Assert American Values

Whenever an author is creating an argument, they must appeal to whatever grabs his or her selected audience’s attention.When given the topic of Michael Fay, an 18 year old American citizen who was punished in Singapore for vandalism by being caned, two sources appealed to their audience in two contrasting ways. In “Time to Assert American Values,” published by The New York Times, the author tries to capture his or her audience by stirring up emotion. In “Rough Justice: A Caning in Singapore Stirs up a Fierce Debate about Crime and Punishment,” Alejandro Reyes presents factual evidence throughout the entire article to support his claims. After carefully analyzing both texts, it is apparent that Alejandro Reyes gives a more convincing and sufficient
This makes his argument more credible and allows the reader to trust what he’s saying. When quoting a statement given by the Singapore government, Reyes said “[the] statement noted that in the past five years, fourteen young men aged 18 to 21, twelve of whom were Singaporean, had been sentenced to caning for vandalism” (Reyes 182). This gives a credible example of punishments that can be proven. Reyes then goes on to state, “Preventive detention laws allow authorities to lock up suspected criminals without trial. While caning is mandatory in cases of vandalism, rape and weapons offenses, it is also prescribed for immigration violations such as overstaying visas and hiring of illegal workers” (Reyes 182). By informing the reader of this, the author gives an example of how harsh the government’s laws are. Reyes states, “At dawn on May 13, six Malaysians were hanged for drug trafficking, bringing to seventeen the number executed for such offenses so far this year, ten more than the total number of prisoners executed in all of 1993” (Reyes 181). This gives an exact count of the offenses and the number of people hanged for their crimes, which informs the reader and allows them to form an accurate opinion on the