McMahon Grammar Exercise: Essential and Nonessential Clauses
Birthdays that land on a Monday are a bummer.
Birthdays, which can be costly, are overrated.
Circle the relative clause and indicate if it’s essential with a capital E or nonessential with a capital N. Then use commas where necessary.
One. I’m looking for a sugar substitute that doesn’t have dangerous side effects.
Two. Sugar substitutes which often contain additives can wreak havoc on the digestive and nervous system.
Three. The man who trains in the gym every day for five hours is setting himself up for a serious muscle injury.
Four. Cars that operate on small turbo engines don’t last as long as non-turbo automobiles.
Five. Tuna which contains high amounts of mercury should only be eaten once or twice a week.
Six. The store manager who took your order has been arrested for fraud.
Seven. The store manager Ron Cousins who is now seventy-five years old is contemplating retirement.
Eight. Magnus Mills’ Restraint of Beasts which is my favorite novel was runner up for the Booker Prize.
Nine. Parenthood which is a sort of priesthood for which there is no pay or appreciation raises stress and cortisol levels.
Ten. I need to find a college that specializes in my actuarial math major.
Eleven. UCLA which has a strong actuarial math program is my first choice.
Twelve. My first choice of car is the Lexus which was awarded top overall quality honors from Consumer Reports.
Thirteen. Mangoes which sometimes cause a rash on my lips and chin area are my favorite fruit.
Fourteen. A strange man whom I’ve never known came up to me and offered to give me his brand new Mercedes.
Fifteen. My girlfriend who was showing off her brand new red dress arrived two hours late to the birthday party.
Sixteen. Students who meticulously follow the MLA format rules have a greater chance at success.
Seventeen. The student who tormented himself with the thesis lesson for six hours found himself more confused than before he started.
Eighteen. There are several distinctions between an analytical and argumentative thesis which we need to familiarize ourselves with before we embark on the essay assignment.
Nineteen. The peach that has a worm burrowing through its rotted skin should probably be tossed in the garbage.
Twenty. Peaches, which I love to eat by the bucketful are on sale at the farmer’s market.
Twenty-one. Baseball which used to be America’s pastime is declining in popularity.
Use El Camino Database for research such as the A-Z List.
One. What imprint was left on American culture by having our leader called “Mr. President” as opposed to King?
We didn’t want to replace the old King with a new one. We wanted a “rebel-in-chief.”
The rebel played well with a newborn country and continues to play well in a country that remains at its core adolescent.
Youth and health mean movement. We are a culture that is constantly moving, constantly on the go.
We don’t take vacations. We work long hours. We tinker with new ways to achieve things.
We are inventors.
Like the teenager, we are know-it-alls, arrogant, snotty adolescents who think the world is ours. We've got it all figured out. No one tells us what to do. "We're Americans, dammit!"
Two. From a reptilian point of view, what kind of Presidents do Americans want?
Americans want a President “who doesn’t think too much but acts from the gut.”
He has to be like an action hero or a cowboy with a warm heart, but he's willing to take on the town bully.
George W. Bush was more reptilian than “the very cortex” Al Gore in 2000 so Bush won.
The American President has to be a symbol of courage, power, and assurance, even if these things are not true.
We want our President to be a meat-eating cowboy, not a peace-loving vegetarian Star Wars Ewok because the latter is too passive to be on code.
Or in the words of Rapaille, “The Culture Code for the American presidency is Moses.”
March us toward the Land of Milk and Honey and keep interest rates down.
In contrast, the Culture Code for the Canadian presidency is to keep culture, or TOO KEEP. Long winters have compelled Canadians to value conservation of energy.
Three. How do Americans see America?
We see ourselves as new. To stay new and young and fresh, we have this almost demonic compulsion to always be building and renewing.
But what about our infrastructure? Our infrastructure is in a state of dilapidation. What about our attitudes towards race, especially in the realm of law enforcement?
Perhaps our perception of our newness is not based on reality.
Perhaps Rapaille doesn’t know America as much as he says he does.
Rapaille says, accurately, that we see ourselves as needing lots of space and abundance. We like everything big.
We are the creators of “Supersized” snacks and “big and tall” clothing stores.
We are enthusiastic and optimistic.
“The American Culture Code for America is DREAM.”
Pessimism and self-loathing are off code in America. As an aside, my favorite people are comedians and they tend to be pessimistic and self-loathing such as Louis C.K., Richard Lewis, and Larry David.
Louis C.K. is a hugely popular comedian, so while he may be "off code," according to Rapaille, he resonates with millions of Americans. Perhaps Louis C.K. knows more about the American code than does Rapaille.
Sample Thesis Statements Both For and Against Rapaille
Rapaille is a seductive writer whose keen psychological insights draw us into the world of codes. However, his eagerness to share these codes with us does not compensate for his main agenda, to manipulate us through our unconscious desires, flimsy cultural stereotypes, oversimplifications, and a thinly veiled contempt for American culture.
Rapaille’s popularity among the advertising elite is comical, the way he plays like the Pied Piper and manipulates Fortune 500 executives to drink the Rapaille Kool-Aid, which consists of _________________, ________________, _______________, and _______________________.
While I concede that Rapaille's motives are tinged with self-interest and that he is prone to philosophical excesses that can be annoying and unfairly anti-American, his book is chock-full of helpful insights about human psychology that gain me a keener understanding of ______________, ______________, _______________, and _________________.
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.
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.
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 are Brand codes and their connection or disconnection with the consumer’s unconscious codes?
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.
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 been 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 ___________________.
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.”
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 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.
Class Exercise: Work on a working thesis for your essay.
When our reptilian desires have no justification for our fulfilling those desires, we force a “justification” or what we might call a false justification for acquiring things we don’t really need. We call these justifications alibis.
We try to allay our guilt for our self-indulgences through these alibis.
“I should treat myself to that Audi I’ve been wanting because you know what, life is short, man.”
“I need that pair of shoes I don’t need because variety is the spice of life.”
“I need that new laptop because no one in the world loves me and, dammit, it’s up to me to just go out and show the world that I love myself.”
“I need this Lexus because my clients will trust and admire me more and added trust and admiration translate into increased client accounts.”
“I need this extra luxury watch because it will make me feel good about myself and the added self-confidence will help me win friends and admiration, which will help motivate me to train harder in the gym, which will make me lose weight, which will add twenty years to my life. My God, how can I afford to NOT buy that Rolex?”
“Oh my God, these luxury spa towels are on sale for only five dollars. They’re fifty dollars everywhere else. If I don’t buy these, I'll actually be LOSING money and I'll hate myself forever for being such an IDIOT!”
We find the number one alibi embedded in the American Code for shopping:
“The American Culture Code for shopping is RECONNECTING WITH LIFE” (158).
Variations of the above are we shop for renewal, self-approval, self-affirmation, reward, rebirth, all forms of reconnecting with life.
Two. In what crucial way is shopping more than the acquiring of goods?
We read on page 158 that shopping is a social experience.
We share with others our purchases. We consult with friends before we make a major purchase. We review things online and get feedback and join online communities where people discuss the merits of this or that product.
This Code of reconnecting with life through social experience taps into America’s adolescent culture of “going out to play.”
Buying is a specific purchase, Rapaille reminds us, but shopping is a more grand, consuming experience. We live to shop. We erect shopping into a religion. For many, shopping is the height (apotheosis) of human experience.
The adolescent is bored with “the same old stuff” and constantly is restless to acquire new things.
Three. What is the anxiety resulting from buying or purchasing something?
We read on page 160 that shoppers, especially women shoppers, translate a purchase as the death of the shopping experience. Therefore, the act of shopping is often more exciting than the actual purchase. I’m reminded of a famous quote by Kierkegaard who wrote, “Fulfillment is in the wish.”
Also the drama of shopping can be greater than the actual purchase. Here’s an eBay ad: “Go for the win!”
In other words, shopping can be like a competition.
In fact, we acquire luxury products to compete with others and “outrank” them.
As we read on page 165, “the American Culture Code for luxury is MILITARY STRIPES.”
We see this with Honda LX, Sport, EX, Touring, Limited, etc. These are the military stripes in cars.
We see this with watches with entry-level luxury like Hamilton and Tissot, all the way to Panerai and Rolex at the top.
Mercedes may be the world’s best brand equating the Mercedes with success or “I made it.”
Americans believe that “good people succeed”; therefore, having luxuries gives us recognition for our virtue and nobility.
Skipping a long line at an airport because we’re in first-class is a powerful message to others that “we are better than them.”
Four. What is the cultural conflict between America and France?
While the French believe in thinking to sort out a problem, Americans believe in “taking action,” “taking charge,” and quick shows of muscle, power, and strength.
The French hate American food, but love our imaginations as they pertain to the creation of the entertainment industry.
In France, the Code for America is SPACE TRAVELERS (172).
We are aliens who land on any planet we choose and impose our will over it.
The Code for America in Germany is JOHN WAYNE. In other words, Americans are seen as cowboys.
The British see us as spoiled brats. There the Code for America is UNASHAMEDLY ABUNDANT.
The French Code for France is IDEA. Philosophy is the highest value.
In England, the Code for England is CLASS.
In Germany, the Code for Germany is ORDER.
Essay Three: The Culture Code
Option A
One camp believes Rapaille is a marketing genius who uses invaluable psychological insights to gain codes that unlock the power of consumerism and as a result he is worth his huge asking price as a consultant. However, another camp esteems Rapaille as little more than a fraud who recycles the same archetypal “codes” and stereotypes and as a result he has no “secret sauce” to make him worth all the money he makes. In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate one of the assertions above.
Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Option B
In a 1,000 word essay, compare Clotaire Rapaille's vision of an adolescent America with Joseph Epstein's similar vision in his essay "The Perpetual Adolescent." Be sure to follow comparison essay guidelines for structure and transitions.
Option C
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
McMahon Grammar Exercises: Comma Splices and Run-Ons
After each sentence, put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct.
One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner.
Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer.
Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain.
Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can
often correct the problem.
Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline.
Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives our, what a sham.
Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading less and less books.
Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May.
Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world.
Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless.
Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus.
Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office.
Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack.
Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.
Fifteen. Rapaille is a mountebank with little regard for nuance moreover his attitudes toward women are misogynistic.
Sixteen. Rapaille's misogyny is odious however we should not discount some of his insights about American consumerism indeed he has much to say about our obsession with youth and mindless eating.
Seventeen. Rapaille is anti-American, generally speaking, we can detect this in his portraits of Americans as fat, mindless consumers.
One. Based on American experiences with consumer goods, what is the Code for quality?
We read on page 133, that the American Code for quality is IT WORKS.
This is from imprinting, early experiences in which we were “let down” by a product that failed. For example, I owned a 1999 Volvo S70 GLT that cost me 11K in repairs from the years I owned it, which was 2001-2007. I will never buy a Volvo again. In fact, I will never buy a European car.
On the other hand, the author claims that perfection represents the end of a process.
Americans don't like the process to end, so they'd rather have imperfection, the author claims.
There can be no perfection for the American consumer because products are constantly evolving. That is part of our consumer madness, always needing better and better things.
We read we are less impressed with perfection because we have a negative code for perfection. According to Rapaille, “The Culture Code for perfection is DEATH” (134).
Since for Americans, life is movement, there must be constant change and evolution in consumer products.
Rapaille makes this claim: We as Americans are adolescent and don’t want to be responsible for holding high standards of perfection, as the Japanese are. Our pioneer spirit shies away from perfection and prefers rugged, messy adventure.
To be frank, Rapaille did not convince me of this claim. I know lots of Americans, myself included, who have high standards of perfection in our consumer goods, including cars.
Perhaps Rapaille is trying to force this chapter into his theory about Americans. Perhaps this is a weakness in Rapaille's book.
Further, we read that Americans find perfection boring. Again, I know lots of Americans, myself included, who prefer the "boredom" of perfection to a consumer product that has reliability problem.
Consumer Code for Americans
Our Code for consumerism is planned obsolescence, knowing that the old thing will be replaced with the new. Therefore, perfection cannot exist because products get better and better. This is unconscious, Rapaille reminds us (137).
Americans Love Service
Another Code for American consumerism is SERVICE. The Korean car company Hyundai has addressed this American trait with a 10-year bumper-to-bumper warranty resulting in dramatically increased US sales.
There is an implicit anti-Americanism in this claim. It appears Rapaille is implying that Americans are spoiled queens who need to be pampered. Is this true or an ugly American stereotype?
Two. What is the Code for feeding at the buffet?
Rapaille, from France, was astonished at American eating habits at buffets. They stuffed all kinds of foods on their plates, inhaled the food, and rushed back to the buffet table for more and more food. The vision was sickening and off-code for Rapaille but definitely on-code for Americans.
He noticed that he is a lover of wine but does not drink it to get drunk, yet Americans “go out to get drunk” in the way they go to buffets to binge themselves into sick fullness. In other words, Rapaille saw a parallel between these two binge behaviors.
Bingeing is driven by anxiety and depression, not codes.
So far, according to the author, Americans are arrogant, imperious gluttons with poor taste.
Three. What is “filling up the tank” mean to Americans?
“Filling up the tank” means the following:
quick
abundant
food diversity overload for efficiency (stuffing as many ingredients as possible on a plate for expedience)
In contrast, the French prefer small portions. In fact, an empty plate and wine glass are considered vulgar. This is also true in Iran.
The goal in American eating is to say, “I’m full” whereas the goal in French eating is to say, “That was delicious.”
This may be partly true, but it seems like an oversimplification. I think we can all agree that many Americans, perhaps most, desire food that allows them to say, "That was delicious."
Perhaps Rapaille's anti-American caricature is seeping through once again.
Four. What are the causes behind Americans’ love of the all-you-can-eat buffet?
America’s humble beginnings—poor and hungry—created a farmer mentality of eating. Fill my plate, please.
Farmers are the beginning of America's history. They wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning and eat steak, eggs, potatoes, pancakes, waffles, French toast, orange juice, milk, coffee, cream, donuts, pastries, etc., and then seven hours later it's time for lunch.
American hunger is so instinctive that Rapaille compares us to predators eating our prey with great urgency before competition comes to take it from us. American hunger compels us to eat like animals in case there is a long famine ahead of us.
We are engaged in Reptilian eating.
Further, we read that on an emotional or limbic level, Americans associate food with Mother’s unlimited love. If this is true, then HomeTown Buffet is a giant Food Momma.
In contrast, Italian culture, influenced by its aristocratic roots, shuns overeating as harmful to being able to appreciate taste.
Here we have another anti-American claim: Americans are feral creatures incapable of enjoying food as an eating experience. We don't eat, in Rapaille's judgment: We feed.
Five. What do Americans love more than eating?
Movement, being on the go, staying ahead of the competition.
In America, if you’re not moving, if you’re not doing something, if you’re not active, you’re not alive.
Therefore, our Food Code is fast food. We love fast food, protein bars, eating in cars, eating in classrooms, etc.
Food is FUEL for movement (146).
Americans spend more money on fast food than higher ed, computers, software, and new cars, movies, books, magazines, newspapers, and videos combined (146).
In 1970, Americans spent 6 billion on fast food. Today Americans spend over 100 billion on fast food.
In America, food is Code for ACTION.
In contrast, in France Code for food is pleasure. In Japan, food is Code for perfection.
In France, alcohol is Code for enjoyment and celebration.
In America, alcohol is Code for rebellion against authority, “being naughty,” intoxication, and reckless, violent behavior.
Going out to get drunk is uniquely American.
Sadly, alcohol is associated with violence.
“The American Culture Code for alcohol is GUN” (151).
Rapaille writes, “Think of the Old West Saloon and the recurring image of people getting drunk and getting into gunfights . . .” (152).
Essay Three: The Culture Code
Option A
One camp believes Rapaille is a marketing genius who uses invaluable psychological insights to gain codes that unlock the power of consumerism and as a result he is worth his huge asking price as a consultant. However, another camp esteems Rapaille as little more than a fraud who recycles the same archetypal “codes” and stereotypes and as a result he has no “secret sauce” to make him worth all the money he makes. In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate one of the assertions above.
Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Option B
In a 1,000 word essay, compare Clotaire Rapaille's vision of an adolescent America with Joseph Epstein's similar vision in his essay "The Perpetual Adolescent." Be sure to follow comparison essay guidelines for structure and transitions.
Option C
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Thesis statements or claims go under four different categories:
One. Claims about solutions or policies: The claim argues for a certain solution or policy change:
America's War on Drugs should be abolished and replaced with drug rehab.
We should hire Rapaille for our marketing firm because his track record evidences ____________, ____________, _______________, and ___________________.
Two. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that a person, thing, policy or event caused another event or thing to occur.
Social media has turned our generation into a bunch of narcissistic solipsists with limited attention spans, an inflated sense of self-importance, and a shrinking degree of empathy.
Advertising, especially the kind made popular by that mountebank Rapaille, contributes to the degradation of society because _____________, ________________, _______________, and ___________________.
While some of Rapaille's methods are indeed manipulative, the insights in his book The Culture Code give us a penetrating insight into human nature with invaluable outcomes, which include _________________, ________________, _________________, and ___________________.
Three. Claims of value: These claims argue how important something is on the Importance Scale and determine its proportion to other things.
Global warming poses a far greater threat to our safety than does terrorism.
While Rapaille is a clever cultural critic who affords us invaluable insights into culture codes, the damage incurred from his colossal marketing manipulations does far more damage than any insights we gleam from his writings.
Four. Claims of definition. These claims argue that we must re-define a common and inaccurate assumption.
In America the notion of "self-esteem," so commonly taught in schools, is in reality a cult of narcissism. While real self-esteem teaches self-confidence, discipline, and accountability, the fake American brand of self-esteem is about celebrating the low expectations of mediocrity, and this results in narcissism, vanity, and sloth.
I'm sick of Rapaille's "codes," which are just a gimmick. What he is really selling is nothing more than cultural stereotypes evidenced by _______________, ___________________, ____________________, and _________________________.
Thesis with Concession Clause
While Author X is guilty of several weaknesses as described by her opponents, her argument holds up to close examination in the areas of _________________, ______________, _____________, and ______________.
Even though author X shows weakness in her argument, such as __________ and ____________, she is nevertheless convincing because . . .
While author X makes many compelling points, her overall argument collapses under the weight of __________, ___________, ___________, and ______________.
Brainstorm of list of topics and thesis statements that are relevant to the essay.
Most writers need to get the bad stuff out of the way, so there’s no shame in coming up with five bad thesis statements before getting to a good one. That’s a natural course of events.
Always make sure your thesis addresses the essay prompt.
Your thesis is a single sentence that drives your whole essay. The thesis in argumentation is often called your claim.
Generally speaking, a thesis is the main argument or controlling idea of your essay. It makes a claim that intellectually sophisticated, challenging to common assumptions, compelling, and can is supportable with evidence.
The more obvious a thesis, the less compelling it is to write. The more a thesis reaches for insight or challenges common assumptions, the more compelling and sophisticated it is.
Bad thesis:
Smartphones are a nuisance in the class.
Better thesis
Rather than ban students from using their smartphones in the class, college instructors should integrate these and other personal technological devices into their classroom teaching.
Writing an introduction to your essay
Before transitioning from your introduction to your thesis, you should look at some effective introduction strategies:
Briefly narrate a compelling anecdote that captures your readers’ attention.
State a common false argument or false perception that your essay will refute.
Offer a curious paradox to pique your readers’ interest.
Ask a question that your essay will try to answer.
Use a fresh (not overused) quotation or parable to stir your readers’ interest.
How to Set Up a Counterargument in Your Rebuttal Section (The Templates)
Some of my critics will dismiss my claim that . . . but they are in error when we look closely at . . .
Some readers will 0bject to my argument that . . . However, their disagreement is misguided when we consider that . . .
Some opponents will be hostile to my claim that . . . However, their hostility is unfounded when we examine . . .
Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Summarizing Sources
“A summary restates the main idea of a passage in concise terms” (314).
A typical summary is one or two sentences.
A summary does not contain your opinions or analysis.
Paraphrasing Sources
A paraphrase, which is longer than a summary, contains more details and examples. Sometimes you need to be more specific than a summary to make sure your reader understands you.
A paraphrase does not include your opinions or analysis.
Quoting Sources
Quoting sources means you are quoting exactly what you are referring to in the text with no modifications, which might twist the author’s meaning.
You should avoid long quotations as much as possible.
Quote only when necessary. Rely on summary and paraphrase before resorting to direct quotes.
A good time to use a specific quote is when it’s an opposing point that you want to refute.
Using Signal Phrases or Identifying Tag to Introduce Summary, Paraphrase, and Quoted Material
According to Jeff McMahon, the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
Jeff McMahon notes that the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors, Jeff McMahon observes, that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor.
The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor, Jeff McMahon points out.
