Fundraising for the American Civil Liberties Union

I found an interesting article in today’s news about the American Civil Liberties Union.  According to Quartz, a digital global news publication with a slightly left-leaning bias, the ACLU raised six times as much money online this past weekend than it does in a normal year. The reasons for this highly successful fundraising weekend? Fear, confusion, and some help from celebrities.

The ACLU is a non-governmental human rights group that is suing President Trump over the travel ban that he imposed on 7 different Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, while refugee admission was suspended for 120 days.  Almost immediately the ACLU sued the administration. To help with the fundraising, several celebrities and investors took to twitter to show support for the group and ask their followers to donate, even offering to match the donated funds themselves. This is an example of using rhetoric to persuade an audience instead of coercing them. The celebrities used emotion and the idea that President Trump is trying to divide us to appeal to our Ethos, and in turn this started a fundraising movement that brought in over 24 million dollars in donations.

It is easy to see the role that rhetoric played in this instance.  We are meant to see President Trump as the definition of idia, the idea that he is living in his own world. This is in contrast of the koine, or togetherness, we see with the protests and fundraising efforts, such as the ACLU. In my opinion, the use of this rhetoric is what made the fundraising so successful.

Sources:
QUARTZ article;  https://qz.com/897921/the-american-civil-liberties-union-raised-more-money-this-weekend-than-it-normally-gets-in-a-year/

ACLU website: https://www.aclu.org/about-aclu
USA today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/28/trump-moves-past-day-refugee-ban-putin-more-executive-orders/97181992/