August 20, 2012, 11:13 pm
Scared Straight — Into the Voting Booth
It strikes me as funny that we call our political organizations “parties.” For most of us, elections and political parties are the antithesis of fun. It’s no wonder that many young people avoid them. As colleges around the country welcome hordes of students, and politicians feebly attempt to spark interest in the fall election, we should ask why.
I live in a college town, Austin, now the fastest growing city in the country. Young people are moving here in droves, drawn by the city’s creative energy and laid back lifestyle. And they are some of the most active and committed people I know.
I’ve been lucky to get to know many of them since I moved back to town last summer, after many years in New York City. Tanene Allison is developing a new media platform to give a voice to women, people of color and gay and lesbian youth. Cristina Tzintzun organizes low-income construction workers. Michelle Dahlenburg helps incarcerated women through theater and creative writing. John Fiege is making a film about people taking direct action to address climate change. Patrick Slevin launched a youth orchestra for Latinos. I could go on.
So why do so few young people vote?
In the recent run-off elections to select Senate candidates for the race this fall in Texas (there was one for Democrats and one for Republicans) only 8.5% of eligible voters showed up. These determined citizens essentially decided the outcome in November, given the extreme odds against a Democrat defeating the Republican run-off winner, Ted Cruz. Though Texas is certainly ground zero for weak voter participation, even national averages for young people (18-35) have teetered just around 50% for most presidential elections, and they’re half that in non-presidential election years – 24% in the 2010 midterm elections.
While the percentage of young people who vote has actually grown incrementally during the last few presidential elections, we have yet to return to the voting levels of the early 1970s. Turnout was 55% in 1972 — just after the 26th Amendment to the Constitution added millions of young voters to the rolls by dropping the voting age from 21 to 18. To offer a more stark comparison, voter turnout rates have topped 70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia (where voting is compulsory).
Quoting these sobering statistics, older generations love to bemoan the antipathy of youth, the lack of a culture of civic participation in America. At a dinner party I hosted recently, dour comments flowed. While it was hardly a representative group — the guests included journalists, advocates, a documentary filmmaker and a government official — their remarks were typical: “When I was young everybody got involved in politics, but my kids just don’t care;” “Young people have given up on government, and it’s our fault because government sucks;” “Occupy was so inspiring at first, but I guess they all just wanted to camp.”
These comments ignore other forms of youth engagement that may tell us something about why young people can be enthusiastic volunteers and organizers but tepid voters. Three causes are worth exploring. First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.
The missing link between issue advocacy and voting struck me forcefully when I discovered that many of the young women who rallied recently at the state capitol to protest Gov. Rick Perry’s attack on Planned Parenthood hadn’t voted in the 2010 gubernatorial election. They had skipped a step in the policymaking process that might’ve kept them out of the heat – voting out a leader willing to risk women’s lives to score political points. I’ve also met plenty of bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment, fanatic about composting, obsessed with their carbon footprint — but they don’t vote either.
Other citizens get how government is supposed to work but are deeply cynical about the political process. This isn’t just youthful ennui. Big money has an outsize influence on both political parties, gerrymandering dilutes votes, and partisan gridlock stalls action on even the most pressing problems. Young people are courted during election season and then ignored or chastised when they demand accountability and solutions. There are still too few candidates who represent the diversity of the younger generation, which is comprised mostly of people of color and immigrants. Recognizing all this, we need to make a better case that voting still matters.
Then there’s the fun factor. The fact is, for many young people – all right, most people – civic engagement is a bore. The phrase “civic engagement” conjures images of neighborhood meetings that plod along in rooms with stained carpets, cheap paneling and fluorescent lighting. Slick, overproduced political rallies and overly earnest sharefests. I know, I’ve been there. I’ve even sponsored a few.
How to remedy these ills? We need to put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active – in community gardens, volunteer networks, sports clubs and cultural hubs. Voting should be tied directly to issues that young people care about, as a natural extension of other forms of involvement, creative expression and collective action. And the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction – do you really want to have no say in policies that determine whether or not you have a job, what you pay for college, whether climate change ever gets addressed or even acknowledged? Scared straight into voting.
