Essay Three is drawn from the book From Inquiry to Academic Writing and is due November 16: Choose One
Writing Assignment Option 1
Develop an argumentative thesis for a 5-page essay that addresses race, gender, and privilege in Chapter 14. Be sure to incorporate at least two essays from Chapter 14 to develop your essay.
Writing Assignment Option 2
Develop an argumentative thesis for a 5-page essay that addresses consumerism and economics in Chapter 17. Be sure to incorporate at least two essays from Chapter 17 to develop your essay.
Writing Assignment Option 3
Develop a thesis that explains how Ursula Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (should be online) is an allegory of the moral challenges we face as we are drugged by privilege leaving us indifferent about the sufferings of The Other. Successful essays will connect the allegory to modern day social injustices such as the inhumane working conditions of migrant workers or the incarceration system, to name a couple.
Essay Writing Option 4
In a 1,250-word essay, support, refute, or complicate the contention that Chapter 14's essay selections persuasively show that one of America's central, ongoing conflicts is between the advantaged and those who are categorized as "The Other."
Essay Writing Option 5
In a 1,250-word essay, support, refute, or complicate the notion that, according to Ehrenreich and bell hooks (Chapter 13), the poor are stigmatized as being "other" even by liberal cultural critics. Why does this happen? Explain.
Essay Writing Option 6
In a 1,250-word essay replace the Walmart Mythical Narrative (789) with the Walmart Reality. Make sure you have a clear thesis.
Essay Writing Option 7
In a 1,250-word essay, support, refute, or complicate Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld's contention (796) that neuromarketing is a hyped-up fraud that lines the pockets of its makers.
Essay Writing Option 8
In a 1,250-word essay, support, refute, or complicate Fareed Zakaria's contention (816) that the American-centered Economic Dominance Myth is becoming replaced with a global reality. What is this alleged myth of American dominance? Is it a myth at all? Explain.
Essay Writing Option 9
In a 1,250-word essay, watch the film American Sniper and this Bill Maher debate about the movie. Then support, refute, or complicate Maher's argument that Chris Kyle's use of the word "savages" makes him too ignorant and racist, demonizing the Other, to be a real hero. Consider the notion of a false narrative and how a false narrative or myth, complete with a mythic hero, accompanies the demonization of "The Other." On the other hand, consider the defense of Chris Kyle, that his hateful words are taken out of context. Address these issues in your argument.
Essay Writing Option 10
In the context of the Bill Maher video below, should we describe ISIS as a terror group based on the Islamic faith, or does such a description unfairly demonize peace-loving Muslims as "The Other"? For your research, you might consult "What ISIS Really Wants."
Know what kind of argument you are writing:
Argument to advance a thesis:
You argue for a thesis as you champion an idea or a cause.
For example, you might argue for eating steamed vegetables three times a day and provide the many benefits of employing such a practice.
Another example would be a writer who argues that the Paleo diet is the most effective way to maintain lean muscle mass.
Another example would be for a writer to argue for water rationing and triple water bills for homeowners who go over their water threshold.
Another example would be arguing for four Halloweens a year to promote more community bonding.
Another example would be to argue the moral factor behind choosing to quit smoking.
Your arguments must use the 3 Pillars of Argument:
Ethos: Credibility
Logos: Logic and reasoning
Pathos: Powerful emotion
When you champion a cause, you are either trying to be convincing or persuasive.
To be convincing means you change people's minds.
To be persuasive means you convince people to change their actions.
Christopher Hitchens wrote critically of Mother Teresa and made many people change their minds about her saintly status. His book on the subject would be said to be convincing.
The author of Animal Liberation, philosopher Peter Singer, persuaded perhaps millions of people to become vegetarians. He changed their actions. Therefore, his book is for many persuasive.
Former pastor Rob Bell wrote a book about how he remains a Christian but no longer believes in eternal hell. He is a universalist who convinced many that universalism is the True Gospel. His championing of universalism not only changed minds but changed the way people share the gospel; therefore, his book is both, for some people, convincing and persuasive.
