TOW #19: Article (How to Make the World $600 Billion Poorer)

Reading Goal: Take the time to understand a writing sample from a genre (economics) that usually bores me.
Writing Goal: Thoroughly explain how the article's writing strategies make it more effective.

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21596934-barack-obamas-unwillingness-fight-free-trade-expensive-mistake-how-make-world


Making trade agreements is easier when Congress is only allowed to vote yes or no, and can't pick the agreement apart. This "fast-track" deal with Congress was given to President Bush from 2002 to 2007; Obama's administration has yet to renew it. With a major trade opportunity on the line, the absence of a fast-track deal may bring the whole thing crashing down, argues the author of The Economist article "How to Make the World $600 Billion Poorer." Unfortunately the author is unidentified, which damages the article's credibility, but the fact that it is written in a well-known publication like The Economist is enough to redeem it. "How to Make the World $600 Billion Poorer" is effective mainly because of its reader-friendly argument shape. Loosely following the classical oration style, it has an introduction, background information, claim, counterargument, and conclusion.

The author structures the argument clearly, which helps guide a less knowledgeable reader like myself through the article without getting lost. It begins with a simple thesis statement: If Obama does not stand up to his party, the author argues, "it will [...] be a signal that America is giving up its role as defender of an open global economy." Such a straightforward statement allows me to look for evidence in the rest of the article, which makes me engage with and therefore better understand the text. The reader is then given background information on the subject, which is again helpful if they are unfamiliar. In a separate section with a new heading, the author begins to describe the perceived problem. By distinctly separating those two parts, the author facilitates the reader's  by setting up a sort of checkpoint to make sure the reader thoroughly understands the basics before moving on. Just before the conclusion, the author conveys the urgency of the issue by answering their own question, "Why panic about this?" In a classically structured argument, this would take the place of the counterargument section in that it anticipates and responds to readers' thoughts.

This article is effective in informing and persuading its audience because its structure makes it so easy to comprehend. It is especially effective with readers like me who have no prior knowledge of the situation and whose opinions can therefore be manipulated easily. By following classical oration, the author was able to communicate with a wider audience than just economically informed readers of The Economist.

TOW #18: Article (The Cult of Overwork)

James Surowiecki, who has written for The New Yorker since 2000, published "The Cult of Overwork" in this year's January 27 publication. He makes the argument that bankers and analysts could be more productive if they cut down the hours they work, but that the culture of these professions would strongly resist it. He suggests that banks change their expectations for their workers in an effort to change this overworking culture and produce more efficient work methods.

Surowiecki uses statistics to demonstrate how the world of Wall Street is conditioned to work long hours. For example, he writes, "A 2008 Harvard Business School survey of a thousand professionals found that ninety-four per cent worked fifty hours or more a week, and almost half worked in excess of sixty-five hours a week." These statistics, the strongest and clearest evidence he could use, give the reader background information on business culture which is essential for the reader to understand in order to comprehend Surowiecki's main claim.

Unfortunately (from my perspective), the author spends only one paragraph proving that reducing the number of hours worked could increase worker productivity. He also supplies relatively weak evidence: just a few vague examples and a study or two. Surowiecki writes, "Among industrial workers, overtime raises the rate of mistakes and safety mishaps; likewise, for knowledge workers fatigue and sleep-deprivation make it hard to perform at a high cognitive level." The facts aren't insignificant, but I find it disappointing and ineffective that the author gives more attention and better evidence to proving that bankers are overworking than to proving that they shouldn't do that.

A Deep Picture of a Businessman Bear Who Wants to Run On a Broken Hamster Wheel

Well, The New Yorker used it...

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2014/01/27/140127ta_talk_surowiecki

IRB #3: How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read

For the third marking period, I will be reading Pierre Bayard's How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read. It is split into three sections: "Ways of Not Reading," "Literary Confrontations," and "Ways of Behaving." From there, it is divided even further into chapters such as "Books You Don't Know" and "Books You Have Skimmed."

The book promises to provide very thorough instructions for how to get the most out of books without actually reading them. I want this only for personal (and certainly not academic) reasons; there are far too many books that I would hypothetically like to read, but can't seem to make myself pick up due to old language or sheer length.

TOW #17: Visual Text (Budweiser Commercial)

Budweiser's "Puppy Love" Super Bowl Commercial

Using a tactic very common among recent commercials, Budweiser has created an effective commercial that is completely unrelated to the product being sold. Its "Puppy Love" Super Bowl commercial features a puppy who loves at a pet adoption center and befriends one of the neighbor's horses. When a man tries to take the puppy away, the horse saves the day and gets him back to the farm where he belongs.

From the very beginning, this entire commercial is designed to appeal to pathos: specifically, to the audience's senses of cultural memory and cuteness. The advertisement begins by playing a popular song that many people consider beautiful and moving. On top of that, the song is now telling the story of a puppy. We still don't know what the commercial is about, but it's adorable and we have to find out what happens. The man who adopts the puppy is the obvious antagonist of the commercial's short plot. He is portrayed as disinterested and uncaring with the way he throws the puppy into the backseat. Of course, the horse is the hero, who gallops over in a flash of light to stop the mean man from taking the poor puppy. Finally, in a happy ending, the pappy gallops back home so he can play with his horse best friend forever. The end.

In the span of one minute, the audience of this commercial has been taken through an entire plotline based on the friendship of two animals. Nobody knows what it's actually advertising. At last, we see the point: it's a Budweiser commercial based on a play on words of the phrase "best buds." Logically speaking, this should not convince anyone to purchase Budweiser beer. It has given absolutely no reason why you should. However, the commercial is entertaining and memorable, and that alone will earn millions of dollars for the company. The implied connection between puppies and beer is one big logical fallacy, but it's just so darn cute.