Sample Theses That Refute and Defend Gustavo Arellano’s Argument
Refutation
Gustavo Arellano is a prestigious, beloved Los Angeles culture writer. Unfortunately, his argument that attempts to ease the collective white conscience to steal Mexican food is a sad, unconvincing affair. His argument is crippled with egregious moral, legal, and logical fallacies. He knows all too well that American history is rife with white people exploiting Mexicans’ hard work and ingenuity. To defend whites because “everyone steals” is a childish remark that fails basic moral teachings, specifically the infantile notion that two wrongs make a right. Second, if Arellano wants us to take him seriously, he must give us a more narrow definition of cultural appropriation. There is no moral equivalence between an El Salvadorean husband respectfully learning the finer points of making Jahuacatas from his wife who hails from Michoacan and the white El Torito manager who hires a Mexican worker, steals the worker’s recipes over a period of two months, and then unceremoniously fires the worker. A third most regrettable error on Arellano’s part is how he conveniently ignores the atrocious fact that the majority of white stealing of Mexican food is done in the cynical service of making money by white-washing and in effect destroying delicious food to make it palatable for philistines, tourists, and other types of phony people who fancy deluding themselves into “going out and getting some ethnic food.” The bad scenarios described above are more than just bad; they are abominations of the tastebuds and the soul, and for Arellano to omit these abominations from his argument is a form of intellectual dishonesty for which I cannot forgive.
Defense
I feel bad for the above writer who has morally excoriated Gustavo Arellano for his supposed moral failings. This writer’s spiritual purity and moral self-righteousness have blinded him from the gustatory pleasures that result from Arellano’s “free-stealing” philosophy. By “free-stealing,” I refer to a degree of healthy chaos that exists in the food industry. Recipes are flying from one town to another; variations are infinite based on quirks, available food, cross-cultural pollination, and a synthesis of cooking techniques from the many cultures that inevitably converge in great cosmopolitan cities such as Los Angeles. Moreover, the relevance of Mexican cooking makes it the most popular, fastest-growing cuisine in the world. Contrary to the above passage which attempts to put a big stink on Gustavo Arellano and which would have us believe that Mexican food is pure, sacrosanct, and unchanging, real Mexican food is constantly evolving through ruthless stealing, borrowing, mutations, and respectful homages to its sacred origins. Thank God, Gustavo Arellano acknowledges the vibrancy of Mexican cooking and its complicated, sometimes morally questionable origins, for finally, a food writer has exposed the truth about the wonders of Mexican food. The above writer, on the other hand, gets a medal for moral self-righteousness but loses points for being a boring, propaganda writer for the Cult of Authenticity.
Your Essay Assignment:
Do you agree or disagree with Arellano's defense of cultural appropriation?
Summary of the Essay's Main Arguments
- We are all rapacious creatures whose drive for success makes us to some degree cutthroat and ruthless. The more ruthlessly we steal a recipe the more we affirm the greatness of that recipe. Mediocre food isn't stolen. Only great food is. The theft of Mexican recipes is a tribute to its greatness.
- "Stealing" is actually the natural human inclination for cross-cultural pollination. Such pollination enriches culture and in many cases actually changes culture for the better.
- To treat Mexicans as helpless victims whose delicacies are being stolen is to patronize them and to "rob them of human agency" (free will). In fact, Mexicans have been "stealing," or rather cross-pollinating, for thousands of years. Their history is rife with taking foods from other cultures such as Spain, France, and the Middle East, and making these foods their own.
- From the Netflix series Ugly Delicious, "Tacos" episode, we find that respectful inspiration from the original dish is an acceptable form of cultural appropriation.
Some Caveats, Stipulations, or Conditions We Can Use from Ugly Delicious, "Tacos":
- Taking shortcuts is an abomination and degrades the original version of the food such as tortillas.
- Offering stereotypes of Mexican food is an abomination and shows ignorance of the depth of ingredients and creativity from the treasures of Mexican cooking. Don't play "Jingle Bells" on the piano when you should be playing Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
- Making tourist food or white-washing food to make it bland for mass appeal will make you money but it is an abomination of authentic Mexican food.
- Taking agua fresca and rebranding it as "spa water" is a form of racial plagiarism so egregious that I doubt Gustavo Arellano would defend such an act of shamelessness and arrogance.
What are the two opposing sides of this argument?
The Great Debate: Innovation Vs. Tradition:
On one side, Gustavo Arellano’s side, is the argument that great food evolves through stealing and that stealing is a sign of the food’s greatness. Another side of food greatness is constant evolution and constant innovation. People are open to experimenting with foods and not tied to traditions and absolutes. Mexican food, moreover, is not a monolith. There is diversity based on regions and innovations, so there is no such thing as One Kind of Mexican Food, no One Burrito, No One Taco, etc.
On the other side, the Cult of Authenticity, is the belief that food should be unchanged. Food is iconic and rooted in tradition and attempts at changing the food is equivalent to “blasphemy.” Also, when the food is taken and changed it accounts to the loathsome act of cultural appropriation. Which side are you on?
Use the Toulmin Argument Model with a Counterargument-Rebuttal Section
From a design and structure standpoint, you are learning to write an argumentative essay in the tradition of the Toulmin Model, named after philosopher Stephen Toulmin. In the Toulmin Model, you address your opponents’ views in a counterargument-rebuttal section.
Sentence Fragments
Sentence fragments are incomplete thoughts presented as dependent clauses or phrases.
A dependent clause or a phrase is never a complete sentence.
Types of dependent clauses:
Whenever I drive up windy mountains,
Because I have craved pizza for 14 months,
Unless you add coffee to your chocolate cake recipe,
,which is currently enjoying a resurgence.
Phrases
Enamored by the music of Tupac Shakur,
Craving pesto linguine with olive-oil based clam sauce,
Flexing his muscles with a braggadocio never seen in modern times,
Lying under the bridge and eating garlic pepper pretzels with a dollop of cream cheese and a jug of chilled apple cider,
To understand the notion of Universal Basic Income and all of its related factors for social change in this disruptive age,
Running into crowded restaurants with garlic and whiskey fuming out of his sweaty pores while brandishing a golden scepter,
Examples
I won't entertain your requests for more money and gifts. Until you show at least a modicum of responsibility at school and with your friends.
I won't consider buying the new BMW sports coupe. Unless of course my uncle gives me that inheritance he keeps talking about whenever he gets a bit tipsy.
I can't imagine ever going to Chuck E. Cheese. Which makes me feel like I'm emotionally arrested.
I am considering the purchase of a new wardrobe. That is, if I'm picked for that job interview at Nordstrom.
Human morals have vanished. To the point at which it was decided that market values would triumph.
No subject
Marie Antoinette spent huge sums of money on herself and her favorites. And helped to bring on the French Revolution.
No complete verb
The aluminum boat sitting on its trailer.
Beginning with a subordinating word
We returned to the drugstore. Where we waited for our buddies.
A sentence fragment is part of a sentence that is written as if it were a complete sentence. Reading your draft out loud, backwards, sentence by sentence, will help you spot sentence fragments.
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.
Identify the Fragments Below
Identify the Fragments Below
I drank the chalky Soylent meal-replacement drink. Expecting to feel full and satisfied. Only to find that I was still ravenously hungry afterwards. Trying to sate my hunger pangs. I went to HomeTown Buffet. Where I ate several platters of braised oxtail and barbecued short ribs smothered in a honey vinegar sauce. Which reminded me of a sauce where I used to buy groceries from. When I was a kid.
Feeling bloated after my HomeTown Buffet indulgence. I exited the restaurant. After which I hailed an Uber and asked the driver for a night club recommendation. So I could dance off all my calories. The driver recommended a place, Anxiety Wires. I had never heard of it. Though, it was crowded inside. I felt eager to dance and confident about “my swag.” Although, I was still feeling bloated. Wondering if my intestines were on the verge of exploding.
