5-21
45.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“[The CIA] instructed security forces in Uruguay, demonstrating torture techniques on
beggars taken off the street. These activities, and many hundreds more like them, have
been thoroughly documented by government investigations, by the press, and by the
testimony of former CIA employees.”
—Progressive Student Union
Proof surrogate.
46.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
After the owner and the head coach of the Houston Oilers football team had met for more
than two hours, the owner announced that the two had “mutually decided” that the coach
“would not return as head coach.”
This is a euphemistic characterization of the conversation.
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47.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
The Best Way to Clean Up Congress
—Title of article by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak
Innuendo.
48.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“Smokers unite! The reason the antismoking crowd doesn’t want you to smoke can be
summed up in a single word: dictatorship.”
—From a newspaper call-in column
Rhetorical explanation.
49.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
Miracle X-K3 battery additive extends the life of your battery by up to five years.
Weaseler.
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50.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
Orlando is a little town with friendly and helpful residents. Still, you might not want to live
there. In the summer it’s hotter than the Sahara Desert.
Downplayer and a rhetorical comparison that borders on hyperbole.
51.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
The statistics Dr. Swain trotted out to prove that bicycle helmets save lives miss the point
that a helmet law for bicyclists infringes on individual rights.
“Trotted out” dismisses the statistics without argument and insinuates that they do not
deserve serious consideration. The passage shows dysphemism and innuendo.
52.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“All men are rapists.”
—Marilyn French
Hyperbole and stereotyping.
5-24
53.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“I was amazed when I read that frog licking has become a major preoccupation in
Colorado. How could this possibly get started? It had to be this way. An environmentalist is
out in the woods communing with nature. Probably some overgrown Boy Scout in little
green shorts, a backpack filled with wheat nut mix. He‘s wearing his Walkman, skipping
along some nature trail… maybe even humming. Ommmmm-Ommmmm-Ommmmm. He
looks at a tree and maybe he says, ‘Hi Greg.’ Maybe he hugs the tree. ‘Oh, I am at one with
this tree.’ Then he spies a frog and suddenly stops. ‘Oh, look at that frog. Maybe I should
pick it up and lick it.’ And gets high as a result. You see, the Colorado spotted toad
secretes a hallucinogenic substance that can get you high if you lick it near the back of its
head.”
—Rush Limbaugh
Rhetorical explanation/stereotype.
54.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
A “provost” is the head academic officer in a university, whose chief function is to dream
up work for faculty committees to do.
Rhetorical definition.
5-25
55.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“… the basic right to life of an animal—which is the source of energy for many animal
rights wackos—must be inferred from the anticruelty laws humans have written.”
—Rush Limbaugh
“Wackos” is a dysphemism.
56.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
Perhaps we shouldn’t serve this cheese to the guests, dear. It seems to be a bit, uh,
mature.
Euphemism. “Perhaps” may be a weaseler in this context.
57.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“Some feminists edge nervously away from Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon,
who are the Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan of feminism….”
—Time
Rhetorical comparison.
5-26
58.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
Yes, well, in a way I agree with you.
Weaseler.
59.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
Moore and Parker are both getting a little thin on top.
Euphemism.
60.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
Yes, of course, we must protect the rights of innocent people—up to a point. The main
thing is to make the streets safe again. Something must be done to reduce crime.
“Up to a point” is a weaseler.
5-27
61.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
What explains the mad dash to distribute free condoms in our public schools? The
misguided and ridiculous notion that kids are going to have sex no matter what.
Loaded question.
62.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
I’m not among those who wonder why the senator hasn’t made a full disclosure of his
financial dealings prior to taking office.
Innuendo.
63.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
“A feminazi is a woman to whom the most important thing in life is seeing to it that as
many abortions as possible are performed.”
—Rush Limbaugh
Rhetorical definition and hyperbole.
5-28
64.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
The conservative mind is rigid and inflexible, like an orange peel that’s dried out in the
sun.
Stereotype and rhetorical comparison.
65.
Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage:
That the proposal before us is a good one is, surely, obvious.
Proof surrogate.
66.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
“Citizens for a Clean Community caused quite a commotion the other day when it
announced its campaign to end the sale or rent of so-called adult and X-rated videos and
movies.”
“There immediately came the usual charges of censorship and free speech violations—as
could have been predicted.”
“We certainly would be the first to defend someone’s right to read or view whatever they
please. But make no mistake, those who are offended by this smut have every right to
express their frustration by protesting its distribution…. And this kind of material is
completely debasing and has no redeeming value whatsoever….”
—Cascade News
Don’t forget the downplaying role of “the usual charges… as could have been predicted.”