Lesson on Evaluating Your Sources (adapted from The Arlington Reader, fourth edition)
We use sources to establish credibility and to provide evidence for our claim. Because we want to establish credibility, the sources have to be credible as well.
To be credible, the sources must be
Current or up to date: to verify that the material is still relevant and has all the latest and possibly revised research and statistical data.
Authoritative: to insure that your sources represent experts in the field of study. Their studies are peer-reviewed and represent the gold standard, meaning they are the sources of record that will be referred to in academic debate and conversation.
Depth: The source should be detailed to give a comprehensive grasp of the subject.
Objectivity: The study is relatively free of agenda and bias or the writer is upfront about his or her agenda so that there are no hidden objectives. If you’re consulting a Web site that is larded with ads or a sponsor, then there may be commercial interests that compromise the objectivity.
Checklist for Evaluating Sources
You must assess six things to determine if a source is worthy of being used for your research paper.
The author’s objectivity or fairness (author is not biased)
The author’s credibility (peer reviewed, read by experts)
The source’s relevance
The source’s currency (source is up-to-date)
The source’s comprehensiveness (source has sufficient depth)
The author’s authority (author’s credentials and experience render him or her an expert in the field)
Warning Signs of a Poor Online Source
Site has advertising
Some company or other sponsors site
A political organization or special interest group sponsors the site.
We read on page 93 that we have biological instincts (scheme) and the way we, that is culture, interpret these instincts is our cultural scheme.
For example, our biological dread of death is interpreted by American culture of MOVEMENT IS LIFE so that the Code for hospital, a place where no one moves, is PROCESSING PLANT for the dead. Therefore, we hate hospitals. Hospitals should be seen as places where "we get better," but the constraint associated with hospitals reminds us of death.
Americans interpret air conditioning, a way to cool the body, differently than Europeans. Americans see AC as a necessity; in Europe AC is a luxury. Americans like everything cold. Cold temps make us more active, and we love to be active. Shopping is encouraged by cold stores. For Americans, the code for AC is ENERGY and MOVEMENT.
America created fast food; France created slow food. Americans “fill their tank” with food, often eating like mindless zombies while they drive, while the French celebrate food.
As an aside, in France workers get 30 legal paid vacation days; Americans get zero. In France, they work fewer hours a week. In America, two out of five employees work over 50 hours a week. Is it any wonder we eat in our cars like mindless zombies?
Two. In America, what is the Code for home?
From a biological point of view, the home is protection. From a cultural point of view, however, the relationship goes much deeper. Home represents the return to safety, to “home base.”
We read on page 96 that Americans are immigrants who left everything to find a home. Americans pioneered a land with no roads or houses. We read that “Americans may have a stronger sense of home than any other culture on the planet” (96).
For Americans home is Mother and Country. Home ownership is huge to American identity.
I knew a guy who said, “There are only two kinds of Americans, homeowners and renters.” I'm not sure you'd hear this proclamation outside of America.
George Carlin, long before Rapaille, talked about America’s love of home in his famous baseball and football contrast.
In contrast, home ownership is not so essential to identity in European countries. In France, for example, the sense of “homeland” is not so obsessive (96). In Europe, owning a home and the type of job one has are not so connected to identity as in America.
To sum up, in America we associate Home with the Return (from war, from college, from a dangerous place), Mother, Thanksgiving, Celebration, Achievement, Connecting with Friends and Family, Becoming a Man (“Look at me, I bought a house close to highly-rated schools!”)
Studying these themes, Rapaille writes on page 99, he realized the Code for home in America is the prefix “RE-.”
Return
Reunite
Reconfirm
Renew
These rituals center in the kitchen. If you want your house to increase in value, focus on expanding and upgrading the kitchen.
“Making dinner is Code for Home in America” (100).
However, in today’s America where families eat at different times and often the dinner is frozen pizza or microwave semi-edible food byproducts, the idea of the Grand Meal is part of America’s mythic past (103).
“The American Culture Code for dinner is ESSENTIAL CIRCLE” (107).
American dinners are about connection and conversation; in contrast, we read on page 108 that in China dinner is less about people and more about the food. There is very little conversation because people are focusing on the food they are eating.
In England, dinner is very formal with strict manners and protocols and the English see American eating displays as vulgar and unsanitary.
I offended a British man many years ago in a Middle Eastern restaurant when he watched with disbelief as I inhaled my appetizer in less than 10 seconds. He said he never saw a human being eat like that in his life and he was my friend, yet he was still in shock. My reaction was “What are you look at? I’m hungry, dude.”
Three. In America, why does our job mean so much to us?
Rapaille points out that Europeans love long siestas in the afternoon and 6-week vacations. Americans hate vacations because they lose ground, they get behind, they lose their competitive edge.
The question “What do you do?” inspires fear in Americans. Am I a lawyer, a doctor, a garbage man? What will people think of me? Who am I?
We read that the work ethic has historical roots. When Americans came to the new frontier, they didn’t say, “Let’s have some tea.” They said, “Let’s go to work.”
Americans have a tormented relationship with leisure.
Americans have a difficult relaxing without alcohol. Often, they resort to drink in order to surrender to their free time. Try going to a professional baseball or football game with your children. Drunken troglodytes are spewing curse words and throwing objects at the athletes and other spectators.
We feel that when we work we are taking control of our life, gaining the esteem of others, becoming popular, and “networking.” Working makes us our higher self, we have led ourselves to believe.
Rapaille writes that the Code for work is WHO YOU ARE.
If we are doing “nothing,” we are “nobodies.”
Americans are unique in our unlimited belief in self-reinvention and striking it rich and we idolize billionaires and watch in the millions a TV show called Shark Tank, which features moguls who scold and sometimes make deals with aspiring entrepreneurs.
In America, while teamwork is important, we crave individual adulation, so that teamwork is always secondary to promoting the “special individual” (121).
Four. What is the American attitude toward money?
Of course we love money so we can spend it just like everyone else; however, for us money means something deeper symbolically. Because so little money is old-money and most us have started with little and got our money later, called new money, we associate money with the hard work ethic, virtue, and power of self-reinvention, all parts of the American Dream (125).
In America when we have money we have proven ourselves.
What we learn in The Culture Code is that facts don't matter as much as the feelings elicited by the Codes.
(Continued from Last Class)
Four. What are the three parts of the brain and what is their relationship to consumer codes?
The cortex guides reason and logic.
The limbic system directs emotions. Our relationship with our mother determines our limbic system; therefore, the limbic system is considered feminine.
The “champion” of the three “brains” is the reptilian, which is found in the cerebellum. These drives are over 200 million years old and are geared for survival and reproduction.
Five. In America, what is the Code for health and wellness?
We read on page 80 that “For Americans, health and wellness means being able to complete your mission.”
We are a nation of “doers”; as a result, we value our independence and self-reliance, attributes established by the American pioneers.
The Code for health in America is MOVEMENT. We are not a culture of repose, contemplation, meditation, and self-examination. We are a culture that must “always be on the go” (80).
We cannot even accept retirement in our country. We cannot accept that “we have stopped.” Many seek a second career in their 60s and 70s.
Other cultures have different Codes. In China, the health Code is harmony with nature. In Japan, the Code is staying healthy out of obligation to one’s culture because being in ill health makes one a burden to others (81).
In America, the Code for doctor is HERO; the Code for nurse is MOTHER.
But in contrast to above, the Code for hospitals is the very negative PROCESSING PLANT.
This makes sense when we realize we equate hospitals with immobility and death and for Americans health and freedom rely on movement.
Six. What is the American obsession with youth based on?
For Americans, a utopian world defies nature and allows us to be perpetual adolescents (85). We are a nation of immigrants, a people who came to the new country to leave their past behind and start over. This sense of renewal and reinvention makes us feel young.
We do not have a natural attitude toward age: Youth is not a stage of life but something we hide behind and wear instead of our natural age. “The American Culture Code for youth is MASK.”
In contrast to America, Britain disdains youth as annoying and boring and inexperienced and prone to mistakes.
Britain values its eccentrics, not its Peter Pans.
Ways to Improve Your Critical Reading
Do a background check of the author to see if he or she has a hidden agenda or any other kind of background information that speaks to the author’s credibility.
Check the place of publication to see what kind of agenda, if any, the publishing house has. Know how esteemed the publishing house is among peers of the subject you’re reading about.
Learn how to find the thesis. In other words, know what the author’s purpose, explicit or implicit, is.
Annotate more than underline. Your memory will be better served, according to research, by annotating than underlining. You can scribble your own code in the margins as long as you can understand your writing when you come back to it later. Annotating is a way of starting a dialogue about the reading and writing process. It is a form of pre-writing. Forms of annotation that I use are “yes,” (great point) “no,” (wrong, illogical, BS) and “?” (confusing). When I find the thesis, I’ll also write that in the margins. Or I’ll write down an essay or book title that the passage reminds me of. Or maybe even an idea for a story or a novel.
When faced with a difficult text, you will have to slow down and use the principles of summarizing and paraphrasing. With summary, you concisely identify the main points in one or two sentences. With paraphrase, you re-word the text in your own words.
When reading an argument, see if the writer addresses possible objections to his or her argument. Ask yourself, of all the objections, did the writer choose the most compelling ones? The more compelling the objections addressed, the more rigorous and credible the author’s writing.
Recognizing Logical Fallacies
Begging the Question
Begging the question assumes that a statement is self-evident when it actually requires proof.
Major Premise: Fulfilling all my major desires is the only way I can be happy.
Minor Premise: I can’t afford when of my greatest desires in life, a Lexus GS350.
Conclusion: Therefore, I can never be happy.
Circular Reasoning
Circular reasoning occurs when we support a statement by restating it in different terms.
Stealing is wrong because it is illegal.
Admitting women into the men’s club is wrong because it’s an invalid policy.
Your essay is woeful because of its egregious construction.
Your boyfriend is hideous because of his heinous characteristics.
I have to sell my car because I’m ready to sell it.
I can’t spend time with my kids because it’s too time consuming.
I need to spend more money on my presents than my family’s presents because I need bigger and better presents.
I’m a great father because I’m the best father my children have ever had.
Weak Analogy or Faulty Comparison
Analogies are never perfect but they can be powerful. The question is do they have a degree of validity to make them worth the effort.
A toxic relationship is like a cancer that gets worse and worse (fine).
Sugar is high-octane fuel to use before your workout (weak because there is nothing high-octane about a substance that causes you to crash and converts into fat and creates other problems)
Free education is a great flame and the masses are moths flying into the flames of destruction. (horribly false analogy)
Ad Hominem Fallacy (Personal Attack)
“Who are you to be a marriage counselor? You’ve been divorced six times?”
A lot of people give great advice and present sound arguments even if they don’t apply their principles to their lives, so we should focus on the argument, not personal attack.
“So you believe in universal health care, do you? I suppose you’re a communist and you hate America as well.”
Making someone you disagree with an American-hating communist is invalid and doesn’t address the actual argument.
“What do you mean you don’t believe in marriage? What are you, a crazed nihilist, an unrepentant anarchist, an immoral misanthrope, a craven miscreant?”
Straw Man Fallacy
You twist and misconstrue your opponent’s argument to make it look weaker than it is when you refute it. Instead of attacking the real issue, you aim for a weaker issue based on your deliberate misinterpretation of your opponent’s argument.
“Those who are against universal health care are heartless. They obviously don’t care if innocent children die.”
Hasty Generalization (Jumping to a Conclusion)
“I’ve had three English instructors who are middle-aged bald men. Therefore, all English instructors are middle-aged bald men.”
“I’ve met three Americans with false British accents and they were all annoying. Therefore, all Americans, such as Madonna, who contrive British accents are annoying.” Perhaps some Americans do so ironically and as a result are more funny than annoying.
Either/Or Fallacy
There are only two choices to an issue is an over simplification and an either/or fallacy.
“Either you be my girlfriend or you don’t like real men.”
“Either you be my boyfriend or you’re not a real American.”
“Either you play football for me or you’re not a real man.”
“Either you’re for us or against us.” (The enemy of our enemy is our friend is every day foreign policy.)
“Either you agree with me about increasing the minimum wage, or you’re okay with letting children starve to death.”
“Either you get a 4.0 and get admitted into USC, or you’re only half a man.”
Equivocation
Equivocation occurs when you deliberately twist the meaning of something in order to justify your position.
“You told me the used car you just sold me was in ‘good working condition.’”
“I said ‘good,’ not perfect.”
The seller is equivocating.
“I told you to be in bed by ten.”
“I thought you meant be home by ten.”
“You told me you were going to pay me the money you owe me on Friday.”
“I didn’t know you meant the whole sum.”
“You told me you were going to take me out on my birthday.”
“Technically speaking, the picnic I made for us in the backyard was a form of ‘going out.’”
Red Herring Fallacy
This fallacy is to throw a distraction in your opponent’s face because you know a distraction may help you win the argument.
“Barack Obama wants us to support him but his father was a Muslim. How can we trust the President on the war against terrorism when he has terrorist ties?”
“You said you were going to pay me my thousand dollars today. Where is it?”
“Dear friend, I’ve been diagnosed with a very serious medical condition. Can we talk about our money issue some other time?”
Slippery Slope Fallacy
We go down a rabbit hole of exaggerated consequences to make our point sound convincing.
“If we allow gay marriage, we’ll have to allow people to marry gorillas.”
“If we allow gay marriage, my marriage to my wife will be disrespected and dishonored.”
Appeal to Authority
Using a celebrity to promote an energy drink doesn’t make this drink effective in increasing performance.
Listening to an actor play a doctor on TV doesn’t make the pharmaceutical he’s promoting safe or effective.
Tradition Fallacy
“We’ve never allowed women into our country club. Why should we start now?”
“Women have always served men. That’s the way it’s been and that’s the way it always should be.”
Misuse of Statistics
Using stats to show causality when it’s a condition of correlation or omitting other facts.
“Ninety-nine percent of people who take this remedy see their cold go away in ten days.” (Colds go away on their own).
“Violent crime from home intruders goes down twenty percent in home equipped with guns.” (more people in those homes die of accidental shootings or suicides)
Post Hoc, Confusing Causality with Correlation
Taking cold medicine makes your cold go away. Really?
The rooster crows and makes the sun go up. Really?
You drink on a Thursday night and on Friday morning you get an A on your calculus exam. Really?
You stop drinking milk and you feel stronger. Really? (or is it placebo effect?)
Non Sequitur (It Does Not Follow)
The conclusion in an argument is not relevant to the premises.
Megan drives a BMW, so she must be rich.
McMahon understands the difference between a phrase and a dependent clause; therefore, he must be a genius.
Whenever I eat chocolate cake, I feel good. Therefore, chocolate cake must be good for me.
Bandwagon Fallacy
Because everyone believes something, it must be right.
“You can steal a little at work. Everyone else does.”
“In Paris, ninety-nine percent of all husbands have a secret mistress. Therefore adultery is not immoral.”
Essay Three: The Culture Code
Option A
One camp believes Rapaille is a marketing genius who uses invaluable psychological insights to gain codes that unlock the power of consumerism and as a result he is worth his huge asking price as a consultant. However, another camp esteems Rapaille as little more than a fraud who recycles the same archetypal “codes” and stereotypes and as a result he has no “secret sauce” to make him worth all the money he makes. In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate one of the assertions above.
Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Option B
In a 1,000 word essay, compare Clotaire Rapaille's vision of an adolescent America with Joseph Epstein's similar vision in his essay "The Perpetual Adolescent." Be sure to follow comparison essay guidelines for structure and transitions.
Option C
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
What Jon Stewart Exposes Various Weaknesses in Thinking and Fallacies
One. Straw Man: Twist original material
Two. Non Sequitur: "It does not follow." Rap is not the issue. It's a non sequitur or a red herring (a distraction).
Three. Double-Standard: Hold blacks to one standard and whites to another when it comes to "responsibility."
Four. Measuring proportion. Is racism isolated or pervasive?
Five. Purposely misinterpreting and being selective with data. For example, one talking head from WSJ is right about the petty arrests but glosses over that it's 90% blacks who are getting arrested under these petty circumstances.
Six. Shameless denial of racism. If you repeat a lie over and over, it becomes some people's "truth."
The Importance of Definition in Your Essays
Often we’re analyzing a term that needs clarification. For example, what is morality? Is morality a divine-inspired quality? Or does morality evolve from society’s struggle to learn to create a community that flourishes as a result of cooperation and other cultural values that lift it beyond the individual animal fighting tooth and claw against his competition?
Definition by Synonym
One of the weakest ways to define a term is by naming it with its equivalent name, otherwise known as a synonym. The problem with renaming a term is the trap of the circular definition.
What is pornography?
Pornography is obscenity.
What is obscenity?
Obscenity is pornography.
Definition by Example
A more effective form of definition is to use an example, also called an ostensive definition from the Latin ostendere, “to show.”
What is happiness?
An example of happiness is a society, like Iceland, that nurtures its artists by encouraging them to fail. As a result, Iceland has the highest artists per capita in the world. A key example of happiness is a society that has flourishing artists.
Definition by Stipulation
Stipulations are conditions or requirements that you and your opponents agree to when debating a term.
For example, a ban on weapons needs the stipulation of assault weapons.
A parent is not merely a biological relation to the child; a parent must be present, engaged, and involved in the child’s upbringing.
Meaning is a form of purpose, but that purpose must be attached to a moral code; otherwise, Hitler’s “meaning,” a vision for an all-white race is allowed to be confused with real meaning.
An Extended Definition
An extended definition has three things: term, class, and distinguishing characteristics.
Water is a liquid comprised of H2O.
A parent is a person who is engaged and involved with her child’s upbringing, not merely a biological relation.
A chimera is an obsessive mental state characterized by projection of one’s fantasies, unrealistic expectations, and inevitable failure to meet those expectations.
Meaning is an orientation that gives us purpose, life force, morality, and character.
Love is a deformed mental state resulting in obsession, capriciousness, madness, and death.
Jim Crow is the perpetuation of White Supremacy characterized by the insidious reinvention of slavery through segregation laws, slave wages, and police abuse.
A Chanel No. 5 Moment is a form of narcissism in which you constantly crave the sense of being the star of your own movie, you spend all your resources getting this kind of attention, and you use people to achieve this aim only to find yourself alienated from life, yourself, and the human race.
Logic and Reasoning as a Part of Argumentation
Logic comes from the Greek word logos, meaning, word, thought, principle, or reason. Logic is concerned with the principles of correct reasoning.
Deductive reasoning starts with general premises and ends in specific conclusions. This process is expressed in a syllogism: major premise, minor premise, and conclusion.
Major Premise: All bald men should wear extra sunscreen on their bald head.
Minor Premise: Mr. X is a bald man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Mr. X should apply extra sunscreen.
A sound syllogism, one that is valid and true, must follow logically from the facts and be based on premises that are based on facts.
Major Premise: All state universities must accommodate disabled students.
Minor Premise: UCLA is a state university.
Conclusion: Therefore, UCLA must accommodate disabled students.
A syllogism can be valid without being true as we see in this example from Robert Cormier’s novel The Chocolate War:
Bailey earns straight A’s.
Straight A’s are a sign of perfection.
But only God is perfect.
Can Bailey be God? Of course not.
Therefore, Bailey is a cheater and a liar.
In the above example it’s not true that the perfection of God is equivalent to the perfection of a straight-A student (faulty comparison, a logical fallacy). So while the syllogism is valid, following logically from one point to the next, it’s based on a deception or a falsehood; therefore, it is not true.
Syllogism Example with a Questionable Conclusion
Your parents give you, small child, lots of sugar cereal and lollipops.
A high sugar diet leads to cavities.
Cavities result in trips to the dentist for teeth fillings.
These teeth fillings could have been avoided with a lower sugar diet.
Your parents subjected you to frequent trips to the dentist.
Unnecessary and frequent trips to the dentist are abusive.
Your parents, by virtue of giving you a high-sugar diet, are abusive.
We can conclude, then, that parents who give their children sweets should be reported to social services.
Syllogism with an Illogical Middle Term Is Invalid
Flawed logic occurs when the middle term has the same term in the major and minor premise but not in the conclusion.
Major Premise: All dogs are mammals.
Minor Premise: Some mammals are porpoises.
Conclusion: Therefore, some porpoises are dogs.
Syllogism with a Key Term Whose Meaning Shifts Cannot be Valid
Major Premise: Only man is capable of analytical reasoning.
Minor Premise: Anna is not a man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Anna is not capable of analytical reasoning.
The key term shift is “man,” which refers to “mankind,” not the male gender.
Syllogism with a Negative Premise
If either premise in a syllogism is negative, then the conclusion must also be negative. The following syllogism is not valid:
Major Premise: Only the Toyota Prius can go in the fast-track lane.
Minor Premise: The BMW 4 series is not a Toyota Prius.
Conclusion: Therefore, the BMW can drive in the fast-track lane.
