Daniel Cano/ Professor Hayes/ English 100 /February 28th, 2013

Introductory Statement

 

 

 

  For this essay, the class was supposed to select their own column with a topic under debate. These topics varied from the legalization of marijuana, comparison of bullying, to the morality of prostitution. I couldn't wait to hear how one could argue for or against prostitution, but unfortunately, that student had dropped out of class before the show could start. Anyway, our class had a wide range of topics and the professor urged us to all stand up and mingle with each other in class showing off and suggesting our topic to others in peer groups. If your group agreed your topic is interesting and debatable, they would put down the topics they had, and assume yours. I can’t remember my group's different topics, but I had proposed the comparison between cyber bullying, and traditional bullying. I was questioned how cyber could be worse, but told them to imagine someone taking private photos of others and posting them all on the internet for everyone to see. They were easily convinced (which amazed me) and all four of us agreed to take a stand on the bullying topic. The concept of the final draft was to take three different articles (or columns) and then crtique them for any signs of bias, discredit, refutation, and effective methods of persuading the audience through objection, and presentation of evidence. A sample of a critique I made is shown below this paragraph which criticizes the author's critique. Afterwards, we were assigned to construct a Toulmin Diagram, which measures the author's claims by qualification of statement, reason, exception, objection and rebuttal. This can also help measure the column's effectivensess in the final draft of my essay. Anyhow, at first all of my attention went direct to “Cyber Bullying is Worse than Traditional Bullying” I’m not too sure why, but I then decided to scrap the entire essay, and make dramatic changes to it. It’s mainly because I felt that I did not have much to argue with that article mentioned, since it was too short, but was straightforward, and able to make good points and reasoned rationally. (351 words)

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Daniel Cano

Professor Hayes

English 100 (484 words)

March 24th, 2013

 

Critique Pre-Write 

 

  In the article “Comparison of Perspectives of Narcissism” by Ian Fagerstrom, he starts of his article illustrating how he sees narcissism’s omnipresence, then states that feeling special, self-absorbed, and narcissism is a  much discussed topic. Ian then discusses narcissism by the prespectives of other authors;  whose work we were supposed to read as a class.  Although it a little unclear for figuring out what Ian’s stance is-he reveals it later when he discusses his agreement with author Greenberg, and also shares little agreement with the other two authors. I my point of view, I believe that Ian using the authors works and telling the reader who he agrees with, and disagrees with, was an effective method for getting his viewpoint across, but may have put other two authors Twenge and Schumaker on the spot, with a blunt critique.  

 

   After Ian began his paper by discussing authors Schumaker, Twenge, and Greenberg’s point of view, Ian then decides to break down and elaborate what their definition of narcissism is and whether or not it is a healthy self-concept. Ian wrote-“To fully understand what these authors are saying, we must first know how they are defining narcissism.” By using the authors definitions of narcissism in their view, that is a very effective method to get the message out to the reader. Ian may have been blunt on Schumaker and Twenge’s viewpoints; since he stated Schumaker’s “very negative” viewpoint as “interested in the downside of self-esteem.”  Ian then discusses Twenge’s view, saying Twenge “…tends to put the young generation in a negative light, accusing us of being obsessed with ourselves…” However, Ian seems to praise Greenberg’s viewpoint much more frequently, making it appear biased, but discussed an issue with Schumaker’s piece that makes it relevant to his viewpoint-“happiness is almost impossible if one is unable to escape the prison of self-interest.” Which is used as Ian’s refutation to avoid discredit.

 

     Ian also criticizes Schumaker’s lack of evidence very harshly, as Ian perpetuates the fact that-“Schumaker does not really give any evidence to show that rising narcissism is a serious problem. He doesn’t have any evidence; he just makes good points that it is a negative trait.” Ian then praises Greenberg’s “compelling points” that challenges Twenges evidence-“While Twenge may have some hard evidence with her survey, saying that 30 percent more college students score above average on the NPI than in 1982…Greenberg makes some compelling points to challenge her findings.” Ian’s also says that “…Schumaker is right that some societies encourage narcissistic tendencies, very true in the post-consumer society of the United States. But I am not so pessimistic about as Twenge and Schumaker about the future, based on my generation’s values.” So Ian’s contradicting Twenge’s and Schumaker’s stance based on his experiences in his generation, allow him to discuss the constant objecting and refutation on the belief or myth that narcissism is problem by using three author’s viewpoints.

