Akiva's Blog

In "The 2016 election was not a fluke" (2017), Eugene Robinson asserts that Donald Trump's surprising victory in the 2016 election was not simply the result of Comey's investigation, the media, and the Russians, but rather due to a much larger situation. Robinson develops his assertion by putting Trump's victory in perspective, discussing people's mistaken views on why he won, and showing how Trump and Sanders' similarities reflect why Trump defeated Hillary. Robinson's purpose is to change the public's views on the 2016 election, by demonstrating that there were larger issues beneath the surface that were behind Trump's victory.  Robinson establishes himself as a thoughtful and informative columnist to the intellectual American searching for perspective on an interesting topic. I mostly agree with Robinson's assertion, but would have liked him to focus on one point more clearly and in greater depth. His assertion that it was not Hillary...

     Apple, in its advertisement, "Accident," asserts that Macs think through every small detail when designing their products, while PCs do not. They support this assertion by showing an injured actor representing PCs, who had tripped on the charger of his laptop, as another actor representing Macs tells him that such an accident would never occur to a Mac user due to Apple's special magnetic charger. Apple's purpose is to persuade the American public into buying their laptops, by demonstrating that Apple's design is far superior to that of PCs. Apple establishes itself as a smart and reliable company to the casual American who simply wants a reliable laptop.

Precis:       Danny Westneat, in his article, "UW professor: The information war is real, and we're losing it" (2017), asserts that false information is being spread throughout social media to trick the gullible American public into falling for this propaganda. He develops this assertion by telling the story of a University of Washington professor who discovered a pattern in false information on social media, summarizing her conclusions on the matter, and stating how disgusted he is with the false information being spread. Westneat's purpose is to persuade his readers into concurring with the professor's findings, and to warn them to read news spread on social media with more skepticism. By reporting the findings of a university professor, Westneat establishes himself as a knowledgeable and credible source to the adult readers who will stumble upon his article. Response:        As a naive child, I was very gullible when it came to information comin...

Precis: Nicholos Kristof, in his article in the New York Times, If Americans Love Moms, Why Do We Let Them Die, argues that the United States must do more to prevent maternal deaths, given the surprisingly high maternal death rate in the U.S., particularly in Texas. He brings factual evidence to emphasize the severity of the issue of maternal deaths in the US, shares a sad story of a maternal death in Texas, and then explains the cause of the issue and how deaths can be prevented in the future. Kristof intends to awaken the American public to an issue they may not have been fully aware of, and to inspire them to vote for politicians who will help make maternal deaths more preventable. Considering that the matter being discussed relates to pregnancy and childbirth, the intended audience is adults, particularity those with children, who could relate to the issue and feel the most compassion for women who died during pregnancy. Response: I absolutely agree with Kristof's argument....