Albert Koehl is an environmental lawyer and former prosecutor with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. With the increasing awareness and hype on the subject of Global Warming, Koehl decides to give his viewpoints on the matter. In the article "SUV's Are Bad for the Environment" Koehl tries to persuade SUV owners that SUV's are bad by using sarcasm, band-wagon appeal, vivid imagery, and scare tactics.
At the very start of Koehl's article he uses an over generalizing bandwagon or "everybody does it" appeal by saying "Everyone should have a SUV". He uses this maliciously from the very beginning of his article to really stand out and grab the reader’s attention from the get go. He also completely contradicts the title of his article bringing questioning, interest, and almost total adherence to what he has to say next. Koehl most likely realizes that this kind of "everybody does it, so should you" appeal is used a lot by the media; many people like the idea that if other people do it so should they, because it gives them assurance for what they’re doing is right. He probably knows this so he grabs the reader’s attention at the very start to bring them in to really see the content of his article. If he had started right off saying that most people drive SUV's but you shouldn't, it would not have gotten the same effect, and would perhaps not gotten as many readers to keep reading.
Koehl uses extreme sarcasm by saying "In Cadillac's new mega-model, with room for eight [...] you're not a solo-driving, gas guzzling boor spewing [...] you're a self-sacrificing patriot [...](130)." Koehl uses this amount of extreme sarcasm including you as a patriot to give his article more of a shocking effect. With terrorism, troops, patriots, and America being a very timely subject to bring up for people these days he sparks your attention and helps you realize how ridiculous your thoughts would be to drive an SUV, by comparing them to you thinking you’re a patriot. He uses vivid words such as "gas guzzling boor spewing" to really grab his audience and help them see the picture that he is painting for them. It really detours you from thinking SUV driving is a pretty sight when he puts it in those terms, you can really see the gas guzzling and it completely repels you from wanting to drive such a vehicle that has those effects.
For the Issues Paper I probably will want to talk about how ridiculous I think Tree Huggers are. I don't really know how I would write about it and how I should phrase my thesis or arguments but that is want pretty much what interests me the most when it comes to the environment.
2 comments:
I liked your paragraph about the use of sarcasm in the article, but I don’t think that the paragraph on the bandwagon appeal works as well. It’s clear that you understand bandwagon appeals, but it seemed like you were trying to use it with something that falls more under the domain of sarcasm.
I enjoyed your paper. It was well explained and easy to read. One thing I believe could be improved is your opening paragraph. Maybe a little more background information on the subject?
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