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Daniel Cano
Professor Hayes
English 100 (785 words)
March 24th, 2013

The Toulmin Diagram

“Traditional Forms of Bullying Remain a More Prevalent and Serious Problem” Toulmin Diagram

Claim: Susan M. Swearer professor at University of Nebraska claims that, “…with increased access to computers, cellphones, and wireless Internet—not to mention the exploding popularity of social media sites—cyber-bullying will be on the rise in the coming years. But for now, traditional forms of bullying are more common.”

• Qualification: There is qualification to this argument; one could argue that bumps, bruises and cuts when involved in a faced to face conflict is worse than a few names, and a ruined reputation.

• Exception: She does not insist that physical bullying is either worse, if not better than cyber bullying itself, which will leave unanswered questions.

-Reason 1: Swearer argues, “Whether battling rumors about their sexual orientation, enduring criticism of their clothes or getting pushed around at recess, kids are bullied offline all the time.”

· Reason makes its point. Bullies can pick after internet bullying the night before. Swearer gets the evidence from “a recent survey of more than 40,000 U.S. high school students conducted by the Josephson Institute, which focuses on ethics, 47 percent said they were bullied in the past year. But, according to the 2007 book "Cyber Bullying," as few as 10 percent of bullying victims are cyber-bullied.”

-Reason 2: Swear then comes to, “Bullying is negative, mean, repetitive behavior that occurs in a relationship characterized by an imbalance of power. It can happen in a middle school—but it can also happen in an office.”

· Even if the reason does tell that bullying takes off from adolescence to adulthood, it also defines what bullying is all about and why it happens. Evidence that supports this includes adults being harassed at work: “According to the Journal of Management Studies, nearly 50 percent of American workers have experienced or witnessed bullying in the workplace, even if they did not recognize it as such.”

-Reason 3: Afterwards, Swearer also states that, “Bullying can be a trigger for suicide, but other underlying factors are usually involved.”

· This reason is said knowing that contradiction would be stated by the opposing party, who would say that bullying is the primary reason the victims commit suicide, or not every victim to put themselves at harm’s way. Evidence that backs this claim up is given with the Center for Disease Control’s research, “ According to the CDC, risk factors for suicide include a family history of suicide, depression or other mental illness, alcohol or drug abuse, a personal loss, easy access to firearms and medication, exposure to the suicidal behavior of others, and isolation.”

-Reason 4: Finally, Swearer comes to dis cuss the matters in programs against bullying as of, “ …a study of school bullying-prevention programs over nearly 25 years found that they changed attitudes and perceptions about bullying, but not bullying behavior. This isn't great news. Victims of bullying don't want to know more about bullying—they want it to stop.”

· Although this reason does a good job in discussing how bullies are unable to fully eliminate all habits of harassing others, it also speaks for itself as evidence from research.

-Objection 1: Cyber bullying is what causes one’s reputation to be completely destroyed by photos, messages, and other forms of media.

· Rebuttal: That may be true, but traditional, live harassment and embarrassment from bullies present at the moment will result in a worse confrontation since the bully is in dominance of his/her victims.

-Objection 2: Although traditional bullying is argued as“more common”, what makes that more dangerous than cyber bullying?

· Rebuttal: Because traditional bullying is more common, that makes a widespread issue not just in America, but in other places of the world as well, with cases differing from minor fights, to much more severe issues than that.

-Objection 3: If bullies think that taking out al anger on others will solve their problems, which only creates more, what can be done to stop bullying entirely?

· Rebuttal: That is the issue which is hard to control, or cannot be prevented. Programs like sports, clubs, and other programs are intended to promote positive mindset for kids like teamwork, commitment, and so on; not to destroy one’s old habits. Take for example, a kid with success on the football team still bullies and targets the weaker and more timid kids in school.

-Objection 4: If bullying does not stop when the bully grows up and goes to work in office like work environment, what’s keeping the bullied adults from reporting or doing something about the bully?

