Jesse Lee Peterson Fails to Make a Compelling Argument
Over the past few months there have been many disturbing allegations against one of America’s favorite comedians and father figures. Multiple women have come forth and revealed, supposedly, that Bill Cosby, a man these women were all close too, raped them. As this scandal continues to unfold, the general public feels obligated to choose a side, either Cosby’s, or the alleged victims. Because of the length of time it took for these women to confess to what happened to them, about 30 years, it’s understandable for people to be skeptical about whether or not any of these allegations are true. In Jesse Lee Peterson’s article, “Attack on Bill Cosby is No Laughing Matter”, Peterson attempts to
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The first example being personal attack. Peterson does this when he refers to people with Left Wing point of views as “jackals”. He also uses this fallacy again when he attacks the victims for staying silent for so many years. What Peterson fails to realize is that these women are allowed to choose to come forward or expose what happened to them any time they choose. Peterson’s reaction to the women’s side of the story is met with much hostility and shows that he is not interested in reporting on anything these women have said. As a journalist, Peterson’s job is to report the facts, not give his unsolicited opinion on the situation. This is also dangerous because, not only is he shaming the victim’s personal choice to remain silent but he is also forcing his own beliefs on readers who are simply trying to become more familiar with the scandal. By reading about his personal opinions within the article, Peterson demonstrates a lack of empathy for anyone who has dealt with sexual abuse and as a result, readers may find that his argument is unable to sound …show more content…
The Straw Man fallacy is used to attack a minor point of an argument. Peterson does this by completely overlooking the severity of the situation. Even if these accusations are exaggerated or false, rape crimes are never handled with the right amount of seriousness. Rape is a major issue that needs to be dealt as such, however, since it isn’t, many victims of sexual abuse feel as though they have to remain silent. Peterson even goes as far as saying that these women should just get over it, further perpetuation the idea that rape crimes do not require consequences. Peterson’s words show that he is more concerned for Cosby’s public image than the well-being of potential victims of
In the January 29, The Stanford Daily editorial Stanford, California, it debates the different essential of the principle of morality and identified Brock Turner had applied a use of force in raping an unconscious woman behind the dumpster. Furthermore, the young man attended Stanford University and participated in his college swim team dreamt of partaking in the Olympus. The victim heartfelt statement during the trial is disregarded because he comes from a class of privilege and is a man. Not to mention, Brock Turner’s father wrote a letter to expressing the universalizability to court saying, “my son’s life shouldn’t be ruined over 20 minutes of action (Dreher,Rod).” Therefore, Aaron Persky who is a California judge implemented an ethical decision that contemplated the clarity around both the specific choice and decision then declared a six months sentenced ruling.
Claims are made throughout the entire documentary by various people surrounding sexual assault in the military. The United States military works around hidden corners to avoid having a bad reputation due to assault or rape, was the first claim made. This is revealed by victims willing to share their stories. They were all told to “stop crying and realize that they brought this onto themselves”by their commanders. Therefore, his gives insight into the larger picture because the commander did not stop the sexual assault nor did they receive empathy after surviving a life changing event.
“Virtuous Arguments” Reading Response Through John Duffy’s written works, he stated that Rush Limbaugh’s sexist comments were insults towards the Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke. John Duffy describes in a well-written manner how critical it is to have knowledge in having an opinion towards a certain topic and commenting about it in a structured format. John Duffy states that rhetoric has taken a turn into a negative path to where people do not care about what they say anymore to the public. John Duffy suggested that Rush Limbaugh was being sexist towards Sandra Fluke on public radio. We should be respectful of other people’s beliefs and or values, because if we have dissimilar opinions we need to be cautious in verbalizing those thoughts so that we do not offend others.
In 2010, "False Allegations of Sexual Assualt: An Analysis of Ten Years of Reported Cases" ,David Lisak and three co-authors state "...that prevalence of false allegations is between 2 percent and 10 percent."[Krakauer 122] A fact that false reports are very uncommon. Krakauer uses this fact to give the reader an idea of how low false reports really are. To show that the overwhelming majority of rape cases are true yet the Missoula's police department right from the start don't believe the victim so much that they contradict her and deny that any of it although that's the opposite of what it the cops should be aspected.
In life, people tend to take the easy path and avoid actions which would cause them to stand out against the mass. The Ox-Bow Incident highlights the terrible pitfalls of being a bystander. It underscores the sin of omission in powerful and painful ways. The narrator, Art Croft, has a sophisticated intellect and a strong conscience, but he does not act on it in fear of being rejected from his posse. The Ted Talk “Violence Against Women-
Scottsboro argumentative response Ignorance and prejudice seems to plague the Southerners and this idea of ignorance and prejudice is exemplified in this case. In 1931, Haywood Patterson and eight other African American teenagers were falsely charged for rape and all the boys also received the death sentence after accommodating a train with the victims Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. Haywood Patterson is innocent due to three reasons, no evidence of rape from the doctor’s notes, Victoria Price and Ruby Bates were prostitutes, and Ruby Bates claimed that Victoria and her were lying the whole time. Admittedly, Haywood Patterson is guilty.
