Have you ever heard the saying, “Quantity has a quality all its own.”? During World War Two Joseph Stalin, who possessed strength in sheer number of troops, defeated Hitler who had the advantage of superior equipment and more highly trained soldiers. In this particular case quantity overcame quality; not so in Karen Sternheimer’s article “Hollywood Doesn’t Threaten Family values’. Although Sternheimer uses many types of evidence to support her claim that elements of social structure negatively impact family values more than Hollywood, she chooses to provide quantity over quality. As a consequence her argument presents not only incomplete but also ineffective. In her article Sternheimer presents a few real life examples to support her argument. She refers to several politicians who have “ chastised” (40) Hollywood for their negative influence on American family values. Although she provides full names of a few politicians, she does not describe any one specific event or quote from any of them. The lack of specifics makes her point too general and therefore less convincing. Another piece of weak real life examples occurs when Sternheimer describes how “magazines...publish only stories that studios approved.”(40) and uses as an example the “ ‘Gentlemen’s agreements’ with the studios [which] kept sensitive information secret, Rock Hudson’s homosexuality being a famous example.”(40). Although she provides Rock Hudson’s full name she fails to establish sufficient details, like the name of the studio and the studio boss, the magazines involved or any specific circumstances involving these “gentlemen’s agreements”.(40). She further explains, “This did not, however, stop the press from gathering potentially damaging information about the ... ... middle of paper ... ...ifference if she is a historian specializing in pop culture or, for instance, medieval times. The more information readers have about the authority the better the reader can determine whether or not this is a credible authority. Likewise the most effective use of statistics as evidence occurs when enough information is provided such as who or what organizations compiled the data. Additionally, ratios and percentages are more credible if real numbers are also provided. Obvious a sample of ten-thousand respondents offer more validity than a sample size of one-thousand. Throughout Sternheimer’s article she cites numerous authorities and statistics but, because they lack essential information for readers to determine their credibility, her evidence remains incomplete and ineffective. When it comes to providing evidence to support an argument quality supersedes quantity.
In Christopher Gillen’s chapter “The Data Suggest” in “They Say/I Say: The moves that matter in Academic Writing”, Gillen (2010) addresses to the readers his rendition of the correct way to present scientific writing. He first explains that in order to convincingly portray the author’s point about the scientific issue that they either agree with, disagree with is to begin with the data. He states , “Data are the fundamental currency of scientific argument” (Gillen, 2010, pg. 204). Meaning, in order to appear knowledgeable and to open an argument at all, the data, including their numbers, methods and conclusion, from previously existing theories and from the author’s own experiment is crucial to present in the writing. Gillen claims that by
Hollywood itself plays an enormous role on how we as a nation see our society. We life for the dramas, love stories, fairytales, and action pact block-busters we so desperately need to observe every weekend. However, the larger question is, how much of Hollywood’s film making is actual fact compared to what the public wants to see. Throughout Robert Bulman’s Hollywood Goes to High School, we can see how film making can alter the vision of public and private education. Bulman analyzes how films on the poor urban schooling, middle-class suburban schooling, and high elite private schooling can sometimes mislead society’s perception on education. Despite Hollywood’s biases to happy endings and the ability to win over the crowd, Bulman believes that Hollywood has gotten the American education somewhat correct. However, American culture is constantly playing a role on our interpretation of education through social class, historical events in the past and racial/ethnic biases.
While Price does make a persuasive argument I cannot agree with the theme of his commentary. I have been a fervent viewer of television and films for years on end. Admittedly, much of what I watch on television qualifies as escapism or mere entertainment. I do not have a high degree of respect for the medium; however my love and admiration of film is intense. One could easily dismiss movies as superficial, unnecessarily violent spectacles, although such a viewpoint is distressingly pessimistic and myopic. In a given year, several films are released which have long-lasting effects on large numbers of individuals. These pictures speak to us as people and convey messages that are timely and timeless. Words are powerful, but visual images are overwhelming.
