After you read the chapter on “Ethical Proof” in Ancient Rhetorics for Wednesday, I’d like you to pick one of the regular columnists from the Denver Post and read three or four pieces by this writer. (Note: You can do this instead of reading all of the op-ed pages.) Feel free to choose from any of the regular columnists from the opinion section, including Dan Haley, Vincent Carroll, David Harsanyi, Ed Quillen, Mike Rose, John Andrews, Susan Barnes-Gelt, Fred Brown, Joanne Ditmer, Tom Noel, or Susan Thorton. You can also choose to explore pieces by the local news columnists, too, like Susan Greene, Tina Griego, or Mike Littwin, or Bill Johnson. You can find links to their columns through our Blackboard page if you look under “Course Documents.”
Once you’ve read their columns, write one paragraph in which you describe the writer’s invented ethos or the persona that this writer cultivates in his or her column. How does this writer establish his or her expertise and credibility? What kind of values does he or she stand for? How do they secure the goodwill of his or her readers?
In a second paragraph present three brief quotations—a sentence or so—that offer evidence for the discussion in your first paragraph. Explain how these quotes support your ideas.
Please post your response as a comment to this post on our course blog before class on Wednesday, February 3.
Questionable Quality
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Found on the premises of Johnson-McFarlane and Centennial Halls are what
are supposed to be “convenience” stores. These convenience stores make
their busin...
16 years ago
Through her writing, columnist Joanne Ditmer establishes an invented ethos that advocates the preservation of traditions in society. Ditmer often talks about community issues in Denver regarding the aesthetics of the environment. One of Ditmer’s various articles persuaded readers to salvage communal parks from private institutions that wanted to turn parks into a place to view movies for the public. Ditmer articulated that this type of public entertainment leads to wear and tear on the park. Similarly, Ditmer wrote of how the preservation of Colorado’s farms symbolize fulfill aesthetics and quotas. The columnist also wrote about an aesthetic experience on Christmas Eve as she witnessed a group of traditional Indian dancers when she attended a church festival.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Ditmer creates an ethos that is built on aesthetics and tradition. In the article that sought to inspire the preservation of Denver’s parks, titled “City Should Not Commercialize Civic Center” Ditmer maintains this ethos as she stated that “there's also $45,000 to restore the park if needed. Ordinary three-day festivals take a week or two of watering and care to erase the wear and tear. How long it will take for 52 days, I can't imagine.” In this quote, not only is Ditmer establishing her preservation values, but is also establishing her credibility with researched facts about the park project. In her article titled “Easements Vital to Preserving our Heritage,” Ditmer evokes the same aesthetic principles when she writes, “The farms on the endless prairies, ranches in the high mountain valleys, fulfill our eternal vision of the West, with wide open spaces and beautiful landscapes.” The same tradition and aesthetic values and ethos apply in the article “Remembering a Magical Holiday in Santa Fe” as Ditmer recalls, “Our luck went with us to Cochiti. When we arrived, the buffalo dancers entered the church. Another beautifully executed religious performance, an awesome pairing of native tradition within a Christian framework. We marveled then, and ever, at the memory.” Ditmer’s keen use of description of the environments in these three examples of writing shows her aesthetic, preservation, and traditional invented ethos.
Tina Griego, a columnist for the Denver Post, appeals to many techniques of ethos to convey her opinion and thoughts concerning three very different topics that she has discussed in previous columns in her piece “Thoughts go out to dads, orphans”. Griego’s immediately begins her article with a basic summary of what she is going to cover, “random thoughts on recent columns” forewarning her audience that she will be skipping around and proving a basic opinion on what she has written recently. By doing this she pulls the reader into her mind as she ensues to describe her continual thought on adolescent fathers and their sons, orphans in Haiti, and a few words of inspiration from a Bhutanese refugee. Her next sentence jumps right into first person, creating a smaller distance between herself and her audience, furthering the effect of her first sentence to draw the reader into the discussion. Within her remembrances, Griego uses many quotes and personal experiences, watching the boys graduate from the Young Father’s program or repeating the words of the families who have adopted some of the Haiti orphans, to strengthen her credibility and expertise in the areas of interest she describes. The use of phrases like “I wrote about Saturday” and “several of you have asked me for an update on” develop Griego’s goodwill in the article by providing the audience with a connection to what she is talking about without actually repeating all that she had previously shred with them and that she anticipates the average Denver Post reader to be familiar with. The combination of all of these elements of rhetoric create a open and accepting invented ethos that conveys Griego’s values of change, community, and support that rise angelically from the page.
