Samantha Drake

ENG 111.01: College Comp I

Dr. Ethan Mannon
November 15, 2021
Coming to Terms with America’s “Long Violent History”
Rhetorical Analysis of a Statement by Tyler Childers on his Song, “Long Violent History”

In September 2020, just six months after the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown, a time

swarming with protests calling attention to the racial injustices in our country, Tyler Childers released his

song, “Long Violent History”. Along with the release of his song, Childers posted a statement to YouTube

titled “A message from Tyler.” to introduce his album and provide context for his listeners. In this

statement, Childers asks white people to reflect on themselves and the way they treat other people.

Childers addresses the outdated beliefs, double standards, blinding ignorance, and lack of empathy in

white Americans and points out the racism, and unaddressed violence occurring in our country. Childers’

statement is structured with blended use of logos and pathos but the question of whether he used ethos

effectively is quite arguable and difficult to determine.

Childers begins his statement with a short explanation of the context behind the piece and then

dives head-on into his background. Childers states that he has “no soap box to stand on to talk preachy to

anyone on anything” (Par. 2) due to the fact that he is “a recovering alcoholic who has drunk and drugged

himself around the world playing music for the better part of 11 years, and now has six months of

sobriety.” (Par. 2) This is an unusual route to take to build credibility, making the overall effectiveness of

Childers’ use of ethos difficult to determine as it could be perceived in two different ways. First, by

considering his target audience whom he considers to be ignorant, it could be said that by giving the

audience this information about himself, he has given his audience information that they could use to

discredit him. On the other hand, Childers’ audience could perceive being given this information as

honest, therefore building his trustworthiness and credibility. If Childers hadn’t been upfront and honest

about his background, his audience could find out that information through their own research and that

would decrease his credibility. With all of this in mind, the route of ethos that Childers took seems to be

the most effective option he had.

 Next, Childers attempts to use logos to point out the outdated and racist foundation of white

Americans’ belief systems and appeal to his audience from a logical standpoint. Childers mentions the use

of a “flag with history steeped in racism and treason” (Par. 11), presumably the confederate flag, and

offers that white Americans have many other, non-racist options if they want to preserve their heritage.

He lists options such as “learning a fiddle tune”, “canning our own food” and “sewing a quilt” (Par. 12)

and states that “if [white people] did things like that, we’d have a lot less time to argue back and forth

over things we don’t fully know, backed by news we can’t fully trust” (Par. 12) which effectively

characterizes his intended audience as ignorant and uneducated in their beliefs.

Along with this ignorant mindset, Childers once again attempts to appeal to his audience’s logic

by arguing that white Americans hold a double standard; He points out the flaws in white Americans’

perspectives on the world and states that they have an “inability to empathize with another individual or

group’s plight.”(Par. 3) In his statement, Childers used questions to draw out his audience’s typically

hidden empathy and he follows those questions with this statement in paragraph seven, “I’d venture to

say, if we were met with this type of daily attack on our own people, we would take action in a way that

hasn’t been seen since the Battle of Blair Mountain in West Virginia.” Childers frames these paragraphs in

a trap-like manner that should allow the audience to catch onto how their viewpoint on situations changes

based on race.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Childers frames questions to his audience in a

self-reflective and sort of interactive writing style that points out their lack of empathy and flawed logic.

Similarly, Childers uses these questions to appeal to his audience’s emotions and create negative feelings.

Childers asks these aforementioned questions and then follows them with facts that he uses to drive out

the deeply hidden empathy in his audience. For example, in paragraph six Childers uses gloomy fake

news headlines that do not mention race to spark negative feelings within readers. He then asks questions

such as “How would we react to that?” and “What form of a people would that create?” (Par. 6) in an

attempt to provoke white readers into removing their predisposed race-based opinions and think about

their mindset and morals from an alternative perspective. He states, “I would ask my white, rural listeners

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to think on this. I don’t mean to imply that many of you aren’t already doing good self-examination on

this issue, but I have heard from many who have not.”(Par. 4), asking his audience to examine themselves,

their morals, their mindsets, the foundations of their beliefs, etc. with an unclouded point of view.

In another emotional appeal, Childers takes what was formerly not a problem for white

Americans and offers that it could create problems for them. With knowledge of Childers’ intended

audience, it could be presumed that Childers’ previous points may not change their opinion, but

introducing a personal aspect for the audience may improve their reactivity. Childers points out that if the

aforementioned issues of racism and unaddressed violence are going unnoticed, then other struggles that

have more effects on his readers' lives will also lack a resolution. He states, “Chances are the people

allowing this to happen are the same people keeping opportunity out of reach for our own communities

that have watched job opportunities shipped out and drugs shipped in, eating up our communities and

leaving our people desperate in what some folks would deem a food desert.” (Par. 9) which adds many

issues that presumably at least some of his audience cares more about. He offers that white Americans

“can stop being so taken aback by Black Lives Matter” and that without the division in America, people

such as Breonna Taylor would get the justice they deserve.

In conclusion, Tyler Childers' atypical use of ethos establishes his credibility and honesty in the

best way possible for him. His target audience’s response is difficult to predict thus making it very

difficult for Childers’ use of ethos to be as effective as other authors. Childers uses both logos and pathos

very well throughout his statement. His use of both rhetorical appeals compliments each other very well

and blends together seamlessly. It is difficult to determine how effective the statement in its entirety is to

persuade his target audience, but for the average, non-stuck in their ways reader, his statement is amiable,

well-written, and well-argued.

Citations:

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Childers, Tyler. “A message from Tyler.” 18, Sep. 2020, YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ3_AJ5Ysx0

Childers, Tyler. “Long Violent History” Long Violent History, Hickman Holler Records, 2020,

track 9. YouTube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_I3Rp1CQak&list=PLRXQVz-LZkZiMN

kvTf62ADxLOEsZ1Bfh0&index=9