An example of this is,”The question was even looser in 1998 and 2002, when the General Social Survey found that roughly seventy percent of americans had read a novel,a short story ,a poem, or a play in the preceding twelve months. And, this August, seventy-three percent of respondents to another poll said they had read a book of some kind, not excluding those read for work or school, in the past year. If you didn’t read the fine print, you might think that reading was on the rise.”(Crain 7) This explains why Crain might have chosen to use statistics as a reference. Many times statistics help to explain reasoning for something that commentary cannot. An example of how Crain thinks that technology is the main reason for the decrease would be,”Children may be browbeaten, but adults resist interference with their pleasures. It may simply be the case that many Americans prefer to learn about the world and to entertain themselves with television and other streaming media, rather than with the printed word…”(Crain 8) This quote represents the problem as to why we turn to technology. It also gives the reader an example of why the reading decrease might be occurring. Technology could also be the root of many other problems in
s a conceptual artist, Willem Boshoff challenges his viewers to consider the interplay of words, textures and visual elements, and in the case of Prison Hacks/Prison Sentences (2006, installation of black Zimbabwe granite slabs; Constitutional Court, Johannesburg) it’s important to take into consideration not only the name of the work and its execution, but the materials used and the location in which the work is installed, as all have bearing on the ultimate meaning and, consequently, the choice of name. It can also be argued that the decision to change the name of the work is also part of the overall presentation of the installation and the understanding that one can gain from discussion of this discourse.
The way the author supported his claims was by describing how he organized the data he used and why he used it the way it was used. For example, he organized the wills, charters and letters per year to seek the average and highest for a certain span of time. While pinpointing where the highest average
That alone provides a great source of credibility to the paper. The idea that this is an author who has done the research, gathered the numbers, and analyzed the data, allows the reader to rest in the idea that they are reading a valid article, and receiving good, hard, evidence. Twenge also uses a very logical tone throughout her article, maintaining the idea that the data is as clear as day, and that there is no disproving it; the numbers show true facts.
On almost every statement Page explains, she has some sort of statistic to back up what is being said. This allows for readers to gain a better view on the point trying to be made
It seems the implications behind words like “celebrity” and “hypocrite” have more in common than the similar implications lulling beneath words like “lemon” and “orange”. And yet, according to Lisa Rogak, the author behind the biography of Shel Silverstein, he “had no patience with people who lied, were insincere, or were outright fakes.” (Shields) But, according to Charles J. Shields, who wrote a critical review on the biography, “He also didn’t own a driver’s license that would have stated his age, ‘a fact that he sometimes used to his advantage to tease his friends and mislead women.’ One-night stands were his thing, and ‘he wasn’t above using his fame to his advantage when it came to attracting women.’ Nothing ‘staunched the flow of women to his bed.’”
Freedom in any society is a condition that is directly correlated to the compliance of society’s rules, regulations, and laws. This right afforded to citizens under the constitution is surrendered by those who choose to disregard and trample on the set of standards and behavior needed for a society to maintain order and avoid anarchy. When loss of freedom is the tool used to punish this segment of society, prisons become the instrumentality used to carry out the various freedom restrictions under the law for each individual. Citizens who find themselves incarcerated in prison will be exposed to an entirely different environment than those in free society. In addition, there is a psychological impact on those being reintroduced into society after having completed long-term sentences, an impact many believe contribute to the high recidivism rates in the United States. The criminal justice system with all of its connected inner workings may not address all of the concerns inside and out of our current prison system, but just as we have improved on our prisons from the past, we will continue to improve and implement new techniques and design precise programs in our future prisons.
Describe some ways in which business values and artistic values in Hollywood contend with one another.
Longitudinal research has been conducted comparing the rate of violence in male and female prisons. It is important to do research on this topic because it does not only lead to the conclusion of where is violence prevalent, but focuses on other aspects as well. It focuses on the psychological, social, and sexual side of the inmate. This topic does not only focus on who has the highest rates of violence, but why does that sex have a higher rate. This topic looks deeper at the differences between male and female inmates and what causes them to have high rates of violence. Most people would say that male prisons have a higher rate of violence due to biological reasons. People tend to think that males are more aggressive therefore violence is prevalent in male prisons, yet there is a lot more to this idea.
Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John J. . Reich. Culture and Values. 7th ed. Vol. 1. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. Print.
Throughout the article, Gioia uses a lot of evidence to try and prove that literature matters. He uses statistics from many different studies to provide evidence for his cause. This is shown in the second paragraph, when Gioia says, “The declines have been most severe among younger adults (ages 18-24). The most worrisome finding in the 2002 study, however, is the declining percentage
Wyatt, Justin. “The Stigma of X: Adult Cinema and the Institution of the MPAA Ratings System.” Controlling Hollywood: Censorship and Regulation in the Studio Era. Ed. Matthew Bernstein. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1999. (238-264).