· Rebuttal: A lot of the bullies who torment fellow workers are often in a higher position, or higher rank, having authority over all who work in the same place.

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Daniel Cano

Professor Hayes

English 100 (1662 words)

March 24th, 2013

 

Taking A Stance

 

Do you remember being traditionally bullied in your childhood years? Nowadays, do you recall being cyber bullied in the past couple of years? Which of the two do you believe is worse to be a victim of? Both methods of intimidating others may seem the same, but only that can be said by the uninformed. (which I was) After I read and analyzed three articles written by authors that argued and discussed the topic, I took my stance for which article was the most convincing. Out the three authors Scott Meech, Yalda T. Uhis, and Susan M. Swearer, Susan M. Swearer’s article, “Traditional Forms of Bullying Remain a More Prevalent and Serious Problem,” was the most convincing than her fellow author’s articles. Yalda T. Uhis’ article, “Cyber Bullying Has a Broader Impact than traditional Bullying” and Scott Meech’s “Cyber Bullying is Worse than Traditional Bullying” could have been as convincing as Swearer’s, but Swearer made better use of a straightforward point, reasoned rationally, and provided superior evidence in her argument. 

Could this really be worse than being bullied traditionally?

  When I began reading through Meech’s article, it was already very clear what his stance is; hence the title “Cyber Bullying is Worse than Physical Bullying. Meech states his claim in his second section of the article (“No Refuge From Harassment”) stating “The long term Impact of cyber bullying is greater than with traditional bullying.” He also provided reasonable thought for this claim saying, “Digital images, cell phones, and other electronic means can greatly increase the speed in which the bully’s messages can spread. “I agreed with Meech’s realistic reason, as he elaborated further by quoting Strom and Strom’s strong statement, ‘“Harmful messages intended to undermine the reputation of a victim can be far more damaging than face to face altercations. Instead of remaining a more private matter or event known by only a small group, text or photographs can be communicated to a large audience in a short time.”’ I was convinced that I’d rather get in a fistfight with a bully than have any private photos leaked for the entire world to see, and be blackmailed. (That’s if I had any.) As the article was beginning to reach its closing, Meech’s refutation about the confiscation of technology from minors made sense, since refutation is always key to avoid becoming discredited by counter arguers. Meech confirmed that “Taking technology away from kids to protect them is not the answer, as they have integrated its use to such an extent that it would now begin to isolate them within their peer circles. Besides, the technology in itself is not bad; it is the manner in which it is used. ” From this illustration, I can tell that Meech presented a sort of statement which involved him thinking outside the box to continue supporting his argument.  After reading Meech’s article, I understood it, and was satisfied with what I was presented, as Meech’s article comes out to be the most reasonable.

  As for Uhis article, I picked it up, excited to see what he had to argue in his article “Cyber Bullying has A Broader Effect than Traditional Bullying.” Instead, I was wrong to look forward to reading this article. Out of the three articles read this was the least convincing since he made no claim; Uhis only illustrated factual events that took place where victims committed suicide due to being victims of online bullying in his first paragraph. Uhis then makes an assertion that did not involve open minded thinking; he asserts “Because Digital Media Tools allow bullying to happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week, youth were using tools to torment victims who allegedly saw no choice for escape but to kill themselves.” This looks like the youth all over America are all killing themselves or at least thinking about it because of being bullied online. While this assertion can be objected, and subject for counterargument, he ends the paragraph with a remark which may leave the audience believing Uhis just contradicted himself. Uhis said, “Perhaps cyber bullying contributed to this increase?” [Increase in teenage suicide] I was disappointed in reading this part of the article, as I expected a claim, and good reason for it. Uhis presents evidence not with quotes, but with a lot of statistics such as,  “…in a survey of 7200 US 6-10^th grade students…over a 2 month period, 13.3% of the students reported that they had bullied at least once physically, 37.4% verbally, 27.2% socially, and 8.3% electronically.” Stats are great for displaying how serious situations are on society. Yet, Uhis article also does not compare traditional bullying to online bullying in his second section, (“Comparing Cyber Bullying and Traditional Bullying) which will appear as biased. I placed the article down when finished reading it; feeling disappointed as I thought this could help me figure out how online bullying affected others more than traditional bullying did. I glanced at a printed version of Susan M. Swearer’s article, hoping that this one had more to offer me.

