Reuters, the author of this article, begins telling the most relevant information: "gay right activists in New York City dumped vodka onto the street" in front of the Russian embassy, so that they could protest against Russian laws targeting homosexuals. Additionally, gay bar owners followed the same, all beggining with a "Seatle-based sex advice columnist Dan Savage", who wrote "'There is something we can do right here (...) DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA'" in his column. Gay bar owners didn't only dump vodka, but stopped serving them. These events were triggered by an event; the killing and torturing of "a 23-year-old man" after getting out of the closet to a friend in Russia. Putin, the president, also prohibited homosexual couples' parenting and another law "bannig gay 'progaganda'". However, a vodka brand, Stolichyana Vodka, had its parent company's chief executive publicly declare that they do support LGBT rights. On behalf of this information, a gay bar owner in San Francisco disbanded from the boycott.
The introduction is well-made by explaining the title. However, the author wanders around between multiple informations, but slow enough to make the reader absorb the information. Some flaws regarding the excessive use of pronouns must be noted; the author uses "he" on both situations when Savage and the chief executive are being mentioned, temporarily confusing the reader until the passage is read multiple times. Also, the excess of information, whose existence is indifferent to the relevance of the report, is deteriorating the quality of the news. A certain passage informs that Russia will hold the Winter Olympics next year, and that "an Olympic boycott (is) neither practical nor necessarily desirable". It should be noted that the author only throws information around the air, and does not knit it altogether to make such structure that when bulletpoints are added, it is difficult to separate them.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2013/07/31/world/europe/31reuters-usa-vodka-boycott.html?ref=world
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
#1 The Worst Time to Have Surgery
The Worst Time to Have Surgery
Catching a good timing is very important, for anything you would do. For health especially, no one would dare to risk their lives to be cared for at a dangerous timing. James Hamblin published an article "The Worst Time to Have Surgery" insisting people to avoid appointing surgeries in July. In the American system, July 1st is everyone's first day. Hospitals in the month of every July is filled with new rookie doctors because that's the month that the year's graduating medical students begin working as residents. Researches have shown that typically the month of July had a high rate of complications and also a high mortality rate. Hamblin also claimed that timing might even influence whether you have a surgery. He supported his claim by refering to the economist H. Shelton Brown III who defined a “rush hour effect,” whereby women in labor were more likely to have an unplanned C‑section on Friday between 3 and 9 p.m. He suggested that perhaps doctors liked to get their work done before the weekends. Not only do the weekends rush up the doctors, but on holidays as well. Patients admitted on public holidays are 48 percent likely to be dead one week later than patients that are admitted on non-holidays.Hamblin concluded his article by suggesting that it would be best to go early to bed, get the best colonoscopies and surgeries, and stay safely in your home on public holidays.
Hamblin said that July had the highest mortality and complications rate, and defined that this month would be the worst month to have surgeries. He also insisted that holidays and weekends would not be a good time either. Hamblin was able to back up his claim by proposing several research results. Rather than expressing his own personal opinions, he stuck to providing evidence and proof to make his claim seem agreeable to the readers. I think he was successful at making his argument clear because he had a well-founded basis, and that he was able to support his reasons thoroughly.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/the-worst-time-to-have-surgery/309393/#comments
Catching a good timing is very important, for anything you would do. For health especially, no one would dare to risk their lives to be cared for at a dangerous timing. James Hamblin published an article "The Worst Time to Have Surgery" insisting people to avoid appointing surgeries in July. In the American system, July 1st is everyone's first day. Hospitals in the month of every July is filled with new rookie doctors because that's the month that the year's graduating medical students begin working as residents. Researches have shown that typically the month of July had a high rate of complications and also a high mortality rate. Hamblin also claimed that timing might even influence whether you have a surgery. He supported his claim by refering to the economist H. Shelton Brown III who defined a “rush hour effect,” whereby women in labor were more likely to have an unplanned C‑section on Friday between 3 and 9 p.m. He suggested that perhaps doctors liked to get their work done before the weekends. Not only do the weekends rush up the doctors, but on holidays as well. Patients admitted on public holidays are 48 percent likely to be dead one week later than patients that are admitted on non-holidays.Hamblin concluded his article by suggesting that it would be best to go early to bed, get the best colonoscopies and surgeries, and stay safely in your home on public holidays.