Refutation argument:
You refute an already existing argument or practice, showing point by point why the argument is weak, precarious, or even fallacious (fallacy-laden).
For example, you might refute Civil War reenactments on the grounds that they are white male fantasies based on the infantile hunger for nostalgia, the toxic Kool-Aid of White Supremacy, and the denial of moral accountability for the evils of slavery.
In your refutation, you paint Civil War reenactments as a grotesque pageantry akin to a racist Disneyworld where are all the actors are white and black history has been erased because "it would be too disturbing" to the bogus, idealized world inhabited by the emotionally-arrested aspirants of "the good old Confederate days" and their other shameless displays of morally-bankrupt tomfoolery.
Once you decide on your argument or claim, you must consider finding compelling reasons to support your claim.
You might for example list the alleged benefits of surrogate motherhood and point by point make a refutation by showing why every claim of benefit is in fact a falsehood.
Your Thesis Gets Better When You Frame It in Opposition to Something Else
Examples
McMahon’s Thesis in Support of Going to College
Even if I had landed a job completely unrelated to my bachelor’s in English, I place immeasurable value on my college degree because it was an integral part of my maturation process: It gave me critical thinking skills to combat mindless consumerism, it taught me that struggling with ideas was more engaging than materialism, it exposed me to the riches of irony, it held me accountable for the way I presented my ideas in speech and writing, and it exposed me to diverse cultures well beyond my homogeneous, close-circled tribe.
Student Rebuttal to McMahon’s Thesis
Hey, McMahon. I’m glad you fed your mind and spirit in college and joined hands with diverse people and had a Kumbaya moment. Very inspiring. But here’s the thing: In today’s college environment with the cost being over two thousand percent more than when you attended and with the job market a tight fist around the strangled necks of the working class, telling us about your life-changing experience with a Bachelor’s in the Humanities is irresponsible. The cost-benefit ratio of a liberal arts degree is atrocious. If you want self-improvement, irony, and a love of ideas, go to the library. The books are free.
If you’re pursing something in the computer field, engineering, finance, or medicine and you can keep the costs down, then college is your best bet. But if you don’t know what to do in this new environment, forget a four-year degree, find a trade, pursue your passion on the side, and save your money for rent because in LA a rental is often higher than a house payment.
Thanks for your heart-warming college story, McMahon, but I don’t need a warm heart. I need money.
Another Student Refutes the Student Rebuttal
I sympathize with the student’s need for money. I myself am hurting for cash—hurting badly. But I take issue with Mr. Rebuttal’s snide disagreement with McMahon because he’s implying that someone financially challenged like myself should be so hell-bent and myopic in my money quest that I should disregard the intellectual riches McMahon enjoyed from studying liberal arts in college—a love of ideas, a love of irony, and the confidence one enjoys from the increased literacy that results from being accountable for one’s writing and speech. I want to make money, but I also want to go through the maturation process McMahon describes. Don’t tell me I can’t have both, and don’t tell me my modest financial means excludes me from experiencing the life-changing rewards McMahon so intelligently articulates in his thesis. In spite of Mr. Rebuttal’s snarky refutation, McMahon’s words ring true to me, and I will use them as inspiration as I inch my way toward a college degree.
Types of Arguments
(I've adapted these ideas from Chapter 3 of How to Write Anything by John J. Ruszkiewicz.)
3 Types of Claims Or Thesis Statements
Identifying Claims and Analyzing Arguments from Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky’s From Inquiry to Academic Writing, Third Edition
We’ve learned in this class that we can call a thesis a claim, an assertion that must be supported with evidence and refuting counterarguments.
There are 3 different types of claims: fact, value, and policy.
Claims of Fact
According to Greene and Lidinsky, “Claims of fact are assertions (or arguments) that seek to define or classify something or establish that a problem or condition has existed, exists, or will exist.
For example, Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow argues that Jim Crow practices that notoriously oppressed people of color still exist in an insidious form, especially in the manner in which we incarcerate black and brown men.