“Society 's posture on rape, and the manifestation of that posture in the courts, help account for the fact that so few rapes are reported” (Anonymous 247). This quote from The Rape of Mr. Smith relates to this scene because Brandon went through a terrible thing, that no person should have to go through, and he was interrogated about it and shown no compassion. “The law discriminates against rape victims in a manner which would not be tolerated by victims of any other crime” (Anonymous 246). This quote also
The journalist is claiming Cosby as innocent and anyone who questions his allegations are automatically blaming him. In contrast to WorldNetDaily, a CNN news report leans more towards liberal and why Cosby is an alleged rapist. For instance, the article focuses on how Cosby openly admitted possessing drugs while having interest to have sex with women. The report stated, “ Cosby admitted that he acquired seven prescriptions of sedatives with the intent to give them to women he wanted to have sex with” (CNN 2). This concludes how Cosby legitimately possessed drugs at the time with the intention to have sex with these women.
Colleges are protecting their public record and do not wish to affect their brand be publicly admitting the high rates of sexual assaults. The documentary focused on a student attending Harvard Law School and the administrators insisted that the female victim should remain silent and avoid spreading the incident around. They asked questions such as, "Did you give him the wrong message, why did you choose not to fight back". Victim blaming is presented when the administrators are more interested in what the victim did wrong rather than what the offender's actions
Bill Cosby believes that it is crucial to learn the proper English language. He does not believe that African-Americans have fought this hard to get an education, for the younger generation to not take full advantage of leaning to speak English properly. I do not agree with Cosby because I do not believe that there is anything wrong with younger people communicating in African American Vernacular English. Although this is true, I can argue that Cosby is correct to a certain extent, because African Americans have fought to be educated while it seems that youngsters give up much easier on learning. I do not think that Smitherman would agree with Bill Cosby.
Johnnie Cochran's closing argument during the O.J Simpson uses all three rhetorical appeals to try and convince the jury of O.J Simpson's innocence. To begin with, he uses Ethos by bring up a quote by Frederick Douglas that discusses the equality of all men and implying that if they vote O.J Simpson guilty it would be unethical because of his race. Next he appeals to pathos by using the statement "We haven't reached this goal yet, but certainly in this great county of ours, we're trying" to give a sense of both disappointment and pride first by showing that we haven't overcome discrimination yet but then that we still live in a great place that is striving.
Skip Hollandsworth’s “Toddlers in Tiaras” argues the negative effects of participating in beauty pageants for young girls. Hollandsworth supported his argument through the use of the following techniques: narratives, testimonies, logical reasoning, appeals to emotion, facts, and an objective tone that attempts to give him credibility. These techniques are used to help persuade his audience of the exploitation of young girls in beauty pageants and the negative effects that pageants will have on their lives. Hollandsworth begins his article with how a typical beauty pageant runs and describes the multiple steps Eden Wood, a pageant contestant, goes through in order to get ready for a competition (490).
Thesis: In Jackson Katz’s Ted Talk, “Violence Against Women – it’s a Man’s Issue”, he argues that men are bystanders to the violence that happens and believes that men should speak up against this violence. To support his arguments, Katz states his credibility and the work that he and his colleague has done. To add-on, Katz made examples on how it’s easy to manipulate simple sentence structures and the violence that occurred. Similarly, he gives analogies that this violence affects men, not just women. Katz effectively uses logical arguments using what’s very common to support his argument.
In Zoë Heller’s Rape on the Campus, She advocates how sexual assault happens often on campuses, and that it needs to be significantly more addressed; as it is scarce for women to bring the college’s attention to the assault. Heller asserts that, “20 percent of women are sexually assaulted during their time at college and as few as 5 percent of these assaults are ever reported to police” (185). Noting that ninety-five percent of sexual assault cases are dealt by the college, colleges can take advantage and handle its reputation by outputting false information to cover any potential negative reputation. While colleges are forced to obey the rules of title IX, I believe this is an inadequate effort to remove bias teachers and workers from colleges.
Oprah Winfrey uses her Cecil B de Mille acceptance speech to cast light on societal issues of corruption, discrimination, objectification, and racism. Oprah’s speech reflects an age and dialogue of constant controversy and arguable division surrounding allegations of sexual assault, mistreatment, and the seemingly unthinkable idea of an underlying patriarchy within the film industry. Oprah explores and conveys these ideas through the use of various persuasive linguistic and oratorical techniques. This is seen through her use of ethos and pathos when creating an emphatic delivery and appealing to the emotions of the audience when utilising anecdotes. This is also further seen through her repetition of female pronouns when persuading the audience