Hamblin said that July had the highest mortality and complications rate, and defined that this month would be the worst month to have surgeries. He also insisted that holidays and weekends would not be a good time either. Hamblin was able to back up his claim by proposing several research results. Rather than expressing his own personal opinions, he stuck to providing evidence and proof to make his claim seem agreeable to the readers. I think he was successful at making his argument clear because he had a well-founded basis, and that he was able to support his reasons thoroughly.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/the-worst-time-to-have-surgery/309393/#comments
# 2. Did Zeus Exist?
The author, Gary Gutting, begins the article by explaining how he came up with the question the article poses: "Does Zeus Exist?" He says that he played a game with his children called "Zeus, May I"; a variation of the popular game "Mother, May I?", with the idea of introducing them to classical culture. This led him to asking them if they believed in Zeus, to which they replied that maybe he existed in the ancient Greeks' time, but not anymore. After that, the article is a series of answers to the many variations of the question "Why couldn't he exist?". He presents five possible suggestions against the existence of Zeus, and he offers a rebuttal for each one. The conclusion he presents is ambiguous; the possibility that Zeus exists is just as likely as the possibility that he doesn't. The overall message he delivers is: "it's not such a ridiculous idea".
The article is well-written, and not too lengthy, even though this is a topic that could very well be argued about for pages and pages. He does not strongly believe any specific opinion, but he's not overly uncertain either. He accomplished the article's apparent purpose, which is to declare that the idea that there is a deity is not as absurd as many would believe. The conclusion is satisfactory, the language is a little tricky, yet understandable. He seems to have found a good middle ground. The only distracting thing in the article, however, was a cartoon placed right in the middle of the text. Although it made sense given the topic, and was rather amusing, it would have been better if featured at the beginning or end of the article. Not smack in the middle.
-Cleo Santos
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/did-zeus-exist/?hp
#1. Mass Extinctions: Small But Deadly
The author beings telling us about the mass extinction, which happened "66m years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period". There were four other almost entirely effective natural annihilation after the animal life became elaborate, and all of them are perhaps results of a similar impacts. The biggest one, ocurred during "the end of the Permian", gave reptiles the chance of inhabiting the land without any great disturbings. Thus was the extinction at the Crustaceous, which helped our ancestors rise. One theory, and the most accepted, states that these annihilations were a consequence of an alien impact, a meteorite, like the one found in Antartica. After telling the background information, the author repots that "Dr. Tohver and his colleagues" found a crater in Brazil, "40km (25 miles) across" in diameter. Furthermore, it was said that it didn't cause one of the mass extinctions because of its small size. However, Dr. Tohver proved it wrong by affirming that the rock triggered a series of huge earthquakes, releasing the methane under the surface of earth, consequently heating it up and killing 80% of all living things.
The author beings with a very good interesting introduction, perhaps humiliating some readers, reminding them of their infant ignorance. However, as he/she progresses through the article, the flowing is abruptly interrupted by the introduction of other ideas. It is possible to note that the author has a lack of organizing skills. Later when he/she explains the extinction caused by the rock found in Brazil, much confusion is written, forcing the audience to read the passages multiple times, and have some basic knowledge about the Permian mass extinction, automatically alienating the article from the Fait Divers. The author gives two pieces of information, but fails to sew them together and deliver the message of the article. He/she writes that the rock did have an impact on the Earth surface, but abruptly uproots the idea and moves on to the "huge burp of methane", not explaining what caused it, forgetting to mention that the rock triggered an earthquake, that triggered the "huge burp of methane". In the end, this article turned into a light revision to people that already know about the subject, and a confusing report, with its thesis buried somewhere between the letters.