Alexander in other words is arguing this claim of fact: That Jim Crow still exists in a new insidious form of the American incarceration system.
In The Culture Code Rapaille argues that different cultures have unconscious codes and that a brand’s codes must not be disconnected with the culture that brand needs to appeal to. This is the problem or struggle that all companies have: being “on code” with their product. The crisis that is argued is the disconnection between people’s unconscious codes and the contrary codes that a brand may represent.
Many economists, such as Paul Krugman, argue that there is major problem facing America, a shrinking middle class, that is destroying democracy and human freedom as this country knows it. Krugman and others will point to a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots, a growing class of temporary workers that surpasses all other categories of workers (warehouse jobs for online companies, for example), and de-investment in the American labor force as jobs are outsourced in a world of global competition.
All three examples above are claims of fact. As Greene and Lidinsky write, “This is an assertion that a condition exists. A careful reader must examine the basis for this kind of claim: Are we truly facing a crisis?”
We further read, “Our point is that most claims of fact are debatable and challenge us to provide evidence to verify our arguments. They may be based on factual information, but they are not necessarily true. Most claims of fact present interpretations of evidence derived from inferences.”
A Claim of Fact That Seeks to Define Or Classify
Greene and Lidinsky point out that autism is a controversial topic because experts cannot agree on a definition. The behaviors attributed to autism “actually resist simple definition.”
There is also disagreement on a definition of obesity. For example, some argue that the current BMI standards are not accurate.
Another example that is difficult to define or classify is the notion of genius.
Another example is what it means to be a Christian. Some people say to be a Christian means you must believe in the "inerrant word of God." Others reject biblical literalism and say they model their lives after Christ, adapt Christ's core message, and reject the "bad stuff" and say they are Christians. The argument is making claims of what it means to be a Christian, very different claims of an orthodox and progressive believer.
In all the cases above, the claim of fact is to assert a definition that must be supported with evidence and refutations of counterarguments.
Claims of Value
Greene and Lidinsky write, “A claim of fact is different from a claim of value, which expresses an evaluation of a problem or condition that has existed, exists, or will exist. Is a condition good or bad? Is it important or inconsequential?
In other words, the claim isn’t whether or not a crisis or problem exists: The emphasis is on HOW serious the problem is.
How serious is global warming?
How serious is gender discrimination in schools?
How serious is racism in law enforcement and incarceration?
How serious is the threat of injury for people who engage in Cross-Fit training?
How serious are the health threats rendered from providing sodas in public schools?
How serious is the income gap between the haves and the have-nots?
How destructive is a certain politician to his party?
How bad is sugar? We all know sugar is bad, especially in large amounts, but how bad?
How bad are cured meats? We call know cured meats in large amounts are bad for us, but how bad?
Claims of Policy
Greene and Lidinsky write, “A claim of policy is an argument for what should be the case, that a condition should exist. It is a call for change or a solution to a problem.
Examples
We must decriminalize drugs.
We must increase the minimum wage to X per hour.
We must have stricter laws that defend worker rights for temporary and migrant workers.
We must integrate more autistic children in mainstream classes.
We must implement universal health care.
If we are to keep capital punishment, then we must air it on TV.
We must implement stricter laws for texting while driving.
We must make it a crime, equal to manslaughter, for someone to encourage another person to commit suicide.
The Importance of Using Concession with Claims
Greene and Lidinsky write, “Part of the strategy of developing a main claim supported with good reasons is to offer a concession, an acknowledgment that readers may not agree with every point the writer is making. A concession is a writer’s way of saying, ‘Okay, I can see that there may be another way of looking at the issue or another way to interpret the evidence used to support the argument I am making.’”
“Often a writer will signal a concession with phrases like the following:”
“It is true that . . .”
“I agree with X that Y is an important factor to consider.”
“Some studies have convincingly shown that . . .”
Identify Counterarguments
Greene and Lidinsky write, “Anticipating readers’ objections demonstrates that you understand the complexity of the issue and are willing at least to entertain different and conflicting opinions.”
