Rhetorical Analysis: Is Our Country As Our Athletes Are? '

The New York Times journalist David Brooks has wrote countless editorials about the political climate of today’s current election. Brooks also contributes to the New York Times by writing various articles regarding culture and the social sciences. The issues Brooks presents in his pieces is about the political candidates and how they’re faring in their respective parties. In addition to this, Brooks provides an overlook on the various aspects of American culture which can date back to the 18th-century America. His focus is on the national issues and includes United States history that has effected today’s society such as Frederick Douglass, who wanted to change his society’s perception of African Americans so he had 160 photographs of himself

In his articles, Brooks points his claim to the audience with several data that supports his thesis. Any argument he starts with has evidence from various sources referenced from multiple authors or research facilities such as the World Values Survey in the article “Is Our Country as Good as Our Athletes Are?” He provides a counter argument that may be brought up to discount his claim and he refutes it by adding additional evidence. David Brooks usually poses his question to his audience so they can think introspectively about how the claim relates to their life. Altruism is a topic discussed in his article “The Power of Altruism” and he exposes human’s will of doing good is negatively affected when monetary gain is put into their situation. Brooks provides research that could be applied to daily life so the audience can see the change money adds to morality. He asks his question outright in the aforementioned article “Is Our Country as Good as Our Athletes Are?” He puts a positive spin to this and marks the United States as successfully which can be compared to the many achievements the United States has won in the Olympics. The similarity in his structures is evident with his continued use of providing a clear claim and followed with fact based paragraphs. The audience he targets is the person who is open minded to the issues he addresses and is willing to hear his outlook on topics like United States future, ideal affluence, and the economic effect to