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21582243-biggest-extinction-history-was-probably-caused-space-rock-changed
The author beings with a very good interesting introduction, perhaps humiliating some readers, reminding them of their infant ignorance. However, as he/she progresses through the article, the flowing is abruptly interrupted by the introduction of other ideas. It is possible to note that the author has a lack of organizing skills. Later when he/she explains the extinction caused by the rock found in Brazil, much confusion is written, forcing the audience to read the passages multiple times, and have some basic knowledge about the Permian mass extinction, automatically alienating the article from the Fait Divers. The author gives two pieces of information, but fails to sew them together and deliver the message of the article. He/she writes that the rock did have an impact on the Earth surface, but abruptly uproots the idea and moves on to the "huge burp of methane", not explaining what caused it, forgetting to mention that the rock triggered an earthquake, that triggered the "huge burp of methane". In the end, this article turned into a light revision to people that already know about the subject, and a confusing report, with its thesis buried somewhere between the letters.
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21582243-biggest-extinction-history-was-probably-caused-space-rock-changed
# 1. 8 Appalling Ways America Leads The World.
The article, written by Lynn Stuart Paramore, starts off noting certain world views firmly held by many people, that the United States is an ideal first-world country, and should be modeled by other countries. Then the author begins to show us, by means of a list, several areas where the United States, improperly dubbed "America" in this article, is the highest-ranking country in some of the worst categories. Turns out, the U.S. is the most expensive place to have a baby, the most obese country, world champion in anxiety, bearing small arms, incarceration rate, energy use, health expenditures, and ties with Spain in the country with most cocaine usage.
The article starts off well-written, with some hair-raising facts and interesting points that many readers may not already know about. Each topic has just enough backstory; enough research to keep the reader informed, and to not bore the reader before the next topic. One major issue with the article, however, is the lack of a conclusion. The article abruptly stops aft the eighth point, leaving the reader slightly befuddled. Perhaps the author thought that there was nothing else she could say, but at least a final sentence would have been nice.
-Cleo Santos
www.salon.com/2013/07/29/8_appalling_ways_america_leads_the_world_partner/
#2. Apps That Know What You Want, Before You Do
Many companies such as Google and some other new companies have began working on apps that use predictive software to give you routes to places you need to go, without you ever searching for it. These apps scan through your email, your calendar, traffic, and knows your location before you even touch your phone. These apps will become more and more common, and may even be built into alarm clocks and other electronics and appliances in the future. These apps can be very useful, but it raises a question in my mind: what if they use this information they find and store it somewhere? It could be dangerous if they did these things.
Claire Miller has an effective writing style that is easy to understand and makes us want these products that she explains for us. She does not use very complex words or deep ideas that not everyone can understand, and it allows everyone to learn about how these apps could save us time and money. She explains the products well and clearly, without any unnecessary additions.
#1. How to Decode the True Meaning of What NSA Officials Say
The NSA has been becoming more active in the United States, tracking what people do in their private lives and their own homes. However, the NSA tell us they are only doing these things for our protection, and that they don't mean to harm anyone with the information they collect. Jameel Jaffer and Brett Max Kaufman tell us the real meaning of what the NSA say they do, in detail. Some of the words the NSA use to describe what they do include surveillance, collect, relevant, and targeted. The NSA do not tell us the full scope of what they actually do to fulfill these words, and keep it more or less hidden. The truth is far from pleasant, as it turns out. They keep records of who we call, when, and for how long we talked to them. They have been doing this for the past seven years. Any of these records can be used against us in court or elsewhere. They also collect our emails, and other forms of electronic communication. This is an invasion of our personal lives and is very dangerous for the citizens of the United States.
Jaffer and Kaufman's was very effective for helping us understand just how the NSA spies on us. They make it clear which part of the NSA they are examining. They do use some complex language, however, that may not be understandable by all social classes or people. I feel that they should use simpler language to allow everyone to read it and understand it clearly. But overall, their writing style was effective and you could easily see what they were examining and how it affects us.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/07/nsa_lexicon_how_james_clapper_and_other_u_s_officials_mislead_the_american.html?wpisrc=flyouts
Jaffer and Kaufman's was very effective for helping us understand just how the NSA spies on us. They make it clear which part of the NSA they are examining. They do use some complex language, however, that may not be understandable by all social classes or people. I feel that they should use simpler language to allow everyone to read it and understand it clearly. But overall, their writing style was effective and you could easily see what they were examining and how it affects us.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/07/nsa_lexicon_how_james_clapper_and_other_u_s_officials_mislead_the_american.html?wpisrc=flyouts
#2. Will Snapchat open the floodgates for insider trading?
Snapchat is an app that takes pictures but after a limited time are deleted automatically. Kevin Morris talks about the worries many companies have, and the crime many young people are committing. It used to be, that when a young Junior banker was cot in a stray picture drunk, he was fired on the spot, but now the pictures are deleted. The embarrassing pictures are not the problem, the problem is swopping inside secrets that should remain secrets. Kevin concludes his paper by advising people who use snapchat, that there are some people that can recover the deleted photo somehow.
Kevin's way of writing is somewhat clear, short and to the point. He does not go off topic, but he only reveals what side he is on towards the end. In this article, he makes an impression that he is against snapchat, but in the end he changes that impression by helping and giving advice to who uses snapchat. I liked the article because it provided more information about snapchat and about how people are using it.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/31/will_snapchat_open_the_floodgates_for_insider_trading_partner/
Kevin's way of writing is somewhat clear, short and to the point. He does not go off topic, but he only reveals what side he is on towards the end. In this article, he makes an impression that he is against snapchat, but in the end he changes that impression by helping and giving advice to who uses snapchat. I liked the article because it provided more information about snapchat and about how people are using it.
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/31/will_snapchat_open_the_floodgates_for_insider_trading_partner/
#2 In the Future, Your Seatbelt Could Be Tailored to Your Body
Megan
Garber, a staff writer at The Atlantic wrote about
the cars in the future and she believes that there will not have a major change
on its appearance but instead, on the safety and responsibility to their
drivers. Chris Hostetter, Toyota`s vice president of strategic planning, believes
that the cars will be automated rather than autonomous and there will be more
changes in the past 10 years than in the last 100 years. According to him, the
seat belts have been through evolution because many marginal improvements were
done since 1959, when they were first introduced in Volvos. In the future, he considers the possibility
of having customized seat belts according to the driver`s height and weight
mark on the car`s seat.
Garber used simple vocabularies to achieve her purpose which is to
inform the people about the improvements of the seat belts in the future. She
not only consulted Chris Hostetter, Toyota`s vice president of strategic
planning, but also used many examples to enrich her article. Garber started her
article by giving example of cars in the future in order to attract reader`s
attention. Her thesis was very clear because it points out that the main
subject of the article which is the advances in the safety of the cars in the
future. Overall, she used simple and easy language to inform the readers about
the new designed seat belts to assure the safety of the driver.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/in-the-future-your-seatbelt-could-be-tailored-to-your-body/277373/
#1. Anti-Drone Activism Begins
Conor Freidersdorf starts writes about a man named Phillip Steele who starts a movement in his city, for hunting domestic drones. The US citizens are tarting to fear the constant vigilance the government is implying. Yet its not only the vigilance, but also the constant nuclear presence and proximity. Conor gives his opinion on this and drops in on giving a suggestion on what to do against it. Government and politics start being the topic, but he does not loos too much focus because he goes right back to talking about vigilance and that the FBI needs a warrant to use drones.