Developing a Thesis
Greene and Lidinsky write that a thesis is “an assertion that academic writers make at the beginning of what they write and then support with evidence throughout their essay.”
They then give the thesis these attributes:
Makes an assertion that is clearly defined, focused, and supported.
Reflects an awareness of the conversation from which the writer has take up the issue.
Is placed at the beginning of the essay.
Penetrates every paragraph like the skewer in a shish kebab.
Acknowledges points of view that differ from the writer’s own, reflecting the complexity of the issue.
Demonstrates an awareness of the readers’ assumptions and anticipates possible counterarguments.
Conveys a significant fresh perspective.
Working and Definitive Thesis
In the beginning, you develop a working or tentative thesis that gets more and more revised and refined as you struggle with the evidence and become more knowledgeable of the subject.
A writer who comes up with a thesis that remains unchanged is not elevating his or thinking to a sophisticated level.
Only a rare genius could spit out a meaningful thesis that defies revision.
Not just theses, but all writing is subject to multiple revisions. For example, the brilliant TV writers for 30 Rock, The Americans, and The Simpsons make hundreds of revisions for just one scene and even then they’re still not happy in some cases.
Four Models for Developing a Working Thesis
The Correcting-Misinterpretations Model
According to Greene and Lidinsky, “This model is used to correct writers whose arguments you believe have misconstrued one or more important aspects of an issue. This thesis typically takes the form of a factual claim.
Examples of Correcting-Misinterpretation Model
Although LAUSD teachers are under fire for poor teaching performance, even the best teachers have been thrown into abysmal circumstances that defy strong teaching performance evidenced by __________________, ___________________, ________________, and _____________________.
Even though Clotaire Rapaille is venerated as some sort of branding god, a close scrutiny exposes him as a shrewd self-promoter who relies on several gimmicks including _______________________, _______________________, _________________, and ___________________.
Even though ****** ****** is portrayed as a hedonistic lunatic, he is in truth a sad, misunderstood, lonely parvenu searching for meaning, connection, and true love.
The Filling-the-Gap Model
Greene and Lidinsky write, “The gap model points to what other writers may have overlooked or ignored in discussing a given issue. The gap model typically makes a claim of value.” For example, too many happiness seekers have failed to looking at the real missing link to happiness: morality.
Example
Many psychology experts discuss happiness in terms of economic wellbeing, strong education, and strong family bonds as the essential foundational pillars of happiness, but these so-called experts fail to see that these pillars are worthless in the absence of morality as Eric Weiners’s study of Qatar shows, evidenced by __________________, __________________, ___________________, and _____________________.
The Modifying-What-Others-Have-Said Model
Greene and Lidinsky write, “The modification model of thesis writing assumes that mutual understanding is possible.” In other words, we want to modify what many already agree upon.
Example
While most scholars agree that food stamps are essential for hungry children, the elderly, and the disabled, we need to put restrictions on EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards so that they cannot be used to buy alcohol, gasoline, lottery tickets, and other non-food items.
The Hypothesis-Testing Model
The authors write, “The hypothesis-testing model begins with the assumption that writers may have good reasons for supporting their arguments, but that there are also a number of legitimate reasons that explain why something is, or is not, the case. . . . That is, the evidence is based on a hypothesis that researchers will continue to test by examining individual cases through an inductive method until the evidence refutes that hypothesis.”
For example, some researchers have found a link between the cholesterol drugs, called statins, and lower testosterone levels in men. Some say the link is causal; others say the link is correlative, which is to say these men who need to lower their cholesterol already have risk factors for low T levels.
As the authors continue, “The hypothesis-testing model assumes that the questions you raise will likely lead you to multiple answers that compete for your attention.”
The authors then give this model for such a thesis:
Some people explain this by suggesting that, but a close analysis of the problem reveals several compelling, but competing explanations.
Give Appropriate Sartorial (Clothing Style) Splendor (Writing Style) to Your Arguments
Your argument is the "body" of the essay. Your writing style is the fashion or sartorial choice you make in order to "dress up" your argument and give it power, moxie, and elan (passion).
