Rhetorical Analysis on the Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore states that in his documentary film An Inconvenient Truth he was only voicing his concerns for strictly moral and ethical reasons containing Global Warming. When really Al Gore’s documentary was just an additional method to help him receive another bid at presidency. Global Warming needs to be brought to the attention of everyone it is an enormous problem in our world today, and we should be finding ways to put it to an end. In the documentary film Al Gore states “It takes time to connect the dots, I know that. But I also know that there can be a day of reckoning when you wish you had connected the dots more quickly” (An Inconvenient). Throughout this documentary Al Gore helps attract the attention of many around the world to Global Warming, but throughout this video he is also still focused on winning presidency. Throughout Al Gore’s documentary he repeatedly makes remarks to his past experiences in running for president, as well as his many accomplishments. When introducing himself to his audience in a huge lecture hall at a University Al Gore draws his audience in through the use of pathos, he says “I’m Al Gore, I used to be the next president of the United States of America” ( An Inconvenient).

Already Al Gore is starting the documentary talking about his election and not the supposedly main topic of this lecture. In this documentary Al Gore shows clips of himself during Hurricane Katrina which takes place during the election. All though this relates to Global Warming it still plays a large role in Al Gore’s election. Also Al Gore also shows clips of him after losing the Election against Bush claiming he feels as if he failed to get his message to the people across. If Al Gore truly cared about Global Warming he would not have included clips of his past elections, or made any remarks towards presidency or losing during the election.

Al Gore becoming president doesn’t have anything to do with putting an end to Global Warming; he continuously mentions that it takes one person to make a difference. Al Gore never says you have to be in a higher power in order to make that difference, which brings me to the questions why should he be in that higher position? Why can’t he start making a difference now in the position that he is in? The answer is he doesn’t need to be; anyone/anything can make that difference. In the documentary Al Gore claims “I don’t really consider this a political issue, I consider it to be a moral issue” (An Inconvenient). If Al Gore did consider this a “moral issue” and not a “political issue” then he should not be bringing up politics during his lecture.

Al Gore first became interested in Global Warming when he was studying at Harvard University. Al Gore’s professor at Harvard Roger Revelle, was one of the first scientists to measure carbon dioxide in earth’s atmosphere; which then inspired Al Gore to look deeper into Global Warming. After graduating from college later in Al Gore’s life he made a few attempts at the race at presidency, but failed each time. Al Gore first ran in 1988 and lost. In 1992 Bill Clinton chose Al Gore as Clinton’s running mate. In the year 2000 Al Gore won the Democratic Party Nomination for the U.S. President; choosing Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate.

During this election Al Gore had received more popular votes than George Bush; but after being rewarded Florida Bush received more electoral votes which brought him the win of the presidential election. After losing to George Bush, Al Gore spent more time researching Global Warming. Even though Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth may have brought a great amount of attention to the issue at hand, Al Gore did not make this documentary for the reasons that people may have thought. I do believe that Al Gore is actually concerned for our country, and the people that living in it; but by even mentioning politics it shows that Al Gore didn’t just make the documentary to bring attention to Global Warming it shows his true intentions. An Inconvenient Truth was made to help Al Gore receive another bid at presidency.