“Completely debasing and has no redeeming value whatsoever” could be considered
hyperbole and/or downplaying.
5-30
67.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. B) Rewrite the passage in
language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational
content.
“[S]o frantic is the education industry for raw material (students), institutions are not only
lowering standards (requiring only ‘a pulse in one hand, a check in the other‘), they are
discounting tuitions and advertising sushi and waffle bars in the students unions and
prime cable service in the dorms where, [author Anne] Matthews says, some students
hibernate for days ‘eating red licorice and channel surfing.’ Some institutions send bounty
hunters abroad in search of wealthy foreigners.”
—George Will
Answers will vary
68.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
“What kind of crazy political system is it where a man who wants to run for president must
begin by withdrawing from public life? It’s become an American tradition, dating perhaps
back to Richard Nixon in 1962. Gary Hart followed the pattern when he ‘declared his
“interest” in the presidency’ (as the
Washington Post
chastely put it) by announcing that
he won’t run for reelection to the Senate this year. Good luck to Hart. I voted for him once
before and wouldn’t mind voting for him again. But really. Is this necessary?”
—“TRB from Washington,” in
The New Republic
There is a weak argument for withdrawal’s having become a tradition, with Nixon the only
example offered in evidence. What do you make of the reference to Hart’s “‘interest’ in the
presidency?”
69.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
Well, it looks like the wimps are coming out of the woodwork all over the place. If you’re a
man, the fashionable thing to be these days is “sensitive.” Articles with titles like “Babies
and Men,” “The Divorced Father,” and—can you believe it?—“Men Cry Too” are cropping
up all over the place. You’d think today’s males were unleashing the bottled-up agonies of
a couple of thousand generations from the way they like to step into the spotlight and bare
their sensitive souls to anybody who’ll listen. They say there are more divorces today, and
maybe because of the safety of numbers, a divorce is an excuse for a guy to become a
softhead; the summons server may as well deliver a license to cry in public.
If a kid wants his modern daddy to come out and toss a ball around, he’ll have to drag him
out of the kitchen first. After making him take off the apron, of course, so he won’t
embarrass his kid in front of his buddies.
It’s a good thing the women are getting out there and learning to run the world. Today’s
men are busily forgetting how to do it.
This diatribe actually contains a rudimentary argument. (The existence of the articles cited
is offered as evidence for increased sensitivity among men.) There are also elements of
sarcasm/ridicule (“softhead,” “license to cry”), innuendo, and proof surrogate (“They
say…”).
70.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
Members of the baby boom generation, the generation that is now becoming yuppies
instead of growing up, refuse to see the light. After being the center of the universe during
the sixties and seventies, they expected to own it by the mid-eighties. They grew up
believing they would have tremendous jobs, wonderful houses, exotic travel, great
marriages, and beautiful children as well as European “personal” cars, fancy music
systems, high-tech kitchens, and wine in the cellar. But it isn’t turning out that way for
most of them. Having glutted the professional marketplace, they live on depressed
salaries; their dependence on immediate gratification causes them to spend like sailors—
on the right stuff—driving prices of their playthings through the roof.
But they are addicted to their ways. Those who moved to Manhattan can’t bear the
thought of living anywhere else but can’t afford to live there. According to the
New York
Times
, single-room-occupancy hotels that used to house the poor now contain tenants
who cart in their stereos and tape decks, their button-down shirts, and their Adidas
running shoes. One young woman says her bathroom is so filthy she showers with shoes
on.
This insistence on doing it
right
bespeaks a refusal to grow up disguised as a commitment
to—what?—“quality of life?” One no-longer-really-young professional says, “It used to be
you moved to the suburbs for the children. But on some level we still think of ourselves as
children.” Peter Pan, call your office.
—Very freely adapted from George Will, “Reality Says You Can’t Have It All,”
Newsweek
This piece is very difficult to analyze on a part-by-part basis. Here and there you can
identify a device (the last sentence reminds us of a horse laugh of sorts), but the entire
piece is written with tongue at least in the direction of cheek. Exaggeration and
stereotyping play a role, with the activities of some baby boomers taken to represent those
of an entire generation, but this is really an inductive argument. The choice of examples is
5-34
prejudicial. You almost have to talk about the tone of the whole piece to do it justice.
71.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
“It [the feminist movement] was crazy. The lunacy, unfortunately, wasn’t confined to sex.
Male reviewers abased themselves before Miss [Susan] Brownmiller’s book
Against Our
Will
, and the male editors of
Time
magazine, in a spasm of liberal gallantry, named her as
one of its 12 Women of the Year, thereby atoning for five decades of Men of the Year.”
—Joseph Sobran, “The End of Feminism”
Not as “macho” as the previous one, but not without its slanders.
