It’s no secret the past two years have been dominated by COVID. Restrictions world-wide have been implemented to varying degrees however some countries have reached a point to where vaccination levels are high enough, they feel comfortable easing some of those restrictions and heading back to normalcy. Some communities world-wide have pushed back against any restrictions or vaccine mandates as they feel it violates their civil liberties at best and at worst, those communities believe the threat of COVID is overblown. The article I used is “Denmark lifts all COVID-19 restrictions, Doesn’t consider virus a ‘socially critical disease’” published by The Daily Caller. The article highlights the fact that Denmark has relaxed restrictions due to a high vaccination rate however the author cherry-picks quotes from Danish officials, leaves out other important information and uses pictures that suggest Denmark has eased all restrictions which is not the case. This article has established pathos however I think they mislead the audience when it comes to logos, and I do not believe the authors ethos is ever established.
It would be extremely hard to find someone on this earth who does not have some feeling towards COVID, and I feel this author is making his feelings known. He is writing from the Daily Caller which has historically been a more right leaning website and he is likely coming writing to that angle. The article cites a larger AP article however the author leaves out key quotes from the article and only highlights the fact that Denmark has relaxed most of their restrictions. The article uses images of Dane’s congregating for dinner and outside of a nightclub however he leaves out that social distancing is still required when applicable and inside hospitals, testing centers and airports you are required to distance and wear some type of face covering. I believe he leaves that information out because it doesn’t appeal to what his audience wants to hear.
Logos in this article is a little difficult to dissect. The author does mention the fact that Denmark has a vaccination rate of over 80% for everyone 12 and over and that is the reason behind the relaxation. I believe the author could have made a stronger case for vaccinations being the driving force behind the easing of restrictions. However, The Daily Caller has published several pieces on anti-vaccine protests and pushes for easing restrictions without a higher vaccinated population.
Finally, the authors credibility is never established. He is not a doctor nor someone who studies diseases and from what I could find on him, has no formal training or education in the matter. This article is basically a summary of the larger AP article whose author also does not establish his credentials in this field.
In this analysis I recognize the author is summarizing a larger article and does not need to establish his COVID bona fides since he is not making any time of analytical statements. However, despite that, the author does appear to go to great lengths to highlight things that support his likely stance of easing COVID restrictions everywhere. The author does not include facts like social distancing a still required in parts of Danish society, night clubs were the last to open and will be the first thing to close again if cases were to spike, and vaccination passports are still required for large parts of the country and are absolutely required for travel to other EU countries.
Wilmerding, Harry (2021, September 10) Denmark Lifts All COVID-19 Restrictions, Doesn’t Consider Virus ‘A Socially Critical Disease’. The Daily Caller. https://dailycaller.com/2021/09/10/denmark-lifts-covid-19-restrictions/