The article, "What Critics Don't Understand About Gun Culture" was published on February 27, 2018. It was published by The Atlantic and written by David French. French is a senior writer at National Review and a former veteran of the Iraq War. The article was made in response to an ongoing issue about gun control in the US and his personal experience with guns and what they have done for him and his family. The writer uses a conversational tone and appeals toethos throughout the article.
French uses a thoughtful tone in the article. It is obvious through the low diction being used due to the use of very informal words. For example, French states "So you take a big step. You walk into a gun store. Unless you’re the kind of person who grew up shooting, this is where you begin your encounter with American gun culture". The previous quote shows the low diction and a second point of view. This allows the reader to take the article a bit less seriously and connect with it more, as it shows what the writer has considered in the article about this issue. Therefore, this is why the article shows a thoughtful tone. The writer appeals to ethos throughout the article. The author states: "At the end of this process, your life has changed for the better. Your community has expanded to include people you truly like, who’ve perhaps helped you through a tough time in your life, and you treasure these relationships". This shows appeals to ethos as the author is putting personal accounts where guns have impacted his life. Later on in the article, French states "it strikes me that many millions of Americans don’t truly understand how 'gun culture' is built, how the process of first becoming a gun owner, then a concealed-carrier, changes your life". The previous quote shows the author's personal account with this and how it has changed him as well when purchasing a gun. French also quotes many other websites to support his information, such as from Politifact, National Review and Time: "Thus the overwhelming support for background checks, the insistence from gun-rights supporters that the government enforce existing laws and lock up violent offenders, and the openness to solutions—like so-called 'gun violence restraining orders". This supports his credibility a bit as it shows where French is getting his information from and how he is implementing it to explain it to the audience. Overall, this is how the author appeals to ethos. The author's purpose in this article is to show what people don't realize about gun control and what it can do for your life if put in the right hands. It also attempts to address the issue about gun control and what should be done about it. He states "It’s a myth that gun owners despise regulation. Instead, they tend to believe that government regulation should have two purposes—deny guns to the dangerous while protecting rights of access for the law-abiding". This shows what the author believes about gun control and what a majority of others see as well. They introduce this topic by first stating a personal account about the reason some may purchase guns. The author's goal is to shed light on a different side on gun control and what should be done about it in the US. French's use of a thoughtful tone and appeals to ethos create an inadequate article about gun control. This is due to the lack of evidence and by the author taking a simple take on the issue. French uses many appeals to ethos which don't support his purpose as effectively and attempts to make statements on behalf on all gun control users which isn't strengthened at all in the article. Although the author does attempt to take a strong stance on gun control and what guns can do for your life, it is supported with weak evidence which makes the article not effective at all.
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The article, "Facebook only cares about Facebook", is an article published by The Atlantic. The article was written by Ethan Zuckerman, a director for Civic Media at MIT and an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab. The piece was made in response to certain changes made by Facebook that apparently "will likely de-prioritize stories from professional publishers, and instead favor dispatches published by a user's friend and family". The author uses a critical tone and appeals to ethos throughout the article.
Zuckerman uses a critical tone in the article. This is shown through many phrases used throughout the piece. For example, the writer states: "Facebook doesn't care. At least, it usually seems that way". This shows the writers criticisms towards Facebook, as the recent changes they have done seem to anger the writer in a way. The writer also refers Facebook as "the social giant" which shows that the author is being very specific and analytical about Facebook. Therefore, this is how the author uses a critical tone. The author appeals to ethos throughout the piece. This is apparent through the uses of many sources and quotes of other articles. For example, he quotes other articles published by The Atlantic: "Facebook’s crushing blow to independent media arrived last fall in Slovakia, Cambodia, Guatemala, and three other nations". This shows and improves the author's credibility, as he has more than likely had contact with some of the writers he quotes. Therefore, this is how the writer appeals to ethos. Zuckerman is a director that focuses on Civic Media and Media Lab. This means that he has lots of expertise and knowledge on how media works. This shows that Zuckerman has lots of ties to the topic and potentially some bias. This is shown when he talks in first person and about a software that affects how you may view Facebook: "This fall, my colleagues and I released gobo.social, a customizable news aggregator...Facebook only allows us to show you Facebook Pages...crippling [gobo.social] its functionality as a social-network aggregator". This shows the writer's bias, as it shows how this affects him personally, as it fights against a program they have worked on. The author's purpose in this article is to show what Facebook has done in terms of how news will be shown through Facebook. The writer introduces their purpose by recalling what caused the creation of this article, which was Facebook's recent actions. The author's goal is to show us what Facebook is doing, and that it is not justifiable. The writer's use of a critical tone and appeal to ethos create a weak article telling the reader about what has happened involving Facebook. This is due to the blatant bias and criticisms taking place as it heavily affects the author in their field. The article, "A Fatal Derailment in Washington State" was published on December 18th, 2017. The article is written by David A. Graham, who is a staff writer for the Atlantic who focuses on politics and global news. The article was created due to recent events involving a train in Washington. It involved a train crashing and some potential casualties. Graham uses an informative tone and appeals to ethos in the article.