If both premises are negative, the syllogism cannot have a valid conclusion:
Major Premise: The Toyota Prius cannot be denied entrance into the fast-track lane.
Minor Premise: The BMW 4 series is not a Toyota Prius.
Conclusion: Therefore, the BMW cannot be denied entrance into the fast-track lane.
Enthymemes
An enthymeme is a syllogism with one or two parts of its argument—usually, the major premise—missing.
Robert has lied, so he cannot be trusted.
We’re missing the major premise:
Major Premise: People who lie cannot be trusted.
Minor Premise: Robert has lied.
Conclusion: Therefore, Robert cannot be trusted.
When writers or speakers use enthymemes, they are sometimes trying to hide the flaw of the first premise:
Major Premise: All countries governed by dictators should be invaded.
Minor Premise: North Korea is a country governed by a dictator.
Conclusion: Therefore, North Korea should be invaded.
The premise that all countries governed by dictators should be invaded is a gross generalization and can easily be shot down under close scrutiny.
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning begins with specific observations or evidence and moves to a general conclusion.
My Volvo was always in the shop. My neighbor’s Mini Cooper and BMW are always in the shop. My other neighbor’s Audi is in the shop.
Now my wife and I own a Honda and Nissan and those cars are never in the shop.
European cars cost more to maintain than Japanese cars and the empirical evidence and data support my claim.
Lesson 4: Chapters 5 and 6: Analysis and Development of an Argument
How Can You Improve Your Critical Reading?
One. Identify the main idea, claim, or thesis in a piece of writing.
Two. Identify the form and structure. Essays use a variety of expository modes: contrast, comparison, argumentation, description, narrative, cause and effect analysis, extended definition, to name several.
Three. What problem is the writer trying to define?
Four. What bias, if any, does the writer bring to the topic?
Five. Notice the shifts from specificity to generality (induction) or generality to specificity (deduction).
Six. Notice the transitions used to establish a number of reasons (additionally), contrast (however, on the other hand, to the contrary), and comparison (similarly).
Seven. Use annotations, writing key ideas in the margins and underlining key words and phrases. Annotating increases your memory and reading comprehension. Using a pen is better than a highlighter because you can write your own specific response to what you’re reading whereas a highlighter is too fat to make comments. Another advantage of using a pen is that you might come up with ideas for your essay response, even a thesis, and you don’t want to forget that material.
Eight. Look up unfamiliar words to build your vocabulary and increase your understanding of the piece.
Nine. Identify the writer’s style and tone (voice). The voice could be conversational, supercilious (arrogant), morally outraged, friendly, condescending, ironic, etc.
Ten. Notice if the writer is being implicit, using implication or suggestion, rather than being direct and explicit in the expression of the main idea.
Eleven. Ask if the writer considered opposing views fairly before coming to his or her conclusion.
Twelve. What political point of view, if any, informs the piece?
Thirteen. How strong is the evidence in the piece that is used to support the writer’s claim?
Fourteen. What is the intended readership? Educated adults? Experts? Children?
Your first job in analyzing a text, is to determine the author’s thesis or purpose.
Was the purpose to persuade you to think about something differently or take action, analyze causes and effects, take you through the process of changing your car battery (process analysis), expose the corruption of a bureaucracy?
Once you determine the thesis, examine the author’s methods:
Does the writer quote authorities? Are these authorities competent and credible in the field?
Does the writer also address competent authorities that take a different, perhaps contrarian point of view?
Does the writer use credible statistics? Are the statistics current? Have the statistics been interpreted fairly and accurately?
Does the writer build the argument by using solid examples and analogies? Are they compelling? Why? Why not?
Are the writer’s assumptions acceptable?
Does the writer consider all relevant factors? Has she omitted some points that you think should be discussed? For instance, should the author recognize certain opposing positions and perhaps concede something to them?
Does the writer seek to persuade by means of ridicule and mockery? If so, is the ridicule fair and appropriate? Is the ridicule further supported by rational argument?
Is the argument aimed at a particular audience?
What tone, voice or persona is evident in the essay? Does the voice or persona give the essay credibility? Why or why not?
Some voices to consider:
Confident and straightforward
Arrogant and pompous
Mocking and self-aggrandizing
Bullheaded incuriosity for opposing views
So sanctimonious and pious as to be cloying and saccharine
So sanctimonious as to be unctuous
Persnickety
Whimsical, playful, capricious
Deadpan ironical
Gleefully self-righteous
Curmudgeonly misanthropic
Bitter and pessimistic
Effulgently optimistic
Writing Evaluations or Critiques
When you evaluate an author’s text (essay or book), your argument about whether or not the author’s thesis was effectively supported or not is your thesis.
Example
Rapaille attempts feebly to support his thesis with stereotypical examples because only by forcing simplistic illustrations to support his ludicrously over generalized claim does he have a chance of sounding convincing.
The mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey has defeated 11 opponents, the most recent one in only 14 seconds. Perhaps predictably, this has led to questions about whether she will fight men.
In an interview with Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast, Ms. Rousey answered in the negative: “I don’t think it’s a great idea to have a man hitting a woman on television,” she said. “I’ll never say that I’ll lose, but you could have a girl getting totally beat up on TV by a guy—which is a bad image to put across.” She also alluded to the recent string of domestic-violence arrests among N.F.L. players.
Her reluctance to risk subjecting viewers to such an image is understandable. But even laying aside the issue of domestic violence, it’s worth asking another question: Why do we assume that a successful female athlete should move on to competing with male ones?
Ms. Rousey is undefeated in her weight class. Is her achievement somehow less legitimate because her opponents have been women? Is the only mark of true athleticism the ability to beat a man?
Those who would like to see Ms. Rousey in a mixed-gender bout might argue it would simply be an opportunity for her to fight the best of the best. But the presence of weight classes in mixed martial arts is an acknowledgment that it doesn’t always make sense to compare athletes with different bodies. If Ms. Rousey wouldn’t typically fight someone twice her size, does it make sense for her to fight someone who may have different bone density, different body fat percentage, a different center of gravity? Isn’t she already, by the accepted standards of her sport, the best of the best?
Gender segregation in sports has a complicated history, and it’s possible that more sports will one day be mixed-gender. It’s also possible that sports will one day adopt groupings that have nothing to do with gender — that are based on muscle mass, for instance, or skeletal structure. And if female athletes want to compete against men, they shouldn’t be barred from doing so.
But in the system we have now, expecting a woman to face a male opponent when she’s expressed no interest in doing so implies that excelling at women’s sports is a secondary achievement. It suggests that women’s sports are like the minor leagues — get good enough, and maybe you can play with the men.
And indeed, female athletes are too often treated as secondary. Last year, Lindsey Adler of BuzzFeed estimated that Kobe Bryant made almost three times as much for the 2013-2014 season as all the players in the W.N.B.A. combined. And a recent analysis of seven British newspapers found that just 4 percent of sports articles during a particular week in 2013 focused on women’s sports.
Female athletes deserve better than this — they deserve the same respect their male counterparts get. And that means treating Ronda Rousey as a champion in her own right, not just good for a girl.
Comments
Alexander Hamilton: Is there a sane person in America who believes Ronda Rousey needs to fight any man? Good, that's settled. Now here's the question I'd like to see answered: 2,000 years after the Coliseum was closed for business, why are people still watching one person beat up another? Is this as far as society has come? And what kind of person takes pleasure in intentionally hurting another? The difference between this barbarism and what Michael Vick did is one of degree, not of kind.
RobW: Female athletes are not "treated as secondary." They generally ARE secondary. Anna North complains that Kobe Bryant made three times as much as the rest of the WNBA combined. That is not because sports fans are sexists: it's because Kobe Bryant is approximately three times more interesting to watch that the rest of the WNBA combined. Fans pay to see the best, and there is not a single woman in the WNBA that could even sit the bench on any NBA team.
As an under-six-foot male, I was always a little bitter growing up that I didn't have any realistic chance of success basketball (Spud Webb notwithstanding). There are some under-six-foot leagues, however; is the fact that there is zero coverage of these in the sports pages evidence of rampant heightism? Ms. North believes that female athletes "deserve the same respect their male counterparts get." I assume that she would also believe, then, that under-six-foot players should get the same respect as their taller counterparts. No, of course she wouldn't. That would be silly--as silly as saying vastly inferior female athletes deserved exactly the same respect, box office, and press that the best male athletes get.
Sorry, but until Rousey demonstrates that she can routinely beat men in her weight class, she will remain merely "good for a girl." And, frankly, I don't think the sight of a woman fighter getting bloodily brutalized by a man would be negative--it might make plain to men the potentially devastating power they wield.
Jim Waddell: We need to recognize that men and women are different, in many ways. There are very few sports where the top female athletes could beat the top male athletes.
But there are areas where women excel more than men, beginning with education (and in staying out of jail.) Just because one sex does better than another in any given area is not prima facie evidence of discrimination.
Analyzing the Text
What is the author Anna North's purpose?
She wants to answer this question: "Why do we assume that a successful female athlete should move on to competing with male ones?"
North goes on to ask these two question:
"Is her achievement somehow less legitimate because her opponents have been women? Is the only mark of true athleticism the ability to beat a man?"
In other words, does Rousey have to beat a man in a fight to be legit?
These questions lead us to the author's thesis, which can be formulated this way:
"Rousey and female athletes in general don't have to compete against men to prove their greatness because we already have weight classes that compare to the different bone and muscle density between men and women."
Any weaknesses with the thesis? Yes, it has only one mapping component and it doesn't address the fact that the best fighter in Rousey's weight class can't compete against the best male fighter in the same weight class.
Does the author have a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph?
Those who would like to see Ms. Rousey in a mixed-gender bout might argue it would simply be an opportunity for her to fight the best of the best. But the presence of weight classes in mixed martial arts is an acknowledgment that it doesn’t always make sense to compare athletes with different bodies. If Ms. Rousey wouldn’t typically fight someone twice her size, does it make sense for her to fight someone who may have different bone density, different body fat percentage, a different center of gravity? Isn’t she already, by the accepted standards of her sport, the best of the best?
Do you notice any weaknesses in the author's argument?
But in the system we have now, expecting a woman to face a male opponent when she’s expressed no interest in doing so implies that excelling at women’s sports is a secondary achievement. It suggests that women’s sports are like the minor leagues — get good enough, and maybe you can play with the men.
How would you formulate a thesis in response to the author's column?
While North makes a good point that Rousey is a great woman fighter, her larger claim that Rousey is a first-rate champion equal to male fighters is muddled by the fact that Rousey's greatness is a combination of her fighting dominance in the female category combined with her celebrity that transcends MMA competition.
Mockery and Ridicule Only Work When Supported by Rational Argument
One camp believes Rapaille is a marketing genius who uses invaluable psychological insights to gain codes that unlock the power of consumerism and as a result he is worth his huge asking price as a consultant. However, another camp esteems Rapaille as little more than a fraud who recycles the same archetypal “codes” and stereotypes and as a result he has no “secret sauce” to make him worth all the money he makes. In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate one of the assertions above.
Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Option B
In a 1,000 word essay, compare Clotaire Rapaille's vision of an adolescent America with Joseph Epstein's similar vision in his essay "The Perpetual Adolescent." Be sure to follow comparison essay guidelines for structure and transitions.
Option C
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Seven. What are the five principles of discovering the Culture Code?
Principle 1: You can’t believe what people say.
People tell others what they want based on what their cortex (the part of the brain that reasons) tells them, but we are not driven by our cortex. We are driven by our Inner Reptile. In other words, we emotions drive our shopping tastes, not practical concerns or reason.
On an emotional level, many Americans desired the PT Cruiser because it fulfilled the fantasy of Hollywood movies: a gangster car, the kind Al Capone would have driven.
But in Germany where engineering is paramount, the PT Cruiser is not desired.
Principle 2: Emotion is the energy required to learn anything.
Experiences create imprinting, so that we never forget. Learning is to a large part about not forgetting.
When I was four, I took off my inflatable Popeye ring at the pool, jumped into the water, and sunk to the bottom before a family friend saved my life. I learned that flaying my arms and kicking my feet the way I did was useless and that I needed to learn the correct way to swim before I just jumped into the water without the ability to swim.
When I was eight, I took a deep puff of my mother’s cigarette to show-off in front of my friends. After inhaling, I almost coughed myself to death, as I was desperate for oxygen. The coughing fit was so horrible that I never touched a cigarette again.
When I was twenty-one, a young woman in college shunned me because I didn't know the difference between a phrase and a clause.
Emotion motivated me to learn to swim, to understand the difference between a phrase and a clause, and to NOT smoke.
Principle 3: The structure, not the content, is the message.
We can react similarly to two different stories from two different periods of time if they are structured around the same motif.
Rapaille points to the play Cyrano de Bergerac and the 1987 film Roxanne, which are both about defending honor.
The movie Star Wars, about a boy Luke Skywalker who turns into a Jedi, is similar in structure to the Ritual of San Jacinto in which peyote and a snake bite are part of an Indian boy’s rite of passage: becoming a man.
Principle 4: There is a window in time for imprinting, and the meaning of the imprint varies from one culture to another.
We experience cultural imprints that affect us the most deeply before the age of seven.
In America peanut butter, used to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, is often imprinted into a child’s unconscious to mean mother’s love; however, in France peanut butter is not a staple and is looked upon with contempt: “just another processed food.”
In America alcohol, part of teenage experience, represents rebellion, independence, and drunkenness. It is a rite of passage born of peer pressure to be “an adult.”
In contrast, French parents expose alcohol, such as wine and champagne, to their children who see these drinks as part of normal family life and celebration. A completely different imprint takes place.
Principle 5: To access the meaning of an imprint within a particular culture, you must learn the code for that imprint.
The imprint of cheese has a different code in America than it does in France. In France, cheese is “alive”; it’s stored at room temperature and celebrated without all the processing of American cheese. The American code for cheese is “dead”; we read that “Americans ‘kill’ their cheese through pasteurization” and eat “mummified” cheese. The French value cheese flavor, texture, and overall quality; on the other hand, Americans value safety even if it means stripping their food of taste.
Eight. What are the three types of unconscious?
There is the Freudian, also known as the individual unconscious; the Jungian, also known as the collective unconscious; and another form of limited collective unconsciousness, which is cultural.
Referring to the cultural unconscious, Rapaille writes, “there is an American mind, just as there is a French mind, and English mind, a Kurdish mind, and a Latvian mind. Every culture has its own mind-set, and that mind-set teaches us about who we are in profound ways.” For the rest of the book, Rapaille will show us two dozen important Codes he has discovered in the context of the cultural unconscious.
Nine. In Chapter Two, Rapaille observes that cultures don’t change often, but when they do change, it’s because of a powerful imprinting experience. Can you think of an example?
America has always valued freedom, but the country was so traumatized by 9/11 that many Americans were eager to surrender freedoms to fight “the war on terror.”
Facebook had a powerful imprint on us: We can connect globally with friends more easily than ever, and we can do so instantaneously. This convenience changed not just America but the way the entire world creates and maintains friendships.
We used to be a more fair and just society with empathy and compassion for those who were not as fortunate as ourselves, but images of skinny, beautiful, rich people have inundated us to the point that we suffer from envy and resentment. These emotions encourage competitiveness and an “I’ve got mine, get yours” mentality.
Ten. Where does America lie when it comes to our emotional evolution?
The relative youth of our country makes us the Adolescent and much of our imprinting addresses this adolescent stage.
Rapaille points out that in America part of our adolescence is based on the fact that our freedom resulted without our having had to kill our king in order to be who we are.
Americans rebelled against England and to this day still have that rebellious, that is, adolescent, spirit.
Much of what sells in America and then is peddled throughout the world is rooted in adolescent longings: Coca-Cola, Nike, fast food, blue jeans, violent movies, rock, hip-hop.
Celebrity culture is about the perennial adolescent who stumbles because of his compulsive mistakes (31).
Rapaille cites other adolescent traits unique to America:
Arrogance: We’re know-it-alls
Dramatic mood swings
Constant need for exploration and the need to challenge authority defines us.
We are preoccupied with love, seduction, and carnality.
Americans are preoccupied with the loss of innocence.
Americans are abysmal in matters of love because we long for love from an adolescent sensibility. Love is “an exciting dream that rarely reaches fulfillment” (38).
In contrast, Japan sees love differently than Americans. In Japan “Love is a temporary disease” and therefore no commitments such as marriage can be based on such a fickle disease.
Adolescent hubris or arrogance informs Americans that they can change their essential nature and their bodies. In contrast, the French don’t try to change their bodies. They have a saying, “It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with it” (43).
Americans have an immature, adolescent approach to love, which is based on a predatory angle. As Rapaille writes, the code for American seduction is manipulation. We are a country of deception. It is no wonder our divorce rate is so high.
Brainstorming a Laundry List to Come Up with Essay Thesis Ideas
Does Rapaille have a hidden agenda or does he really want to make us free by showing us how our Codes control our behavior?
Why does America seem like such an insufferable brat under the lens of Rapaille’s analysis?
Do Rapaille’s points speak to my own experiences?
Is my idea of love, as an American, so completely lame that the Japanese call the thing Americans base their marriage on as a temporary form of insanity and a disease?
Is American love based on the kind of cynicism, deception, and manipulation Rapaille describes?
Can companies like Nestle create imprinting and thus manipulate children into being forever hooked on their products or is this book overreaching in its claims?
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Thesis That Refutes Rapaille
While The Culture Code is full of penetrating, truthful insights about human psychology, in its totality the book is an odious fraud. What we have is a Frenchman, an American outsider, who looks condescendingly at Americans by painting them as a most insufferable caricature of the adolescent brat. Secondly, the book’s claim to be designed to free us from our compulsive inclinations by better understanding the Code collapses when we consider that this book was not written for the mass consumer as a sort of public service but for educated elites who, sharing Rapaille’s loathing of American culture, read The Culture Code as a way of reaffirming their pre-existing contempt for Americans, which turns out to be an act of self-congratulations. Finally, the book fails because so many of its “codes” are little more than stereotypes and over-generalities that dissolve in the face of complex reality.
Thesis That Defends Rapaille
While I concede that Rapaille at times resorts to cultural stereotypes, the book fulfills its claim to help free us from our unconscious desires by Rapaille’s insightful analysis, which is supported with empirical evidence, sound anthropological method, and compelling illustrations.
Lesson Three, Chapters 3 and 4
One. What are the different cultural tensions in America and France?
In America, we alternate between freedom and prohibition, indulgence and shame, reckless abandon and control.
We love to overeat during the year and then punish ourselves with starvation and "cleansing" diets after the New Year.
We are a nation of extremes.
We see this tension in the idea of public vs. private school. Public school represents freedom and failure while private school represents strictness and success.
Another extreme in America: "Either you are a homeowner (winner) or renter (loser)."
Rapaille says that as a nation of extremes, we try to reconcile our contradictions in absurd ways.
For example, we watch NFL as the players are free to commit violence against one another; however, there are penalties for personal fouls and unsportsman-like conduct, thereby maintaining a constant tension between freedom and prohibition.
The Focus on Freedom in France Is Different
In contrast, France alternates between freedom of the working people and the privilege of the elite. Even without an elite in France, Rapaille observes, the structure still persists so that the unemployed see themselves as the privileged and demand entitlements that are greater than many workers in France receive (56).
These different tensions dictate different Codes in the realm of consumerism.
A Case of Code Clash
The Code for Disneyland in America, strict rules on smoking, drinking, and pets, for example, didn’t work in France, so that Disney failed to attract visitors until it created a French Code with a privileged area in the theme park for visitors to bring pets, smoke, and drink wine.
Two. What is the balancing act of beauty in America for women?
We read on page 57 that there “must be a balance between being attractive and being provocative.”
Cover Girl ads aspire to strike this balance, getting as close to being provocative without crossing the line or violating the rules. The Code for American women is this: “You have the freedom to obtain beauty, but you must do so within the given rules and prohibitions.”
Victoria’s Secret, we read, embodies this tension as the word Victoria suggests Victorian or Puritan rules as women can wear conservative clothing on the outside. But the “secret” is that women can wear what they please, sexy lingerie, on the inside, what amounts to the “hidden expression of beauty.”
American women in surveys talked about their own sense of beauty as having a profound effect on a man, which resulted in romance. By creating romantic feelings in a man, the American woman believes she can elevate a man from a mere animal on the prowl for sex to a superior, more sensitive romantic being. Therefore, in America the Beauty Code is Man’s Salvation. Men are saved by beauty.
Other cultures have different codes. For example, in Arab nations a woman advertises her husband’s wealth. Skinniness is a sign of poverty and obesity is a sign of wealth; therefore, rich women force-feed themselves into being obese to flatter their husbands.
In contrast, the Beauty Code in Norway is nature; therefore, the women aspire to be tall, skinny, athletic and natural looking evidenced by shunning make-up.
