Rifkin. A second thought about animals? Questions

Identify 3 of Rifkin's main claims.  List three types of evidence, and describe a strategy Rifkin uses to persuade his audience (see page 7 of the reader).
Do you think this is effective? Why/why not? (post this to your blog, or if you haven't set this up, print and hand bring to class).  

1)   In “A second thought about animals”, Rifkin really goes into detail about all the other animals that we share this planet with and stresses the fact that they have a far more great impact on us not just us, but the whole world.  Rifkin makes many claims in his work describing how we think we know everything about these creatures when in reality we know nothing but the bear minimum. He emphasizes how these creatures hold many attributes and qualities that we have never seen before and are only starting to discover.  That they relate to us humans far more than we know or ever though.  After doing various tests we continue to find many surprising results, how gorillas and orangutans especially, not only act and behave like us but think like us as well and with lots of facts to prove it.  Another claim of his, was to show the readers some of the gruesome stuff that us humans actually do to these animals.  Making shoes, purses, clothes, soup, slaughtering them, and imprisoning them into small cages and cells where to live depressed, is the least of our crimes and new laws need to be issued to repair animal rights! Rifkin wants the people to stop, and think of the endless possibilities that we can accomplish with these animals if they were treated and though of differently.

2)   Rifkin provides the readers with lots of evidence to defend his case and his view on this predicament. One being their studies on pigs showing that if they don’t get played with or shows attention daily they can easily get depressed and end up dying because of isolation.  Another proof of evidence is the rats, how when they play together in groups they give off Dopamine, which is the same neurotransmitter that we give off when we are feeling the emotion happy.  He also talked about how orangutans and gorillas are more skilled than most animals and have the most comparison to humans due to their high intelligence in language skills.

3)   One of the strategies that Rifkin uses in this particular work of his, is the way an author addresser the reader. I think this because this passage was presented in a way to prove a point, a way to make us actually ponder of all the true things that we never really think about, so his stern tone is surprising.  Listening to all of these facts and experiments listed makes us awe at all the stuff that we never knew about.  Also Rifkin uses a strong way of organizing his text, by listing all of the examples in the front of the passage, and then later explains the details behind it.  This strategy is very effective for it pursues the readers, and Rifkin can close it off with a powerful statement.

Nicholas Kristof. Do we have the courage to stop this? Answers

1)   In Kristof’s writing, he strongly expresses his true opinion on gun control. He states that our country needs to strictly stress the importance on gun safety.  He gives lots of examples, exemplifying that there are other items such as everyday tools that are completely harmless that are easier to get than guns. I agree with Kristof that America needs to make changes in the legal department of gun control. As he said, “It’s not the lunatics or the criminals, all countries have them; but that we suffer from a political failure to regulate gun control.”  I agree with his views as well as the many other people as well.  I think that Kristof is spot on when he points out that if someone is dying every twenty seconds from guns, that there needs to be some major alterations because we cant necessarily control what people do with, but we can sure control who we sell them too.

2)   Kristof stated a fact that someone dies from a gun every twenty seconds, that children form ages five to fourteen are thirteen times more likely to die form a gun than in any other country, that the government makes sure people don’t die form ladders and other equipment when in reality only three-hundred people die form ladders each year and thirty-thousand die form guns.  He also shows other response from researchers and journalists who stated that the process to purchase a pet is actually more difficult than it is for a gun.  Also they experimented a new law in Australia that would ultimately decrease the amount of guns sold by one-fifth to see what the results would be, and data shows that the amount of murders with guns dropped about forty percent.

3)   One of the strategies that Kristof uses in his work is the way an author uses his evidence.  He shows lots of facts along with the sources as well, to help more prove his point and views on this international debate.  Having various different points of evidence is very assisting in the sense of convincing the reader into recognizing where you are coming from, and understanding your opinion.  Showing quotes of other people always proves to the reader that there are many others who agree with you and your views as well.

Personal Question Answers, and URL for blog

Alex Schlack (817646655)

Rws100 Blog URL:  https://alexschlack.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=gwwSFkgBAAA.GFtAUwH6AUWP48RiSEV-Cw.lCTIqQjL9pmhcXMyPPiGFQ&postId=4814997729787586203&type=POST

What is your prospective major?  Have you ever used the terms “claims” and “evidence” in a class?  If so, what was the class and how did you use them? What writing activities do you enjoy outside of school (blogging, tweeting, journaling, etc.)?  What do you write about and how often do you do it? How do you feel about yourself as a writer? 

-My prospective major is marketing, in the Business Administration.

-I have never had to use or talk about the terms “claims” and “evidence” in a class before.

- I don’t usually participate in lots of blogging outside of school, but the ones I do are Twitter, Facebook.

-I usually like to write about something I did, what events I went to, who I was with etc., and I usually don’t blog a lot maybe a once and week.

-I am confident to say I am a decent writer. I am really good at expressing my thoughts and opinions, describing stuff with good detail, and proposing arguments as well as proving facts to support those arguments.