Sweating under the night club’s outdoor canopy. I smelled the cloying gasses of a nearby vape. A serpentine woman was holding the vape. A gold contraption emitting rose-water vapors into my direction. Contemplating my gluttony. I was suddenly feeling low confidence. Though I pushed myself to introduce myself to the vape-smoking stranger with the serpentine features. Her eyes locked on mine.
I decided to play it cool. Instead of overwhelming her with a loud, brash manner. Which she might interpret as neediness on my part.
Keeping a portable fan in my cargo pocket for emergencies. When I feel like I’m overheating. I took the fan out of my pocket, turned it on, and directed it toward the serpentine stranger. Making it so the vapors were blowing back in her face.
“Doesn’t smell so good, does it?” I said. With a sarcastic grin.
She cackled, then said, “Thank you for blowing the vapors in my face. Now I can both enjoy inhaling them and breathing them in. For double the pleasure. You are quite a find. Come home with me and I’ll introduce you to my mother Gertrude and her pitbull Jackson. I’m sure they’ll welcome you into our home. Considering what a well-fed handsome man you are.”
“Thank you for the compliment,” I said. “I would love to meet your mother Gertrude and your mother’s pitbull Jackson. Only one problem. My breath smells like a rotting dead dragon. Right after eating spicy ribs. Which reminds me? Do you have any breath mints?”
“I don’t believe in carrying breath mints. On account of the rose-water vape. That cleanses my palate. Making my breath rosy fresh.”
“Wow. Your constant good breath counteracts my intractable bad breath. Making us a match in heaven.”
“I agree. Totally. You really need to meet my mother. Because she’ll bless us and make our marriage official. Since we really need her blessing. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“Now let me smell your breath. So I can identify the hot sauce.”
“Why must you do that?”
“So I can use the same hot sauce on our wedding cake, silly. To celebrate the first night we met. Capisce?”
“Capisce.”
She approached me. Affording me a view of her long, tired face. Covered in scales. Reptilian. Evocative of something primitive. Something precious and indelible from my childhood lost long ago. I wanted to run from her, but I could not. Some mysterious force drew me to her, and we inched closer and closer toward one another. Succumbing to a power neither of us could fathom.
Comma Splice Review
Identify the Comma Splices Below:
It’s not a question of will there be chaos or will there be destruction, it’s a question of how much?
MySpace was disruptive in its time, however, it’s a dated platform and to simply mention it is to make people laugh with a certain derision surely it’s a platform that has seen its time, another example is the meal replacement Soylent, its creator made a drink that says, “You’re too busy to eat,” so drinking this pancake batter-like concoction gives tech people street. I may laugh at its stupidity, instead I should admire it since the product has made millions for its creator. It’s proven to be somewhat disruptive.
To be sure, though, Facebook redefines the word disruptive, it has rapidly accrued over 3 billion users and will soon have half the planet plugged into its site, that is the apotheosis of a greedy person’s fantasy, imagine controlling half the planet on a platform that mines private information and targets ads toward specific personality profiles.
One of the scary disruptions of Facebook is that billions of people have lost their personal agency, what that means that people have unknowingly been manipulated by Facebook’s puppeteers to the point that many Facebook users suffer from social media addiction, moreover, these same users prefer the fake life they curate on social media to the real life they once had, in fact, their previous real life is just a puff of smoke that has faded into the distance, many people no longer even know what it means to be “real” anymore, having lost their agency, having succumbed to their Facebook addiction, they have become zombies waiting for their next rush of social media-fueled dopamine, what a sad state of affairs.
What is Cultural Appropriation?
According to the Origin of Everything “What Is Cultural Appropriation?” video, there are many definitions of cultural appropriation, and we cannot use cultural appropriation as an argument about any debate concerning authenticity unless we are clear with our terms.
There are egregious, ambiguous, and benign forms and examples of cultural appropriation, so we cannot lump them all together as cancel culture (group shaming someone or an organization for committing some unforgivable sin or other) would have us do.
Egregious or Really Bad Forms and Examples of Cultural Appropriation
- Elvis Presley imitating soul music while he gets rich and the African Americans he stole from remain on the margins.
- A white guy putting on black face and putting on a negative stereotype minstrel show under the name “Jim Crow.”