ReplyDeleteA few of the quotes that really bring out an effective inventive ethos in Tina Griego’s piece are: “I sat among these young men and could not help but wonder of each”, “I talked to Leslie on Monday”, and “I want to pass along this email from Deg Adhikari, the Bhutanese refugee I wrote about at Thanksgiving”. All three of these quotes serve to establish Griego’s credibility by providing the audience with concrete “proof” that she had done her research and actually gone to the events. By having knowledge of Griego’s relations with the individuals she talks about, what she says concerning them seems more truthful and real. She uses her experience to support her opinions, causing the reader to be more inclined to see her point of view and side with her ideas. The first quote also pulls the audience in by providing them with a description of her personal thoughts. Griego opens up the reader, creating a greater sense of connected with the piece and boosting her effectiveness in the eyes of the reader. The other two quotes also delve down to this more personal level and invite the reader into the mind and emotions Griego felt during her research. In this way the ethos becomes very strong and concrete, turning the piece into a very effective discussion of past columns.
When deciding which columnist to choose, I chose Susan Barnes-Gelt. She had several columns with titles that seemed to draw my attention. Reading her works, she hit close to home with several of the issues that she spoke about. She pointed out many facts that our government has hinted at, but has not made any changes to. Susan Barnes-Gelt served on the Denver City Council. She also worked for Mayor Federico Pena. Besides having a governmental background, the way that she worded her columns gave her a lot of credibility. She was very aware of the topic in which she was writing about. She had statistics and facts that made her argument valid. Susan was for the people. There were many common themes within her columns. One of the main themes was dealing with what was good for people.
ReplyDeleteOne of her columns was about Denver’s next mayor. She pointed out many flaws in the system that we presently have. “. Radical systemic change is needed and the next mayor must have the courage and focus to evaluate what Washington, D.C., Chicago and New York have done: mayoral control of the district.” She was speaking about the current schooling system in Denver. This is dealing with our future. The children of today have to be prepared for tomorrow, meaning that if we do not have adequate education, then where does our future lie? Another article in which she talked about the upcoming candidate for mayor, she pointed out several flaws in his campaign. “Amid unprecedented budget challenges, Ritter's approval of tax-increment financing to build a NASCAR- type racetrack close to DIA confounds. Noise, pollution, sprawl and low-paying jobs — are those the principles of the new energy economy?” She points out that fact that this suggestion is not beneficial to Denver. The final quotation that supported my ideas was a column about cutting Denver’s budget. “Denver faces a $120 million shortfall in its $900 million operating budget. Spiraling personnel costs and dim prospects for recovery — given Denver's reliance on sales and use taxes — call for systemic change in the city's budget. She is very aware that Denver needs budget cuts, but she makes clear where they need to be placed.
Susan was a very detailed and direct writer, which I truly enjoyed.
Dan Haley of the Denver Post is able to establish his credibility and his expertise generally through incorporating his past experiences or his credentials into his writing. He integrates his values and his credentials within the pieces that he writes in a very fluid manner. This is not to say that it is easy to pick out where he is building his credibility, but he does it very well and integrates it so that it relates to the subject that he is writing about. He is also able to incorporate his personal values into his writing very well. He seems to do this by making statements about his moral values or what he believes is correct. There seems to be a standard that he portrays to his readers. This allows the reader to know that Haley has got a straight moral compass and that he has the best intentions in mind for the country or for whatever subject he is writing about. He puts family values very high on his moral priorities which secures the ‘goodwill’ of the majority of his readers. He tries to connect on a human level rather than as a condescending writer or untouchable opinion.
