IRB Intro #3

For my third IRB, I am going to read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.  I am coosing to read this book because nonfiction crime books interest me and I have been meaning to read the book for awhile and hope to do so for this upcoming IRB.  This is why I chose this book for my third IRB.

TOW #16: IRB

In the the second half of the book The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Thom Hatch, a consultant and commentator for The History Channel as well as PBS, further presents the astounding backstory of two of the most notorious criminals out west during the frontier.  Going into the second half of the accounts of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Hatch focuses more on the story of the notorious bandits as opposed to how they came to be the iconic outlaws we know today.  Hutch uses terrific and descriptive imagery in order to entertain his audience as well as to further emphasize the story of the two.  Despite this however, that is not the most interesting factor of the second half of the book The Last Outlaws.  In fact, what sets this account of the two legends apart from others is its appeal to the conspiracy of what may have happened to them after their disappearance.  Because of this appeal to speculation as opposed to fact, Hatch introduces an aspect of mystery into his book.  This allows for the book to feel more like a fictional piece, allowing for audiences to rely on their own opinions as opposed to ethos and logos.  Hatch often blends this speculation with imagery through examples such as “ she eulogized: ‘All his life he was chased.  Now he has a chance to rest in peace, and thats the way it must be.’  She never revealed where the alleged Butch had been buried, if indeed she knew the location” (Hatch 289).  This allows for Hatch to appeal to audiences consisting of Western enthusiasts, those seeking action, as well as conspiracy theorists due to the speculation on the deaths/disappearances of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  Hatch succeeds in creating an appealing and thrilling book on the topic, resulting in a book that can be enjoyed by all audiences.  As opposed to creating a book of solely facts on the outlaws, Hatch truly recounts the lives of the legends Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

TOW #15: Nonfiction

In the piece entitled “Spreading Corruption in Sports” by The Editorial Board at The New York Times, a successful newspaper company trusted and praised by millions across the globe, the issue of performance enhancing drugs being enforced in sports is brought up.  Through the usage of both references to real life examples as well as suggestions to the author's own views on what should be done to condense the issue, The Editorial Board succeeds in trying to convince an audience of both sports enthusiasts and sports officials to side with the agreement of enforcing higher restrictions on performance enhancing drugs.  One example in which the author references frequently within the article is the drugs ongoing usage in the sport of track and field.  In the beginning of the opinionated piece, the editorial board introduces the problem by stating how “A report released Thursday by the World Anti-Doping Agency painted a dismal picture of top officials in the ruling body of global track and field, the International Association of Athletics Federations, helping conceal doping or blackmailing athletes who were caught” (para. 2).  By introducing the topic with a recent event event in the news, the editorial board emphasizes how this is an ongoing issue that has now left the world of competitive sports.  Not only that, but the author also references the Olympics in order to show the audience how widespread and unnoticed/tolerated some of these performance enhanced drugs can go.  Towards the end of the essay, the author explains that “The way to change that culture is to prosecute and punish officials who encourage and profit by it” (para. 6).  this gives the audience a reason to side with the author due to the author having a solution as to how to resolve the issue. Because of this, I believe that The Editorial Board at The New York Times succeeds in convincing the audience to side with their beliefs of on stopping the spread of corruption in sports.

TOW#14: Visual

Through this fallacy, camel tobacco attempts to persuade consumers to buy their cigarettes over their competitors.  Targeted towards people who are either heavy smokers or individuals who are trying to cut back on smoking, Camel attempts to pull in these users as new customers by appealing to the health issues of smoking.  In a world where smoking is often deemed as unhealthy, many people are either asked to lay off of smoking or at least feel the need to cut back on smoking themselves.  By referencing an “expert authority”, such as a doctor, Camel implies to its audience through this advertisement that Camel tobacco is a much healthier alternative to other cigarettes.  This not only encourages people to start smoking, but it encourages people to use camel tobacco because it is used by people such as doctors, an occupation that involves informing patients to live healthy lives.  While the message in itself to any nonsmoker seems ridiculous, especially in this time and age where tobacco usage is at an alltime low, back when this advertisement was published there was a much higher account of tobacco users.  Not only that, but to any smoker who is trying to quit, an advertisement such as this that implies that tobacco is not as bad as others say it is is a factor which will easily influence people to become heavy smokers once more.  The advertisement happily states that “More Doctors Smoke Camels than any other cigarette!”  In bold letters in order to emphasize just how much doctors encourage the usage of camel cigarettes.  The corporation also puts Camels in all caps and in red in order to highlight the company name and let it stand out to the reader.  While this advertisement is immoral and encourages individuals to turn to tobacco, it is an effective ad due to its successful usage of appeal to false authority, allowing it to easily attract already heavy users of tobacco and increase sales.