The Argument Culture

I thoroughly enjoyed this essay. It brought up several good points. The author brought up the fact that debates really don’t show both sides equally but just shows the two sides fighting against each other. We, as a society, do need to find better ways to settle our disputes. We need to be more civil when we disagree and not argue like 5 year olds.

I agree when he says it is ok to fight to defend our country, our rights, and ourselves. We cannot always think there are two sides to an argument. This causes us to doubt facts. I agree that words are very powerful. They really do have the strength to change the way you look at a situation. They can turn your opinion inside out.

I tend to kind of disagree when the author says that technology puts us in a bubble. I still communicate normally with people and am not just focused on talking to my friends online. I talked to my roommate online and got to know her before we moved in together that way. On the other hand, I have been the result of some cyber bullying so I can see where the author is coming from.

All in all, I think the author makes a lot of very strong points. Why should I argue with him? We all have our own opinions and nothing is going to change that.

It's Time to Ban Handguns

I really enjoyed this article. It was very informative and intriguing. The use of facts by the author was very interesting and caught my attention. I love how he used a statistic as well. Numbers provide solid evidence and are very informative and persuasive. He is very good at providing images for the reader.  He gets very emotional and descriptive. I also love how he compares restrictions to having drugs and cars to having a gun. This is a very abstract comparison and is not one that most people would make. He also compares our murder rates to other countries. This also is very useful in being able to persuade the reader. He uses a lot of emotions in this essay as well to hit a nerve and get you sad or angry. I love how he points out that guns are easy to work and how anyone that can get their hands on one could probably is able to use it. Following that, he states his solution to the problem. He says that some guns should be taken off the market. He also says that there should be gun safety classes required before handling a gun. I thought that was already a law so I learned something new. 

Reading and Writing Problem Solving Essays

I found this to be quite boring. Maybe it’s because I absolutely despise reading about how to write. I am a free spirited writer who likes to write in a unique way. I hate “molding” into other peoples’ idea of “good” writing.

But I digress; this essay will really help those “writing challenged” people that take this class. The ones that are skilled in science but have difficulties with writing will find great use of this essay.

It points out some really good tips. It helps to convince the reader that writing a problem solving essay is possible. This is kind of neat considering that as the reader, you are trying to figure out how to persuade other people that doing a task is possible.

As far as reading the essays go, they walk you through step by step as to how to read it.  It seems kind of ridiculous but, as I said before, it is good for those who have issues with English. For me, however, I was totally bored to death of this whole essay. I hate to seem conceited but I am decent at persuasion essays and I am so not a conformist to how everyone else wants me to write.

In Defense of Talk Shows

I agree with the author of “In Defense of Talk Shows” one hundred percent. Talk shows get such a bad reputation now a days and I do not think they deserve the reputations given to them. Most talk shows that I watch, such as Regis and Kelly, do not even mention the negatives. All the ones that are considered controversial now look down upon people who make the wrong decisions or choices in their lives. The talk show hosts do not approve of these mistakes. The people are not put on a pedestal or idolized in any way. Never have I ever looked at a person on Maurey and gone “Jeez I wish I was like them,” and I probably never will. Whoever said that talk shows are not good to watch obviously does not watch them. I love talk shows and I am still a good person. So are all my friends and my thirteen year old cousin. It is so wrong to put shows down when you haven't even given them a chance.

The Whole Horse

This essay was very boring to me. It seemed very scattered at all times. The author used terms that most likely no one knew and didn’t bother to explain them until two paragraphs later. It took me several times of reading this essay to understand what the author was trying to get through to us, the readers. This is all I got from it. Apparently the author is in love with the environment and is totally against companies trying to change the environment. I’m pretty sure that isn’t what the author meant the essay to be about either. This essay was just very frustrating and I think the author should quit writing. This is horrible in comparison to all the other essays you have had us read. I hope I do not offend anyone by writing this but this is how I really feel.

Attack of the Killer Cats

I enjoyed the article “Attack of the Killer Cats” greatly. I loved his humor in the essay and how he brought out the true colors of cats. I have and always will hate cats. Besides the fact that I agree with him 100%, his writing style is fantastic. He asks the readers a lot of questions. He really leaves it to the reader in the end to figure out how they feel about cats. He doesn’t really try to sway them one way or another. It is very clear that he does not like cats but he does not try to force his opinion on to others. The article is very factual and kind of dull at times but the facts of his results from the experiment were quite interesting once I began to focus on the essay. The fact that he used percentages and ratios in his research also showed me that this was something he cared about. I think you have to really care about the topic when you are doing a factual essay or else it can get bland or boring. All in all, a great essay! I defiantly admire him for his work on this essay.

Why We Crave Horror Movies

I love how Stephen King started out by saying he “thinks we’re all mentally ill”. It catches my attention right off the bat and kind of makes me chuckle a little bit. I love how he goes into detail after that to say why he said that. I totally understood what he was saying after he explained it. I didn’t even have to think about what he meant. He makes it very informative as well, not just gore and blood talk. He goes more into depth about why he thinks psychologically we crave horror movies. Also, at the same time, he keeps throwing his little bit of humor into the essay to hold the reader’s attention. He also uses movie references, which could be beneficial to keeping reader’s attention. It didn’t do anything for me because I do not watch horror movies but I can see where it would hold others’ attention. I also enjoyed where he brought up “status quo of civilization” because I have often tired of the same old movie plots over and over again and he really does bring up a good point that horror movies do not fit into the status quo. I still will never watch a horror movie though.