Back to American women, we find that while their beauty is believed to transform men from lust-craven ogres to sensitive romantics, a woman’s absence of beauty is for her a form of castigation, punishment, and damnation. There lies the opposite end of a woman’s resulting power from beauty.
Three. Why does Rapaille scoff at the idea that obesity can be cured with education?
In part because at the Tufts University symposium on obesity he noticed that many of the educated speakers who made this claim were themselves fat, so clearly “education,” whatever that means, is not the answer.
Rapaille probes deeper into psychology of obesity and sees that the problem is emotional, not intellectual. In fact, he writes that “being fat is a solution to a problem” and he makes the case that sexual abuse results in obesity for many girls and women. Sexual abuse leads to trauma and depression, risk factors for overeating. Furthermore, getting fat pushes abusers or potential abusers away.
Let’s put it this way: Being fat is a form of punishment and many victims of abuse feel guilty even though they are innocent victims. Feeling guilty, they eat themselves into fatness because they feel they deserve to be punished (68).
“The Code for fat in America is CHECKING OUT” (69). Fat people are disconnecting from society from a sense of guilt, depression, or some other psychological trauma.
Being poor causes depression and the impulse to CHECK OUT.
Being fat, I would add, also connects to “Walmart shopper attire” such as walking around in baggy sweats and clothes that scream “I’ve given up on life.”
When you think about it, any addiction—overeating, drugs, alcohol, television, sports fanaticism, shopping—is in a way a form of checking out and disconnecting from others.
Four. What are the three parts of the brain and what is their relationship to consumer codes?
The cortex guides reason and logic.
The limbic system directs emotions. Our relationship with our mother determines our limbic system; therefore, the limbic system is considered feminine.
The “champion” of the three “brains” is the reptilian, which is found in the cerebellum. These drives are over 200 million years old and are geared for survival and reproduction.
Five. In America, what is the Code for health and wellness?
We read on page 80 that “For Americans, health and wellness means being able to complete your mission.”
We are a nation of “doers”; as a result, we value our independence and self-reliance, attributes established by the American pioneers.
The Code for health in America is MOVEMENT. We are not a culture of repose, contemplation, meditation, and self-examination. We are a culture that must “always be on the go” (80).
We cannot even accept retirement in our country. We cannot accept that “we have stopped.” Many seek a second career in their 60s and 70s.
Other cultures have different Codes. In China, the health Code is harmony with nature. In Japan, the Code is staying healthy out of obligation to one’s culture because being in ill health makes one a burden to others (81).
In America, the Code for doctor is HERO; the Code for nurse is MOTHER.
But in contrast to above, the Code for hospitals is the very negative PROCESSING PLANT.
This makes sense when we realize we equate hospitals with immobility and death and for Americans health and freedom rely on movement.
Six. What is the American obsession with youth based on?
For Americans, a utopian world defies nature and allows us to be perpetual adolescents (85). We are a nation of immigrants, a people who came to the new country to leave their past behind and start over. This sense of renewal and reinvention makes us feel young.
We do not have a natural attitude toward age: Youth is not a stage of life but something we hide behind and wear instead of our natural age. “The American Culture Code for youth is MASK.”
In contrast to America, Britain disdains youth as annoying and boring and inexperienced and prone to mistakes.
Britain values its eccentrics, not its Peter Pans.
Ways to Improve Your Critical Reading
Do a background check of the author to see if he or she has a hidden agenda or any other kind of background information that speaks to the author’s credibility.
Check the place of publication to see what kind of agenda, if any, the publishing house has. Know how esteemed the publishing house is among peers of the subject you’re reading about.
Learn how to find the thesis. In other words, know what the author’s purpose, explicit or implicit, is.
Annotate more than underline. Your memory will be better served, according to research, by annotating than underlining. You can scribble your own code in the margins as long as you can understand your writing when you come back to it later. Annotating is a way of starting a dialogue about the reading and writing process. It is a form of pre-writing. Forms of annotation that I use are “yes,” (great point) “no,” (wrong, illogical, BS) and “?” (confusing). When I find the thesis, I’ll also write that in the margins. Or I’ll write down an essay or book title that the passage reminds me of. Or maybe even an idea for a story or a novel.
When faced with a difficult text, you will have to slow down and use the principles of summarizing and paraphrasing. With summary, you concisely identify the main points in one or two sentences. With paraphrase, you re-word the text in your own words.
When reading an argument, see if the writer addresses possible objections to his or her argument. Ask yourself, of all the objections, did the writer choose the most compelling ones? The more compelling the objections addressed, the more rigorous and credible the author’s writing.
Recognizing Logical Fallacies
Begging the Question
Begging the question assumes that a statement is self-evident when it actually requires proof.
Major Premise: Fulfilling all my major desires is the only way I can be happy.
Minor Premise: I can’t afford when of my greatest desires in life, a Lexus GS350.
Conclusion: Therefore, I can never be happy.
Circular Reasoning
Circular reasoning occurs when we support a statement by restating it in different terms.
Stealing is wrong because it is illegal.
Admitting women into the men’s club is wrong because it’s an invalid policy.
Your essay is woeful because of its egregious construction.
Your boyfriend is hideous because of his heinous characteristics.
I have to sell my car because I’m ready to sell it.
I can’t spend time with my kids because it’s too time consuming.
I need to spend more money on my presents than my family’s presents because I need bigger and better presents.
I’m a great father because I’m the best father my children have ever had.
Weak Analogy or Faulty Comparison
Analogies are never perfect but they can be powerful. The question is do they have a degree of validity to make them worth the effort.
A toxic relationship is like a cancer that gets worse and worse (fine).
Sugar is high-octane fuel to use before your workout (weak because there is nothing high-octane about a substance that causes you to crash and converts into fat and creates other problems)
Free education is a great flame and the masses are moths flying into the flames of destruction. (horribly false analogy)
Ad Hominem Fallacy (Personal Attack)
“Who are you to be a marriage counselor? You’ve been divorced six times?”
A lot of people give great advice and present sound arguments even if they don’t apply their principles to their lives, so we should focus on the argument, not personal attack.
“So you believe in universal health care, do you? I suppose you’re a communist and you hate America as well.”
Making someone you disagree with an American-hating communist is invalid and doesn’t address the actual argument.
“What do you mean you don’t believe in marriage? What are you, a crazed nihilist, an unrepentant anarchist, an immoral misanthrope, a craven miscreant?”
Straw Man Fallacy
You twist and misconstrue your opponent’s argument to make it look weaker than it is when you refute it. Instead of attacking the real issue, you aim for a weaker issue based on your deliberate misinterpretation of your opponent’s argument.
“Those who are against universal health care are heartless. They obviously don’t care if innocent children die.”
Hasty Generalization (Jumping to a Conclusion)
“I’ve had three English instructors who are middle-aged bald men. Therefore, all English instructors are middle-aged bald men.”
“I’ve met three Americans with false British accents and they were all annoying. Therefore, all Americans, such as Madonna, who contrive British accents are annoying.” Perhaps some Americans do so ironically and as a result are more funny than annoying.
Either/Or Fallacy
There are only two choices to an issue is an over simplification and an either/or fallacy.
“Either you be my girlfriend or you don’t like real men.”
“Either you be my boyfriend or you’re not a real American.”
“Either you play football for me or you’re not a real man.”
“Either you’re for us or against us.” (The enemy of our enemy is our friend is every day foreign policy.)
“Either you agree with me about increasing the minimum wage, or you’re okay with letting children starve to death.”
“Either you get a 4.0 and get admitted into USC, or you’re only half a man.”
Equivocation
Equivocation occurs when you deliberately twist the meaning of something in order to justify your position.
“You told me the used car you just sold me was in ‘good working condition.’”
“I said ‘good,’ not perfect.”
The seller is equivocating.
“I told you to be in bed by ten.”
“I thought you meant be home by ten.”
“You told me you were going to pay me the money you owe me on Friday.”
“I didn’t know you meant the whole sum.”
“You told me you were going to take me out on my birthday.”
“Technically speaking, the picnic I made for us in the backyard was a form of ‘going out.’”
Red Herring Fallacy
This fallacy is to throw a distraction in your opponent’s face because you know a distraction may help you win the argument.
“Barack Obama wants us to support him but his father was a Muslim. How can we trust the President on the war against terrorism when he has terrorist ties?”
“You said you were going to pay me my thousand dollars today. Where is it?”
“Dear friend, I’ve been diagnosed with a very serious medical condition. Can we talk about our money issue some other time?”
Slippery Slope Fallacy
We go down a rabbit hole of exaggerated consequences to make our point sound convincing.
“If we allow gay marriage, we’ll have to allow people to marry gorillas.”
“If we allow gay marriage, my marriage to my wife will be disrespected and dishonored.”
Appeal to Authority
Using a celebrity to promote an energy drink doesn’t make this drink effective in increasing performance.
Listening to an actor play a doctor on TV doesn’t make the pharmaceutical he’s promoting safe or effective.
Tradition Fallacy
“We’ve never allowed women into our country club. Why should we start now?”
“Women have always served men. That’s the way it’s been and that’s the way it always should be.”
Misuse of Statistics
Using stats to show causality when it’s a condition of correlation or omitting other facts.
“Ninety-nine percent of people who take this remedy see their cold go away in ten days.” (Colds go away on their own).
“Violent crime from home intruders goes down twenty percent in home equipped with guns.” (more people in those homes die of accidental shootings or suicides)
Post Hoc, Confusing Causality with Correlation
Taking cold medicine makes your cold go away. Really?
The rooster crows and makes the sun go up. Really?
You drink on a Thursday night and on Friday morning you get an A on your calculus exam. Really?
You stop drinking milk and you feel stronger. Really? (or is it placebo effect?)
Non Sequitur (It Does Not Follow)
The conclusion in an argument is not relevant to the premises.
Megan drives a BMW, so she must be rich.
McMahon understands the difference between a phrase and a dependent clause; therefore, he must be a genius.
Whenever I eat chocolate cake, I feel good. Therefore, chocolate cake must be good for me.
Bandwagon Fallacy
Because everyone believes something, it must be right.
“You can steal a little at work. Everyone else does.”
“In Paris, ninety-nine percent of all husbands have a secret mistress. Therefore adultery is not immoral.”
What Jon Stewart Exposes Various Weaknesses in Thinking and Fallacies
One. Straw Man: Twist original material
Two. Non Sequitur: "It does not follow." Rap is not the issue. It's a non sequitur or a red herring (a distraction).
Three. Double-Standard: Hold blacks to one standard and whites to another when it comes to "responsibility."
Four. Measuring proportion. Is racism isolated or pervasive?
Five. Purposely misinterpreting and being selective with data. For example, one talking head from WSJ is right about the petty arrests but glosses over that it's 90% blacks who are getting arrested under these petty circumstances.
Six. Shameless denial of racism. If you repeat a lie over and over, it becomes some people's "truth."
The Importance of Definition in Your Essays
Often we’re analyzing a term that needs clarification. For example, what is morality? Is morality a divine-inspired quality? Or does morality evolve from society’s struggle to learn to create a community that flourishes as a result of cooperation and other cultural values that lift it beyond the individual animal fighting tooth and claw against his competition?
Definition by Synonym
One of the weakest ways to define a term is by naming it with its equivalent name, otherwise known as a synonym. The problem with renaming a term is the trap of the circular definition.
What is pornography?
Pornography is obscenity.
What is obscenity?
Obscenity is pornography.
Definition by Example
A more effective form of definition is to use an example, also called an ostensive definition from the Latin ostendere, “to show.”
What is happiness?
An example of happiness is a society, like Iceland, that nurtures its artists by encouraging them to fail. As a result, Iceland has the highest artists per capita in the world. A key example of happiness is a society that has flourishing artists.
Definition by Stipulation
Stipulations are conditions or requirements that you and your opponents agree to when debating a term.
For example, a ban on weapons needs the stipulation of assault weapons.
A parent is not merely a biological relation to the child; a parent must be present, engaged, and involved in the child’s upbringing.
Meaning is a form of purpose, but that purpose must be attached to a moral code; otherwise, Hitler’s “meaning,” a vision for an all-white race is allowed to be confused with real meaning.
An Extended Definition
An extended definition has three things: term, class, and distinguishing characteristics.
Water is a liquid comprised of H2O.
A parent is a person who is engaged and involved with her child’s upbringing, not merely a biological relation.
A chimera is an obsessive mental state characterized by projection of one’s fantasies, unrealistic expectations, and inevitable failure to meet those expectations.
Meaning is an orientation that gives us purpose, life force, morality, and character.
Love is a deformed mental state resulting in obsession, capriciousness, madness, and death.
Jim Crow is the perpetuation of White Supremacy characterized by the insidious reinvention of slavery through segregation laws, slave wages, and police abuse.
A Chanel No. 5 Moment is a form of narcissism in which you constantly crave the sense of being the star of your own movie, you spend all your resources getting this kind of attention, and you use people to achieve this aim only to find yourself alienated from life, yourself, and the human race.
Logic and Reasoning as a Part of Argumentation
Logic comes from the Greek word logos, meaning, word, thought, principle, or reason. Logic is concerned with the principles of correct reasoning.
Deductive reasoning starts with general premises and ends in specific conclusions. This process is expressed in a syllogism: major premise, minor premise, and conclusion.
Major Premise: All bald men should wear extra sunscreen on their bald head.
Minor Premise: Mr. X is a bald man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Mr. X should apply extra sunscreen.
A sound syllogism, one that is valid and true, must follow logically from the facts and be based on premises that are based on facts.
Major Premise: All state universities must accommodate disabled students.
Minor Premise: UCLA is a state university.
Conclusion: Therefore, UCLA must accommodate disabled students.
A syllogism can be valid without being true as we see in this example from Robert Cormier’s novel The Chocolate War:
Bailey earns straight A’s.
Straight A’s are a sign of perfection.
But only God is perfect.
Can Bailey be God? Of course not.
Therefore, Bailey is a cheater and a liar.
In the above example it’s not true that the perfection of God is equivalent to the perfection of a straight-A student (faulty comparison, a logical fallacy). So while the syllogism is valid, following logically from one point to the next, it’s based on a deception or a falsehood; therefore, it is not true.
Syllogism Example with a Questionable Conclusion
Your parents give you, small child, lots of sugar cereal and lollipops.
A high sugar diet leads to cavities.
Cavities result in trips to the dentist for teeth fillings.
These teeth fillings could have been avoided with a lower sugar diet.
Your parents subjected you to frequent trips to the dentist.
Unnecessary and frequent trips to the dentist are abusive.
Your parents, by virtue of giving you a high-sugar diet, are abusive.
We can conclude, then, that parents who give their children sweets should be reported to social services.
Syllogism with an Illogical Middle Term Is Invalid
Flawed logic occurs when the middle term has the same term in the major and minor premise but not in the conclusion.
Major Premise: All dogs are mammals.
Minor Premise: Some mammals are porpoises.
Conclusion: Therefore, some porpoises are dogs.
Syllogism with a Key Term Whose Meaning Shifts Cannot be Valid
Major Premise: Only man is capable of analytical reasoning.
Minor Premise: Anna is not a man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Anna is not capable of analytical reasoning.
The key term shift is “man,” which refers to “mankind,” not the male gender.
Syllogism with a Negative Premise
If either premise in a syllogism is negative, then the conclusion must also be negative. The following syllogism is not valid:
Major Premise: Only the Toyota Prius can go in the fast-track lane.
Minor Premise: The BMW 4 series is not a Toyota Prius.
Conclusion: Therefore, the BMW can drive in the fast-track lane.
If both premises are negative, the syllogism cannot have a valid conclusion:
Major Premise: The Toyota Prius cannot be denied entrance into the fast-track lane.
Minor Premise: The BMW 4 series is not a Toyota Prius.
Conclusion: Therefore, the BMW cannot be denied entrance into the fast-track lane.
Enthymemes
An enthymeme is a syllogism with one or two parts of its argument—usually, the major premise—missing.
Robert has lied, so he cannot be trusted.
We’re missing the major premise:
Major Premise: People who lie cannot be trusted.
Minor Premise: Robert has lied.
Conclusion: Therefore, Robert cannot be trusted.
When writers or speakers use enthymemes, they are sometimes trying to hide the flaw of the first premise:
Major Premise: All countries governed by dictators should be invaded.
Minor Premise: North Korea is a country governed by a dictator.
Conclusion: Therefore, North Korea should be invaded.
The premise that all countries governed by dictators should be invaded is a gross generalization and can easily be shot down under close scrutiny.
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning begins with specific observations or evidence and moves to a general conclusion.
My Volvo was always in the shop. My neighbor’s Mini Cooper and BMW are always in the shop. My other neighbor’s Audi is in the shop.
Now my wife and I own a Honda and Nissan and those cars are never in the shop.
European cars cost more to maintain than Japanese cars and the empirical evidence and data support my claim.
If you have an average-size dinner table, four feet by six feet, put a dime on the edge of it. Think of the surface of the table as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The dime is larger than the piece of the coastal plain that would have been opened to drilling for oil and natural gas. The House of Representatives voted for drilling, but the Senate voted against access to what Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and presidential aspirant, calls "a few drops of oil." ANWR could produce, for 25 years, at least as much oil as America currently imports from Saudi Arabia.
Six weeks of desultory Senate debate about the energy bill reached an almost comic culmination in... yet another agriculture subsidy. The subsidy is a requirement that will triple the amount of ethanol, which is made from corn, that must be put in gasoline, ostensibly to clean America's air, actually to buy farmers' votes.
Over the last three decades, energy use has risen about 30 percent. But so has population, which means per capita energy use is unchanged. And per capita GDP has risen substantially, so we are using 40 percent less energy per dollar output. Which is one reason there is no energy crisis, at least none as most Americans understand such things--a shortage of, and therefore high prices of, gasoline for cars, heating oil for furnaces and electricity for air conditioners.
In the absence of a crisis to concentrate the attention of the inattentive American majority, an intense faction--full-time environmentalists--goes to work. Spencer Abraham, the secretary of Energy, says "the previous administration... simply drew up a list of fuels it didn't like--nuclear energy, coal, hydropower, and oil--which together account for 73 percent of America's energy supply." Well, there are always windmills.
Sometimes lofty environmentalism is a cover for crude politics. The United States has the world's largest proven reserves of coal. But Mike Oliver, a retired physicist and engineer, and John Hospers, professor emeritus of philosophy at USC, note that in 1996 President Clinton put 68 billion tons of America's cleanest-burning coal, located in Utah, off-limits for mining, ostensibly for environmental reasons. If every existing U.S. electric power plant burned coal, the 68 billion tons could fuel them for 45 years at the current rate of consumption. Now power companies must import clean-burning coal, some from mines owned by Indonesia's Lippo Group, the heavy contributor to Clinton, whose decision about Utah's coal vastly increased the value of Lippo's coal.
The United States has just 2.14 percent of the world's proven reserves of oil, so some people say it is pointless to drill in places like ANWR because "energy independence" is a chimera. Indeed it is. But domestic supplies can provide important insurance against uncertain foreign supplies. And domestic supplies can mean exporting hundreds of billions of dollars less to oil-producing nations, such as Iraq.
Besides, when considering proven reserves, note the adjective. In 1930 the United States had proven reserves of 13 billion barrels. We then fought the Second World War and fueled the most fabulous economic expansion in human history, including the electricity-driven "New Economy." (Manufacturing and running computers consume 15 percent of U.S. electricity. Internet use alone accounts for half of the growth in demand for electricity.) So by 1990 proven reserves were... 17 billion barrels, not counting any in Alaska or Hawaii.
In 1975 proven reserves in the Persian Gulf were 74 billion barrels. In 1993 they were 663 billion, a ninefold increase. At the current rate of consumption, today's proven reserves would last 150 years. New discoveries will be made, some by vastly improved techniques of deep-water drilling. But environmental policies will define opportunities. The government estimates that beneath the U.S. outer continental shelf, which the government owns, there are at least 46 billion barrels of oil. But only 2 percent of the shelf has been leased for energy development.
Opponents of increased energy production usually argue for decreased consumption. But they flinch from conservation measures. A new $1 gasoline tax would dampen demand for gasoline, but it would stimulate demands for the heads of the tax increasers. After all, Americans get irritable when impersonal market forces add 25 cents to the cost of a gallon. Tougher fuel-efficiency requirements for vehicles would save a lot of energy. But who would save the legislators who passed those requirements? Beware the wrath of Americans who like to drive, and autoworkers who like to make, cars that are large, heavy and safer than the gasoline-sippers that environmentalists prefer.
