Paul Krugman's Rhetorical Analysis

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Paul Krugman’s humorous rhetoric both entertains and informs the reader towards America’s consistent uneducated assumptions of other countries. He opens with a critical approach of the Republican Candidate, Jeb Bush and his comment about French work weeks. Krugman immediately shot down Bush’s argument and referred him as “french toast”, in order to describe the weight of the outcome on his campaign in a joking manner. He inserts an interjection and utilizes common speech to convey straight messages about his possible political standing in the presidential race and elaborates on how groundless his statements were about the French work ethic. Krugman’s sour critique then moves onto yet another Republican, Ben Carson. Although there weren’t any …show more content…

Rather than progressing and remaining active for the betterment of America, the country continues to dwell in the past by surrounding itself with fictional stereotypes and overwhelming confidence. Krugman’s tone shifts to a more concerned viewer, as he stressed the importance of relying on factual evidence opposed to cultural biases. America’s formation of a French caricature inevitably backfires when statistical evidence (a chart) reveals about how untrue the nation’s ‘facts’ are about the employment rates in the European country. As shown on the graph, France’s employment rate has grown steadily over the years, while America’s rate has continuously declined, resulting in a substantial gap between the two countries. If America is not willing to improve itself as a nation and a world power, it will no longer be respected by the rest of the world. Its famous reputation as a world power would stripped, leaving it helpless and bare to harsh judgement and criticism of the Earth’s citizens. Although laughing and poking fun at a country’s past mistakes is comfortable and natural for America, it only proves of how distracted we are about the reality of America’s idleness. If we do not take ourselves seriously, who

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