In my personal opinion, Conor is somewhat affective because he warns people about the drones and presents a solution. yet there where brief moment when he went off the main topic. Conor created lots of small branches, and that got a little confusing to understand. Yet the way he wrote was smooth and clear to understand. I was interested in it because of the information it gave, but again, the article was somewhat confusing. He could have presented his article in one big log instead of small branches allover.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/07/local-anti-drone-activism-begins-if-they-fly-in-town-we-will-shoot-them-down/278198/
#1 Solving a Viral Mystery
Denis Grady, a reporter in the science department, wrote about a deadly
new viral disease that was recently discovered and it gathered the scientists
from around the world to Saudi Arabia. The scientists believe that the virus called
MERS is caused by a relative virus called SARS, which infected nearly 8,000
people in 2003. The origin of the virus is still unclear, but there is a high probability
that it originated from the interaction of human with the infected animals such
as bats, civet cats, camels and others. The disease was taken to Britain,
France, Italy and Tunisia due to the travelers from the Arabian Peninsula that
carry the disease. The scientists tested samples from the animals that they
believe might carry the virus, but they are still unsure about how the virus
emerged.
Denis Grady used good word choice in achieving his goal which is to
inform the people about the new virus that was detected last year. She used
many quotes from the scientists who show great understanding of the subject and
estimated number of death and infected people to increase the credibility of
the article. The numbers of death suggests about the seriousness of the virus
and also warn the people to beware of it. The use of topic sentences guides the
readers throughout the article and informs them about the subject of the
paragraph. She established a comparison between MERS and SARS so that the
readers can relate the new virus to something familiar. Overall, the article is
easy to understand, well organized and with high credibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/health/experts-scramble-to-trace-the-emergence-of-mers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
#2 Nick Castanho
Susan Dominus published an article on Stephen's King family. Susan explains the method Stephen and his wife Tabitha used to raise three children who pursued writing careers, "Entertaining their parents, for the King children, was part job, part enrichment. At bedtime, they were the ones expected to tell their parents stories, instead of the other way around" since they were born their parents stimulated them to develop story writing skills. The author presents the dialogue of the family on the dinner table discussing the books they read during their childhood, including many taped books they used to listen. Stephen and Tabitha had two sons, Joe Hill (who is married to a novelist) and Owen King, who are both writers today, and a daughter, Naomi, is a Unitarian Universalist minister.
The author of the article does a good job writing it, the article is clear, and supports the title. Susans objective in writing this article is to inform the reader about Stephen's King family business, and she clearly states what each one of them does, with dialogue she reinforces her statements giving some background to support the characters opinion. In her conclusion she goes a little of track regarding what she wrote about, she finishes her article saying that the Kings are a family business in writing and that is not usually common, in my opinion she should had written something about it unifying the Kings with the common interest in all of them such as writing or a sentimental bond that writing brings to them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/magazine/stephen-kings-family-business.html?hp&_r=0#commentsContainer
The author of the article does a good job writing it, the article is clear, and supports the title. Susans objective in writing this article is to inform the reader about Stephen's King family business, and she clearly states what each one of them does, with dialogue she reinforces her statements giving some background to support the characters opinion. In her conclusion she goes a little of track regarding what she wrote about, she finishes her article saying that the Kings are a family business in writing and that is not usually common, in my opinion she should had written something about it unifying the Kings with the common interest in all of them such as writing or a sentimental bond that writing brings to them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/magazine/stephen-kings-family-business.html?hp&_r=0#commentsContainer
#2. The Stupidity of the Crowd
Olga Khazan disproves the theory "wisdom of the crowd" with an experiment conducted by the Arizona State University and Uppsala University. Where crowds may be better in tough choices, research has shown that individuals fare better at choosing between two options, one which is obviously better. So to say, the crowd is stupid when faced with easy problems. The researchers used ants to conduct their experiments because ants usually work in groups. They had a total of 100 ants and gave them two nest options, one which was clearly better. However, the group of ants chose the lesser choice. Researchers explained that this occurred because some of the ants would go to the worse nest and call the other ants and the other ants would blindly follow them and not even look at the other choice. However, when the ants were working individually, they would make the right choices because no one would mislead them. This same idea does occur in humans because those around would make rash choices and others would follow their lead.