Some environmentalism is a feel-good indulgence for an era of energy abundance, which means an era of avoided choices. Or ignored choices--ignored because if acknowledged, they would not make the choosers feel good. Karl Zinsmeister, editor in chief of The American Enterprise magazine, imagines an oh-so-green environmentalist enjoying the most politically correct product on the planet--Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Made in a factory that depends on electricity-guzzling refrigeration, a gallon of ice cream requires four gallons of milk. While making that much milk, a cow produces eight gallons of manure, and flatulence with another eight gallons of methane, a potent "greenhouse" gas. And the cow consumes lots of water plus three pounds of grain and hay, which is produced with tractor fuel, chemical fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides, and is transported with truck or train fuel:
"So every time he digs into his Cherry Garcia, the conscientious environmentalist should visualize (in addition to world peace) a pile of grain, water, farm chemicals, and energy inputs much bigger than his ice cream bowl on one side of the table, and, on the other side of the table, a mound of manure eight times the size of his bowl, plus a balloon of methane that would barely fit under the dining room table."
Common Errors: Comma Splices and Sentence Fragments
Find the comma splices:
Grading freshmen composition essays makes you lose IQ points. Why? Because there’s only one of you grading over 500 sub-literate essays a semester. You don’t raise them up, by sheer numbers, they pull you down. Try telling this to your Dean and see how sympathetic she is, most likely, she'll say, “We hired you to change the future of America, stop your whining!”
Identify Comma Splices and Fragments in the Following
I’m in a constant struggle to lose weight, I exercise like a fitness demon, that’s not the problem. My problem is that I eat like a crazed survivor of a famine whose every meal must compensate for the deprivation I’ve suffered in some cosmic universe that doesn’t exist. Except in my gluttonous imagination.
I embraced the six meals a day philosophy a long time ago. The premise is that you should eat several small meals, each one no bigger than the palm of your hand. Rather than eat three large meals and thereby overburden your digestive system. The problem is that my six meals aren’t palm sized, they’re more the size of a watermelon and even then I’m still hungry. Now that you mention it, I don’t even eat six meals a day, I eat ten. And not small snacks either. We’re talking substantial heaping cartloads of food.
Did I tell you I can’t stop eating after one plate? I like to take seconds and thirds. Sometimes fourths. And then there’s my daughters’ leftovers, Panini grilled cheese pesto sandwiches, popcorn, tortilla chips, pancakes, waffles, French toast. I snort it all up like an anteater as I clean the kitchen table.
Have we discussed chocolate cake? I need two large slices, about twice a week, to fend off the existential vacuum. I’ll take red velvet in a pinch. Though it doesn’t penetrate my craving sensors as deeply as the chocolate.
My wife is currently baking coffee cinnamon swirl cake, at certain times she likes to bake a dessert like before we watch our favorite show Game of Thrones.
I told her I didn’t want any coffee cake as I’m trying to trim my waistline, but she reminded me that I already ate over half of it. I don’t even remember what I’m eating, I think I’m in trouble.
Grading 800 Total Points (6,000-word total)
Four in-class writing exams: 75 each for 300 point total (450-words per essay; 1,800 words)
Three typed 1,000-word essays: 100 each for 300 point total (3,000 words)
One Final 1,200-word essay 200 point total
Attendance and Class Participation
Deductions of 50 for more than 4 absences or more than 3 tardies; repeated use of smart phone in class or leaving class repeatedly to "take a call."
More than 5 absences or more than 4 tardies is a loss of 100 points. These rules are designed so that we will be complaint with Title 5 Contact Hour Laws prescribed by the State of California.
Based on 800 points, the grades are assigned as follows:
720-800 is an A.
640-719 is a B.
560-639 is a C.
480-559 is a D.
479 and below is an F.
Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2
Essay Three: The Culture Code
Option A
One camp believes Rapaille is a marketing genius who uses invaluable psychological insights to gain codes that unlock the power of consumerism and as a result he is worth his huge asking price as a consultant. However, another camp esteems Rapaille as little more than a fraud who recycles the same archetypal “codes” and stereotypes and as a result he has no “secret sauce” to make him worth all the money he makes. In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate one of the assertions above.
Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Option B
In a 1,000 word essay, compare Clotaire Rapaille's vision of an adolescent America with Joseph Epstein's similar vision in his essay "The Perpetual Adolescent." Be sure to follow comparison essay guidelines for structure and transitions.
Option C
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Study Questions
One. Why is it a mistake to listen to what people say they want in marketing focus groups?
Because people lie or are self-deluded.
Most importantly, though, because people don’t know what they want consciously.
Similar to why people can't be trusted on happiness surveys.
What we want comes from our unconscious.
We can't know our unconscious unless we study the codes.
We have codes in our unconscious and if we cannot articulate or define those codes, we are unable to tell market researchers what we really want.
For example, Jeep represents a horse, the American West, and the open plains.
In Europe, though, Jeep has different connotations. Europeans saw Jeep, as an American vehicle, in WWII. Jeep’s code is Liberator.
In America, the Jeep is Freedom, Adventure, and Wild Spirit.
Apple is a trillion-dollar company because it has become Code for Creative Intellectual Hipster Who Has Advantage Over Non-Apple Users.
Two. What is the American code for toilet paper?
In our unconscious, toilet paper symbolizes freedom from parental scolding, shame, and guilt.
What we want, then, is a sense of freedom, independence, and isolation from the “shamers.” Therefore, we now have oversized bathrooms in opulent homes and hotels.
Three. What is the definition of the Culture Code?
We read on page 5: “The Culture Code is the unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing—a car, a type of food, a relationship, even a country—via the culture in which we are raised.”
We further read that this meaning is imprinted in our childhood.
Four. What is the connection between learning and emotion? See page 6.
We see that intense emotional experiences cause imprinting, permanent or indelible marks on our memory. Imprinting often exists on an unconscious level.
There is a famous movie, Citizen Kane, about imprinting. The protagonist, an orphan, longs for the unconditional love of a mother figure. He connects this love as a child with a toboggan he used to own. On the toboggan is the word “Rosebud.”
We all have a Rosebud. In 1973, as we traveled across Italy before moving to Africa, my parents had a Panasonic RF-1060 radio, which I still see with nostalgia.
Five. How did Rapaille develop a strategy that would allow Nestle to imprint coffee into Japanese culture? See page 9.
Japan had no imprinting with coffee; in fact, there was no coffee sales in Japan in the 1970s, but Rapaille helped Nestle develop noncaffeinated coffee flavored desserts targeting children. As a result, coffee sales in Japan are not .5 billion dollars a year.
Six. On page 11 Rapaille writes, “My primary intent is to liberate those who read this book. There is remarkable freedom gained in understanding why you act the way you do. This freedom will affect every part of your life, from the relationships you have, to your feelings about your possessions . . .” How might his “primary intent” contradict what he does for a living?
Since he’s being paid to be a consultant, to crack the Code for companies, it could be argued that he’s attempting to get inside our brains to better manipulate us and channel our desires to his companies’ products.
It appears he’s serving two masters here, but since he got a book deal, in both cases he is serving the master of commerce.
Seven. What are the five principles of discovering the Culture Code?
Principle 1: You can’t believe what people say.
People tell others what they want based on what their cortex (the part of the brain that reasons) tells them, but we are not driven by our cortex. We are driven by our Inner Reptile. In other words, we emotions drive our shopping tastes, not practical concerns or reason.
On an emotional level, many Americans desired the PT Cruiser because it fulfilled the fantasy of Hollywood movies: a gangster car, the kind Al Capone would have driven.
But in Germany where engineering is paramount, the PT Cruiser is not desired.
Principle 2: Emotion is the energy required to learn anything.
Experiences create imprinting, so that we never forget. Learning is to a large part about not forgetting.
When I was four, I took off my inflatable Popeye ring at the pool, jumped into the water, and sunk to the bottom before a family friend saved my life. I learned that flaying my arms and kicking my feet the way I did was useless and that I needed to learn the correct way to swim before I just jumped into the water without the ability to swim.
When I was eight, I took a deep puff of my mother’s cigarette to show-off in front of my friends. After inhaling, I almost coughed myself to death, as I was desperate for oxygen. The coughing fit was so horrible that I never touched a cigarette again.
When I was twenty-one, a young woman in college shunned me because I didn't know the difference between a phrase and a clause.
Emotion motivated me to learn to swim, to understand the difference between a phrase and a clause, and to NOT smoke.
Principle 3: The structure, not the content, is the message.
We can react similarly to two different stories from two different periods of time if they are structured around the same motif.
Rapaille points to the play Cyrano de Bergerac and the 1987 film Roxanne, which are both about defending honor.
The movie Star Wars, about a boy Luke Skywalker who turns into a Jedi, is similar in structure to the Ritual of San Jacinto in which peyote and a snake bite are part of an Indian boy’s rite of passage: becoming a man.
Principle 4: There is a window in time for imprinting, and the meaning of the imprint varies from one culture to another.
We experience cultural imprints that affect us the most deeply before the age of seven.
In America peanut butter, used to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, is often imprinted into a child’s unconscious to mean mother’s love; however, in France peanut butter is not a staple and is looked upon with contempt: “just another processed food.”
In America alcohol, part of teenage experience, represents rebellion, independence, and drunkenness. It is a rite of passage born of peer pressure to be “an adult.”
In contrast, French parents expose alcohol, such as wine and champagne, to their children who see these drinks as part of normal family life and celebration. A completely different imprint takes place.
Principle 5: To access the meaning of an imprint within a particular culture, you must learn the code for that imprint.
The imprint of cheese has a different code in America than it does in France. In France, cheese is “alive”; it’s stored at room temperature and celebrated without all the processing of American cheese. The American code for cheese is “dead”; we read that “Americans ‘kill’ their cheese through pasteurization” and eat “mummified” cheese. The French value cheese flavor, texture, and overall quality; on the other hand, Americans value safety even if it means stripping their food of taste.
Eight. What are the three types of unconscious?
There is the Freudian, also known as the individual unconscious; the Jungian, also known as the collective unconscious; and another form of limited collective unconsciousness, which is cultural.
Referring to the cultural unconscious, Rapaille writes, “there is an American mind, just as there is a French mind, and English mind, a Kurdish mind, and a Latvian mind. Every culture has its own mind-set, and that mind-set teaches us about who we are in profound ways.” For the rest of the book, Rapaille will show us two dozen important Codes he has discovered in the context of the cultural unconscious.
Nine. In Chapter Two, Rapaille observes that cultures don’t change often, but when they do change, it’s because of a powerful imprinting experience. Can you think of an example?
America has always valued freedom, but the country was so traumatized by 9/11 that many Americans were eager to surrender freedoms to fight “the war on terror.”
Facebook had a powerful imprint on us: We can connect globally with friends more easily than ever, and we can do so instantaneously. This convenience changed not just America but the way the entire world creates and maintains friendships.
We used to be a more fair and just society with empathy and compassion for those who were not as fortunate as ourselves, but images of skinny, beautiful, rich people have inundated us to the point that we suffer from envy and resentment. These emotions encourage competitiveness and an “I’ve got mine, get yours” mentality.
Ten. Where does America lie when it comes to our emotional evolution?
The relative youth of our country makes us the Adolescent and much of our imprinting addresses this adolescent stage.
Rapaille points out that in America part of our adolescence is based on the fact that our freedom resulted without our having had to kill our king in order to be who we are.
Americans rebelled against England and to this day still have that rebellious, that is, adolescent, spirit.
Much of what sells in America and then is peddled throughout the world is rooted in adolescent longings: Coca-Cola, Nike, fast food, blue jeans, violent movies, rock, hip-hop.
Celebrity culture is about the perennial adolescent who stumbles because of his compulsive mistakes (31).
Rapaille cites other adolescent traits unique to America:
Arrogance: We’re know-it-alls
Dramatic mood swings
Constant need for exploration and the need to challenge authority defines us.
We are preoccupied with love, seduction, and carnality.
Americans are preoccupied with the loss of innocence.
Americans are abysmal in matters of love because we long for love from an adolescent sensibility. Love is “an exciting dream that rarely reaches fulfillment” (38).
In contrast, Japan sees love differently than Americans. In Japan “Love is a temporary disease” and therefore no commitments such as marriage can be based on such a fickle disease.
Adolescent hubris or arrogance informs Americans that they can change their essential nature and their bodies. In contrast, the French don’t try to change their bodies. They have a saying, “It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with it” (43).
Americans have an immature, adolescent approach to love, which is based on a predatory angle. As Rapaille writes, the code for American seduction is manipulation. We are a country of deception. It is no wonder our divorce rate is so high.
Brainstorming a Laundry List to Come Up with Essay Thesis Ideas
Does Rapaille have a hidden agenda or does he really want to make us free by showing us how our Codes control our behavior?
Why does America seem like such an insufferable brat under the lens of Rapaille’s analysis?
Do Rapaille’s points speak to my own experiences?
Is my idea of love, as an American, so completely lame that the Japanese call the thing Americans base their marriage on as a temporary form of insanity and a disease?
Is American love based on the kind of cynicism, deception, and manipulation Rapaille describes?
Can companies like Nestle create imprinting and thus manipulate children into being forever hooked on their products or is this book overreaching in its claims?
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Thesis That Refutes Rapaille
While The Culture Code is full of penetrating, truthful insights about human psychology, in its totality the book is an odious fraud. What we have is a Frenchman, an American outsider, who looks condescendingly at Americans by painting them as a most insufferable caricature of the adolescent brat. Secondly, the book’s claim to be designed to free us from our compulsive inclinations by better understanding the Code collapses when we consider that this book was not written for the mass consumer as a sort of public service but for educated elites who, sharing Rapaille’s loathing of American culture, read The Culture Code as a way of reaffirming their pre-existing contempt for Americans, which turns out to be an act of self-congratulations. Finally, the book fails because so many of its “codes” are little more than stereotypes and over-generalities that dissolve in the face of complex reality.
Thesis That Defends Rapaille
While I concede that Rapaille at times resorts to cultural stereotypes, the book fulfills its claim to help free us from our unconscious desires by Rapaille’s insightful analysis, which is supported with empirical evidence, sound anthropological method, and compelling illustrations.
Between you and (I, me), the fat cats have all the cheese while the rest of us fight for the crumbs.
Subject-pronoun agreement
A person who doesn't plan ahead finds they cannot go to the big party.
Consistent point of view
When one ponders the state of education, we can't help wonder why you are lagging in critical thinking skills and one has to ask if there need to be improvements in this regard. Therefore, a person taking a critical thinking class should be prepared when they are asked to identify logical fallacies and other elements of critical thinking.
Rewrite each sentence below so that you’ve corrected the pronoun errors.
One. Between you and I, there are too many all-you-can-eat buffets mushrooming over southern California because a person thinks they’re getting a good deal when we can eat endless plates of food for a mere ten dollars.
Two. When children grow up eating at buffets, they expand their bellies and sometimes you find you cannot get “full” no matter how much we eat.
Three. As thousands of children gorged on pastrami at HomeTown Buffet, you could tell we would have to address the needs of a lot of sick children.
Four. Although I like the idea of eating all I want, you can sense that there is danger in this unlimited eating mentality that can escort us down the path of gluttony and predispose you to diabetes.
Five. When a customer feels he’s getting all the food they want, you know we can increase your business.
Six. If a student studies the correct MLA format, you can expect academic success.
Seven. It’s not easy for instructors to keep their students’ attention for a three-hour lecture. He or she must mix up the class-time with lecture, discussion, and in-class exercises.
Eight. It is good for a student to read the assigned text at least three times. When they do, they develop better reading comprehension.
Nine. The instructor gave the essays back to Bob and I.
Ten. We must find meaning to overcome the existential vacuum. Otherwise, you will descend into a rabbit hole of despair and they will find themselves behaving in all manners of self-destruction.
An essay with a clear thesis and organization has a stronger probability of succeeding.
Fragment
An education system based on standardized tests with no flexible interpretation of those tests
Corrected
An education system based on standardized tests with no flexible interpretation of those tests will inevitably discriminate against non-native speakers.
No main subject
Fragment
With too much emphasis on standardized tests targeting upper class Anglo students
Corrected
With too much emphasis on standardized tests targeting upper class Anglo students, No Child Left Behind remains a form of discrimination.
Fragment
With my fish tacos overloaded with mango salsa and Manchego cheese
Correct
With my fish tacos overloaded with mango salsa and Manchego cheese, they fell apart upon the first bite.
Fragment
Until you learn to not overload your fish tacos
Correct
Until you learn to not overload your fish tacos, your tacos will fall apart.
Sentence Fragment Exercises
After each sentence, write C for complete or F for fragment sentence. If the sentence is a fragment, correct it so that it is a complete sentence.
One. While hovering over the complexity of a formidable math problem and wondering if he had time to solve the problem before his girlfriend called him to complain about the horrible birthday present he bought her.
Two. In spite of the boyfriend’s growing discontent for his girlfriend, a churlish woman prone to tantrums and grand bouts of petulance.
Three. My BMW 5 series, a serious entry into the luxury car market.
Four. Overcome with nausea from eating ten bowls of angel hair pasta slathered in pine nut garlic pesto.
Five. Winding quickly but safely up the treacherous Palos Verdes hills in the shrouded mist of a lazy June morning, I realized that my BMW gave me feelings of completeness and fulfillment.
Six. To attempt to grasp the profound ignorance of those who deny the compelling truths of science in favor of their pseudo-intellectual ideas about “dangerous” vaccines and the “myths” of global warming.
Seven. The girlfriend whom I lavished with exotic gifts from afar.
Eight. When my cravings for pesto pizza, babaganoush, and triple chocolate cake overcome me during my bouts of acute anxiety.
Nine. Inclined to stop watching sports in the face of my girlfriend’s insistence that I pay more attention to her, I am throwing away my TV.
Ten. At the dance club where I espy my girlfriend flirting with a stranger by the soda machine festooned with party balloons and tinsel.
Eleven. The BMW speeding ahead of me and winding into the misty hills.
Twelve. Before you convert to the religion of veganism in order to impress your vegan girlfriend.
Thirteen. Summoning all my strength to resist the giant chocolate fudge cake sweating on the plate before me.
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Identifying Phrases, Independent Clauses, and Dependent Clauses
An independent clause has a subject, a verb, and is a complete thought:
My elastic waistband makes me feel older than I am.
My encounter with the great white shark compelled me to quit surfing.
Larding my pizza with hundreds of toppings makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth.
A dependent clause has a subject, a verb, and is an imcomplete thought because it has what is called a subordinate conjunction or connecting word.
Because my elastic waistband makes me feel old
Although my elastic waistband makes feel old
Whenever I eat triple-sausage pesto pizza
Although I have a fondness for deep purple
A phrase, like a dependent clause, is an incomplete sentence, but a phrase has neither a subject or a verb.
In front of the restaurant plaza by the Italian fountains
In order to understand Viktor Frankl's principle of meaning as the antidote to the existential vacuum
In spite of my fondness for deep purple
Identify the group of words in bold type as phrase, independent clause, or dependent clause.
One. Toward the monster’s palace, we see a white marble fountain jettisoning chocolate fudge all over the other giants.
Two. Before going to school, Gerard likes to make sure he’s packed his chocolate chip cookies and bagels.
Three. Because Jack’s love of eating pizza every night cannot be stopped, he finds his cardio workouts to be rather worthless.
Four. Maria finds the Lexus preferable to the BMW because of the Lexus’ lower repair costs.
Five. Greg does not drive at night because he suffers from poor nocturnal eyesight.
Six. Whenever Greg drives past HomeTown Buffet, he is overcome with depression and nausea.
Seven. People who eat at Cinnabon, according to Louis C.K., always look miserable over their poor life decisions.
Eight. After eating at Cinnabon and HomeTown Buffet, Gary has to eat a bottle of antacids.
Nine. Towards the end of the date, Gary decided to ask Maria if she’d care for another visit to HomeTown Buffet.
Ten. Whenever Maria is in the presence of a gluttonous gentleman, she withdraws into her shell.
Eleven. Greg watched Maria recoil into her shell while biting her nails.
Twelve. Greg watched Maria recoil into her private universe while she bit her nails.
Thirteen. Eating at all-you-can-eat buffets will expand the circumference of your waistline.
Fourteen. Larding your essay with grammatical errors will result in a low grade.
Fifteen. My favorite pastime is larding my essay with grammatical errors.
Sixteen. Larding my body with chocolate chunk peanut butter cookies followed by several gallons of milk, I wondered if I should skip dinner that evening.
Seventeen. After contemplating the benefits of going on a variation of the Paleo diet, I decided I was at peace being a fat man with a strong resemblance to the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
Eighteen. In the 1970s few people would consider eating bugs as their main source of protein although today world-wide food shortages have compelled a far greater percentage of the human race to entertain this unpleasant possibility.
Nineteen. Because of increased shortages in worldwide animal protein, more and more people are looking to crickets, grasshoppers, and grubs as possible complete protein amino acid alternatives.
Twenty. The percentage of people getting married in recent years has significantly declined as an economic malaise has deflated confidence in the viability of sustaining a long-term marriage.
