Writers often try to arouse emotions in readers to excite their interest, make them care, or move them to take action. There is nothing wrong with appealing to readers’ emotions. What is wrong is manipulating readers with false or exaggerated appeals. Therefore, you should be suspicious of writing that is overly sentimental, that cites alarming statistics and frightening anecdotes, that demonizes others and identifies itself with revered authorities, or that uses potent symbols (for example, the American flag) or emotionally loaded words (such as racist).

King, for example, uses the emotionally loaded word paternalistically to refer to the white moderate’s belief that “he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom” (par. 1). In the same paragraph, King uses symbolism to get an emotional reaction from readers when he compares the white moderate to the “Ku Klux Klanner.” To get readers to accept his ideas, he also relies on authorities whose names evoke the greatest respect, such as Jesus and Lincoln. But some readers might object that comparing his own crusade to that of Jesus is pretentious and manipulative. A critical reader might also consider King’s discussion of African American extremists in paragraph 7 to be a veiled threat designed to frighten readers into agreement.