ReplyDeleteHe is able to build his credibility with statements like ‘Hosseini was in Denver earlier this month as part of The Denver Post's Pen and Podium series, and I had the privilege of hosting a Q&A with him…I read both of his books last fall as the war that began on Sept. 11, 2001, was creeping into its ninth year and popular opinion of it was wilting.’ We now know that he has knowledge about the subject and that he probably has more insight than most necessarily would. His values seem to be incorporated through statements like ‘Gov. Bill Ritter's decision to not seek re-election so he could focus on his family was admirable.’ and ‘But the burden that comes with the honor of being the first family was apparent. And I was reminded, again, that life inside the gated governor's mansion isn't as glamorous as it looks, especially for the supporting cast.’ We can see from these statements that he certainly values family and understands that, above all, we are human and we should be understanding of that fact.
Denver Post columnist Vincent Carroll has created himself a very strong ethos. By using subtle sarcasm, wit, and fitting his main point into hypothetical stories, he has successfully produced a popular persona. By studying and creating a strong understanding of the subject at hand, he is able to convince his readers that his opinion is the right side of the argument and should be listened to. Carroll’s values tend to lie with “the people.” He favors the masses and rarely take the side of the government or big businesses. His columns speak to the people and allow them to be at ease knowing that he generally takes their side.
ReplyDeleteQuotes such as: One nice thing about being a billionaire: You really can fight city hall — not to mention the county courthouse, state officials and sometimes even a federal agency or two…. Some frustrated cannabis advocates threaten to take another measure to the ballot, as if Colorado voters would ever agree to their Wild West vision of medical marijuana sales…. It could result in the state harassing citizens for often paltry sums that most didn't even know they officially owed - and which almost no one actually pays describe Carroll’s style very well as a witty columnist who writes about issues he feels strongly about…issues in favor of the well-being of Colorado citizens.
Here's Flora's response:
ReplyDeleteThe writer I choosed in David Harsanyi, in his recent two articles “ our ‘so-called’ leader” and “ Obama’s rhetorical retreat”, his most attention was focused on president Obama since he just gave the 2010 states of the Union speech. I have no idea, but I would say David Harsanyi seems to be a republican so that everything he pointed out to president Obama was negative. However, the only thing he might believe in Obama’s speech is that Obama promised to do his best to stop “any pesky so-called expansion” in the future. Based on the research, David said that the majority of Americans thought 2000s decade was bad, not successful as the time before, but meanwhile, he create people a hope that it would get better. Also, he made people to believe that China could be the best partner to cooperate with according to the current US situations. However, US has been making efforts forwards all the time. David thought that as Americans, everyone should know what kind of future US might have in the coming years, that’s his securing goodwill.
In Susan Thorton's writing it is clear that she has well thought out and opinionative articles. In her peice, "A Court for Mental Illness", she finds the balance between the cause and effect. First, she ackowledges the crimes that have been committed from people with some sort of mental illness, but have not been crimes of violent nature. Along with this are facts; for example she details just how much money it costs to keep a mentally ill inmate in prison, and their behavior that leads them to prison due to not being able to afford the apporpriate medications. She defends a way to accommadate the sentence of the mentally ill inmates through treatment of their mental illness. Through this example she creates her ethos from her concern for a just way to deal with mentally ill convicts so they have an opportunity to become contributing citizens to society. She expresses her concern of just how taxpayer's money is spent by the government while "It costs about $30,000 to keep a person in a Colorado prison for a year". Thorton explains that while "they've been charged with minor offenses that result from their mental illness" because on occasions "they have been off their medications because they can't afford them, and live in and out of shelters". Also I can say that Thorton addresses the alternative option for the convicts whom are mentally ill, for she ackowledges the case of Robert, a man with multiple convictions who suffers from a bipolar disorder. The author at one point explains that Robert "wants to figure out a better way to live".
ReplyDeleteEd Quillen is the columnist I picked to write about, Ed is a great writer who uses persuasion in his writing and usually Ed uses historical events or proofs to support his believes and opinions that he shares with his audience. Ed is gifted in comparing present events to past events and then arise the reader’s curiosity about what was different in the past from the present that caused the dramatic change in the outcome or the results. Ed although put his own stories and experience in his writing to make the readers feel that Ed is just a regular American who discussing the present issues who doesn’t take sides and the only side he takes is what is good for the American people. One thing that Ed is really talented in is his ability of narrating a story and suddenly connecting this story to the subject that he is discussing.
