Source for Paper C

http://www.abelard.org/tv/tv.php

The article Children and TV violence is aimed towards parents of children aged 5 to 18. The parents looking at an article such as this would clearly be concerned with what their children watch on TV and more specifically how much violence appears on average TV watching.

WATCO of watching TV violence on violence among children?

Enthymeme: watching TV violence increases violence among children because watching TV violence gives children a false sense of reality and a world without consequence

This article appeals to all three: ethos, pathos and logos. If I were to choose one that it focused more on I would have to side logos but pathos would follow close behind. The writer gives many facts to support his claim, which appeals to logic, but by giving these shocking facts he also appeals to pathos and manages to stir a great deal of emotion and concern within the minds of the parents. What parent really wants to know that their kids are watching so much violence? Not many I’m sure! The writer also uses many sources to appeal to ethos and build his credibility. He does not profess to be a leading expert but by giving sources from others that are professionals in the field it allows the parents to develop trust in the writer.

When looking at the acronym STAR it is clear to see that the writer gives accurate and relevant reasoning by providing facts and also paradigms to convey his argument. Even though the writer is maybe giving accurate reasoning he is not necessarily giving sufficient reasoning, as he never brings any link between violence on TV and violence among children. It would have been nice to see some stats showing this correlation a bit more or even a definition of violence in the many forms: verbal and physical etc.

I think that the article is very effective and it definitely worked for me, but the problem is… I’m not a parent! If I was a parent and I knew that my child was watching that much violence I would be concerned but I don’t think I would ever believe that my child could go out and shoot someone. I would hope I would have taught him better than that.