Olga Khazan uses past experiences and opinions to finalize her essay and backs it up with research. She uses real life examples to make her stand more plausible. The tone of the essay is more casual and she uses personal pronouns instead of taking a formal stance. The use of research to back up her stance was very good but she did a poor job is relating it to humans and showing exactly how similar it was to humans. She only provided examples where it would occur. She does, however, wrap up her essay with a clear sentence of humans following others who have made rash decisions.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-stupidity-of-the-crowd/278188/#disqus_thread
Olga Khazan uses past experiences and opinions to finalize her essay and backs it up with research. She uses real life examples to make her stand more plausible. The tone of the essay is more casual and she uses personal pronouns instead of taking a formal stance. The use of research to back up her stance was very good but she did a poor job is relating it to humans and showing exactly how similar it was to humans. She only provided examples where it would occur. She does, however, wrap up her essay with a clear sentence of humans following others who have made rash decisions.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/the-stupidity-of-the-crowd/278188/#disqus_thread
2. China surpasses USA in economy?
Lily Kuo
and Ritchie King write about China’s potential of overcoming the United States
in terms of economy. In fact, several countries believe that China has already
surpassed the US, or will do so very soon. Kuo and King use statistics and
surveys to prove this argument. According to the Pew Research Center survey, “this year's poll of about 38,000 people found
that in 23 of 39 countries surveyed, a plurality of respondents said they
believed China would or had already replaced the U.S. as the world's no. 1
superpower.” Then they go on comparing these results to those in 2008. Overall,
ever since the financial crisis, there have been a higher percentage of people
who believe that China is now “on top”.
In
my opinion, Lily Kuo and Ritchie King are effective because they present facts
that make their article relevant. However, I would not say that they have an
argument. It is just an informative article. They do not really seem to have
their perspective of the matter. It would be more interesting to see what they
think of China’s economy (has it really surpassed USA) and what makes China one
of the most influential superpowers. I think their motive was to inform the readers
and allow us to make our own conclusions (for debate).
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/07/many-countries-think-chinas-economy-is-the-worlds-most-powerful/277951/
1.Superheroes Exposed
In “Why Do
People Like Superheroes?,” Noah Berlatsky questions the view people have of the
“big, dumb dream”. The big dumb dream is superheroes – Heroes that are strong
and righteous, (like Superman) or what the public wants them to be. Berlatsky
uses many references from many psychologists’ works to try to explain the
relation between superheroes and us. Essentially, what the psychologists say is
that the big dumb dream is elusive and unrealistic, and that we want the
superheroes to meet our expectations of control and order.
In my opinion,
this author is not effective because he does not get straight to the point. He
presents credible sources to support his argument but he does not seem to have
his own theory of the matter. He really just summarizes and vaguely analyzes
the psychologists’ own words. I am sure there are also many people who would
disagree with the argument he presented. For instance, I do not believe that we
like superheroes because they provide order and authority. I believe that
superheroes are what we fantasize about, like how we would use their powers or how
others would. The tricky part about using psychology to explain things is that
not everyone thinks the same, therefore, not everyone will agree with what you
have to say. That is why he should have tried to explain other perspectives and
give a more straightforward conclusion.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/07/why-do-people-like-superheroes-dont-ask-a-psychologist/277608/
#1. Principal of Indian School That Served Tainted Lunch Is Arrested
Gardiner Harris writes a short article about the tragedy that occurred in eastern India in the province of Bihar, where 23 children died after eating lunch poisoned with pesticide. Nine days after this incident, the principal, Meena Kumari, was arrested by the police. Forensic tests confirmed that the cooking oil used for the children's lunch was contaminated with pesticide. The only other adult available also fell ill and after Kumari fled the scene, the children were left to take care of themselves. Many attempted to crawl home and several died in the arms of their parents. School lunch programs swept across India and now feeds millions of children, combating school absence and malnutrition. However, like all government programs it is not perfect. In some areas the schools prepare food in dirty water and around rubbish. In other areas, the food is made in clean conditions under strict management. This poisoning case had a huge impact politically on Nitish Kumar, Bihar's chief minister. Kumar, long credited for the development of Bihar, has now been receiving criticism for failing to grieve the poisoned children. Kumar has not said much based on the case other than suggesting that the poisoning had been a conspiracy. He has also promised to support the families that lost a child that day.