Twenty-one. Before you decide to marry someone, consider two things: your temperament and your economic prospects.
Twenty-two. To understand the pitfalls of getting married prematurely is to embark on the road to greater wisdom.
Twenty-three. To know me is to love me.
Twenty-four. To languish in the malignant juices of self-pity after breaking up with your girlfriend is to fall down the rabbit hole of moral dissolution and narcissism.
Twenty-five. Having considered the inevitable disappointment of being rich, I decided not to rob a bank.
Twenty-six. Watching TV on a sticky vinyl sofa all day, I noticed I was developing bedsores.
Twenty-seven. While I watched TV for twenty consecutive hours, I began to wonder if life was passing me by.
Twenty-eight. Under the bridge where a swarm of mosquitos gathered, the giant belched.
Example of an Essay That Never Uses First, Second, Third, Fourth, Etc., for Transitions But Relies on "Paragraph Links"
Stupid Reasons for Getting Married
People should get married because they are ready to do so, meaning they're mature and truly love one another, and most importantly are prepared to make the compromises and sacrifices a healthy marriage entails. However, most people get married for the wrong reasons, that is, for stupid, lame, and asinine reasons.
Alas, needy narcissists, hardly candidates for successful marriage, glom on to the most disastrous reasons for getting married and those reasons make it certain that their marriage will quickly terminate or waddle precariously along in an interminable domestic hell.
A common and compelling reason that fuels the needy into a misguided marriage is when these fragmented souls see that everyone their age has already married—their friends, brothers, sisters, and, yes, even their enemies. Overcome by what is known today as "FOMO," they feel compelled to “get with the program" so that they may not miss out on the lavish gifts bestowed upon bride and groom. Thus, the needy are rankled by envy and greed and allow their base impulses to be the driving motivation behind their marriage.
When greed is not impelling them to tie the knot, they are also chafed by a sense of being short-changed when they see their recently-married dunce of a co-worker promoted above them for presumably the added credibility that marriage afforded them. As singles, they know they will never be taken seriously at work.
If it's not a lame stab at credibility that's motivating them to get married, it's the fear that they as the years tick by they are becoming less and less attractive and their looks will no longer obscure their woeful character deficiencies as age scrunches them up into little pinch-faced, leathery imps.
A more egregious reason for marrying is to end the tormented, off-on again-off-on again relationship, which needs the official imprimatur of marriage, followed by divorce, to officially terminate the relationship. I spoke to a marriage counselor once who told me that some couples were so desperate to break-up for good that they actually got married, then divorced, for this purpose.
Other pathological reasons to marry are to find a loathsome spouse in order to spite one’s parents or to set a wedding date in order to hire a personal trainer and finally lose those thirty pounds one has been carrying for too long.
Envy, avarice, spite, and vanity fuel both needy men and woman alike. However, there is a certain type of needy man, whom we'll call the Man-Child, who finds that it is easier to marry his girlfriend than it is to have to listen to her constant nagging about their need to get married. His girlfriend’s constant harping about the fact their relationship hasn’t taken the “next logical step” presents a burden so great that marriage in comparison seems benign. Even if the Man-Child has not developed the maturity to marry, even if he isn’t sure if he’s truly in love, even if he is still inextricably linked to some former girlfriend that his current girlfriend does not know about, even if he knows in his heart of hearts that he is not hard-wired for marriage, even if he harbors a secret defect that renders him a liability to any woman, he will dismiss all of these factors and rush into a marriage in order to alleviate his current source of anxiety and suffering, which is the incessant barrage of his girlfriend’s grievances about them not being married.
Indeed, some of needy man’s worst decisions have been made in order to quell a discontented woman. The Man-Child's eagerness to quiet a woman’s discontent points to a larger defect, namely, his spinelessness, which, if left unchecked, turns him into the Go-With-the-Flow-Guy. As the name suggests, this type of man offers no resistance, even in large-scale decisions that affect his destiny. Put this man in a situation where his girlfriend, his friends, and his family are all telling him that “it’s time to get married,” and he will, as his name suggests, simply “go with the flow.” He will allow everyone else to make the wedding plans, he’ll let someone fit him for a wedding suit, he’ll allow his mother to pick out the ring, he’ll allow his fiancé to pick out the look and flavor of the wedding cake and then on the day of the wedding, he simply “shows up” with all the passion of a turnip.
The Man-Child's passivity and his aversion to argument insure marital longevity. However, there are drawbacks. Most notably, he will over time become so silent that his wife won’t even be able to get a word out of him. Over the course of their fifty-year marriage he’ll go with her to restaurants with a newspaper and read it, ignoring her. His impassivity is so great that she could tell him about the “other man” she is seeing and he wouldn’t blink an eye. At home he is equally reticent, watching TV or reading with an inexpressive, dull-eyed demeanor suggestive of a half dead lizard.
Whatever this reptilian man lacks as a social animal is made up by the fact that he is docile and is therefore non-threatening, a condition that everyone, including his wife, prefers to the passionate male beast whose strong, irreverent opinions will invariably rock the boat and deem that individual a trouble maker. The Go-With-the-Flow-Guy, on the other hand, is reliably safe and as such makes for controlling women a very good catch in spite of his tendency to be as charismatic and flavorful as a cardboard wafer.
A desperate marriage motivation exclusively owned by needy, immature men is the belief that since they have pissed off just about every other woman on the planet, they need to find refuge by marrying the only woman whom they haven’t yet thoroughly alienated—their current girlfriend. According to sports writer Rick Reilly, baseball slugger Barry Bonds’ short-lived reality show was a disgrace in part because for Reilly the reality show is “the last bastion of the scoundrel.” Likewise, for many men who have offended over 99% of the female race with their pestilent existence, marriage is the last sanctuary for the despised male who has stepped on so many women’s toes that he is, understandably, a marked man.
Therefore, these men aren’t so much getting married as much as they are enlisting in a “witness protection program.” They are after all despised and targeted by their past female enemies for all their lies and betrayals and running out of allies they see that marriage makes a good cover as they try to blend in with mainstream society and take on a role that is antithetical to their single days as lying, predatory scoundrels.
The analogy between marriage and a witness protection program is further developed when we see that for many men marriage is their final stab at earning public respectability because they are, as married men, proclaiming to the world that they have voluntarily shackled themselves with the chains of domesticity in order that they may be spared greater punishments, the bulk of which will be exacted upon by the women whom they used and manipulated for so many years.
Because it is assumed that their wives will keep them in check, their wives become, in a way, equivalent to the ankle bracelet transmitters worn by parolees who are only allowed to travel within certain parameters. Marriage anchors man close to the home and, combined with the wife’s reliable issuing of house chores and other domestic duties, the shackled man is rendered safely tethered to his “home base” where his wife can observe him sharply to make sure he doesn’t backslide into the abhorrent behavior of his past single life.
Many men will see the above analysis of marriage as proof that their fear of marriage as a prison was right all along, but what they should learn from the analogy between marriage and prison is that they are more productive, more socialized, more softened around his hard edges, and more protected, both from the outside world and from themselves by being shackled to their domestic duties. With these improvements in their lives, they have actually, within limits, attained a freedom they could never find in single life.
Critical Thinking Is Taking Opinions and Turning Them into Arguments
Why Argumentation Is Relevant
You make arguments for daily life problems all the time:
Should I go on Diet X or is this diet just another futile fad like all the other diets I’ve gone on?
Should I buy a new car or is my old car fine but I’m looking for attention and a way to alleviate my boredom, so I’m looking for the drama of a colossal purchase, which will be the source of conversations with others? In other words, am I looking for false connection through my rampant consumerism?
Should I break up with my girlfriend to give me more time to study and give me the “alone time” I need, or continue navigating that precarious balance between the demands of my job, my academic load, and my capricious, rapacious, overbearing, manipulative, emotionally needy girlfriend? (here the answer is embedded in the question)
Should I upgrade my phone to the latest generation to get all the new apps or am I just jealous that all my friends are upgrading and I fear they’ll leave me out of their social circle if I’m languishing with an outdated smartphone?
Should I go to Cal State and graduate with 20K debt or go to that prestigious private college that gives my résumé more punch on one hand but leaves me with over 100K in debt on the other?
Do I really want to get married under the age of thirty or am I just jealous of all the expensive presents my brother got after he got married?
Whether you are defining an argument for your personal life or for an academic paper, you are using the same skills: critical analysis, defining the problem, weighing different types of evidence against each other; learning to respond to a problem intellectually rather than emotionally; learning to identify possible fallacies and biases in your thinking that might lead you down the wrong path, etc.
We live in a win-lose culture that emphasizes the glory of winning and the shame of defeat. In politics, we speak of winning or losing behind our political leaders and their political agendas. But this position is doltish, barbaric, and often self-destructive.
Many times, we argue or I should say we should argue because we want to reach a common understanding. “Sometimes the goal of an argument is to identify a problem and suggest solutions that could satisfy those who hold a number of different positions on an issue” (8) Sometimes the solution for a problem is to make a compromise. For example, let's say students want more organic food in the college cafeteria but the price is triple for these organic foods and only one percent of the student body can afford these organic foods. Perhaps a compromise is to provide less processed, sugar-laden foods with fresh fruits and vegetables, which are not organic but at least provide more healthy choices.
Your aim is not to win or lose in your argument but be effective in your ability to persuade. Persuasion refers to how a speaker or writer influences an audience to adopt a belief or to follow a course of action.
Three Means of Persuasion
According to Aristotle, there are three means of persuasion that a speaker or writer can use to persuade his audience:
The appeal of reason and logic: logos
The appeal of emotions: pathos
The appeal of authority: ethos
Smoking will compromise your immune system and make you more at risk for cancer; therefore, logic, or logos, dictates that you should quit smoking.
If you die of cancer, you will be abandoning your family when they need you most; therefore an emotional appeal, or pathos, dictates that you quit smoking.
The surgeon general has warned you of the hazards of smoking; therefore the credibility of an authority or expert dictates that you quit smoking. If the writer lacks authority or credibility, he is often well served to draw upon the authority of someone else to support his argument.
The Rhetorical Triangle Connects All the Persuasive Methods
Logos, reason and logic, focuses on the text or the substance of the argument.
Ethos, the credibility or expertise from the writer, focuses on the writer.
Pathos, the emotional appeal, focuses on the emotional reaction of the audience.
Thesis
Thesis is one sentence that states your position about an issue.
Thesis example: Increasing the minimum wage to eighteen dollars an hour, contrary to “expert” economists, will boost the economy.
The above assertion is an effective thesis because it is debatable; it has at least two sides.
Thesis: We should increase the minimum wage to boost the economy.
Antithesis: Increasing the minimum wage will slow down the economy.
Evidence
Evidence is the material you use to make your thesis persuasive: facts, observations, expert opinion, examples, statistics, reasons, logic, and refutation.
Refutation
Your argument is only as strong as your understanding of your opponents and your ability to refute your opponents’ objections.
If while examining your opponents’ objections, you find their side is more compelling, you have to CHANGE YOUR SIDE AND YOUR THESIS because you must have integrity when you write. There is no shame in this. Changing your position through research and studying both sides is natural.
Conclusion
Your concluding statement reinforces your thesis and emphasizes the emotional appeal of your argument.
Eight. Do you recognize any bias in the essay that diminishes the author's argument?
Nine. Do we bring any prejudice that may compromise our ability to evaluate the argument fairly?
Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2
Essay Three: The Culture Code
Option A
One camp believes Rapaille is a marketing genius who uses invaluable psychological insights to gain codes that unlock the power of consumerism and as a result he is worth is huge asking price as a consultant. However, another camp esteems Rapaille as little more than a fraud who recycles the same archetypal “codes” and stereotypes and as a result he has no “secret sauce” to make him worth all the money he makes. In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate one of the assertions above.
Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Option B
In a 1,000 word essay, compare Clotaire Rapaille's vision of an adolescent America with Joseph Epstein's similar vision in his essay "The Perpetual Adolescent." Be sure to follow comparison essay guidelines for structure and transitions.
Study Questions
One. Why is it a mistake to listen to what people say they want in marketing focus groups?
Because people lie or are self-deluded.
Most importantly, though, because people don’t know what they want consciously.
Similar to why people can't be trusted on happiness surveys.
What we want comes from our unconscious.
We can't know our unconscious unless we study the codes.
We have codes in our unconscious and if we cannot articulate or define those codes, we are unable to tell market researchers what we really want.
For example, Jeep represents a horse, the American West, and the open plains.
In Europe, though, Jeep has different connotations. Europeans saw Jeep, as an American vehicle, in WWII. Jeep’s code is Liberator.
In America, the Jeep is Freedom, Adventure, and Wild Spirit.
Apple is a trillion-dollar company because it has become Code for Creative Intellectual Hipster Who Has Advantage Over Non-Apple Users.
Two. What is the American code for toilet paper?
In our unconscious, toilet paper symbolizes freedom from parental scolding, shame, and guilt.
What we want, then, is a sense of freedom, independence, and isolation from the “shamers.” Therefore, we now have oversized bathrooms in opulent homes and hotels.
Three. What is the definition of the Culture Code?
We read on page 5: “The Culture Code is the unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing—a car, a type of food, a relationship, even a country—via the culture in which we are raised.”
We further read that this meaning is imprinted in our childhood.
Four. What is the connection between learning and emotion? See page 6.
We see that intense emotional experiences cause imprinting, permanent or indelible marks on our memory. Imprinting often exists on an unconscious level.
There is a famous movie, Citizen Kane, about imprinting. The protagonist, an orphan, longs for the unconditional love of a mother figure. He connects this love as a child with a toboggan he used to own. On the toboggan is the word “Rosebud.”
We all have a Rosebud. In 1973, as we traveled across Italy before moving to Africa, my parents had a Panasonic RF-1060 radio, which I still see with nostalgia.
Five. How did Rapaille develop a strategy that would allow Nestle to imprint coffee into Japanese culture? See page 9.
Japan had no imprinting with coffee; in fact, there was no coffee sales in Japan in the 1970s, but Rapaille helped Nestle develop noncaffeinated coffee flavored desserts targeting children. As a result, coffee sales in Japan are not .5 billion dollars a year.
Six. On page 11 Rapaille writes, “My primary intent is to liberate those who read this book. There is remarkable freedom gained in understanding why you act the way you do. This freedom will affect every part of your life, from the relationships you have, to your feelings about your possessions . . .” How might his “primary intent” contradict what he does for a living?
Since he’s being paid to be a consultant, to crack the Code for companies, it could be argued that he’s attempting to get inside our brains to better manipulate us and channel our desires to his companies’ products.
It appears he’s serving two masters here, but since he got a book deal, in both cases he is serving the master of commerce.
Seven. What are the five principles of discovering the Culture Code?
Principle 1: You can’t believe what people say.
People tell others what they want based on what their cortex (the part of the brain that reasons) tells them, but we are not driven by our cortex. We are driven by our Inner Reptile. In other words, we emotions drive our shopping tastes, not practical concerns or reason.
On an emotional level, many Americans desired the PT Cruiser because it fulfilled the fantasy of Hollywood movies: a gangster car, the kind Al Capone would have driven.
But in Germany where engineering is paramount, the PT Cruiser is not desired.
Principle 2: Emotion is the energy required to learn anything.
Experiences create imprinting, so that we never forget. Learning is to a large part about not forgetting.
When I was four, I took off my inflatable Popeye ring at the pool, jumped into the water, and sunk to the bottom before a family friend saved my life. I learned that flaying my arms and kicking my feet the way I did was useless and that I needed to learn the correct way to swim before I just jumped into the water without the ability to swim.
When I was eight, I took a deep puff of my mother’s cigarette to show-off in front of my friends. After inhaling, I almost coughed myself to death, as I was desperate for oxygen. The coughing fit was so horrible that I never touched a cigarette again.
When I was twenty-one, a young woman in college shunned me because I didn't know the difference between a phrase and a clause.
Emotion motivated me to learn to swim, to understand the difference between a phrase and a clause, and to NOT smoke.
Principle 3: The structure, not the content, is the message.
We can react similarly to two different stories from two different periods of time if they are structured around the same motif.
Rapaille points to the play Cyrano de Bergerac and the 1987 film Roxanne, which are both about defending honor.
The movie Star Wars, about a boy Luke Skywalker who turns into a Jedi, is similar in structure to the Ritual of San Jacinto in which peyote and a snake bite are part of an Indian boy’s rite of passage: becoming a man.
Principle 4: There is a window in time for imprinting, and the meaning of the imprint varies from one culture to another.
We experience cultural imprints that affect us the most deeply before the age of seven.
In America peanut butter, used to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, is often imprinted into a child’s unconscious to mean mother’s love; however, in France peanut butter is not a staple and is looked upon with contempt: “just another processed food.”
In America alcohol, part of teenage experience, represents rebellion, independence, and drunkenness. It is a rite of passage born of peer pressure to be “an adult.”
In contrast, French parents expose alcohol, such as wine and champagne, to their children who see these drinks as part of normal family life and celebration. A completely different imprint takes place.
Principle 5: To access the meaning of an imprint within a particular culture, you must learn the code for that imprint.
The imprint of cheese has a different code in America than it does in France. In France, cheese is “alive”; it’s stored at room temperature and celebrated without all the processing of American cheese. The American code for cheese is “dead”; we read that “Americans ‘kill’ their cheese through pasteurization” and eat “mummified” cheese. The French value cheese flavor, texture, and overall quality; on the other hand, Americans value safety even if it means stripping their food of taste.
Eight. What are the three types of unconscious?
There is the Freudian, also known as the individual unconscious; the Jungian, also known as the collective unconscious; and another form of limited collective unconsciousness, which is cultural.
Referring to the cultural unconscious, Rapaille writes, “there is an American mind, just as there is a French mind, and English mind, a Kurdish mind, and a Latvian mind. Every culture has its own mind-set, and that mind-set teaches us about who we are in profound ways.” For the rest of the book, Rapaille will show us two dozen important Codes he has discovered in the context of the cultural unconscious.
Nine. In Chapter Two, Rapaille observes that cultures don’t change often, but when they do change, it’s because of a powerful imprinting experience. Can you think of an example?
America has always valued freedom, but the country was so traumatized by 9/11 that many Americans were eager to surrender freedoms to fight “the war on terror.”
Facebook had a powerful imprint on us: We can connect globally with friends more easily than ever, and we can do so instantaneously. This convenience changed not just America but the way the entire world creates and maintains friendships.
We used to be a more fair and just society with empathy and compassion for those who were not as fortunate as ourselves, but images of skinny, beautiful, rich people have inundated us to the point that we suffer from envy and resentment. These emotions encourage competitiveness and an “I’ve got mine, get yours” mentality.
Ten. Where does America lie when it comes to our emotional evolution?
The relative youth of our country makes us the Adolescent and much of our imprinting addresses this adolescent stage.
Rapaille points out that in America part of our adolescence is based on the fact that our freedom resulted without our having had to kill our king in order to be who we are.
Americans rebelled against England and to this day still have that rebellious, that is, adolescent, spirit.
Much of what sells in America and then is peddled throughout the world is rooted in adolescent longings: Coca-Cola, Nike, fast food, blue jeans, violent movies, rock, hip-hop.
Celebrity culture is about the perennial adolescent who stumbles because of his compulsive mistakes (31).
Rapaille cites other adolescent traits unique to America:
Arrogance: We’re know-it-alls
Dramatic mood swings
Constant need for exploration and the need to challenge authority defines us.
We are preoccupied with love, seduction, and carnality.
Americans are preoccupied with the loss of innocence.
Americans are abysmal in matters of love because we long for love from an adolescent sensibility. Love is “an exciting dream that rarely reaches fulfillment” (38).
In contrast, Japan sees love differently than Americans. In Japan “Love is a temporary disease” and therefore no commitments such as marriage can be based on such a fickle disease.
Adolescent hubris or arrogance informs Americans that they can change their essential nature and their bodies. In contrast, the French don’t try to change their bodies. They have a saying, “It’s not what you have; it’s what you do with it” (43).
Americans have an immature, adolescent approach to love, which is based on a predatory angle. As Rapaille writes, the code for American seduction is manipulation. We are a country of deception. It is no wonder our divorce rate is so high.
Brainstorming a Laundry List to Come Up with Essay Thesis Ideas
Does Rapaille have a hidden agenda or does he really want to make us free by showing us how our Codes control our behavior?
Why does America seem like such an insufferable brat under the lens of Rapaille’s analysis?
Do Rapaille’s points speak to my own experiences?
Is my idea of love, as an American, so completely lame that the Japanese call the thing Americans base their marriage on as a temporary form of insanity and a disease?
Is American love based on the kind of cynicism, deception, and manipulation Rapaille describes?
Can companies like Nestle create imprinting and thus manipulate children into being forever hooked on their products or is this book overreaching in its claims?
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Thesis That Refutes Rapaille
While The Culture Code is full of penetrating, truthful insights about human psychology, in its totality the book is an odious fraud. What we have is a Frenchman, an American outsider, who looks condescendingly at Americans by painting them as a most insufferable caricature of the adolescent brat. Secondly, the book’s claim to be designed to free us from our compulsive inclinations by better understanding the Code collapses when we consider that this book was not written for the mass consumer as a sort of public service but for educated elites who, sharing Rapaille’s loathing of American culture, read The Culture Code as a way of reaffirming their pre-existing contempt for Americans, which turns out to be an act of self-congratulations. Finally, the book fails because so many of its “codes” are little more than stereotypes and over-generalities that dissolve in the face of complex reality.
Thesis That Defends Rapaille
While I concede that Rapaille at times resorts to cultural stereotypes, the book fulfills its claim to help free us from our unconscious desires by Rapaille’s insightful analysis, which is supported with empirical evidence, sound anthropological method, and compelling illustrations.
"Why Do We Read and Write Essays? They're Just Someone's Opinions. Aren't All Opinions Alike? "
Some people say after reading an essay, “Well, it’s just an opinion.” But are all opinions alike?
Robert Atwan in his American Now textbook writes six major types of opinions.
As you will see, some are more appropriate for the kind of critical thinking an essay deserves than others.
One. Inherited opinions: These are opinions that are imprinted on us during our childhood. They come from “family, culture, traditions, customs, regions, social institutions, or religion.”
People’s views on religion, race, education, and humanity come from their family.
Inherited opinions come from cultural and social norms.
In some cultures, it's okay to tell others your income. It's a taboo in America.
We are averse to eating dogs in America because eating dogs is contrary to America’s cultural and social norms. However, other countries eat dogs without any stigma.
We are also averse to eating insects in America when in some countries grubs are a delicacy.
We think it's normal to slaughter trees every year as part of our celebration of Christmas.
We eat until we're so stuffed we cannot walk in America; in contrast, in Japan they follow the rule of hara hachi bu, which means they stop at 80% fullness.
Peanut butter in America represents Mom's Love; in France and Brazil, however, peanut butter is trash and an insult to place in front of someone.
In America, we put dry cereal into a bowl and then pour milk over it. That is not practiced in a lot of other countries.
In America when a woman says yes to a man's date proposal, the man, Louis C.K. tells us, will shake his fist like a tennis champion and scream, "Yeah!" We admire this behavior because we grow up seeing it.
We soak up these types of opinions through a sort of osmosis and a lot of these beliefs are unconscious.
Two. Involuntary opinions: These are the opinions that result from direct indoctrination and inculcation (learning through repetition). If we grow up in a family that teaches us that eating pork is evil, then we won’t eat at other people’s homes that serve that porcine dish.
Or we may, as a result if our religious training, abjure rated R movies.
Or we may have strong feelings, one way or another, regarding gay marriage based on the doctrines we’ve learned over time.
We may have strong feelings about immigration policy based on what we learn from our family, friends, and institutions.
We may have strong feelings about the police and the prison system based on what we learn from family, friends, and institutions.
Three. Adaptive opinions: We adapt opinions to help us conform to groups we wish to belong to. We are often so eager to belong to this or that group that we sacrifice our critical thinking skills and engage in Groupthink to please the majority.
A student from China back in the 1940s or 1950s was raised in the country. He went to a city school and the richest boy made a sculpture of a butterfly. Everyone loved the butterfly but my student. He explained that a butterfly had 4 wings, not 2. He was sent to the "dunce corner" for the whole day.
He should have kept his mouth shut or pretended that butterflies have 2 wings. That's an example of Groupthink.
Atwan writes that “Adaptive opinions are often weakly held and readily changed . . . But over time they can become habitual and turn into convictions.”
For example, it’s easy for one to be against guns in Santa Monica. However, those views might be less “adaptive” in rural parts of Kentucky or Tennessee.
It's easy to be a vegan in Southern California, but you'll have more challenges being a vegan in certain parts of Texas, Kansas, and the Carolinas where barbecue is king.
Four. Concealed opinions. Sometimes we have strong opinions that are contrary to the group we belong to so we keep our mouths shut to avoid persecution. You might not want to proclaim your atheism, for example, if you were attending a Christian college.
Five. Linked opinions. Atwan writes, “Unlike adaptive opinions, which are usually stimulated by convenience and an incentive to conform, these are opinions we derived from an enthusiastic and dedicated affiliation with certain groups, institutions, or parties.”
For example, the modern “Tea Party” people or self-proclaimed Patriots embrace a series of linked opinions: Obama is not American. Obama is a socialist. Obama is helping terrorists get across the boarder. Terrorists helped elect Obama. Obama wants to strip Americans of their right to own guns so that the government and/or terrorists can move in and take Americans’ freedoms.
As you can see, all these opinions are linked to each other. Believing in one of the above opinions encourages belief in the other.
Six. Considered opinions. Atwan writes, “These are opinions we have formed as a result of firsthand experience, reading, discussion and debate, or independent thinking and reasoning. These opinions are formed from direct knowledge and often from exposure and considering other opinions.”
Often considered opinions result in examining mythologies or fake narratives that are drilled down our throats and we deconstruct these false narratives so that we can see the truth behind them.
There are many fake narratives:
Columbus “discovering” America.
The European pilgrims “sharing” with the American Indians.
White slave owners “blessing” Africans with Christianity.
The pharmaceutical industry making our health job one.
Mexican workers in America "stealing" jobs from Americans.
Poor people "choose" to be poor.
Poor people deserve to be poor because they're bad, morally flawed human beings.
Obese people got fat from being morally flawed such as being selfish and gluttonous.
One. What imprint was left on American culture by having our leader called “Mr. President” as opposed to King?
We didn’t want to replace the old King with a new one. We wanted a “rebel-in-chief.”
The rebel played well with a newborn country and continues to play well in a country that remains at its core adolescent.
Youth and health mean movement. We are a culture that is constantly moving, constantly on the go.
We don’t take vacations. We work long hours. We tinker with new ways to achieve things.
We are inventors.
Like the teenager, we are know-it-alls, arrogant, snotty adolescents who think the world is ours. We've got it all figured out. No one tells us what to do. "We're Americans, dammit!"
Two. From a reptilian point of view, what kind of Presidents do Americans want?
Americans want a President “who doesn’t think too much but acts from the gut.”
He has to be like an action hero or a cowboy with a warm heart, but he's willing to take on the town bully.
George W. Bush was more reptilian than “the very cortex” Al Gore in 2000 so Bush won.
The American President has to be a symbol of courage, power, and assurance, even if these things are not true.
We want our President to be a meat-eating cowboy, not a peace-loving vegetarian Star Wars Ewok because the latter is too passive to be on code.
Or in the words of Rapaille, “The Culture Code for the American presidency is Moses.”
March us toward the Land of Milk and Honey and keep interest rates down.
In contrast, the Culture Code for the Canadian presidency is to keep culture, or TOO KEEP. Long winters have compelled Canadians to value conservation of energy.
Three. How do Americans see America?
We see ourselves as new. To stay new and young and fresh, we have this almost demonic compulsion to always be building and renewing.
But what about our infrastructure? Our infrastructure is in a state of dilapidation. What about our attitudes towards race, especially in the realm of law enforcement?
Perhaps our perception of our newness is not based on reality.
Perhaps Rapaille doesn’t know America as much as he says he does.
Rapaille says, accurately, that we see ourselves as needing lots of space and abundance. We like everything big.
We are the creators of “Supersized” snacks and “big and tall” clothing stores.
We are enthusiastic and optimistic.
“The American Culture Code for America is DREAM.”
Pessimism and self-loathing are off code in America. As an aside, my favorite people are comedians and they tend to be pessimistic and self-loathing such as Louis C.K., Richard Lewis, and Larry David.
Louis C.K. is a hugely popular comedian, so while he may be "off code," according to Rapaille, he resonates with millions of Americans. Perhaps Louis C.K. knows more about the American code than does Rapaille.
Sample Thesis Statements Both For and Against Rapaille
Rapaille is a seductive writer whose keen psychological insights draw us into the world of codes. However, his eagerness to share these codes with us does not compensate for his main agenda, to manipulate us through our unconscious desires, flimsy cultural stereotypes, oversimplifications, and a thinly veiled contempt for American culture.
Rapaille’s popularity among the advertising elite is comical, the way he plays like the Pied Piper and manipulates Fortune 500 executives to drink the Rapaille Kool-Aid, which consists of _________________, ________________, _______________, and _______________________.
While I concede that Rapaille's motives are tinged with self-interest and that he is prone to philosophical excesses that can be annoying and unfairly anti-American, his book is chock-full of helpful insights about human psychology that gain me a keener understanding of ______________, ______________, _______________, and _________________.
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.
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.
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 are Brand codes and their connection or disconnection with the consumer’s unconscious codes?
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.
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 been 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 ___________________.
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.”
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 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.
Class Exercise: Work on a working thesis for your essay.
When our reptilian desires have no justification for our fulfilling those desires, we force a “justification” or what we might call a false justification for acquiring things we don’t really need. We call these justifications alibis.
We try to allay our guilt for our self-indulgences through these alibis.
“I should treat myself to that Audi I’ve been wanting because you know what, life is short, man.”
“I need that pair of shoes I don’t need because variety is the spice of life.”
“I need that new laptop because no one in the world loves me and, dammit, it’s up to me to just go out and show the world that I love myself.”
“I need this Lexus because my clients will trust and admire me more and added trust and admiration translate into increased client accounts.”
“I need this extra luxury watch because it will make me feel good about myself and the added self-confidence will help me win friends and admiration, which will help motivate me to train harder in the gym, which will make me lose weight, which will add twenty years to my life. My God, how can I afford to NOT buy that Rolex?”
“Oh my God, these luxury spa towels are on sale for only five dollars. They’re fifty dollars everywhere else. If I don’t buy these, I'll actually be LOSING money and I'll hate myself forever for being such an IDIOT!”
We find the number one alibi embedded in the American Code for shopping:
“The American Culture Code for shopping is RECONNECTING WITH LIFE” (158).
Variations of the above are we shop for renewal, self-approval, self-affirmation, reward, rebirth, all forms of reconnecting with life.
Two. In what crucial way is shopping more than the acquiring of goods?
We read on page 158 that shopping is a social experience.
We share with others our purchases. We consult with friends before we make a major purchase. We review things online and get feedback and join online communities where people discuss the merits of this or that product.
This Code of reconnecting with life through social experience taps into America’s adolescent culture of “going out to play.”
Buying is a specific purchase, Rapaille reminds us, but shopping is a more grand, consuming experience. We live to shop. We erect shopping into a religion. For many, shopping is the height (apotheosis) of human experience.
The adolescent is bored with “the same old stuff” and constantly is restless to acquire new things.
Three. What is the anxiety resulting from buying or purchasing something?
We read on page 160 that shoppers, especially women shoppers, translate a purchase as the death of the shopping experience. Therefore, the act of shopping is often more exciting than the actual purchase. I’m reminded of a famous quote by Kierkegaard who wrote, “Fulfillment is in the wish.”
Also the drama of shopping can be greater than the actual purchase. Here’s an eBay ad: “Go for the win!”
In other words, shopping can be like a competition.
In fact, we acquire luxury products to compete with others and “outrank” them.
As we read on page 165, “the American Culture Code for luxury is MILITARY STRIPES.”
We see this with Honda LX, Sport, EX, Touring, Limited, etc. These are the military stripes in cars.
We see this with watches with entry-level luxury like Hamilton and Tissot, all the way to Panerai and Rolex at the top.
Mercedes may be the world’s best brand equating the Mercedes with success or “I made it.”
Americans believe that “good people succeed”; therefore, having luxuries gives us recognition for our virtue and nobility.
Skipping a long line at an airport because we’re in first-class is a powerful message to others that “we are better than them.”
Four. What is the cultural conflict between America and France?
While the French believe in thinking to sort out a problem, Americans believe in “taking action,” “taking charge,” and quick shows of muscle, power, and strength.
The French hate American food, but love our imaginations as they pertain to the creation of the entertainment industry.
In France, the Code for America is SPACE TRAVELERS (172).
We are aliens who land on any planet we choose and impose our will over it.
The Code for America in Germany is JOHN WAYNE. In other words, Americans are seen as cowboys.
The British see us as spoiled brats. There the Code for America is UNASHAMEDLY ABUNDANT.
The French Code for France is IDEA. Philosophy is the highest value.
Lesson 4: Chapters 5 and 6: Analysis and Development of an Argument
How Can You Improve Your Critical Reading?
One. Identify the main idea, claim, or thesis in a piece of writing.
Two. Identify the form and structure. Essays use a variety of expository modes: contrast, comparison, argumentation, description, narrative, cause and effect analysis, extended definition, to name several.
Three. What problem is the writer trying to define?
Four. What bias, if any, does the writer bring to the topic?
Five. Notice the shifts from specificity to generality (induction) or generality to specificity (deduction).
Six. Notice the transitions used to establish a number of reasons (additionally), contrast (however, on the other hand, to the contrary), and comparison (similarly).
Seven. Use annotations, writing key ideas in the margins and underlining key words and phrases. Annotating increases your memory and reading comprehension. Using a pen is better than a highlighter because you can write your own specific response to what you’re reading whereas a highlighter is too fat to make comments. Another advantage of using a pen is that you might come up with ideas for your essay response, even a thesis, and you don’t want to forget that material.
Eight. Look up unfamiliar words to build your vocabulary and increase your understanding of the piece.
Nine. Identify the writer’s style and tone (voice). The voice could be conversational, supercilious (arrogant), morally outraged, friendly, condescending, ironic, etc.
Ten. Notice if the writer is being implicit, using implication or suggestion, rather than being direct and explicit in the expression of the main idea.
Eleven. Ask if the writer considered opposing views fairly before coming to his or her conclusion.
Twelve. What political point of view, if any, informs the piece?
Thirteen. How strong is the evidence in the piece that is used to support the writer’s claim?
Fourteen. What is the intended readership? Educated adults? Experts? Children?
Your first job in analyzing a text, is to determine the author’s thesis or purpose.
Was the purpose to persuade you to think about something differently or take action, analyze causes and effects, take you through the process of changing your car battery (process analysis), expose the corruption of a bureaucracy?
Once you determine the thesis, examine the author’s methods:
Does the writer quote authorities? Are these authorities competent and credible in the field?
Does the writer also address competent authorities that take a different, perhaps contrarian point of view?
Does the writer use credible statistics? Are the statistics current? Have the statistics been interpreted fairly and accurately?
Does the writer build the argument by using solid examples and analogies? Are they compelling? Why? Why not?
Are the writer’s assumptions acceptable?
Does the writer consider all relevant factors? Has she omitted some points that you think should be discussed? For instance, should the author recognize certain opposing positions and perhaps concede something to them?
Does the writer seek to persuade by means of ridicule and mockery? If so, is the ridicule fair and appropriate? Is the ridicule further supported by rational argument?
Is the argument aimed at a particular audience?
What tone, voice or persona is evident in the essay? Does the voice or persona give the essay credibility? Why or why not?
Some voices to consider:
Confident and straightforward
Arrogant and pompous
Mocking and self-aggrandizing
Bullheaded incuriosity for opposing views
So sanctimonious and pious as to be cloying and saccharine
So sanctimonious as to be unctuous
Persnickety
Whimsical, playful, capricious
Deadpan ironical
Gleefully self-righteous
Curmudgeonly misanthropic
Bitter and pessimistic
Effulgently optimistic
Writing Evaluations or Critiques
When you evaluate an author’s text (essay or book), your argument about whether or not the author’s thesis was effectively supported or not is your thesis.
Example
Rapaille attempts feebly to support his thesis with stereotypical examples because only by forcing simplistic illustrations to support his ludicrously over generalized claim does he have a chance of sounding convincing.
The mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey has defeated 11 opponents, the most recent one in only 14 seconds. Perhaps predictably, this has led to questions about whether she will fight men.
In an interview with Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast, Ms. Rousey answered in the negative: “I don’t think it’s a great idea to have a man hitting a woman on television,” she said. “I’ll never say that I’ll lose, but you could have a girl getting totally beat up on TV by a guy—which is a bad image to put across.” She also alluded to the recent string of domestic-violence arrests among N.F.L. players.
Her reluctance to risk subjecting viewers to such an image is understandable. But even laying aside the issue of domestic violence, it’s worth asking another question: Why do we assume that a successful female athlete should move on to competing with male ones?
Ms. Rousey is undefeated in her weight class. Is her achievement somehow less legitimate because her opponents have been women? Is the only mark of true athleticism the ability to beat a man?
Those who would like to see Ms. Rousey in a mixed-gender bout might argue it would simply be an opportunity for her to fight the best of the best. But the presence of weight classes in mixed martial arts is an acknowledgment that it doesn’t always make sense to compare athletes with different bodies. If Ms. Rousey wouldn’t typically fight someone twice her size, does it make sense for her to fight someone who may have different bone density, different body fat percentage, a different center of gravity? Isn’t she already, by the accepted standards of her sport, the best of the best?
Gender segregation in sports has a complicated history, and it’s possible that more sports will one day be mixed-gender. It’s also possible that sports will one day adopt groupings that have nothing to do with gender — that are based on muscle mass, for instance, or skeletal structure. And if female athletes want to compete against men, they shouldn’t be barred from doing so.
But in the system we have now, expecting a woman to face a male opponent when she’s expressed no interest in doing so implies that excelling at women’s sports is a secondary achievement. It suggests that women’s sports are like the minor leagues — get good enough, and maybe you can play with the men.
And indeed, female athletes are too often treated as secondary. Last year, Lindsey Adler of BuzzFeed estimated that Kobe Bryant made almost three times as much for the 2013-2014 season as all the players in the W.N.B.A. combined. And a recent analysis of seven British newspapers found that just 4 percent of sports articles during a particular week in 2013 focused on women’s sports.
Female athletes deserve better than this — they deserve the same respect their male counterparts get. And that means treating Ronda Rousey as a champion in her own right, not just good for a girl.
Comments
Alexander Hamilton: Is there a sane person in America who believes Ronda Rousey needs to fight any man? Good, that's settled. Now here's the question I'd like to see answered: 2,000 years after the Coliseum was closed for business, why are people still watching one person beat up another? Is this as far as society has come? And what kind of person takes pleasure in intentionally hurting another? The difference between this barbarism and what Michael Vick did is one of degree, not of kind.
RobW: Female athletes are not "treated as secondary." They generally ARE secondary. Anna North complains that Kobe Bryant made three times as much as the rest of the WNBA combined. That is not because sports fans are sexists: it's because Kobe Bryant is approximately three times more interesting to watch that the rest of the WNBA combined. Fans pay to see the best, and there is not a single woman in the WNBA that could even sit the bench on any NBA team.
As an under-six-foot male, I was always a little bitter growing up that I didn't have any realistic chance of success basketball (Spud Webb notwithstanding). There are some under-six-foot leagues, however; is the fact that there is zero coverage of these in the sports pages evidence of rampant heightism? Ms. North believes that female athletes "deserve the same respect their male counterparts get." I assume that she would also believe, then, that under-six-foot players should get the same respect as their taller counterparts. No, of course she wouldn't. That would be silly--as silly as saying vastly inferior female athletes deserved exactly the same respect, box office, and press that the best male athletes get.
Sorry, but until Rousey demonstrates that she can routinely beat men in her weight class, she will remain merely "good for a girl." And, frankly, I don't think the sight of a woman fighter getting bloodily brutalized by a man would be negative--it might make plain to men the potentially devastating power they wield.
Jim Waddell: We need to recognize that men and women are different, in many ways. There are very few sports where the top female athletes could beat the top male athletes.
But there are areas where women excel more than men, beginning with education (and in staying out of jail.) Just because one sex does better than another in any given area is not prima facie evidence of discrimination.
Analyzing the Text
What is the author Anna North's purpose?
She wants to answer this question: "Why do we assume that a successful female athlete should move on to competing with male ones?"
North goes on to ask these two question:
"Is her achievement somehow less legitimate because her opponents have been women? Is the only mark of true athleticism the ability to beat a man?"
In other words, does Rousey have to beat a man in a fight to be legit?
These questions lead us to the author's thesis, which can be formulated this way:
"Rousey and female athletes in general don't have to compete against men to prove their greatness because we already have weight classes that compare to the different bone and muscle density between men and women."
Any weaknesses with the thesis? Yes, it has only one mapping component and it doesn't address the fact that the best fighter in Rousey's weight class can't compete against the best male fighter in the same weight class.
Does the author have a counterargument-rebuttal paragraph?
Those who would like to see Ms. Rousey in a mixed-gender bout might argue it would simply be an opportunity for her to fight the best of the best. But the presence of weight classes in mixed martial arts is an acknowledgment that it doesn’t always make sense to compare athletes with different bodies. If Ms. Rousey wouldn’t typically fight someone twice her size, does it make sense for her to fight someone who may have different bone density, different body fat percentage, a different center of gravity? Isn’t she already, by the accepted standards of her sport, the best of the best?