Most importantly, it should be terrific fun to vote and to stay involved after election day. What if the average civic gathering – whether it’s a political rally, grassroots group, school task force, or city council – involved cook-offs, improv or gaming? What if we devised clever ways to scale up what’s working, instead of whining for a living? What if we banned Robert’s Rules of Order and actually got to know one another? It’s no surprise that two of the most effective movements in the last few years have been the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. They threw out tired old forms of engagement and communication, and inspired people to make noise, create political theater, to engage people’s emotions and not just their rational brains.
Some groups are doing things differently now, and we need more like them. The Bus Project in Oregon recruits young people to get on a bus — yes, an actual bus — to engage voters on issues or candidates they believe in. They’ve made even tried and true methods of political organizing more fun, like their Phone Phests: “Vivacious volunteers + tasty treats + delicious drinks + magnificent music + dialing for democracy = the greatest phone calling experience of your sweet young life.”
The League of Young Voters, despite its stodgy name, is masterful at cultural organizing and social media outreach. Check out “Total Recall Live,” the league’s weekly online talk show where an R&B songstress and a D.J. remix news regarding hip-hop and politics.
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| Yana Paskova for The New York Times Volunteers in Athen, Ohis, 2008. |
Conservatives have wisely invested in youth leadership programs for decades, through groups like the Leadership Institute. Their graduates helped Cruz, a Tea Party favorite, win the primary against the candidate of the Republican establishment and Gov. Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
In 2008, as a candidate, Obama dazzled the nation with his ability to inspire millions, including loads of young people, to get involved in political organizing for the first time. And they reached their goal – they elected Obama. Problem was, it was the wrong goal. The party ended, and many were disillusioned when change didn’t happen overnight. Voting is critical, but it is just one step in the broad spectrum of engagement required to advance real change, whatever your goals and ideology. For democracy to flourish, we need people to do it all — vote, volunteer and raise some righteous hell.
Ann Beeson is a senior fellow and lecturer at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas. She was previously the national associate legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
After reading the article above, answer the following questions:1.) What was the author's purpose?
To Inform
To Entertain
To Question
To Argue
To Elicit an Emotional Response
2.) Once you identify the author's purpose, next explain "for what and/or for whom." In other words, if you stated the author's purpose was to entertain, then explain for what reasons and/or to whom.
3.) Next explain "why?"
Please note that questions 1-3 could be completed in as little as one sentence.
4.) Now list some evidence that supports your assertion on her purpose. You may write this in sentence format, or you may simply bullet the information.
5.) Now discuss what strategy she used to achieve her purpose. You may need to review all the rhetorical devices and strategies we have discussed so far. Sorry, but I am not giving any hints here. Or you can google rhetorical strategies and learn something we have not discussed.
6.) Next, open up one of the ten hyperlinks within the article and read where it takes you. Comment upon the relevancy of the link as it pertains to the article. Does it support the article, if so, in what manner? Does it seem off-topic from the article? If so, then why? If the link no longer exist, then find one that opens.
Please try to read a different link than what others have already reviewed.
7.) Finally, respond to one student's commentary. Just one person this time:>) unless you would like to respond to more than one person, then please feel free to do so.
Due Dates:
Your posting is due by Wednesday, September 4th = 40 points
A thoughtful response to one classmate by Friday, September 6th = 10 points
Yes, this is an extended blog, therefore it will be worth more points. Vague responses will be discussed next week during class and will not be tolerated anymore.
The author's purpose was to inform the reader that most of the youth isn't voting. In paragraph five she states that national averages for young people have been just around 50% for most presidential elections. In paragraph thirteen she states that the reason for this is because: "...many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore." The author used ethos to achieve her purpose because she used only credible, reliable sources to build her argument and cite those sources properly, she established a common ground with the audience, and she organized her argument in a logical, easy to follow manner. I clicked a link that landed me at "YoungVoter.org" videos. This link was somewhat relevant to the article, as most of the videos had something to do with politics/voting, but they also didn't have anything to do with it at the same time (i.e. the first video was about planned parenthood and batman...).
ReplyDeleteElise McDonald
Dear Elise,
DeleteI agree that the link leading to the Batman video was not at all related to this article. Great job with your transitions and information inputs. Great job!
