Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Film Review

Based on the1949 Pulitzer Prize winning series of 24 articles that chronicled corruption and greed on New York City docks, On the Waterfront (1954) is a story of mob rule, violence, and the human conscience. Starring Marlon Brando (The Wild One, A Streetcar Named Desire) as a one-time boxing prospect forced to work on New York City’s docks, the Elia Kazan (East of Eden, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) film shows impoverished neighborhoods controlled by the local Union’s use of fear and intimidation, in a motion picture that would ultimately win eight Academy Awards.

Kazan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1952. He drew heavy criticism from his peers for divulging names associated with Communism to the infamous committee. Arthur Miller, slated to write the film’s screenplay, refused to cooperate during his own testimony before HUAC, and would become “blacklisted” in Hollywood (he would later pen the famous play The Crucible based on the hearings). Columbia Pictures decided to withdraw Miller’s original commitment to the screenplay, replacing him with Budd Schulberg.

The movie’s suspenseful opening involves Terry Malloy (Brando) drawing a fellow dockworker to a roof, where Terry thinks the man is to have a conversation with Union officials. To Terry’s dismay, the young man he lured to the roof is flung off in a brazen attempt to silence a would-be “rat.” Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest), in her first theatrical appearance, plays the sister of the murdered worker, Edie. Distraught by her brother’s demise, and the reluctance of the fellow workers to confront the Union, she takes it upon herself to solve the murder. In addition, Father Barry, played by Karl Malden, begins his own quest to rid his parish of the Union leadership’s inequities.

Filmed in black and white, scenes in the outdoors during the dock’s working hours contrast with the dark environments in scenes of the local tavern and apartments in nighttime settings. To convey the bleakness within the neighborhood, Kazan used smoke machines to create a strong sense of despair. Music composed by Leonard Burnstein (who would go on to score West Side Story) evokes the moral complexity that certain characters feel, and the tense moments of suspense and action they are thrust into.

Lee J. Cobb (North of the Rio Grande, Twelve Angry Men) plays the wonderfully sinister mob boss, Johnny Friendly. With the loyalty of his foot soldiers to keep the longshoremen in-line, the only way for his workers to remain alive is to be “D and D”—deaf and dumb. Any “canaries” who threaten the monopoly of Friendly’s racketeering meet with a swift, silencing blow.

Terry Malloy begins as a quasi-informant for the Union leadership. However, both the beauty and strong moral conviction of Edie, in addition to the newly found vigor of Fr. Barry, makes Terry reconsider his place in the world, and the fate of his soul. Wrestling with his new convictions of right and wrong, Terry must decide if he will be a “bum” or attempt to redeem himself. With a well-crafted script and wonderful acting, On the Waterfront brings excitement and passion as the audience decides with Terry Malloy whether or not they would rather be “D and D” or a righteous “canary” in the midst of widespread corruption.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Rhetorical Analysis

Barbara Lerner wrote her essay “The Killer Narcissists” after widely covered public school shootings in the late 1990’s. A free-lance writer and a psychologist, Lerner argues that the existing psychological explanations regarding the mental and emotional make-up of students who organize and carry-out these violent acts is outdated and ill-effective. She states that a pre-1960’s psychological diagnosis would characterize these students as rejected, abused, and with low self-confidence, using such violently brazen acts as an unconscious “plea” for help. Lerner refutes such ideas, arguing that these students embody narcissism, needing strong social relationships and moral conditioning in such volatile adolescent years. Although mounting valid arguments of definition, evaluation, and proposal, Lerner misses the mark with regards to her essay’s soundness.


Although noted as a psychologist, the precise level of her education in the field remains unknown. In light of the fact that her claim relies heavily on psychological premises and assumptions, the ambiguity of her expertise makes critical readers question her reliability, or her extrinsic ethos. Her article appeared in 1999, in the May issue of the National Review, one month after the infamous school shooting at a high-school in Columbine, Colorado. It’s noteworthy to wonder why an essay examining psychological profiling would not appear in a journal of psychology or education, rather a political publication with leaning conservative tendencies (this point will appear later). The lack of Lerner’s expertise on the matter, coupled with her essay appearing in a political magazine, creates skepticism as to underlying motivation. Namely, would such an article attempt to influence policy towards a specific political outcome? Although no concrete evidence either affirms or denies this concern, it does bring Lerner’s extrinsic ethos into further volatility.


Despite this, the logical fluidity of Lerner’s argument is valid. Her first warrant is both justifiably and emotionally relevant after such shocking and horrific violence in this nation’s schools: society must become more adept at discovering and ameliorating students prone to violence. Concluding that the increased number of school shootings is a result of an increased number of narcissistic children in American society, and not previously-held explanations, Lerner cites logical reasons to justify her claim. Below is a diagram of Lerner’s argument.

Barbra Lerner Argument from “The Killer Narcissists”:

Warrant/Assumption: Ameliorating student’s susceptibility to violence is important
Warrant/Assumption
: Morality is a foundation to proper development


Premise/Reason
: Past evaluation of violent school children is inaccurate and outdated
Premise/Reason
: Students who committed such acts do not fit into pre-established diagnoses


Claim
: Increased school shootings come from an increase in narcissistic children, and not previously held beliefs.

As previously mentioned, the emotional investment much of the country felt after the tragic events in Columbine, CO gives Lerner a strong appeal towards pathos. After the April 1999 shootings, much of the country felt several emotions: sadness, fear, anger, perhaps even a tinge of hopelessness based on the severity of events. This gives Lerner’s argument tremendous emotional appeal, which provides her essay with strong relevance and significance.