Graham uses an informative tone in the article. There is very little bias throughout the article. This is most likely because the article is regarding an accident that involved a large amount of people. For example, the author states "The reason for the derailment, at around 7:45 A.m. local time, was not immediately clear, and initial explanations and injury accounts aren't often reliable". As you can see, there is very little bias in the text, as the author does not have much information at all that may need a bias of some sort. Therefore, this is how the author uses an informative tone. The author appeals to ethos through the use of quoting multiple sources. Graham quotes multiples sources such as CNN: "Local officials said at least 77 people were hospitalized. Amtrak said the train, number 501, had 78 passengers and five crew members aboard". These quotes allow the audience to trust the author more as he leaves his sources in the article to strengthen the credibility of the article. He also quotes other news websites such as The Washington Post: "President Trump has recommended slashing funding for Amtrak". Therefore, this is how Graham appeals to ethos in the article. Therefore, this is how Graham applies the use of an informative tone and appeals to ethos in his article. He uses and includes multiple sources and uses an informative to avoid potential bias. Graham's purpose in the article is to simply tell the public of these recent events involving Amtrak, the company responsible for the trains and railroads for most areas in the US. The author's goal is to tell us about this accident and if any changes will potentially be made to make trains much safer and efficient, as trains in the US are considered to be slower than most. Graham,'s application of an informative and and appeals to ethos allow the article to be effective to readers of the Atlantic about the recent incident with Amtrak's trains and rail-tracks. The article, "Uber's Latest Bad Thing Is Not Just About Uber" was published on November 22, 2017. The post was created by Alexis C. Madrigal, a staff writer for the Atlantic and is currently working on a book known as Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology. The article was created in response to Uber (type of taxi service company) revealing a breach that occurred last year that resulted in a large amount of driver's license numbers to get stolen. Madrigal uses an analytical tone and appeals to ethos and logos.
Madrigal uses an analytical tone throughout the article. There does not seem to be much bias in the wording used in the article. This is due to the fact that the the matter was just recently disclosed to the public and more information is still underway to be collected. For example, the author states that "But it's what happened after the hack that is drawing condemnation. Uber did not report the breach to regulators". This appears to have little bias due to the little information at hand on the topic. The following quote show little meaning behind the author's ideals or feelings towards the matter. Therefore, the author uses an analytical tone in the article. The writer appeals to both ethos and logos in the article. Madrigal in the article, quotes many groups such as The New York Times or Bloomberg: "[ransom for the hacked information was] paid as part of their normal security-testing operations, The New York Times reported...In October, Bloomberg reported". The inclusion of quoting other sources allow the reader to put more trust into the author and believe the article more. It increases the credibility of the author than if no sources were included as it would cause question as to where the writer would get their information. The writer also appeals to logos throughout the article. For example, the author states that "two hackers stole the contact information for 57 million people and the driver's-license numbers for 600,000 drivers". The use of these statistics allow the reader to have a better idea of how big the issue is in scale. It lets the reader know how much expertise the author has in the matter. Therefore, Madrigal appeals to both ethos and logos. Madrigal's purpose in the article is to inform the public about this secret that Uber has kept for about a year and what they have done in order to keep it down. They lost valuable information for both passengers and drivers of the company that could prove costly in the future. The author does this by first introducing how this issue came to be recently and a further in-depth examination of the information that is currently released to us. The author's goal in the article to reveal and warn those who often use Uber's services what the company has done with their secrets and what they have attempted to do to fix it without outside intervention. Such as, they fired their Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan and are further attempting to figure out how the breach occurred. Madrigal's use of an analytical tone and appeals to both ethos and logos create an effective article to warn and inform those who frequently use the services Uber provides. The article, "Why Hasn't Trump Addressed U.S. Casualties in Niger?" is written by David A. Graham. It was published today, on October 16th. The article was made obviously in response to little word Trump has said about the casualties that occurred in Niger on October 4th. Four American Special Forces soldiers were killed on that day. The author of the article uses an angry/accusatory tone and appeals to ethos.
