In Joel Salatin's 'Declare Your Independence,' Salatin urges American's to opt
out of the tyrannical industrial food regime, and adopt a more healthy, and sustainable
future. Salatin makes a very successful argument. Throughout the essay, one can easily
identify where Salatin uses the rhetorical proofs'logos, pathos, and ethos'to convey
his argument effectively. Logos or means of persuasion by the use of reason is evident
throughout 'Declare Your Independence.' Ethos'the credibility or the character appeal
of the author'is used in many instances to make Salatin's argument more believable.
Pathos, a pathetic or emotional appeal, is used consistently throughout the story in order
to make the reader agree more inclined to agree with his argument. Salatin uses Logos,
Ethos, and Pathos, in order to make his argument more believable and effective.

Salatin uses many different aspects of logos to make his argument effective. To
start off, Salatin employs deductive reasoning'top down logic or going from a general
case to a specific occurrence. This type of reasoning is evident when Salatin says, 'how
can we be sure that food produced on local farms without centralized inspection and
processing is really safe to eat?' He then provides a specific example to support his
claim''Milk born pathogens, for example, became a significant health problem only
during the narrow time between 1900, and 1930, before refrigeration but after
unprecedented urban expansion.'

Salatin also employs different types of reasoning in his argument. Salatin uses
scientific reasoning'reasoning backed up by facts'in many instances, including, 'If
you took away everything with an ingredient foreign to our three trillion intestinal
microflora, the shelves would be barren indeed.' Salatin says this fact to prove that our
industrial food system is eliminating things essential to being a healthy human. Salatin
also uses rhetorical reasoning to further his argument''In America I have the freedom
to own guns, speak, and assemble. But what good are those freedom if I can't choose to
eat what my body wants in order to have the energy to shoot preach and worship?' This
is incredibly effective because individuals do not associate food consumption and the
United States Constitution, but Salatin uses what humans believe and associates the
notion of freedom to his argument. Lastly, Salatin uses dialectic reasoning'reasoning
that is based in facts but cannot be proven'to convince the reader. Evidence of this
dialectic reasoning can be found when Salatin says, 'Never has a culture spent more to
remodel and techno-glitz our kitchens, but at the same time been more lost as to where
the kitchen is and what it's for.' Salatin pins present day American's lack of knowledge
of basic cooking skills on processed foods and says once we 'rediscover our kitchens and
quit buying prepared foods, it would fundamentally change the way our industrial food
system worked.'

Salatin uses his background and knowledge of farming to enhance his argument,
although this enhancement is not totally achieved. Salatin's invented ethos actually helps
and hinders his argument. Salatin strays away from being stereotyped into a left wing
hippie'of who would normally be associated with bashing the industrial food industry--
by mentioning knowledge of the traditional family structure and the right to bear arms (a
very conservative ideal). This helps Salatin's argument because he could very easily be
blown off as a whistle-blowing hippie and have his argument ignored, but instead this
furthers his argument. In many parts of the essay Salatin mention his PolyFace farm'
'How can you feed the world?' is the most common question people ask when they tour
PolyFace Farm.' Many people easily interpret the multitude of times he mentions his
farm as advertisement, which gives Salatin far less credibility. But at the same time,
Salatin's many mentions of his farm make him seem experienced and knowledgeable
about sustainable farming and actually enhances his ethos. Salatin sets up his invented
ethos to give sound educated, and to seem like an everyday American, so his argument
will not be blown off. Salatin also draws on his strong invented ethos. Salatin is a third
generation farmer'this gives him experience and knowledge in the field of farming and
makes his argument a lot more believable. Salatin uses both his invented ethos and his
situated ethos to increase his character in the view of the audience, and to make his
argument more believeable.

Salatin appeals to many of the reader's emotions and utilizes enargeia to make his
argument successful. Salatin plays on many general emotions in his essay. To start off, he
tries to make the reader feel sympathetic towards the pigs by describing their treatment
by the industrial food system, 'By contrasts, today's industrial food system views pigs as
merely inanimate piles of protoplasmic molecular structure to be manipulated with
whatever cleverness the egocentric human mind can conceive.' This play on sympathy is
extremely effective because nobody wants to see a pig or any animal be viewed lower
than dirt. Salatin also makes the reader feel disgusted''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 pigs
can be abused but won't be stressed about it. Then they can be crammed in even tighter
quarters without cannibalizing and getting sick.' The disgust that Salatin makes the
reader feel is also extremely effective'it will make every reader think twice before
grabbing a piece of bacon at breakfast. The last emotion Salatin plays on is hope, Salatin
exposes the horrors of the industrial food system and makes the reader even feel guilty
for participating in it. He then he gives his audience hope with how simple it is to just
'opt out' of the system'The most powerful force you and I can exert on the system is to
opt out. Just declare that we will not participate.' Salatin even uses past examples of
slavery and women's suffrage to prove that his opt out strategy works''Resistance
movements form the antislavery movement to women's suffrage to sustainable
agriculture always have and always will begin with opt-out resistance to the status quo.
And seldom does an issue present itself with such a daily'in fact, thrice daily'
opportunity to opt out.' These emotions that Salatin plays on are incredibly effective, it
makes the reader want to throw up every time he/her eats pork, and also it makes them
just want to blatantly opt out of the tyrannical regime that holds all American's down.

As much as Salatin plays on emotions in his argument, he also utilizes enargeia to
make his audience care about his topic. Salatin makes the reader care about his argument
because he shows how much control the industrial food regime has over everyday
Americans''The only reason the framers of the American Constitution and Bill of
Rights did not guarantee freedom of food choice was that they couldn't envision a day
when neighbor-to-neighbor commerce would be criminalized . . . when the bureaucratic-
industrial food fraternity would subsidize corn syrup and create a nation of diabetes
sufferers, but deny my neighbor a pound of sausage for Thanksgiving hog killin'.'
American's have never liked being held down, especially by an over-bearing oppressive
regime, and this notion makes the reader care and even lures them to his side of the issue.
Another way Salatin utilizes enargiea, is by making us care about the topic in the way he
cares about it. Salatin associates one's lack of choice in food as a denial of basic
American rights''A reasonable person, looking at the lack of choice we now suffer,
would as for a Food Emancipation Proclamation. Food has been enslaved by so-called
inspectors that deem the most local, indigenous, heritage-based, and traditional foods
unsafe and make them illegal.' If one looks at his argument as a denial of basic human
rights, then he/she is easily won over, because the American spirit does not tolerate
oppressive regimes that deny rights. Salatin's association of food to a lack of freedom
makes every American care about his argument and makes it substantially more effective.

To conclude, Joel Salatin puts forward a strong case for opting out of the
tyrannical food regime and adopting a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle for the
future. Salatin utilize logos in his argument, to create logically strong reasoning. He also
draws on his situated and invented ethos to make the reader trust what he has to say more.
Lastly, Salatin uses emotions and enargiea to make the reader care about his topic, and to
make it more convincing. Salatin uses the rhetorical proofs'logos, pathos, and ethos'to
create a very strong argument, that makes any reader take up arms against the industrial
food fraternity that deny American's their basic rights.

