Political Cartoon

Recently, there was a political cartoon released that is blowing up all over the internet. The context is the fact that many countries are restricting refugees from coming into their countries due to the recent attacks and threats from ISIS. The audience of this cartoon are those in the United States who are closing their borders to refugees. The message the artist is trying to get across is that if the Native Americans refused to let us come across their borders, we wouldn’t be here today. Without the help of the native americans, the pilgrims wouldn’t have survived. The native americans taught them plant and harvest so they could live through the next winter. To understand this cartoon, you need to understand our past history and what is going on in the rest of the world, especially the United States today. Specifically, Texan, Michigan, and Alabama governor's closed their borders due to the ISIS attacks in Paris. The purpose of this cartoon was to show the hypocrisy of the situation. We are saying no one else can come into our country however when we were down on our luck, we were allowed to come over. The cartoon represents the hypocrisies and ironies occurring in our country today.

Rhetorical Thesis

For my public argument, I wrote about why Alta should remain a resort for skiers only. Below is my thesis for my rhetorical paper:

“I argue that the most effective way for me to reach those who live in Utah, participate in outdoor recreational activities, and have a passion for skiing for snowboarding was through a blog post including pictures, personal experience, statistics, facts, and an organized powerpoint to prove that the resort Alta should remain a home for skiers only.”

Background Research

Link to google doc
I commented on:
Arrick Benson and Benjamin Weiss

Audience for My Argument

A huge part in a Public Argument is the audience. For my topic, the people impacted are those who snowboard, are trying to sue Alta, and anyone who cannot decide to learn how to ski or snowboard. Specially, this subject reaches out to the population of those who ski in Utah and anyone in the West who wants to ski or snowboard. The age of these people teenagers to adults. If parents decide to teach their children how to ski or snowboard at an early age, it generally the parents decision. The people who have the power to influence the issue are skiers and the owners of Alta. Also, the judge who overrode the lawsuit to Alta for banning snowboarders. Ultimately it is the jury and judges decision whether or not Alta should be able to ban snowboarders or not.

For my english class, my audience will either be very familiar with the topic or not familiar at all. Many students at the University of Arizona have barely skied or snowboarded before. However, a large amount has. Therefore, for some students this topic will be very well known and for others, they will know nothing about it. A big part of this depends on students interests, where they grew up, and if their parents were skiers or snowboarders. Aside from my ideal audience, people who may encounter my argument are those who have heard about the Alta controversy or those who are moving to a state where skiing and snowboarding is big activity. Those who will be hostile to my argument is anyone who is a snowboarder. Specifically, those who have only snowboarded and not skied. The basic information I need to discuss will be the differences about skiing and snowboarding, basic information about the resorts in Utah, specifically Alta, and the basics of lawsuit against Alta.

My Proposed Public Argument

Our impending English project is the Public Argument! We are supposed to think of a subject and make an argument about either by writing a paper, creating a powerpoint, making a blog, movie, photo essay, or anything creative! I had two ideas originally about what I wanted to write about. First, I was considering arguing that poodles are the best dog to invest in. If I were to argue this, I would discuss the history of the standard poodle, why they are a family friendly dog, and emphasize the fact that they don't shed! My other idea was to discuss why skiing is better than snowboarding while emphasizing the lawsuit against Alta, an all skier resort in Salt Lake City Utah, for banning snowboarders from their slopes. After considering both topics and discussing the two ideas with my teachers, I decided to write about skiing!

I'm still unsure of the genre I want to use for my topic. I was considering making a powerpoint. This would be effective in the sense that I could discuss many different topics briefly. Furthermore, I could add short videos on some of the slides about the dangers of snowboarding. A powerpoint would also allow me to discuss the pros and cons of skiing and snowboarding which helps me recognize the counter argument. Furthermore, I grew up skiing in Salt Lake City. I skied at resorts such as Brighton, Solitude, and Deer Valley, which all allow skiers and snowboarders. However, I currently ski at Alta, so I have a personal experience with all the resorts that I can discuss. Not only this, but I have tried snowboarding as well, so I have that experience to discuss too.

The message I will be trying to convey is that skiing is better, safer, and a better option that snowboarding. Furthermore, I will be arguing that Alta should be able to ban snowboarders if they choose because it is their resort and they are paying for the land. There are many other resorts snowboarders can use, so one resort should not be a huge problem. Not only this but if snowboarders are so upset that they cannot ski at Alta, they can make their own resort which doesn't allow skiers. The audience of my topic will be snowboarders, those deciding whether or not they should learn to ski or snowboard, and anyone involved in the Alta skiing/snowboarding controversy. The purpose of my argument is to convince everyone that skiing is a better option than snowboarding and that Alta can make whatever rules they choose.

Public Argument Analysis Questions

To begin the process of learning about the Public Argument, I read the chapter about Public Arguments in the book A Student's Guide to First Year Writing. The book has a sample of a public argument with questions following on page 220-221. The following are the answers to the questions asked in book:

-The tone of this letter is informative and helpful. Kassandra conveys this tone by clearly stating the problems with cutting funding to Medicaid and then she suggests ways to prevents the cuts while still balancing the state budget. She explained that by cutting the Medicaid budget tens of thousands of Arizonans would be put into serious debt. 

-The most important convention of this formal letter is that is concise and to the point. Kassandra begins by specifically stating the problem she sees and how to fix it rather than dancing around the topic. She also made a complaint, requested something, and made an enquiry. 

-Kassandra establishes her ethos by using specific research and statistics. This is very effective because it shows that she knows what she is talking about and one can look up the statistics for themselves to see if they are correct.

-Her overall claim is that cutting Medicaid would imperative to many Arizonans and there are better ways to budget without cutting funds to Medicaid. She uses evidence that proves cutting Medicaid will hurt people financially.

-Her call to action is asking the governor to not cut Medicaid funds and rethink the entire budgeting system while making changes to it.

-Reviewing her work, I would suggest that Kassandra should specifically state where she is getting her statistics and research information from.