- Hollywood showing a pattern of hiring white actors over ethnic actors to play ethnic roles.
- Anytime the dominant culture steals something from marginalized culture for entertainment and profiteering purposes and obscures the original meaning, sacredness, and context of the thing that was stolen.
- Rachel Dolezal (shown below), a white woman, using a tanning bed and hair extensions to pass as black, lying about her racial identity, and using her identity as a “black woman” to be an authority on race, and even get a job at the NAACP, and edging out real African American women for the job. In putting on her charade, she became the consummate “wannabe.”
Controversial examples of cultural appropriation
Some actions are more controversial. For example, can a white writer assume the identity of an ethnic person in creating a narrator or character for a novel?
Such a controversy has become huge in recent times with the best-selling novel American Dirt, by Anglo writer Jeanine Cummins (shown above). Some argue that a writer of any race should have artistic license to create any character they need to fulfill their artistic vision. Others accuse Jeanine Cummins of cultural appropriation and as a guilty party of this act, Cummins, as a white woman, cannot create an authentic experience about a Mexican mother who goes across the United States border with her son, and in fact is exploiting human suffering to make a buck. We read that some have accused, as cited in The Guardian article “Publishers defend American Dirt as claims of cultural appropriation grow,” of Cummins making “overly ripe stereotypes” from “the white gaze” and others say that the novel, cultural appropriation or not, is just bad writing, sensationalistic and formulaic, a cheap thriller.
Defending Cultural Appropriation
New York Times Student Editorial Contest Winner seventeen-year-old Maggie Strauss defends cultural appropriation in her essay “‘Cultural Appropriation’ Is Critical to Human Progress.”
Strauss makes the point that not all cultural appropriation is alike. How we judge instances of cultural appropriation should be partly based on intention or motive. She concedes that many fashions take from different cultures, and sometimes this influence is done in good taste, but other times it is based on shallow stereotypes. As she writes:
“These fashion statements were clearly not designed to offend or degrade the cultures that influenced them. However, that is not to say that everyone who draws inspiration from different cultures is doing it with the right intentions. Issues arise when imitation is based on a shallow and offensive stereotype, which is just blatant racism.”
Syncretism
Strauss argues that cultural appropriation from a broad definition is inevitable and part of natural human progress. This broad definition of cultural exchange is called syncretism. As she writes: “From a historical perspective, the term that is typically used to describe the adoption of certain practices from one culture to the next is syncretism. Without syncretism, human progress would be next to impossible.”
We can’t put ourselves in boxes
An Irish person shouldn’t be forced to wear only Irish clothes, eat Irish food, and drink Irish beer. Such a boxing in is absurd and contrary to human nature. We are creatures who freely engage in cultural exchange. For cancel culture to lump all cultural exchange as some horrific sin of cultural appropriation is extremist and disconnected from reality.
But what about when white women go to Mexico, take recipes from the Mexican streets, and return to America to create a successful Mexican food eatery?
We will address this question in our next post.
Introduction
In this post we will cover the following:
- We will look at the controversy surrounding Tex-Mex.
- We will pause for a moment and review some of Gustavo Arellano's arguments against the Cult of Authenticity in the context of Mexican food.
- Let us remind ourselves that in the context of Mexican food, the Cult of Authenticity says two main things: People have to come from the region the Mexican food is produced to be legit; people who don't come from the region and cook the same food are stealing the food and using innovations that compromise the purity and authenticity of the food.
Tex-Mex: You Either Hate It or Love It
We can’t argue about the Cult of Authenticity in the context of Mexican food without addressing the controversy of Tex-Mex, which is a very polarizing subject. Some people love chile con carne, fajitas, and chile con queso while others scoff at these “Americanized” versions of Mexican food.
My personal take is that if someone makes any food category well and irresistible, I’ll eat it. I don’t care about labels. Throughout my travels, including Russia, Africa, Italy, France, England, Mexico, Canada, and Spain, I have eaten disgusting, mediocre, and amazing versions of the same food categories, so I’m sure there are abhorrent versions of Tex-Mex and unbelievably amazing versions.