Here is the same claim dressed up differently in the following two thesis statements:
Plain
Civil War reenactments are racist gibberish that need to go once and for all.
More Dressed Up
Our moral offense to civil war reenactments rests on our understanding that the participants are engaging in nostalgia for the days when the toxic religion of white supremacy ruled the day, that the participants gleefully and childishly erase black history to the detriment of truth, and that on a larger scale, they engage in the mythical revisionism of the Confederacy narratives, hiding its barbaric practices by esteeming racist thugs as if they were innocent and venerable Disney heroes. Their sham is so morally egregious and spiritually bankrupt that to examine its folly in all its shameless variations compels us to abolish the sordid practice without equivocation.
Plain
We need to stop blaming the poor for their poverty.
More Dressed Up
The idea that the rich are wealthy because of their superior moral character and that the poor live in poverty because of their inferior moral character is a glaring absurdity rooted in willful ignorance, the blind worship of money, and an irrational fear of poverty as if it were some kind of contagious disease.
Qualify Your Thesis to Make It More Persuasive and Reasonable
Qualifiers such as the following will make your thesis more bullet-proof from your opponents:
some
most
a few
often
under certain conditions
when necessary
occasionally
Example:
Under most conditions, narcotics should be legalized in order to decrease crime, increase rehabilitation, and decrease unnecessary incarceration.
Examine Your Core Assumptions
Assumptions are the principles and values upon which we base our beliefs and actions.
Claim
Under most conditions, narcotics should be legalized in order to decrease crime, increase rehabilitation, and decrease unnecessary incarceration.
Assumption
Treating drug use as a medical problem that requires rehabilitation is morally superior to relying on incarceration. Some may disagree with this assumption, so the writer will have to defend her assumption at some point in her essay.
"Those Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula Le Guin
Writing Assignment Option 3
Develop a thesis that explains how Ursula Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (should be online) is an allegory of the moral challenges we face as we are drugged by privilege leaving us indifferent about the sufferings of The Other. Successful essays will connect the allegory to modern day social injustices such as the inhumane working conditions of migrant workers or the incarceration system, to name a couple.
Explanation
The privileged position themselves to sacrifice a group to perpetuate the privileged group's power. The privileged, like the leaders in Le Guin's short story, rationalize their exploitation of the sacrificed group by making utilitarian pronouncements such as "sacrificing a few for the greater good."
The poor are used as a resource in our society. They pay for municipal violations, they pay higher fees for cars, house, interest payments. There is an entire industry based on exploiting the poor. For example, there are check cashing agencies in poor neighborhoods that take a huge percentage out of the check before handing over the cash.
Small children work in sweat shops all over the world. They don't have a childhood. They don't see their parents. They are slaves. However, they are in demand because they allow American consumers to buy clothes for cheap. Thus these small children are sacrificed for our consumer pleasures.
The same can be said with agriculture. People work in substandard working conditions so we, the consumer, can buy affordable produce.
The same can be said of the restaurant industry. People are exploited so we, the hungry diner, can "eat out on the cheap."
Perhaps the worst sacrifice is made in the industrial prison complex where poor people of color are the primary source of income for this industry.
Theme of Denial
We are all upset by injustice, but we can inure ourselves to cruelty and injustice through denial or willed ignorance.
We rationalize:
"Someone's gotta clean those toilets."
"Someone's gotta pick cheap produce so I can feed my family."
"I'm sad that cows cry before they get slaughtered, but dang that double cheeseburger with goat cheese, bacon, onion rings and sopping with tangy chipotle mayonnaise is delicious."
"I know my peanut butter has cockroach pieces and rat hair in it, but what are you going to do?"
To use the above John Oliver video in a comparison with the Ursula Le Guin short story, you might consider the following parallels of moral shortcomings:
denial
compartmentalization
desensitization to cruelty
confusing majority rule with moral order
confusing status quo with moral order
preferring self-interest and pleasure over moral duty to others as a Faustian Bargain (deal with the devil)
Study Questions
One. What is the role of Dionysian ecstasy in the story?