ReplyDeleteEd wrote a column called “Two forms of populism”, in this column Ed argued the different understanding of populism between Republicans and Conservatives. In the column Ed argued the differences by quoting the 7th president of the united states of America Andrew Jackson “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes. . . . Every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society — the farmers, mechanics, and laborers — who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their Government”. Ed didn’t tell the readers what believes should they stand for but he simply provided them with a good example of good president and a government that cared about their people and it’s up to the readers to decide what side they should be on. Another column by Ed called “Ritter is right on tax breaks” where he discussed a method about tax breaks that were proposed by the governor: Bill Ritter. In this column Ed simply invented an imaginary town and then he applied the governor’s method and compared this town to real town. “To see why, let's consider the imaginary Colorado town of Galena. It has 1,000 households. Each household pays $1,000 a year in municipal taxes, and the annual budget of $1 million goes for streets, parks, fire and police protection — services that presumably benefit everyone in town” this part of the article is showing the imaginary town and the kind of financial system it has and then he introduce a problem in this city such as 20 people of the city householders don’t want to pay taxes because they think they are the very important to the city survival. Then he questioned what should the government do and in the same time he compared the same situation to real city in Colorado. By using this comparison method that Ed using, he allows the readers to compare and realize what is good for the country and what is not.
“Missing the great hardware stores” is a column written by Ed that is discussing why there are so many hardware stores that run out of business. Then he add a story of him and a hardware store owners and shows how great this owner was by helping Ed out with his needs and not charging him Extra for what Ed wanted. “Back then, I worked at the local paper, where a typesetting machine got seriously out of adjustment. The relevant screw had a tiny slot and sat well back in the machine. I needed a screwdriver with a small blade and a foot-long shank.
All the long screwdrivers in Jack's inventory had big blades — eights and tens when I needed a four. He put a long screwdriver in the vise on his counter, and then pulled a bastard file out of a drawer. "Come back in half an hour," he said.
I did, and we got the paper done on time that day. Jack didn't even charge extra for customizing the screwdriver”.
The article I read was “Medical Marijuana and Teenagers” by Christian Thurstone. The ethos and persona that this write cultivates is determined and expressive. He shows clear cares for his subjects in trouble. He states his position on marijuana and the risks of legalization and marijuana in general. He establishes credibility bluntly in the beginning by naming himself a “medical director of a busy adolescent substance abuse treatment program”. He then later provides facts and statistics as support. His values and goodwill, I believe, are represented in his facts based on the dangers to the kids. I think his passion for his work shines through that. He shows that he is concerned and feels our youth will suffer.
ReplyDelete“Some of my colleagues recently reported seeing a young, pregnant woman who was granted a license to smoke marijuana because of her nausea. (Yes, you read that righ.)” This supports my first paragraph because he is showing his ethos by expressing himself as an actual human rather fact regurgitater. It gains trust for the reader to know he’s not a machine, but a person with emotions to also support his opinion. Inside of this ethos projection lies an appalling fact about one of his colleague’s patients and the abuse of marijuana. “Nationally almost 5.5.% of high school seniors smoke marijuana daily, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. About 95% of the hundreds of youth people referred to my clinic each year have problems with marijuana.” This expresses support because it is factual and statistic based information. “When they’re high, these young people make poor choices that lead to unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, school dropouts and car accidents that harm innocent people. When teenagers are withdrawing from marijuana they can be aggressive and get into fights or instigate conflicts that lead to more trouble.” This last set of quotes from the article shows the consequences the users and citizens may face due to the use and abuse of marijuana. So Thurstone successfully establishes his credibility, states facts, and eventually shows what consequences to the legalization of marijuana we may face.
Mike Rosen writes about many current and controversial topics. He very much enjoys siding with the greater population and picking apart politicians and political decisions. In "The Great Equivocator", he pokes at Obama's childish way of avoiding dropping terrible news to the people. He went about trying to describe the Christmas day bomber as an "Isolated Extremist", in attempt to get around the fact that it was an act of terrorism. In "Post Avatar Depression" he does praise Cameron's special effects, but he rags on the movie plot and comments from viewers. Just as in the previous two articles, Rosen picks apart Bill Ritter's accomplishments in office as governer and talks about his downfall and diminishing group of supporters. Rosen has created an ethos that is identified as sarcastic and unforgivable. His critical writing makes the flaws in his subject light up and lead you to agree with his views.