Gustavo Arellano Defends Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex
In the article “Gustavo Arellano: Has the Tide Turned Against Tex-Mex Food?” by Katharine Shilcutt, Arellano is quoted as defending both Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex, foods with deep origins in the cultural exchange of Americans and Mexicans.
The Problem Isn’t Tex-Mex; the Problem Is Phony Self-Appointed Experts of Mexican Cuisine
The problem, ironically enough, is that white chef Rick Bayless, who has taken the mantle of Mexican Food Messiah, has wrongly condemned Tex-Mex while aggrandizing himself as the Purity Expert on Mexican Food. Arellano accused Bayless and Diana Kennedy for stealing Mexican food and calling it their own: to “have raided Mexico's various states and towns to cobble together an American version of what "authentic" Mexican food should be.” To add insult to injury, Arellano observes that Bayless only takes his dishes from three regions of Mexico and ignores a huge swatch of other regions, so Bayless disqualifies from being able to call himself a true ambassador of Mexican cuisine.
Arellano Observes Causes of Resentment of Tex-Mex
In the article, we further read that the quality of the delicious Tex-Mex food isn’t the issue; it’s resentment over cultural appropriation, and this resentment, according to Arellano, is largely shared by “Mexican elites.” We read: "With the Mexican elite, they have just hated the fact that Americans love Mexican food and despise the fact that when Americans cook Mexican food they cook Tex-Mex. It's a psychic wound," he explained. "Not only did the gabachos steal half of our territory, now they're stealing our food."
Mainstreaming Ethnic Cuisine Is Not a Bad Thing; We Do It All the Time
Arellano further observes that we mainstream ethnic cuisines all the time, and there is an upside: cultural acceptance, cultural respect, and cultural celebration. As we read: “On the other hand, says Arellano, Mexicans often aren't very fond of Tex-Mex either -- especially Mexicans in other parts of North America. Although other ethnicities' cuisines have been mainstreamed by Americans over the years (Italian and Chinese, most notably), Arellano notes that Mexicans -- by far -- hold the most contempt for the Americanized version of their food. Arellano calls it a "socio-psychological issue.’"
This is probably a good time to stop and review Gustavo Arellano’s main arguments against the Cult of Authenticity.
Review of Gustavo Arellano’s Arguments Against the Cult of Authenticity
(Pro Tip: The following arguments would make an excellent body paragraph outline for Essay 4)
- In spite of some phony white chefs who wrongly anoint themselves as ambassadors of Mexican food, mainstreaming Mexican food is on balance a good because it exposes more people to the greatness of Mexican food and encourages cultural respect and cultural celebration of Mexican contributions.
- Much of the purity cult behind the notion of authenticity is from whites on the Left and Right who don’t understand Mexican food or the Mexican people.
- Letting social justice warriors dictate what is authentic can lead to food totalitarianism and absurdly narrow, reductionist definitions of authenticity.
- The lines are blurred between innovation, cross-cultural synergy, and cultural appropriation, which has occurred since the beginning of time and is an inevitable part of how food evolves into amazing dishes.
- It’s absurd to reject Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex food when we consider that these fusions are about embracing the greatness of Mexican cuisine and that no food is good or bad per se; rather, how a chef executes the dish determines whether it’s good or not. It’s all about execution. A bad taco could put you in a bad mood for a week. An exceptional taco could “change your life” and inject your brain’s amygdala with euphoric endorphins.
If we have any questions about the authenticity of Tex-Mex, this Eater YouTube video titled “How the World’s Most Authentic Tex-Mex Is Made” should quell those doubts:
How the World's Most Authentic Tex-Mex is Made — Cooking in America
Introduction
I’ve been reading journalist Gustavo Arellano’s articles for almost two decades now. He is always truthful, gut-punching, surprising, edgy, funny, smart, and relevant. When I think about his writing, it occurs to me that Arellano often incorporates many of the 8 Rules for Elevating Your Argumentative Thesis.
As we prepare for our essay, let us do a study of them:
Rule #1: Write a claim that means something to you on both an intellectual and visceral level.