Lerner’s first premise relies on evaluating past thinking towards violent, anti-social behavior. This is where Lerner creates her first fallacy. She states that “sensate” Americans have heard of the old psychological explanations before. These explanations come from experts, teachers, preachers, politicians, and journalists. She concludes that these social forces have engrained into the collective social conscious of America that violent acts are a hidden cry for help.

It is important to identify two aspects of the premise. One, where is evidence to support her reason? Why did she not include data that examined the basic psychological understanding of the American public? Whey did she not include a primary source from one of the many “social forces” she lists that permeate such archaic psychological explanations? Second, it is a very broad assumption to state that the propagation of misinformation on American society can be organized from these numerous social forces. Lerner makes it appear as if it is a coordinated movement. This is a fallacy of hasty generalization.

The second of Lerner’s premises is that students who commit these violent acts in school do not follow the old psychological model of evaluation. Lerner states that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who jointly killed thirteen students and one teacher in the Columbine shooting, had been reared in loving homes, were thought of as “normal” by neighbors, and had received psychological counseling that included anger management. They completed their counseling two months prior to the shooting.

On this point, Lerner offers the reader a logical premise (that Harris and Klebold do not fit into a traditional psychological explanation). However, how reliable is this evidence? Lerner does not provide any source(s) for her information. How are readers to know that this information is credible? Why didn’t Lerner interview, or find an existing interview, with one, or both, of the boy’s counselors affirming their completion of their counseling program? Where Lerner provides a valid premise to her claim, she lacks reliable and credible evidence to support her premise. This further undermines her argument’s soundness.

She goes on to discuss Kip Kinkel, a fifteen-year old Oregon high-school student who murdered his parents, and afterwards murdered two of his classmates, in addition to wounding twenty-five others. Lerner states that Kinkel posed a problem to conventional psychological understanding in explaining his motivation. Kinkel, she states, was raised in a loving family environment, making the reader assume that Kinkel had no severe emotional trauma while growing up. Again, Lerner fails to accompany this premise by including evidence to support it. Lerner forces the reader to take her assumptions as truth. She very well could be accurate, but without corroborating evidence (from, say, a psychiatrist who examined the boy) to support her, the reader must remain skeptical.

Finally, Lerner reaches the zenith of her argument by asserting her claim that there are more “wanton schoolboy killers” because of their narcissism. She defines a narcissist as one who did not grow out of their infancy’s self-love, and who develops inauthentic personal and social relationships. To the narcissist, individuals can become expendable after serving their “purpose,” which can include a violent demise, especially in the emotionally-volatile adolescent years. Lerner warns that the narcissists will favor the exercise of rage, especially through dramatic means. Even if one were to take away guns from their possession, narcissists will choose explosives and other melodramatic examples to express their rage. Lerner mentions Ted Kaczynski and the Japanese subway saboteurs from 1995 as examples of extreme narcissistic behavior.

The banality of this claim comes from a few inadequate rhetorical methods. First, Lerner fails to provide the reader with any evidence, either data or expert opinions. Once again, Lerner forces the reader into blindly accepting her assumptions. The absence of evidence bemoans a sound argument.

Second, there is a problem in Lerner’s definition of narcissism. While articulating the possible repercussions of a severely narcissistic individual, she uses the term as a broad “catch-all” of violent, anti-social individuals (Kaczynski, persons involve in the Sarin gas released in the Japanese subway, and adolescent gun violence in school). It is unlikely that all narcissistic individuals possess such violent possibilities, yet Lerner describes the problem in a similar vein when she correlates school shootings with an increase in narcissistic children. This is another example of the author committing a fallacy of hasty generalization. In addition, her definition of narcissism may come close to many individuals idea of self-centeredness and/or arrogance. It would be wise for Lerner to provide an illustrative example to clarify the psychological distinction. Without providing supportive evidence linking a rise in school shootings to an increase in narcissistic children, this portion of her premise borders closely to a fallacy of false cause.

Lerner’s final analysis ultimately leads to a proposal. She feels that children need to experience morality in the lives of their parents to deflect narcissistic development. In her opinion, anger management will not solve adolescent narcissism, only moral conditioning. She utilizes the importance society places on morality as her second warrant in the argument. Although, morality is a strong undercurrent of contemporary American society, without providing specific recommendations and evidence to support her proposal, the reader may infer a stance of moral superiority with this proposal. This, coupled with the conservative-leanings of the National Review, can make readers wary as to the author’s underlying intent.

Barbra Lerner writes a very emotionally significant article with the intent to shed light on the reasons behind such shocking and traumatic events in the nation’s public schools. Her premises align amicably with her conclusion, but the lack of evidence, in addition to argumentative fallacies, undermine the soundness of her claim. Her psychological diagnosis, or some form of it, may prove to be true (if not already). However, without sufficient, quality evidence void of rhetorical deceptiveness, readers cannot analyze her essay’s arguments of definition, analysis, and proposal without retaining healthy skepticism.

Poem



To Soldiers

Gentle compatriots flaunting
unabashed skeletons. Moving
towards keystrokes and widgets
widgets to harness the mighty
swords of hieroglyphics.

Dare not be moved in such
wreckless words. Words
to imagine a future
floating amongst dire
needs

dire beaches.






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.