Do you notice any weaknesses in the author's argument?
But in the system we have now, expecting a woman to face a male opponent when she’s expressed no interest in doing so implies that excelling at women’s sports is a secondary achievement. It suggests that women’s sports are like the minor leagues — get good enough, and maybe you can play with the men.
How would you formulate a thesis in response to the author's column?
While North makes a good point that Rousey is a great woman fighter, her larger claim that Rousey is a first-rate champion equal to male fighters is muddled by the fact that Rousey's greatness is a combination of her fighting dominance in the female category combined with her celebrity that transcends MMA competition.
Subordination and Coordination (Complex and Compound Sentences)
Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has two clauses. One clause is dependent or subordinate; the other clause is independent, that is to say, the independent clause is the complete sentence.
Examples:
While I was tanning in Hermosa Beach, I noticed the clouds were playing hide and seek.
Because I have a tendency to eat entire pizzas, inhaling them within seconds, I must avoid that fattening food.
Whenever I’m driving my car and I see people texting while driving, I stop my car on the side of the road.
I have to workout every day because I am addicted to exercise-induced dopamine.
I feel overcome with a combination of romantic melancholy and giddy excitement whenever there is a thunderstorm.
We use subordination to show cause and effect. To create subordinate clauses, we must use a subordinate conjunction:
The essential ingredient in a complex sentence is the subordinate conjunction:
after although as because before even if even though if in order that
once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless
until when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why
I workout too much. I have tenderness in my elbow.
Because I workout too much, I suffer tenderness in my elbow.
My elbow hurts. I’m working out.
Even though my elbow hurts, I’m working out.
We use coordination to show equal rank of ideas. To combine sentences with coordination we use FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
The calculus class has been cancelled. We will have to do something else.
The calculus class has been cancelled, so we will have to do something else.
I want more pecan pie. They only have apple pie.
I want more pecan pie, but they only have apple pie.
Using FANBOYS creates compound sentences
Angelo loves to buy a new radio every week, but his wife doesn’t like it.
You have high cholesterol, so you have to take statins.
I am tempted to eat all the rocky road ice cream, yet I will force myself to nibble on carrots and celery.
I want to go to the Middle Eastern restaurant today, and I want to see a movie afterwards.
I really like the comfort of elastic-waist pants, but wearing them makes me feel like an old man.
Both subordination and coordination combine sentences into smoother, clearer sentences.
The following four sentences are made smoother and clearer with the help of subordination:
McMahon felt gluttonous. He inhaled five pizzas. He felt his waist press against his denim waistband in a cruel, unforgiving fashion. He felt an acute ache in his stomach.
Because McMahon felt gluttonous, he inhaled five pizzas upon which he felt his waist press against his denim waistband resulting in an acute stomachache.
Another Example
Joe ate too much heavily salted popcorn. The saltiness made him thirsty. He consumed several gallons of water before bedtime. He was up going to the bathroom all night. He got a bad night’s sleep. He performed terribly during his job interview.
Due to his foolish consumption of salted popcorn, Joe was so thirsty he drank several gallons of water before bedtime, which caused him to go to the bathroom all night, interfering with his night’s sleep and causing him to do terribly on his job interview.
Another Example
Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure. He leaned over the fence to reach for his sandwich. He fell over the fence. A tiger approached Bob. The zookeeper ran between the stupid zoo customer and the wild beast. The zookeeper tore his rotator cuff.
After Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure, he leaned over the fence to recover his sandwich and fell into the enclosure during which time he was approached by a hungry tiger, forcing the nearby zookeeper to run between Bob and wild beast. During the struggle, the zookeeper tore his rotator cuff.
Don’t Do Subordination Overkill
After Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure, he leaned over the fence to recover his sandwich and fell into the enclosure during which time he was approached by a hungry tiger forcing the nearby zookeeper to run between Bob and the wild beast in such a manner that the zookeeper tore his rotator cuff, which resulted in a prolonged disability leave and the loss of his job, a crisis that compelled the zookeeper to file a lawsuit against Bob for financial damages.
One. Based on American experiences with consumer goods, what is the Code for quality?
We read on page 133, that the American Code for quality is IT WORKS.
This is from imprinting, early experiences in which we were “let down” by a product that failed. For example, I owned a 1999 Volvo S70 GLT that cost me 11K in repairs from the years I owned it, which was 2001-2007. I will never buy a Volvo again. In fact, I will never buy a European car.
On the other hand, the author claims that perfection represents the end of a process.
Americans don't like the process to end, so they'd rather have imperfection, the author claims.
There can be no perfection for the American consumer because products are constantly evolving. That is part of our consumer madness, always needing better and better things.
We read we are less impressed with perfection because we have a negative code for perfection. According to Rapaille, “The Culture Code for perfection is DEATH” (134).
Since for Americans, life is movement, there must be constant change and evolution in consumer products.
Rapaille makes this claim: We as Americans are adolescent and don’t want to be responsible for holding high standards of perfection, as the Japanese are. Our pioneer spirit shies away from perfection and prefers rugged, messy adventure.
To be frank, Rapaille did not convince me of this claim. I know lots of Americans, myself included, who have high standards of perfection in our consumer goods, including cars.
Perhaps Rapaille is trying to force this chapter into his theory about Americans. Perhaps this is a weakness in Rapaille's book.
Further, we read that Americans find perfection boring. Again, I know lots of Americans, myself included, who prefer the "boredom" of perfection to a consumer product that has reliability problem.
Consumer Code for Americans
Our Code for consumerism is planned obsolescence, knowing that the old thing will be replaced with the new. Therefore, perfection cannot exist because products get better and better. This is unconscious, Rapaille reminds us (137).
Americans Love Service
Another Code for American consumerism is SERVICE. The Korean car company Hyundai has addressed this American trait with a 10-year bumper-to-bumper warranty resulting in dramatically increased US sales.
There is an implicit anti-Americanism in this claim. It appears Rapaille is implying that Americans are spoiled queens who need to be pampered. Is this true or an ugly American stereotype?
Two. What is the Code for feeding at the buffet?
Rapaille, from France, was astonished at American eating habits at buffets. They stuffed all kinds of foods on their plates, inhaled the food, and rushed back to the buffet table for more and more food. The vision was sickening and off-code for Rapaille but definitely on-code for Americans.
He noticed that he is a lover of wine but does not drink it to get drunk, yet Americans “go out to get drunk” in the way they go to buffets to binge themselves into sick fullness. In other words, Rapaille saw a parallel between these two binge behaviors.
Bingeing is driven by anxiety and depression, not codes.
So far Americans are arrogant, imperious gluttons with poor taste.
Three. What is “filling up the tank” mean to Americans?
“Filling up the tank” means the following:
quick
abundant
food diversity overload for efficiency (stuffing as many ingredients as possible on a plate for expedience)
In contrast, the French prefer small portions. In fact, an empty plate and wine glass are considered vulgar. This is also true in Iran.
The goal in American eating is to say, “I’m full” whereas the goal in French eating is to say, “That was delicious.”
This may be partly true, but it seems like an oversimplification. I think we can all agree that many Americans, perhaps most, desire food that allows them to say, "That was delicious."
Perhaps Rapaille's anti-American caricature is seeping through once again.
Four. What are the causes behind Americans’ love of the all-you-can-eat buffet?
America’s humble beginnings—poor and hungry—created a farmer mentality of eating. Fill my plate, please.
Farmers are the beginning of America's history. They wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning and eat steak, eggs, potatoes, pancakes, waffles, French toast, orange juice, milk, coffee, cream, donuts, pastries, etc., and then seven hours later it's time for lunch.
American hunger is so instinctive that Rapaille compares us to predators eating our prey with great urgency before competition comes to take it from us. American hunger compels us to eat like animals in case there is a long famine ahead of us.
We are engaged in Reptilian eating.
Further, we read that on an emotional or limbic level, Americans associate food with Mother’s unlimited love. If this is true, then HomeTown Buffet is a giant Food Momma.
In contrast, Italian culture, influenced by its aristocratic roots, shuns overeating as harmful to being able to appreciate taste.
Here we have another anti-American claim: Americans are feral creatures incapable of enjoying food as an eating experience. We don't eat, in Rapaille's judgment: We feed.
Five. What do Americans love more than eating?
Movement, being on the go, staying ahead of the competition.
In America, if you’re not moving, if you’re not doing something, if you’re not active, you’re not alive.
Therefore, our Food Code is fast food. We love fast food, protein bars, eating in cars, eating in classrooms, etc.
Food is FUEL for movement (146).
Americans spend more money on fast food than higher ed, computers, software, and new cars, movies, books, magazines, newspapers, and videos combined (146).
In 1970, Americans spent 6 billion on fast food. Today Americans spend over 100 billion on fast food.
In America, food is Code for ACTION.
In contrast, in France Code for food is pleasure. In Japan, food is Code for perfection.
In France, alcohol is Code for enjoyment and celebration.
In America, alcohol is Code for rebellion against authority, “being naughty,” intoxication, and reckless, violent behavior.
Going out to get drunk is uniquely American.
Sadly, alcohol is associated with violence.
“The American Culture Code for alcohol is GUN” (151).
Rapaille writes, “Think of the Old West Saloon and the recurring image of people getting drunk and getting into gunfights . . .” (152).
Essay Assignment The Culture Code
In a 1,000-word essay, typed and double-spaced, support, refute, or complicate the assertion that The Culture Code evidences that marketing and advertising are evil agencies preying on anthropology, sociology, human psychology, the unconscious, the reptilian, and neuroscience to manipulate people into becoming helpless consumers. Be sure to use Toulmin model of argumentation and have a Works Cited page with no fewer than three sources.
Sample Introduction and Thesis
Clotaire Rapaille’s The Culture Code has a dollop of wisdom and brilliant insight about the unconscious triggers that too often control our desires and consumer habits. However, the underlying agenda of Rapaille’s screed is an insidious and disgusting anti-Americanism that paints Americans as ugly caricatures. Every chapter gives “codes” of American character and if these codes are to be believed Americans are ugly stereotypes characterized as belligerent, gun-toting, arrogant, teenage drunks who are over-sentimental for Momma, rifles, guns, and apple pie. These caricatures of Americans discredit Rapaille’s book because these ugly American portraits are based on half-truths, over simplifications, distorted interpretations, and ignorant stereotypes.
Thesis statements or claims go under four different categories:
One. Claims about solutions or policies: The claim argues for a certain solution or policy change:
America's War on Drugs should be abolished and replaced with drug rehab.
Two. Claims of cause and effect: These claims argue that a person, thing, policy or event caused another event or thing to occur.
Social media has turned our generation into a bunch of narcissistic solipsists with limited attention spans, an inflated sense of self-importance, and a shrinking degree of empathy.
Three. Claims of value: These claims argue how important something is on the Importance Scale and determine its proportion to other things.
Global warming poses a far greater threat to our safety than does terrorism.
Four. Claims of definition. These claims argue that we must re-define a common and inaccurate assumption.
In America the notion of "self-esteem," so commonly taught in schools, is in reality a cult of narcissism. While real self-esteem teaches self-confidence, discipline, and accountability, the fake American brand of self-esteem is about celebrating the low expectations of mediocrity, and this results in narcissism, vanity, and sloth.
Thesis with Concession Clause
While Author X is guilty of several weaknesses as described by her opponents, her argument holds up to close examination in the areas of _________________, ______________, _____________, and ______________.
Even though author X shows weakness in her argument, such as __________ and ____________, she is nevertheless convincing because . . .
While author X makes many compelling points, her overall argument collapses under the weight of __________, ___________, ___________, and ______________.
Strategies for Writing Your Essay (adapted from The Arlington Reader, Fourth Edition)
One. Know what type of writing your doing:
Description
Comparison and contrast
Process analysis (how to do something)
Narrative (we write narratives for many reasons: catharsis of demons, explanation of an epiphany that changed our lives, an account of remarkable suffering and resilience, an account of something that was excruciatingly funny, to name a few examples)
Define a term that your reader needs to understand in greater depth
Persuasion (persuade readers and/or listeners to act as opposed to argumentation which is to win people’s minds over an issue, but not necessarily change their behavior)
Cause and effect analysis
Argumentation
The takeaway from the above is that you should always know what type of essay is generated from the assignment options the professor gives you.
Brainstorm of list of topics and thesis statements that are relevant to the essay.
Most writers need to get the bad stuff out of the way, so there’s no shame in coming up with five bad thesis statements before getting to a good one. That’s a natural course of events.
Always make sure your thesis addresses the essay prompt.
Your thesis is a single sentence that drives your whole essay. The thesis in argumentation is often called your claim.
Generally speaking, a thesis is the main argument or controlling idea of your essay. It makes a claim that intellectually sophisticated, challenging to common assumptions, compelling, and can is supportable with evidence.
The more obvious a thesis, the less compelling it is to write. The more a thesis reaches for insight or challenges common assumptions, the more compelling and sophisticated it is.
Bad thesis:
Smartphones are a nuisance in the class.
Better thesis
Rather than ban students from using their smartphones in the class, college instructors should integrate these and other personal technological devices into their classroom teaching.
Writing an introduction to your essay
Before transitioning from your introduction to your thesis, you should look at some effective introduction strategies:
Briefly narrate a compelling anecdote that captures your readers’ attention.
State a common false argument or false perception that your essay will refute.
Offer a curious paradox to pique your readers’ interest.
Ask a question that your essay will try to answer.
Use a fresh (not overused) quotation or parable to stir your readers’ interest.
How to Set Up a Counterargument in Your Rebuttal Section (The Templates)
Some of my critics will dismiss my claim that . . . but they are in error when we look closely at . . .
Some readers will 0bject to my argument that . . . However, their disagreement is misguided when we consider that . . .
Some opponents will be hostile to my claim that . . . However, their hostility is unfounded when we examine . . .
The transition words like also, in addition, and, likewise, add information,reinforce ideas, and express agreement with preceding material.
in the first place
not only ... but also
as a matter of fact
in like manner
in addition
coupled with
in the same fashion / way
first, second, third
in the light of
not to mention
to say nothing of
equally important
by the same token
again
to
and
also
then
equally
identically
uniquely
like
as
too
moreover
as well as
together with
of course
likewise
comparatively
correspondingly
similarly
furthermore
additionally
Opposition / Limitation / Contradiction
Transition phrases like but, rather and or, express that there is evidence to the contrary or point out alternatives, and thus introduce a change the line of reasoning (contrast).
although this may be true
in contrast
different from
of course ..., but
on the other hand
on the contrary
at the same time
in spite of
even so / though
be that as it may
then again
above all
in reality
after all
but
(and) still
unlike
or
(and) yet
while
albeit
besides
as much as
even though
although
instead
whereas
despite
conversely
otherwise
however
rather
nevertheless
nonetheless
regardless
notwithstanding
Cause / Condition / Purpose
These transitional phrases present specific conditions or intentions.
in the event that
granted (that)
as / so long as
on (the) condition (that)
for the purpose of
with this intention
with this in mind
in the hope that
to the end that
for fear that
in order to
seeing / being that
in view of
If
... then
unless
when
whenever
while
because of
as
since
while
lest
in case
provided that
given that
only / even if
so that
so as to
owing to
inasmuch as
due to
Examples / Support / Emphasis
These transitional devices (like especially) are used to introduce examples assupport, to indicate importance or as an illustration so that an idea is cued to the reader.
in other words
to put it differently
for one thing
as an illustration
in this case
for this reason
to put it another way
that is to say
with attention to
by all means
important to realize
another key point
first thing to remember
most compelling evidence
must be remembered
point often overlooked
to point out
on the positive side
on the negative side
with this in mind
notably
including
like
to be sure
namely
chiefly
truly
indeed
certainly
surely
markedly
such as
especially
explicitly
specifically
expressly
surprisingly
frequently
significantly
particularly
in fact
in general
in particular
in detail
for example
for instance
to demonstrate
to emphasize
to repeat
to clarify
to explain
to enumerate
Effect / Consequence / Result
Some of these transition words (thus, then, accordingly, consequently, therefore, henceforth) are time words that are used to show that after a particular time there was a consequence or an effect.
Note that for and because are placed before the cause/reason. The other devices are placed before the consequences or effects.
as a result
under those circumstances
in that case
for this reason
in effect
for
thus
because the
then
hence
consequently
therefore
thereupon
forthwith
accordingly
henceforth
Conclusion / Summary / Restatement
These transition words and phrases conclude, summarize and / or restateideas, or indicate a final general statement. Also some words (like therefore) from the Effect / Consequence category can be used to summarize.
as can be seen
generally speaking
in the final analysis
all things considered
as shown above
in the long run
given these points
as has been noted
in a word
for the most part
after all
in fact
in summary
in conclusion
in short
in brief
in essence
to summarize
on balance
altogether
overall
ordinarily
usually
by and large
to sum up
on the whole
in any event
in either case
all in all
Obviously
Ultimately
Definitely
Time / Chronology / Sequence
These transitional words (like finally) have the function of limiting, restricting, and defining time. They can be used either alone or as part of adverbial expressions.
at the present time
from time to time
sooner or later
at the same time
up to the present time
to begin with
in due time
as soon as
as long as
in the meantime
in a moment
without delay
in the first place
all of a sudden
at this instant
first, second
immediately
quickly
finally
after
later
last
until
till
since
then
before
hence
since
when
once
about
next
now
formerly
suddenly
shortly
henceforth
whenever
eventually
meanwhile
further
during
in time
prior to
forthwith
straightaway
by the time
whenever
until now
now that
instantly
presently
occasionally
Many transition words in the time category (consequently; first, second, third; further; hence; henceforth; since; then, when; and whenever) have other uses.
Except for the numbers (first, second, third) and further they add a meaning of time in expressing conditions, qualifications, or reasons. The numbers are also used to add information or list examples. Further is also used to indicate added space as well as added time.
Space / Location / Place
These transition words are often used as part of adverbial expressions and have the function to restrict, limit or qualify space. Quite a few of these are also found in the Time category and can be used to describe spatial order or spatial reference.
in the middle
to the left/right
in front of
on this side
in the distance
here and there
in the foreground
in the background
in the center of
adjacent to
opposite to
here
there
next
where
from
over
near
above
below
down
up
under
further
beyond
nearby
wherever
around
between
before
alongside
amid
among
beneath
beside
behind
across
Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Summarizing Sources
“A summary restates the main idea of a passage in concise terms” (314).
A typical summary is one or two sentences.
A summary does not contain your opinions or analysis.
Paraphrasing Sources
A paraphrase, which is longer than a summary, contains more details and examples. Sometimes you need to be more specific than a summary to make sure your reader understands you.
A paraphrase does not include your opinions or analysis.
Quoting Sources
Quoting sources means you are quoting exactly what you are referring to in the text with no modifications, which might twist the author’s meaning.
You should avoid long quotations as much as possible.
Quote only when necessary. Rely on summary and paraphrase before resorting to direct quotes.
A good time to use a specific quote is when it’s an opposing point that you want to refute.
Using Signal Phrases or Identifying Tag to Introduce Summary, Paraphrase, and Quoted Material
According to Jeff McMahon, the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
Jeff McMahon notes that the grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor. They’ll all be the same.
The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors, Jeff McMahon observes, that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor.
The grading rubric in English classes is used in such a way by instructors that soon there will be no such thing as an “easy” or “hard” professor, Jeff McMahon points out.
Lesson on Evaluating Your Sources (adapted from The Arlington Reader, fourth edition)
We use sources to establish credibility and to provide evidence for our claim. Because we want to establish credibility, the sources have to be credible as well.
To be credible, the sources must be
Current or up to date: to verify that the material is still relevant and has all the latest and possibly revised research and statistical data.
Authoritative: to insure that your sources represent experts in the field of study. Their studies are peer-reviewed and represent the gold standard, meaning they are the sources of record that will be referred to in academic debate and conversation.
Depth: The source should be detailed to give a comprehensive grasp of the subject.
Objectivity: The study is relatively free of agenda and bias or the writer is upfront about his or her agenda so that there are no hidden objectives. If you’re consulting a Web site that is larded with ads or a sponsor, then there may be commercial interests that compromise the objectivity.
Checklist for Evaluating Sources
You must assess six things to determine if a source is worthy of being used for your research paper.
The author’s objectivity or fairness (author is not biased)
The author’s credibility (peer reviewed, read by experts)
The source’s relevance
The source’s currency (source is up-to-date)
The source’s comprehensiveness (source has sufficient depth)
The author’s authority (author’s credentials and experience render him or her an expert in the field)
Warning Signs of a Poor Online Source
Site has advertising
Some company or other sponsors site
A political organization or special interest group sponsors the site.
