Argument Analysis
In The wounds of Whiteclay; Pine Ridge’s Alcohol Epidemic the author from The Economist explains that “everyone of it’s [pine ridge’s] residents is effected, in some way, by alcoholism.” The article continues to discuss the impact of alcohol throughout the tribe. The selling of alcohol has been banned since the start of the tribe in 1889. (The Wounds of Whiteclay; Pine Ridge’s Alcohol Epidemic, 22). The author wants people to be aware of the issues on the reservation even though the area is suppose to be a “dry” place. The author is quoted saying “Alcohol has been banned in Pine Ride since 1889. . . Yet two-thirds of adults on the reservation are alcoholics; alcohol-fuelled domestic violence is rampant; and one in four babies…show more content… The author focuses more on the opinion that they have established rather than the already existing opinions of other writers. The author is effective at persuading his or her readers because they use very informed and somewhat scary statistics in order to have the reader be furthermore aware of the negative outcomes of the alcoholics located on the reservation. I stated that the author used the Rogerian Argument because if you look at other forms or methods of writing the author doesn’t relate to those forms because he or she does not reference the other side of the argument. The otherside in this case would be “Does the removal of liquor store near the border of the reservation stop the people from drinking?”. The Rogerian argument aims to develop common ground among readers rather than establish an opposing relationship. This is exactly what the author was doing in their writing. Consistent to what was stated above the author focused more on his own opinion; and focused more on informing us of the opinion of their own he or she failed to bring up the attention of others. In my opinion this source could have been better conducted if the author used one of the other forms in the book From Critical Thinking to Argument. We learned in chapters eight, nine, and ten of the three types of argument writing; Aristotelian argument, Toulmin, and Rogerian methods these are all great techniques for influencing an argument. However the author of this source might have better supported their argument is they used either the aristotelian or the toulmin method because it gets to support the argument with a better understanding of what they are trying to get across. The rogerian method is not the best approach in my opinion because it does not always address every component of the
