Sunday, May 4, 2014

Ashley Webster---Blog Post 4



Both sides of the argument make use of the top ten power words used to persuade when debating whether or not social networking is good for our society. The PRO social networking side argues that these sites provide an environment where people can make new friends. The word new makes it seem fun and exciting because we all enjoy novel experiences. The CON side emphasizes the risks associated with using social media sites to self-diagnose health problems. We generally take our health very seriously so use of this word is very powerful in terms of persuasiveness.

You can also see examples of Weaver’s ultimate terms being used on either side for their ability to enhance an argument. Devil terms used by the PRO side include criminals, stigmas, risks, and health problems, while the CON side employs the words addictive, crimes, endanger, harm, cyber bullying, life-threatening, hate, cheating, attack, and waste. The PRO side also uses a lot of god terms including good, help, connect, accomplish, benefit, access, quick, easy, and resources, plus a few charismatic terms like safety and change. The CON side uses a minimal amount of god terms but did include facilitate, sharing, and the charismatic term privacy. The power of labeling is also apparent just in the fact that they separate out the argument to make two groups of people that they label PRO and CON. This makes people think that either one side is fully right and the other fully wrong, or vice versa, when really we should be considering each statement made by each side individually.

No comments:

Post a Comment