Sincerely, John
At first, the authorʻs purpose was to inform the reader about how most of the people aged 18-35 havenʻt been engaging in politics. As a matter of fact, most people in that age demographic donʻt vote. In order to relate her purpose, the author clearly explains three basic reasons why the youth arenʻt participating in their American duties. In paragraph 7, she declares "Three causes are worth exploring. First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore." This clearly shows that the author is using logic because her information is simple but undeniable and backed up in data. In paragraph nine she goes on by stating "Other citizens get how government is supposed to work but are deeply cynical about the political process. This isn’t just youthful ennui. Young people are courted during election season and then ignored or chastised when they demand accountability and solutions. There are still too few candidates who represent the diversity of the younger generation, which is comprised mostly of people of color and immigrants. Recognizing all this, we need to make a better case that voting still matters." The significance of this paragraph is so author can elicit an emotional response. By using words like "ennui" and "ignored" one can easily understand that the author thinks that the older generation is at fault for abandoning the youth. She ignites an emotional response through her use of diction and syntax.
ReplyDeleteThe link I clicked on was titled "Conspire Theatre". This did not have any correlation with the article because it was about two theatrical women going into the jail and teaching dramatics to the women in the jail. The fact that it is set in a jail could make it a tad political but the main subject was how the women were contributing to their society by sharing their passion with people in need.
Sincerely,
Marina Mireles
HOPES
Dear Marina,
DeleteI didn't really notice how the writer used ethos in her argument! I also did not click on the same link as you, but that is really unrelated to the topic of the piece.
Sincerely,
Bryson Baligad
Dear Marina,
DeleteI thought that you did an excellent job explaining what the purpose was and you had a lot of great evidence. I also liked that you said she "ignites an emotional response" by using the strategies that she used.
Sincerely,
Marissa Nikolas
In this article, the author tries to inform the public (especially young voters) of the lack of voter turnout while also questioning why youth voters do not vote. She does this because she wants more young adults to become involved in politics, even though she acknowledges that “civil engagement” is boring. She says statements like”
ReplyDelete•
“Then there’s the fun factor. The fact is, for many young people – all right, most people – civic engagement is a bore. The phrase “civic engagement” conjures images of neighborhood meetings that plod along in rooms with stained carpets, cheap paneling and fluorescent lighting.”
•
“...many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities…”
•
“And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.”
With these statements, the writer uses ethics to explain that voting would help to raise the people’s voice, especially among young adults that complain about the big issues but never vote in elections.
The hyperlink shows voter turnouts of various countries. The majority of the countries had higher than 50% voter turnout, while the United States just fell short of 40%.
Sincerely,
Bryson Baligad
IDEAS
Dear Bryson,
DeleteI liked how you decided to put the examples into bullets. It makes it easier to find and read. I liked how you stated that she thought civil engagement is boring, but then you decided to show how she stated them. I thought that was a really good idea. Good job on the essay!
Sincerely,
Amanda
The author’s purpose was to inform her readers of the high percentage of young people in America who aren’t voting. She is trying to inspire a change in the way voting is tied to the issues young people care about. Beeson uses statistics to convey her point to the audience and also gives the “remedey” for these “ills” in paragraph 12.
ReplyDeleteWithin this article Beeson used a combination of rhetorical strategies including anecdotes, perspective, metaphors and her use of diction. When she quoted conversations held at her dinner party saying “When I was young everybody got involved in politics, but my kids just don’t care;” it added a perspective of the older generation on the youth. Her use of diction was also effective in delivering her point. By adding “And the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction” she combined words like ‘cynicism’ and ‘stale’ in her metaphor which gave the idea of inactive youth a negative tone.
The link I clicked on led me to John Fiege’s website. He is a director with quite a few films under his belt, none of which pertained to the article. This page was actually just an accumulation of Fiege’s works and had nothing to do with the article or its purpose.
Colby,
DeleteIts really interesting that the link you chose was totally unrelated to the article. The link I chose was directly cohesive, so I assumed all the links were for the most part, relevant.
I liked the examples you used,
good job
-Zuri
Dear Colby,
DeleteIt really intrigued me how you picked up on the author's use of diction in her writing. The fact that you showed a clear understanding of the author's style was fascinating. Like you, I had a topic unrelated to the article nevertheless it had some interesting topics to look at.
Respectfully,
Marina Mireles
The author’s purpose of this article is to inform the reader of the low voting averages among young Americans in order to encourage more young people to participate in elections. In the article, Beeson states that voting averages have been around 50% for presidential elections, and half that for non-presidential elections. She then compares these averages to that of other countries where the voting averages of their youth are much higher. By doing this, the author appeals to the reader’s logical side. She also uses sarcasm when she quotes a friend who says “Occupy was so inspiring at first, but I guess they all just wanted to camp.” This shows that the younger generation may be motivated at first, but after they get bored they quit. And by asking “do you really want to have no say in policies that determine whether or not you have a job, what you pay for college, whether climate change ever gets addressed or even acknowledged?” she elicits an emotional response from the reader that encourages them to be more involved.