5-35
72.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. B) Rewrite the passage in
language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational
content.
“The arms buildup that President Reagan gave us is an albatross around our necks. We
spent a trillion dollars on it. Do you realize how much a trillion dollars is? That‘s a one with
12 zeros after it. That’s $4,000 for (or rather
from
) every man, woman, and child in the
United States. And what was it all for? Are we any safer now for having spent all this
treasure? Do you
feel
any safer now than you did before? Our children, who will eventually
have to pay for all this because of the national debt, will look back on us as a generation of
lunatics.”
—Letter to the editor of the Bellevue (Ind.)
Star-Reporter
Answers will vary
5-36
73.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
“It’s past time that you and I and every other American asked some cold, hard questions.”
“Who lost Iran?”
“Who lost Afghanistan?”
“Who lost Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia?”
“Who crippled the FBI and the CIA?”
“Who sold the Russians computers and other sophisticated equipment, which have been
used to stamp out freedom?”
“Who is keeping our kids from praying in school?”
“Who lets hardened criminals out on the street to kill, rape, and rob again before their
victims are buried or out of the hospital?”
“Who says that America should do little if anything to help human beings who are daily
being killed and beaten up by Marxist dictators?”
“The answer in every case is LIBERALS.”
“But America is waking up to what the liberals have been doing to it.”
“To quote Michigan professor Stephen Tonsor, ‘New Deal liberals are as dead as a dodo.
The only problem is they don’t know it.'”
—Richard Viguerie,
The New Right
Repetition, hyperbole, stereotyping, rhetorical explanation, rhetorical comparison, and
proof surrogate.
5-37
74.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. B) Rewrite the passage in
language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational
content.
“Britain has done all it can to sabotage the development of the European Community. For
a while it was Margaret Thatcher, and after that her equally right-wing successor, John
Major, who served as mouthpiece for the isolationist camp in Britain. It’s clear to any
intelligent listener that the people they’re really speaking for are not the average people in
the street, who would benefit from joining the rest of Europe, but a small number of the
English super-rich who don’t want to rock the boat. As long as Britain remains
independent, they get to pull the strings—and make the profits. These money types are
joined by a few nineteenth-century throwbacks who are arrogant enough to think that
England has an empire to protect and exploit.”
—Editorial,
Athens Courier
Answers will vary
75.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. (We’ll comment on features we
find obscure, unusual, or tricky.) B) Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively
neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
“The executives responsible for the recent corporate catastrophes popularly known as
Agent Orange, asbestos, and the Dalkon Shield are not in jail and will not go to jail. With
the exception of informed victims, few of us describe these cases in the language of crime,
even though in each case there is a wealth of evidence that victims were put at
unacceptably high levels of risk of severe injury and death and that corporate executives
knew of the risks, yet failed to take appropriate preventive action. Even Morton Mintz, the
award-winning
Washington Post
investigative reporter and author of
At Any Cost:
Corporate Greed, Women, and the Dalkon Shield
, a powerful indictment of the A. H.
Robins pharmaceutical company, does not use the word ‘crime’ in telling the sordid tale of
the Dalkon Shield.”
—From Russell Mokhiber’s “Criminals By Any Other Name,”
The Washington Monthly
“Catastrophe,” “powerful indictment,” and “sordid” are obviously emotive; the rest is more
subtle.
76.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. B) Rewrite the passage in
language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational
content.
“The environmental lobby used to be the watchdogs of government and industry, barking
at their heels and snapping at them when they tried to grab at the country’s virgin
resources. In the nineties, the environmentalists have begun to look just like the people
they’re supposed to be watching. Representatives of the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club,
the Wilderness Society, and the National Wildlife Federation look just like other
Washington, D.C., bureaucrats, lined up with their folded laptop computers inside their
attaché cases, all of them desperate to become the next assistant secretary of the
interior.”
—Paraphrase of an anonymous environmentalist’s remarks on a radio program
Answers will vary
5-40
77.
A) Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain
any slanting techniques you find in the following passage. B) Rewrite the passage in
language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational
content.
“Some of the ill will [at Dartmouth College] has been provoked by a student-run
newspaper called
The Dartmouth Review
. Ten of the dirty dozen who destroyed the
shanties [built on the Dartmouth campus as an antiapartheid protest] reportedly work for
the six-year-old weekly, a New Right mouthpiece that is run independently of the college
and has the support of such leading off-campus conservatives as William F. Buckley, Jr.
Considered troublemakers by the administration and many faculty members, and
disowned by former supporters such as Rep. Jack Kemp, the Review’s editors traffic in
outrage and offense.”
—Newsweek
Answers will vary