The author uses a very angry/accusatory tone in the article. The writer uses words that are targeted against Trump, showing him in a bad light. Although the author tries their best to not show any bias towards the president, it is very obvious through the choice of words. For example, the author starts off a paragraph stating "This is classic Trump rhetoric. Any time he is challenged on any action, he promptly compares his own record to past presidents". This is used to criticize our current president and to only speak of the faults he has. Therefore, this is how the author uses an angry/accusatory tone in the article. The author of the article appeals to ethos by quoting many people, such as President Trump, and former aides to previous presidents. This allows the audience to acknowledge the writer's analysis and conclusion based on these events, and the creation of this article was not made to purely bash on President Trump. He quotes these people as a way to rebuttal what Trump is stating, as he says "If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls...I like to call when it's appropriate[calling deceased soldier's family]". Graham quotes people such as Ari Fleischer (press secretary to President Bush) and Alyssa Mastromonaco (aide to President Obama) as a form of rebuttal and to sort of expose the flaws our president has. Therefore, this is Graham appeals to ethos in the article. Graham's purpose in the article is to inform the public of what Trump has done to address these deaths that occurred in Niger. The author addresses this by first talking about the events that caused this article to be created, and then stating the purpose after. Graham then in the end of the article briefly states the current status about what Trump has said in response to the soldiers killed in Nigerian, and states that "[Trump], is happy to talk out of school about former presidents, but he remains tight-lipped about why the slain soldiers were in harm's way". The author's goal in this article is to simply reveal how the President deals with delicate matters such as this. Graham's use of an angry/accusatory tone and appeal to ethos create a solid article to inform the reader about Trump's response to the casualties in Niger. The article, "Trump Says His Tax Plan Won't Benefit The Rich-He's Exactly Wrong" is written by Annie Lowrey. It was published on September 29, 2017. The article was created in response to a Republic Tax plan created by the Trump Administration that was released the same week. The writer uses a very critical tone in the article and the main appeals in the article are ethos and logos.
The writer uses a very critical tone throughout the article. The author doesn't use any wording that necessarily show his or her stance on the topic at hand. The article takes on a tone that analyzes the pros and cons that this plan introduced will take. This take on a critical tone allows the audience to view the article as unbiased, and trust the writer more effectively than if the tone were to just fully criticize Trump's plan with emotional wording. Therefore, this is how the author uses a critical tone in the article. The writer appeals to ethos by quoting multiple people of large significance, such as President Trump, Gary Cohn (Trump's economic adviser), and Steven Mnuchin (Treasury secretary). This lets the audience understand where the writer is getting his or her sources and it improves the credibility for the writer. It also allows the audience to believe and trust what the article is attempting to inform us about. The writer references an organization known as the Tax Policy Center, which is known to be a non partisan think tank, which means it is non biased. Lowrey appeals to logos through including multiple statistics that support the author's claim that this new plan from Trump's Administration is not going to do what they are promising. These statistics include multiple percentages and years for the future for what the predicted effects of this plan will have such as "plan wouuld add about a $2.4 trillion to the deficit over a decade...Nearly 90% of earners would see their tax burden fall or remain uncharged in 2018". The use of these statistics and times improve the author's credibility and gives the audience a more accurate depiction of the effects this plan will have on the country. The author's purpose is to inform the audience the effects of what this plan introduced by the Trump Administration will have on the country and it's future. The writer introduces his or her purpose in the beginning after stating the events that occurred to cause the creation of this article, and in the end of the article, after analyzing all of the effects of the plan. The author's goal is to show us these effects, and how Trump's administration may cause more problems for the country in general in the future if plans such as these get passed. The author's use of a critical tone, appeal to ethos, and logos create an effective article informing the reader that this new plan made by President Trump is not doing what they are intending. |
AuthorMy name is Alan Ma. I am a student at North Cobb High School, in the class 1A for AP Language and English. Archives
February 2018
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