ReplyDeleteThe link that I clicked was about Ted Cruz, a Texas senator who reached out to colleges to gain more voted and to inspire more students to get involved at an early age. This article reinforced Beeson’s purpose and was a great example of someone who shares the same attitude towards voting as the author.
Marissa Nikolas
HOPES
Dear Marissa
DeleteI thought you explained your essay with excellent detail, you had good facts and evidence. Your essay flowed very nicely.
Sincerely,
Camilla Vernon
Dear marissa,
Deletei like how your essay how your essay is well written and it had many evident that supported you essay.
sincerely,
zhaira agrade
hopes
Ann Beeson, the author, whose purpose is to inform the readers of the low voting rates in young people today. Beeson then questions us the readers as to why so few young people vote. She soon explains that there are three main reasons why young people don't vote, she states “First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore”. The author uses the rhetorical strategy of logos, or logic to support her claim. Beeson also uses other peoples remarks of the “older generation” in her article to support her claim such as “When I was young everybody got involved in politics, but my kids just don’t care;” or “Young people have given up on government, and it’s our fault because government sucks;”. This alludes to the fact that young people are not as involved in politics, or don't care as much about politics as much we should be.
ReplyDeleteThe hyperlink I chose brought me to a youtube video about low-income construction workers who are not getting paid for their labor or are seriously injured with no compensation, and what can be done to help. This video did not pertain to the article, and does not relate to Beesons topic of the article in any way. Although it may inspire some to become more involved with politics and to help low-income workers like those mentioned in the video.
Sincerely,
Aaryn Gray
IDEAS
Dear Aaryn,
DeleteI enjoyed your explanation describing why the article was to inform the reader. I also liked the quotes you decided to pick out of the article to support your answer.
Sincerely,
Ayden Drazic
Hopes
The author, Ann Beenson’s purpose in this article was to inform readers about how much young adults are not voting. How the ages from 18-35 haven’t been intrigued in politics. This is because politics is simply just “boring”. As the author says civic engagement can be a snore. The author states three reasons to why the youth is not involved... First of all people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, lets face it, civic engagement can be a snore. Some rhetorical strategies used by the author are his use of diction, metaphors, and anecdotes. When Beenson says in paragraph six, “when I was young everyone got involved in politics, but my kids just don’t care. This is where the author explains her emotion and passion on the topic. When her own children explain how they don’t care for politics and government. The author uses her own personal experiences to give examples of the youth not caring for politics. Young people just have given up on government.
ReplyDeleteThe hyperlink I clicked on was about Tanene Allison. She is a political and communications strategist, new media innovator, and poet. There is not that much things that have to do with the article in her write up. The only thing is that she completed her masters in public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She also edited the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, and was awarded a point foundation Uncommon Legacies Scholarship. This is kind of off topic. I think this is just someone who believes in the same thing that Beenson does. That the youth is not involved in politics and government anymore.
Respectfully,
Chaz Pacleb
HOPES
Dear Mr. Pacleb,
DeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your extensive use of a wide range of vocabulary and your supreme command of the English language. Your main idea was very clear, concise, and to-the-point. I also appreciated your unique view on the article. I found no flaws in your logic either. I also saw how she used personal experiences well. Your response was an absolute masterpiece, keep up the marvelous work sir.
Cordially,
Paul Oyama
Dear Aaryn,
ReplyDeleteIt's good to know that someone agrees with me that she used Logos! I thought you also did a good job with providing evidence to support your claim for the rhetorical strategy. Good job.
Sincerely,
Haylei Sheldon
IDEAS
In this article, the author’s purpose was to inform people about the present voting situation. This tactic may cause the general public to begin voting in larger numbers, upping national participation in democracy.
ReplyDelete“Turnout was 55% in 1972 — just after the 26th Amendment to the Constitution added millions of young voters to the rolls by dropping the voting age from 21 to 18. To offer a more stark comparison, voter turnout rates have topped 70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia (where voting is compulsory).”
“Though Texas is certainly ground zero for weak voter participation, even national averages for young people (18-35) have teetered just around 50% for most presidential elections, and they’re half that in non-presidential election years – 24% in the 2010 midterm elections.”
I’d say Ann Beeson was very reliant on the rhetorical strategy of Pathos. It wasn’t very apparent at a glance, however as a whole it was very obvious she was attempting to let the reader feel what she was feeling. Her use of Pathos could have been used better if she was more straightforward with it.
The link “Voter turnout rates” was effective in helping with the article’s claims regarding voter counts. In the link, it actually states that in the US, only 39% of the population came out to vote, which is very surprising. The voting information of the other countries is not necessarily related to the article, however.
The author’s purpose in this article is to inform the readers of how low the percentage rates of young people voting are. She informs us, because she is trying to further the young Americans to vote. She then explains that she believes there are three main reasons young people don’t vote. She says, “First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore”. With this, I believe the author used logic to support her analogy. Also, when she says, “when I was young everyone got involved in politics, but my kids just don’t care.” I believe this is where she put her emotion into the topic. By stating that her own kids don’t care for the subject, she is showing her example of how young people are uninterested.
ReplyDeleteThe hyperlink, “Voter turnout rates,” was effective because it helped assert this article. In the link it stated that, “The Turnout of Voters is a measure of their motivation to participate. The best voting rules tend to increase voter turnout. They create fewer “wasted votes” and so give people more reason to go vote.” I believe that this hyperlink was perfect for the article.
Sincerely,
Amanda Thayer
Hopes Academy
Dear Amanda,
DeleteThe evidence that you provided supported your analysis of the authors purpose perfectly! It was impressive how you were able to know where the author was using emotion or "pathos". I also agree with your opinion on the relevancy of the hyperlink. Overall your essay was very concise, organized and pleasant to read.
Sincerely,
Autumn Begley
Reading this I can tell that the author's purpose within this article is to inform the readers that the percentages of young people that are voting are low. The author informs us that basically young people in America are encourages to vote. There are basically three main reasons why, one reason is that our youth doesn't see a clear connection with the power and commitment to the improvement to the community. The second reason why the youth of America doesn't see why it is important to vote is their power to change what they dislike and what they could improve on within their community. The final reason for our youth not voting is that in reality, it is just a very uninteresting, where our youth want to see something much more meaningful in their eyes that would persuade them into seeing the good in voting.
ReplyDeleteThe hyperlink, " Voter Turnout rates," really brought this article into a greater effect. It showed the United states came out to having a voting rate of 39% within our population. Other voting information in this article is not really needed since this article only pertains to the United States.
Respectfully,
Kristian Sablay
HOPES
Dear Kristian,
DeleteAfter reading the "Voter Turnout Rates" link, I could not agree more with your response. Seeing it in perspective made a difference. Also, your sentence on the Author's Purpose is spot-on. Good job.
Sincerely,
Matthew Steinohrt
In the beginning of the article, I believe the author's purpose was to inform the public that young people aren't voting, and why they're not as engaged in the subject as they should be. The author first questions why youth are so turned of by political matters and voting, but then further in the article explained why it is such a bore. She presented three reasons why young people show such a lack of interest in this subject, in paragraph 7 she states, “First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.” Her statement shows her use of logos. She simply uses her own logic while further explaining each of the three reasons in further paragraphs, she took her three cases and drew conclusions from them. An example being in paragraph ten, while she focuses on why civic engagement. She explains “The phrase “civic engagement” conjures images of neighborhood meetings that plod along in rooms with stained carpets, cheap paneling and fluorescent lighting.”, using a hint of imagery as well, she paints a picture in our heads the reason why we think this subject is dull.
ReplyDeleteThe hyperlink I clicked on was “Total recall live”, to me it didn't add anything to the article at all. It was very off topic, while the two people speaking in the video talked about the batman premiere and the shooting that took place during the movie.
Sincerely,
Haylei Sheldon
IDEAS
Dear Haylei,
DeleteYou made your point very clear and to the point so that it was easy to understand. Also i enjoyed reading your opinion on the relevance of the "Total recall live" hyperlink, as your opinion slightly differed from mine. Your response is nicely written. Excellent job.
Sincerely,
Malia Hickey
The Author wanted to inform her reader that a high percentage of young Americans are not voting. She wanted to show that even though young people are very involved in their community, they are not voting. In the article, the writer describes that there are 3 causes to why young people are not voting, one, because they don't feel the connection between voting and their commitment to their community, 2, political cynicism, and 3, it is just plain boring.
ReplyDeleteEvidence that supports her causes are…
“Young people have given up on government, and it’s our fault because government sucks;”
“Then there’s the fun factor. The fact is, for many young people – alright, most people – civic engagement is a bore”
“Other citizens get how government is supposed to work but are deeply cynical about the political process”
Ann Beeson used a lot of exemplification in her article through statistics, facts, personal experience, and interview quotations.
The link I chose is called “Tanene Allison”. I believe that the link doesn't have anything to do with the topic because she talks about fueling diversity and creativity in the national discourse. there is nothing in the Article that says something about encouraging young people to vote or even mention the matter.
Camilla Vernon
HOPES Academy
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe author, Ann Beeson’s purpose in the article was to inform the readers that many young adults are not participating in the elections. In the article she questions us “why do so few young people vote?” She believes that,” young people have given up on government, and it’s our fault because government sucks”. She inform us because she wants to encourage the young Americans to vote. She states that “many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.” Then she mentioned that civic engagement is a bore to most young people. She states that “here are still too few candidates who represent the diversity of the younger generation, which is comprised mostly of people of color and immigrants.”To achieve her purpose, she uses pathos, ethos and logo, she wants the readers to have an emotional response, and persuade young American to get involved. She also uses metanoia when she says “the fact is, for many young people – all right, most people – civic engagement is a bore.”
ReplyDeleteThe hyperlink I opened up was John Fiege, it took me to a website where all the work of John Fiege is there, his a photographer and film maker. So this had nothing to do with the article.
Zhaira Agrade
H.O.P.E.S
The author, Anne Beeson looks to inform readers in her article. It is to inform because throughout the article she tells us why young people have lost interest in voting. She went on quoting from her guests at her dinner party “ young people had given up on government… it’s our fault because government sucks “. She brings up the topic of civic engagement. Anne elaborates saying that young people at the hearing of civic engagement leads them to think of a meeting under mediocre conditions. If I were one of those people I wouldn’t want to be there either. She uses a lot of her own experiences to show us why young people have given up on government.
ReplyDeleteSome rhetorical devices she used in her article was the allusions to the first admittance of the 26th amendment and the example of occupy wall street. Anne also used an enumeratio while talking of the civic engagement meeting room conditions. Anecdotes were present as she gave her own experiences of youths disinterest of the government. This last one may or may not be one of the rhetorical devices but I thought ‘’ And they reached their goal… Problem was, it was the wrong goal ‘’ was showing metanoia.
The hyperlink I chose was John Fiege. This link showed to be very off topic of Anne’s article. It had literally nothing to do with voting. It was actually just an accumulation of his his films and photographs.
Sincerely,
Shizuo Santos
HOPES
Dear Shizuo,
DeleteI would never have thought of any of those rhetorical devices, good job on using your intuition correctly.
Sincerely,
Ruby
I think that the author wanted to both inform the reader, and to question political policies surrounding voting. I think that the author wanted to inform readers to learn more about voting and to get involved in voting. I think she wanted to question voting to inspire her readers to do the same. i think that she wanted to inform readers about voting and question policies on voting for the young voters not using this liberty.
ReplyDeleteWhy did she want to inform readers and question voting? I think that she wanted to do this so that people would start paying more attention and getting involved with the policies on voting. This way people could stretch their Democratic rights like other countries so often do.
Some evidence of this is when the reader says:
1."For democracy to flourish, we need people to do it all — vote, volunteer and raise some righteous hell."
2."national averages for young people (18-35) have teetered just around 50% for most presidential elections"
3."To offer a more stark comparison, voter turnout rates have topped 70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia (where voting is compulsory)."
I think that the author uses the rhetorical strategies of logos, pathos, and anecdotes. The reader uses pathos when appealing to the more comical nature of humans by using funny sayings and expresses excitement to get readers riled up and "pumped". The reader also uses logos when stating statistics about national average voting polls and others. The author uses anecdotes to help better explain the idea she is trying to make. an example of this is when she talks about hosting a dinner party for a diverse group and explaining their thoughts on voting.
The hyperlink I chose was called "Voter turnout rates" and was somewhat relevant. Although it did state the rules for voting and poll turnouts it was mostly about different countries majority of women voted in and therefore was only slightly relevant to this article.
The article ‘Scared Straight-into the Voting Booth’ by Ann Beeson employs an interesting mix of informing the reader for the purpose of making an argument. Beeson starts by giving facts on the problem that is young people not voting and then argues new ways to engage those voters. Her primary purpose is to argue that young people need to be addressed separately from older people in order to get them to vote.
ReplyDelete“Most importantly, it should be terrific fun to vote and to stay involved after election day. What if the average civic gathering – whether it’s a political rally, grassroots group, school task force, or city council – involved cook-offs, improv or gaming?”
This is the most straightforward example of Beeson’s primary point. By using examples of her own she shows how participation in government could be made much more fun and engaging.
“How to remedy these ills? We need to put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active – in community gardens, volunteer networks, sports clubs and cultural hubs.”
In this example Beeson shows another approach to making young people vote: to get their peers to do it. Anyone who has spent time around young people knows how much one of them can impact a group if they just step up and do something. Having five passionate young people on stage on television could get thousands to vote, having young people at the head of organizations could fetch the votes of millions.
Both of those examples show the heart of Beeson’s argument on why voting is boring and how young people could be swayed to vote. The link I clicked was showed a graph of who is voting, and that graph didn’t look good. The graph went from 0% to 80% as opposed to 100% so it was somewhat loaded, but it still showed that young voters(18-24) voted only slightly over half as much as those 30 and older. The link was relevant to Beeson’s argument by all means, but the fact that it was in the beginning where informing was the primary purpose made it all the better.
sincerely,
Mason Schwarze
IDEAS
Dear Mason,
DeleteIt is crazy how few people between 18 and 24 vote! I am glad that you clicked that link because that is astonishing that people can be some inactive even when these matters concern their future greatly. Do you think you will vote when you are 18?
Yours truly,
Victor
The authors purpose was to inform readers that most young people aren’t voting. The author wants to inform to inspire more young people to vote because politics is more closely related to the issues they care about. In paragraph 5 she states “national averages for young people (18-35) have teetered just around 50% for most presidential elections, and they’re half that in non-presidential election years – 24% in the 2010 midterm elections.” This shows the low amounts of young voters. Also in paragraph 8 the author says “many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world.” This shows that young voters are uninterested because they don’t see how politics relates and affects them.
ReplyDeleteThe author uses logos to support her argument. She states facts throughout the whole article. She uses logics bye using statistics and numbers and facts. She also uses ethos by naming credible sources. By doing this it makes the facts seem more real because of her sources. These are the two main rhetorical devices she uses in her article.
I clicked on the link “Voter turn out rates”. It supported the article by proving that the claims about the percentage of voting were correct. It showed that the facts in the article were credible. This did support the purpose of the article by making the argument more valid.
Megan Devin
IDEAS
Dear Megan,
DeleteI thought your response was very short and sweet. I like the evidence you gave to the rhetorical devices she used.
Sincerely,
Mo'orea Rohlfs
HOPES
The author’s purpose was to inform political figures on how to encourage and spark interest in voting for young people because a huge percentage of young people do not vote in elections.
ReplyDelete•"How to remedy these ills? We need to put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active – in community gardens, volunteer networks, sports clubs and cultural hubs."
•"And the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction – do you really want to have no say in policies that determine whether or not you have a job, what you pay for college, whether climate change ever gets addressed or even acknowledged? Scared straight into voting."
•"Some groups are doing things differently now, and we need more like them. The Bus Project in Oregon recruits young people to get on a bus — yes, an actual bus — to engage voters on issues or candidates they believe in. They’ve made even tried and true methods of political organizing more fun, like their Phone Phests: “Vivacious volunteers + tasty treats + delicious drinks + magnificent music + dialing for democracy = the greatest phone calling experience of your sweet young life.”
•"The League of Young Voters, despite its stodgy name, is masterful at cultural organizing and social media outreach. Check out “Total Recall Live,” the league’s weekly online talk show where an R&B songstress and a D.J. remix news regarding hip-hop and politics."
Ann Beeson used the cause and effect strategy to explain some of the reasons why young people do no vote. “Three causes are worth exploring. First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.”
The “Total Recall Live” link was somewhat relevant. For just about half of the video that I watched, they talked about music, movies and a tv show. For the second half of the video, they touched on the Zimmerman situation and Planned Parenthood which did tied in to the article.
Matthew Steinohrt
IDEAS Academy
Dear Matthew,
DeleteI really enjoyed reading your response to this blog post. You mark each one of your main ideas that the author gives and reinterpreted very good. Then your Fourth and fifth paragraph gives everything a good structure on what you see it as. Good essay and I look forward to reading more of your responses.