The "clamor of bells," dancing, and celebration is about being grateful, but to surrender to one's praise of happiness one must forget about the dark side, the tiger's claw beneath the velvet carpet.
To be happy requires compartmentalization, having your happy "pocket" and keeping your sad "pocket" hidden.
American slave owners committed heinous acts against their slaves before coming home to pray with their families, read bedtime stories to their children, and smile piously to Jesus before sleeping with a saint-like grin, only to wake up in the morning and start their acts of abomination all over again.
These slave owners are compartmentalizing. Their left hand commits evil and their right hand, unaware of what the left hand is doing, prays with piety to its white Jesus.
We cannot be happy in heaven if were conscious of those suffering in hell.
How do we enjoy our juicy medium-rare steak when we know that the cow whose butchered cuts we're savoring trembled with terror, cried out, and let out explosive diarrhea before being cut into hundreds of pieces?
How do we enjoy an expensive dinner at a fancy restaurant when we know every 5 seconds a baby somewhere in the world dies of starvation?
How do we enjoy our recently purchased clothes when we know they were made from child slaves?
Speaking of slaves, the American economy boomed when slavery in the south was at its peak. The cotton industry fed the American economic machine, causing white Americans to shout with joy, "Cotton is king!" All the while, every sort of abomination was committed against the slaves. How could the white people be so happy when they knew another group of people was suffering with such unspeakable torment?
The short answer: compartmentalization.
And this leads us to one of the story's major themes: Compartmentalization is a moral abomination.
The collective joy in the opening paragraph is the joy resulting from a collective delusion, a shared psychosis. To partake in such a psychosis destroys the moral order.
Two. What kind of society is Omelas?
We know they are not simple. They are smart.
They do not own slaves.
They are not ruled by a monarchy.
They were happy yet intelligent.
However, they had succumbed to the "banality of evil," the notion that evil exists in our every day lives without drama or spectacle. Rather, evil exists insidiously and we become numb and inured (accustomed) to it.
We pen up livestock, torture and abuse millions of pigs, cows, and chickens, and gnash our teeth into these slaughtered meats while laughing and slapping our thighs in chicken wing bars.
This society exhibits other moral failures with its "If you can't lick 'em, join 'em" philosophy. They are conformists. Everyone tows the line and does their share. Conformity to an evil order makes us evil. But we haven't seen the evil in the story yet.
We also know that they have kept their desires (concupiscence) in check. They are neither peasants nor technophiles always wanting the newest smartphone. They are in the middle. They want comfort and luxury, but not in excess.
Omelas is a society that has mastered compartmentalization to the point that they have eradicated guilt.
They take a dreamy drug called drooz that gives them "dreamy languor." We are assured that it is not habit forming.
Three. What is the allegory of the boy locked up in a cellar?
The boy could represent any exploited group, including the poor.
The boy reminds me of a calf waiting to be turned into veal.
Or the service industry serving the expensive appetites of the booming tech industry in San Francisco as explored in "Dinner, Disrupted" by Daniel Duane.
I am reminded of girls in India who are forced by their families to be surrogate mothers for a few thousand dollars.
I am reminded of the babies sold in the surrogacy industry who are later victims of human trafficking.
The people of Omelas have made peace with the suffering boy as a bargain for their happiness. They have sold their souls to the devil, so to speak. They live in a dystopia, a sort of hell on earth.
The children initially disgusted by seeing the suffering child begin to accept its suffering. They see the child as subhuman and incapable of achieving happiness anyway. This reminds me of academics who speak of "the underclass," so well articulated in Bell Hooks' essay.
A "good" white person (living in accordance with the laws of the land regardless of how racist) during times of slavery would not want to live in a nice house, attend a nice school, attend beautiful cultural events, and enjoy the progress of technology if all these things were built on the blood, sweat, and tears of slavery.
Morality cannot exist with compartmentalization. To have morality is to be spiritual and to be spiritual begins with seeing the human race as a unified whole.
We are only as good as we treat the least fortunate and most exploited among us.
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