In "Everything's an Argument," Ch. 6, I found it interesting to read about the different approaches to form an argument in order to persuade a target audience. On page 8, it says that an ad is not trying to just get you to buy the product but to also adopt the lifestyle it's advertising. It makes me think of a Coca Cola commercial where the product is seen in every shot, and during the commercial, drinking the coke seems to be the single component that makes a beach party fun and exciting.
In the article, it asks if we really believe that a soda would magically give us a lifestyle of friends and beach parties. Logically, we all know that isn't the case. However, Coca Cola is planting a seed in us that makes us associate the product with something positive, and that is all they need to do. Their job is done. I personally don't agree with this type of advertisement since I think it's manipulative and deceitful -- It would be very surprising if there's one scientific research article saying coke adds any healthy or real positive value to a persons life -- but I see why it works.
I don't want to go on forever here, but there are so many aspects of this article. What I take away from it, regarding how to make a trustworthy and solid argument for what you're trying to convey, is to be thorough, support it with actual facts and statistics, use a language that is as neutral as possible not to turn off people who might already be skeptical (since they might be the most important ones to reach out to), while also including why choosing to consider their product, lifestyle or idea would be beneficial to them.
I also found Rachel Kolb's response to David Brooks article really awesome.
In "Everything's an Argument," Ch. 17, I like the body of the article, giving specific examples of how to find resources and the many different ways one can go about it. Sometimes, I don't think about the fact that you can go interview someone, or creating your own experiment instead of just finding one online that might not be as relevant as your own would be.
It also was really cool to read about the interview example in the beginning of the article with Oriana Fallaci and Ayatollah Khomeini. It made me think about how one can change the type or source of evidence one may use in order to convince a specific audience. It's kind of like the comic chapter about wearing different hats to adapt to a certain environment. It becomes challenging to think about what evidence is to different people and cultures. Since we all see the world through different lenses, deciding how to word evidence to an audience that doesn't see it your way sounds really useful.
I also found it interesting to read about the different approaches to form an argument in order to persuade a target audience. I really like how you brought up Coca Cola as an example. Coca Cola has very good, but manipulative commercials. They definitively make us associate their product with something positive and it makes us want it. There was a lot of information in this chapter. I liked how you listed your take away from this week reading.
ReplyDeleteChapter 17 provided a lot of good information. I never think about how many different ways there are to get information, I feel like I always go to the Internet the first thing I do. It’s definitively a challenge to figure out how to use your evidence to an audience that doesn’t see it our way. The bigger audience the more of a challenge it gets.