Harris writes this article with the main purpose to inform. It is written in a neutral voice and is not opinionated. However, what Harris wants to inform is unclear. He started with the poisoned children and quite abruptly transitioned to Bihar's chief minister and the politics surrounding him. It could be argued that the main purpose of this article is to show the difficulties India has because of these three points, the poisoned children, corrupted government programs, and leaders who do not love their people. Harris does not introduce a thesis and there are few transitions between paragraphs. His word choice helps his paragraphs flow but the lack of transitions makes reading choppy and abrupt. Nonetheless, Harris has informed the public about the obstacles that India has to face.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/world/asia/principal-in-india-tainted-lunch-deaths-arrested.html?ref=world&_r=0
Harris writes this article with the main purpose to inform. It is written in a neutral voice and is not opinionated. However, what Harris wants to inform is unclear. He started with the poisoned children and quite abruptly transitioned to Bihar's chief minister and the politics surrounding him. It could be argued that the main purpose of this article is to show the difficulties India has because of these three points, the poisoned children, corrupted government programs, and leaders who do not love their people. Harris does not introduce a thesis and there are few transitions between paragraphs. His word choice helps his paragraphs flow but the lack of transitions makes reading choppy and abrupt. Nonetheless, Harris has informed the public about the obstacles that India has to face.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/25/world/asia/principal-in-india-tainted-lunch-deaths-arrested.html?ref=world&_r=0
#2.Where Narcissism Meets Addiction
Joseph Burgo, a psychotherapist and author for The Atlantic, goes further into the psychology and controversy concerning the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal. Burgo begins by questioning the label of 'addiction' put on Weiner's actions. Burgo presents factual evidence indicating the inclination Weiner has for boosting his self esteem, attempting to reassure himself through sexting. He goes into the response Weiner receives and how this feeds the 'addiction' or other inclinations Weiner has. Burgo moves on to analyze the concept of addiction and the expansion of the category of addiction. Burgo defines the addiction suffered by Weiner and thousands of others who share this compulosry need for some drug, whether physical or psychological, as," a defense against unconscious shame." He continues his article with the outcome of the first Weiner case(for it was not the first time he relied on sexting for self-assurance) where although Weiner seemingly feels ashamed, he relapses and falls back into his old transgressions, sexting. Burgo states, " Calling his behavior an 'addiction' doesn't explain much and won't really help... only an in-depth examination of his complete shame-ridden character will allow Anthony Weiner to grow into the person he could truly respect." Burgo likens the Weiner case to the 'all too familiar' rehab cycles celebrities face, where ultimately they end-up relapsing. He ends his case by emphasizing that Weiner needs professional care for a psychological problem beyond an 'addiction'.
In this article, Joseph Burgo displays an aptitude for arguing as he backs up his work with research and new developments on the psychological case of Anthony Weiner. Burgo gives an in-depth analysis of certain aspects of the Weiner case which are relevant to the point he argues, yet he does not give any evidence countering that which he presents. Thus, he produces a very biased article. Beyond that, he argues very convincingly by pointing out the flaws in the subjectivity of the use of the word 'addiction'. Furthermore, Burgo displays evidence from both direct sources, such as citations of what Weiner himself texts, and evidence from different sets of research. Lastly, in his writing it is evident that Burgo is attempting to persuade the audience, and does so effectively by providing convincing and condemning evidence.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/07/where-narcissism-meets-addiction/278195/
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