ReplyDeleteQuotes:
FDR didn't mince words when the Japanese struck on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. One can only imagine what a President Obama might have said. Rosen here is criticizing Obama's indirect speech that was intended to explain the Christmas day bomber. He draws the reader over to his side by mentioning that Obama seemed "appeared to be annoyed that his Hawaiian vacation had been interrupted." This makes him seem selfish and less concerned with the safety of the population.
"Ivar Hill, a 17-year- old studying game design in Sweden, said that his life had lost its meaning after seeing the movie, that he didn't see any reason to keep doing things in a dying world and wanted desperately to escape reality." Rosen is discussing his lack of interest in this movie and is making fun of Cameron's ridiculously false plot, but also is making fun of the people who took it seriously.
"I like Hick, too. And I'll confess he got my vote for mayor. But that was as the lesser of evils (just an expression, I don't think he's evil) in a Denver election. I couldn't vote for him for governor." Mike Rosen continuously writes in a negative tone and here is no exception when he says that the only reason to vote for Hick is because he is the lesser of two evils.
The article I read was titled “Medical Marijuana and Teenagers,” by Christian Thurstone. This article expressed Christian’s worries about the growing presence of medical marijuana in Colorado. Thurstone has a strong inverted ethos in his piece, where he attempts to convince the audience that he is a well respected and honest man when it comes to this topic. He tries to win over his audience by addressing his concerns for the youth of this state, giving the sense that he cares about the Denver society (something that may very well be true). He also addresses the safety which we must provide for the younger generation, and exposing them to drugs is not the proper thing to be doing. He provides facts and evidence for his arguments showing that he has expertise on the subject, also proving to the reader that he is highly respected in this topic and people should listen to him. He mentions that he helps out younger kids who have addictions to marijuana, and the fact that people come to him for advice when it comes to marijuana abuse. Through all these examples he is trying to prove to his audience that he is educated on the subject and is only trying to help Colorado society.
ReplyDelete“19 year-old whom I have treated for several months.” “As the medical director of a busy adolescent substance abuse treatment program in Denver, I get to contend with this mess every day.” “Educators ask me how to deal with students who have marijuana prescriptions for their attention-deficit disorder and with the “medical marijuana specialists” seen passing out business cards in student parking lots.” All of these quotations are examples of how Thurstone is attempting to win over his audience by giving examples of why he is trusted and how he is educated about the subject.
The article that I read was written by Dan Haley and it was title, "Child Obesity? Get out!". The article talks about how the number of obese children is increasing every year. Many efforts have been taken in order to change the way these children eat and how they take care of themselves. He shares how his childhood used to be with the readers. He talks about how they were always outside even until after dark, but now there are contributing factors that keep parents from letting their children play outside as often. He brings up how parents fear their children being kidnapped even though the number of 'stereotypical' kidnappings have been gradually decreasing throughout the past few years. He also acknowledges how First Lady Michelle Obama has been putting in effort in trying to revive children's eating habits. She has tried incorporating healthier foods into school and she has tried to encourage children to make better choices when eating. The author creates his invented ethos to be a realist. He is level-headed and considers the small underlying factors that some may miss. He relates his piece to his own childhood.
ReplyDelete"At the risk of sounding like your grandpa, when I was a kid we played outside, all day, until the street lights came on. And then we played a bit more." "Yet there were only one or two kids in the entire school who might be classified as obese. Now, one out of three kids is considered overweight." "Mrs. Obama's heart is in the right place, but until government can mandate what we eat — and let's not give them any ideas — it's downright impossible to change social habits and cultural patterns." "Schools can help, too, by offering more recess time and P.E. classes." "In fact, when kids are inside, many of them are hooked up to the Internet, where crimes against children are actually increasing." "This generation needs a lifestyle change that's about more than what they put in their mouths." These quotations show Dan Haley's use of realism in his article. He uses his realistic point of view to draw in readers and persuade them.