Thursday, February 01, 2007

Rhetorical Analysis

Aaron Lukas’ article “I Love Global Capitalism—and I’m under 30” is rich with opinion and criticism. He states that “carnivals against capitalism” targeting free trade, specifically free trade organizations, shows ignorance of the international economy. Lukas feels most of these protestors inaccurately blame large, multi-national corporations for social maladies. Furthermore, Lukas writes an argument that identifies a specific problem: that the ill-advised view of his contemporaries against global capitalization is uncharacteristic of the majority of his generation, despite public demonstration to the contrary. Although with an interesting claim, Lukas falls short of either a valid, or a sound argument. There are logical fallacies in his premises as relating to his conclusion. In addition, the lack of cited research studies and statistics yield nothing more than a poorly conceived opinion piece. The reader is not only skeptical of his claim that a majority of those younger than thirty years approve global capitalism, but also for his reasons to prove it.

The lack of cited evidence suggests that Lukas’ perceived audience would be predisposed to favor his opinion. The article appeared on the website of the Cato Institute, a political think-tank, of which he was an analyst at the time of the essay’s publication. This background provides the reader with an idea of the author’s possible purpose and intent—his extrinsic ethos. This also could explain why Lukas would elect to forego substantive, supporting evidence when writing for a website whose visitors might be predisposed to similar beliefs (why provide examples when one preaches to the choir?, so to speak). This jeopardizes his intrinsic ethos because he fails in a building competent argument. What could have blossomed into a compelling essay turns into an opinionated rant. Below is a diagram of the Lukas argument:

Aaron Lukas Argument from “I Love Global Capitalism—and I’m under 30”:

Warrant/Assumption: Liberty and prosperity are good for all
Warrant/Assumption: A healthy environment is important

Premise/Reason: Protestors are uneducated to benefits of free trade
Premise/Reason: Free trade benefits workers and environment
Premise/Reason: Liberty and prosperity is sweeping the globe
Premise/Reason: Free Trade agencies do not impede sovereignty
Premise/Reason: Most individuals have some sort of association with corporations

Claim: Most under thirty years favor global capitalism

The “driving force” behind the Lukas argument is two warrants in his essay. It would be hard to find an individual who did not think that a) liberty and prosperity for every person is good, and b) a healthy environment is desirable. These foundations of Lukas’ argument are well established. However, the reasons do not yield a valid claim. Instead of providing premises to justify his conclusion, he cites reasons why people should favor global capitalism. He proposes a non sequitur. His reasons are valid only if his claim argued that individuals should view free trade amicably, not that they actually do. There are no premises that validly conclude his claim. Lukas fails in providing a logical argument.

Essentially, Lukas observes, in his opinion, a prevailing delusion among free-trade protestors that the world is corruptible to both workers and the environment. This, in premise, depicts the participants of the “carnivals against capitalism” as uninformed and uneducated. The Lukas counter to this belief is the prosperity of the West and countries of the Pacific Rim, which has inspired poor, Communist, and developing states to pursue democratic capitalism. Makes sense, right? However, the problem with this Lukas point is the absence of statistics to corroborate his assumption. He does not cite the difference between the wealthy states and the poor ones. Not once does he even mention the most basic of all economic measurements, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), let alone an income per-capita statistic. How are we to believe that these wealthy nations are, indeed, so wealthy? In addition, has democratic capitalism spread over the years? If this premise by Lukas is accurate, how did he come by it? What statistics generated his knowledge? Does a country like China not counter this premise? The reader has only one option—to take the word of Lukas himself.

This is Lukas’ first blunder of validity. We can only assume what he tells us is true. Personal opinions, by themselves, do not work well in arguments. Evidence rules. Unfortunately, Lukas’ counter to protestors (sweeping capitalism across the globe) comes without reliable evidence to support this reason.

There is another aspect of this premise that degenerates Lukas’ argument. He depicts protestors as uniformed, with their only reason to protest being for the sake of protesting in and of itself. Lukas does not cite any evidence, primary or secondary, that specifically informs the reader of the protestors’ beliefs and logic against free trade. How do we know that the protestors believe what Lukas says they do? It is a hasty generalization. Lukas provides no explicit grievances on the part of protestors. Here, as in my previous criticism, the lack of evidence undermines the effectiveness of Lukas’ argument.

Lukas’ second premise, that free trade benefits workers and the environment, shares a similar fate. The reader comes across absolutely no evidence to corroborate his assumption. Instead, Lukas provides a personal opinion. As mentioned above, assumptions do not make for good arguments. Readers must receive evidence to make an argument sound in order to be swayed to the writer’s opinion. There are no wage-increase data, income per-capita statistics, or environmental research. Lukas even fails to provide an expert opinion on either matter. The omission of any form of evidence makes his argument even more volatile.

Not surprisingly, Lukas fails to provide evidence yet again in his third premise: free trade organizations do not threaten state sovereignty. Here, Lukas argues that free trade organizations align themselves closely with the principles and structure of democracy. This is a difficult premise to bolster with evidence of mere data. However, credible expert opinions from, let’s say, political scientists, would have strengthened this argument ten-fold. Lukas even foregoes implementing an illustrative example to examine the similarities between free trade organizations (such as the World Trade Organization) and democratic states. Instead, Lukas merely provides personal opinion instead of evidence. Lukas even goes so far to connect protestors as akin to mob rule and anti-democratic (how one can view the right to public assembly, and those who enter into that constitutional guarantee, as the antithesis of democracy is beyond me). This last point degrades Lukas’ own moral character with the reader, at the expense of an effective ethos with his audience. By leveling a broad assumption in such a “low blow” fashion, he undermines mutual respect, and causes the reader to suspect an alternative purpose to his essay: to rally individuals who share his own beliefs by depicting their opposition (those against global capitalism) in an obtuse and negative fashion.

His final premise is that most young people do not hate corporations. Lukas gives an illustrative example: most are employed by a corporation, know another employed by a corporation, or retain stock in a corporation. In effect, as Lukas argues, who could possibly hate corporations when most individuals have some degree of association with them? The final “deathblow” to the soundness of the argument comes, once again, with the lack of evidence to support the premise. Lukas provides the reader with no evidence that affirms a) most individuals have some degree of corporation-association, and b) most individuals do not hate corporations. Just as throughout the essay up to this point, Lukas leads the reader into assumptions without the semblance of evidence to justify and corroborate his premises.

Examining dramatic, newsworthy protests of global capitalism and their relationship (or the lack of it) to a segment of the population is a worthwhile pursuit. However, the claim from which Lukas derives his premises is an invalid one. Based on his reasons, he should have constructed a conclusion around the need to accept global capitalism as a positive venture, not that it has been accepted. However, the lack of evidence undermines the efficacy of any argument. Without credible and reliable evidence, no argument can withstand healthy skepticism. Personal opinions do not build soundness—evidence does.

No comments: