afternoon sun with the carcass prominently displayed on the hood of
the Blazer. The hunter takes the carcass home, strings it up in the backyard tree under roosting
birds for a week, then skins it out and feeds the meat to his children' (187-189). With this great
detail of how a man hunts a deer he shows that safety is not an issue here when he feeds it to his
children/ household and is considered noble. Salatin is making the point that you do not have to
listen to the food safety laws when providing food for your own children so why should it matter
when you are providing food for the local neighbors and their families?

He is drawing on the emotion of freedom by referring to the industrial food system as the
'' figurative Kings in the industrial system' (191). In other words, saying that the food
industries are taking away our freedom of what we put in our body and the safety of it, which
needs to be stopped by opting out or by not buying the food industry products anymore. He
wants us to care enough about what is going into our body to want to make a change. This is
rhetorically effective because when people think of America they think of freedom. After all,
that is what this country is based on. We all want our freedom and to realize that we are getting
our freedom stolen from us by the food industries makes us want to fight back and restore our
freedom.

After analyzing 'Declare Your Independence' by Joel Salatin using the rhetorical proofs:
logos, pathos, and ethos he has an interesting approach by comparing the food industry to the
government to try to make his audience, Americans of today, care more by implying that their
freedom of food choices is being taken away by the food industry. By making his argument of
the food industry being bad and that we need to choose to opt-out of industrialized food. Making
this approach is very useful because America is a system built on freedom and by Salatin saying
Americans are getting their freedom stripped from them is a hard pill to swallow for many
Americans. This makes us want to choose the opt-out system in the future rather than putting the
bad, harmful chemicals into our bodies that we have been doing for many years.