  After finishing reading Uhis disappointing column, I moved forward to Swearer’s “Traditional Forms of Bullying Remain a More Prevalent and Serious Problem.” I have to admit, I saw this article as well organized and easier to understand which made it far more convincing and reliable than Uhis’ article. Swearer organizes her article in sections using “myths”, as her stated claim was-“[C]yber-bullying will be on the rise in coming years. But for now, traditional forms of bullying are more common.” (Notice the typo.)  Although Meech’s argument and point were made, Swearer’s has a lot more to say about bullying, and compares both online and traditional bullying thoroughly. I agree that traditional bullying at times is overlooked and not as paid more attention to as online bullying, as she states, “As tragic as they are, these high-profile [cyberbullying] cases should not distract from more traditional—and more prevalent—forms of bullying.” Afterwards, she also did well using evidence with quotes and statistics , as she also states “While it's hard to stereotype bullying behavior in every school in every town in America, experts agree that at least 25 percent of students across the nation are bullied in traditional ways: hit, shoved, kicked, gossiped about, intimidated or excluded from social groups.”(Myth 1: Most Bullying Happens Online”) The only thing I did not like about that evidence provided was that Swearer did not tell the audience where she obtained that data from, other than mentioned “experts”, which may feel like that was made up and make her source reliability questionable. Yet she makes up for it by providing other evidence from the Josephson Institute from stats in survey results-“In a recent survey of more than 40,000 U.S. high school students conducted by the Josephson Institute, which focuses on ethics, 47 percent said they were bullied in the past year.” This is evidence which I personally approve of. I was also given background information on the science of what it is to be a bully, and why some kids bully others which I thought was good to know about. Swearer discusses this in “Myth 2: Bullies are Bullies and Victims are Victims” as she states that “According to a 2007 study of bullying in Japan, South Africa and the United States, 72 percent of children who were physically abused by their parents became a bully, a victim of a bully or both.” I also admired her use of evidence from CDC (Center for Disease Control) as she stated, “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, behind traffic accidents and homicide. And while individuals who are bullied are at increased risk for self-harm, it's too simplistic to blame the deaths of victims solely on bullying.” And even refutes, “while individuals who are bullied are at increased risk for self-harm, it's too simplistic to blame the deaths of victims solely on bullying.” After that expression, Swearer illustrates other factors and reasons why someone may harm themselves other than being bullied.This makes her argument much stronger, and harder to be objected from counter arguers.

Really now?

  In conclusion, even If I found Swearer’s article as having the strongest evidence backing up her claim making her article the most reliable and convincing, I still find Meech’s article to be the 2^nd most convincing because it is the most reasonable, simply by providing information on how cyber bullying can harm an individual mentally, due to its omnipresence that can never go away especially with those of weaker constitutions; as Meech stated “Perhaps the greatest long-term effect was the loss of the home as the safe-zone.” Then after stating that claim, Meech quotes Greg Toppo, reporter of USA today as he said “It’s a non-stop type of harassment and it creates a sense of helplessness.” That makes me believe that is one of many factors that involve an individual committing suicide, and is convincing; because of the blackmail, intrusion of home as a safe zone, and the leaking of private information. Uhis was the least convincing because it was biased, due to the lack of higher quality reasoning in his argument, as well as the absence of a claim which made him (In my opinion) discredited.

 

 Works Cited

 

Scott Meech. Cyber Bullying: Worse Than Traditional Bullying. Educators' eZine, 2007. Print.

Swearer, Susan M. Traditional Forms of Bullying Remain a More Prevalent and Serious Problem. Cyberbullying. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from "Five Myths About Bullying." Washington Post. 2010. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 4 Mar. 2013.

Uhls, Yalda T. “Cyberbullying Has a Broader Impact than Traditional Bullying.”Cyberbullying. Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Rpt. from “Is Bullying Going Digital? Cyber Bullying Facts.” PsychologyinAction.org. 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 6 Sep. 2012.

 

 

 

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