If your claim is perfunctory or listless or weak or just plain boring, it is going to show up in your writing. You have to find an angle that you care about both intellectually and viscerally (from the gut). It is impossible to fabricate authentic passion for your topic, that is, unless you are a person of remarkable talent and acting skills. If that is true, you are the exception, not the rule.
Rule #2: Write a claim that is debatable.
If your claim is debatable, then you have the opportunity to test it against opposing views. This testing of your claim forces you to do an intellectual deep dive, which by necessity elevates the sophistication of your writing rigor. In contrast, a thesis that is too obvious and factual will be boring because you will be lecturing down to your reader something that is self-evident. For example, writing a claim or thesis that patience is necessary for a healthy marriage is, while true, so obvious that to read through such an essay would be a slog through a compositional snoozefest.
Rule #3 Write a claim that is modified through the use of conditions or caveats.
A caveat is a condition you place on a proposition. For example, if you are arguing for fighting Covid-19 through contact tracing, you might argue for contact tracing with some caveats in your thesis such as this:
“Provided we have measures to protect privacy and invasive government snooping, contact tracing is essential for fighting Covid-19.”
You are arguing for contact tracing if certain conditions are met. By placing conditions in your thesis, you are elevating your writing’s sophistication.
Rule #4: Gain credibility for your claim by using a concession clause.
In Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky’s From Inquiry to Academic Writing, Third Edition, we read that “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.’”
Some examples of concessions that we place before the thesis:
“While it is true that . . .”
“While I agree with X that Y, it is also important to consider.”
“Yes, some studies have convincingly shown that __________; however, a closer look reveals that _________________”
Rule #5: Be sure that important terms in your claim are clear and explicitly defined to your reader.
Never assume your reader understands terms you might be putting in your essay. If you are using terms like “Cult of Authenticity,” “cultural appropriation,” or “hegemony” in your thesis, you will want to be sure to define those terms in your introduction; otherwise, you will alienate your reader.
Rule #6: Be okay with having a working or tentative thesis at first and then making your thesis more definitive as you progress deeper and deeper into the topic.
Good writing is about the process of discovery, the surprise of discovery, and the writer throwing away preconceptions in his or her passion for finding the truth. Therefore, at the start of the journey, the thesis is going to be “iffy” or tentative; as you clarify your thoughts on the topic, your thesis will become more crsytalized. For example, I grew up hearing people stigmatize Tex-Mex as phony food, but it wasn’t until I did a deep dive on this topic for my English 1C Critical Thinking class that I learned that Tex-Mex has a deep history in the land of Mexico and Texas and that there are amazing chefs who have made Tex-Mex and exquisite art form.
Rule #7: Use the Three Means of Persuasion to make your argumentative thesis more effective.
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
Logos, the use of logic in your argument: Smoking will compromise your immune system and make you more at risk for cancer; therefore, logic, or logos, dictates that you should quit smoking.
Pathos, the use of emotion in your argument: 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.
Ethos, the use of credible sources in your argument: 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.
You would want to use logos, pathos, and ethos all together if you were trying to persuade someone to quit smoking. To neglect one would be to compromise your argument.
Rule #8: Having mapping components following your thesis gives you and your reader a clear roadmap of where your essay is going.
A thesis should always have a clear direction that shows you and the reader the direction of the essay or the organizational plan. For example, if we argue that it is morally wrong to watch professional football. Here is an argumentative thesis with mapping components:
"While I am a lifelong football fan who has enjoyed the suspense of close games over the years, I am convinced after reading Steve Almond’s anti-football manifesto that I can no longer patronize the game I once loved because it is morally and intellectually bankrupt evidenced by its bloodthirsty violence, misogyny-fueled domestic abuse, parasitic taxpayer trickery, exploitation of the underclass, high risk of permanent brain trauma, and narcissism-inducing toxic masculinity."
Notice the essay's direction is indicated by the claim's mapping components:
- bloodthirsty violence
- misogyny-fueled domestic abuse
- parasitic taxpayer trickery
- exploitation of the underclass
- high risk of permanent brain trauma
- narcissism-inducing toxic masculinity
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