Sincerely,
Kristian Sablay
Hopes
Through this article, I do believe the authors purpose was to inform the readers on the high percentages of youth in America that aren’t voting. The author does this because she wants to inspire a change in the way young adults view politics ,even though, “civil engagements’ are boring. The author says many statements regarding this like…
ReplyDelete• “Young people have given up on government, and it’s our fault because government sucks;”
• Young people are courted during election season and then ignored or chastised when they demand accountability and solutions.
• We need to put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active – in community gardens, volunteer networks, sports clubs and cultural hubs.
• Some groups are doing things differently now, and we need more like them.
I believe the author used two rhetorical devices in her article. I believe that she used Logos and Pathos. I believe that the author used Logos because she used quite a bit of logic in her article. The article would have been lost, and vague if she didn’t use any statics. Also I believed the author used Pathos because in her article you can immediately tell that she cares for what she is talking about. She also wants the reader to have empathy, and make you feel what she is feeling.
I clicked on the link that said “launched an orchestra for Latinos” and all that came up was a website for East Austin College Prep, and a Latino band. So this has no relevancy to the article what so ever.
Sincerely,
Myah Post
HOPES Academy
In the article “Scared Straight – into the voting booth”, Ann Beeson the author, is trying to inform her readers that todays youth isn’t getting involved with politics or voting. She is trying to inform her readers that the younger generation is not getting involved because she wants to help younger people become more involved in voting and voicing their opinions. In the fourth paragraph , the author states, “national averages for young people (18-35) have teetered around 50% for most presidential elections”. That statement shows how she is trying to convince readers that the youth isn’t getting involved. Also, she also explains that “Voting should be tied directly to issues that young people care about” (paragraph eleven). This statement shows how Beeson is trying to remedy the issue of younger peoples lack of involvement.
ReplyDeleteIn this article, the rhetorical strategy logos is used. Quite often Beeson will state facts and use logic to get her point and information across. She also uses statistics like in paragraph five where she gave a comparison of turnout rates of 3 different countries. This rhetorical strategy was helpful in this article because it made her points more legitimate and convincing.
The hyperlink from the article that I chose was semi-relevant to the article. The hyperlink I clicked brought me to the League Of Young Voters website. This has some relevance to the article because in that section of the writing, the author was giving examples of groups that are trying to get todays youth involved with politics. However the link led to the video section of the website which didn’t involve much on the subjects of politics or voting.
Sincerely,
Malia Hickey
IDEAS
Malia,
DeleteI also agree with you that Ann Beeson used the rhetorical strategy of logos in her article. I thought your response was to the point, and supported well with evidence. Good job!
Sincerely,
Aaryn Gray
The author’s purpose was to inform the reader about the lack of voting our nation’s youth is taking part in. Her point in doing this was to convince younger people to engage more in politics.
ReplyDelete“There are still too few candidates who represent the diversity of the younger generation, which is comprised mostly of people of color and immigrants. Recognizing all this, we need to make a better case that voting still matters.” By saying this, Beeson emphasizes that people of the younger generation seldom vote because none of the candidates suit their needs. She is also trying to convince the reader that we need to have a stronger argument in order to raise the voter turnout of people ages 18-35. Beeson also makes her point by listing statistics to compare America to, “Turnout was 55% in 1972 — just after the 26th Amendment to the Constitution added millions of young voters to the rolls by dropping the voting age from 21 to 18. To offer a more stark comparison, voter turnout rates have topped 70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia (where voting is compulsory).” Comparing the overall voter turnout of America to other countries makes young people feel like it’s their fault that so little people actually decide who our leader is.
To achieve her goal, the author of this article uses a bit of logos, pathos and ethos. When she talks about why people under 35 don’t vote enough, Beeson puts herself in the shoes of those people and makes herself relate to them, pathos. She also mentions many authoritative-sounding people and organizations dealing with youngsters in relation to government. Her diction makes her sound smarter, which in-turn, implies logos.
One link in the article, Tanene Allison, is meant to inform the reader about someone who is working towards getting more people to vote. However, the link provided to be completely off-topic. It was merely a two-paragraph article telling a short biography of Tanene Allison’s accomplishments. Since it is irrelevant, it neither supports nor disproves the article.
Ruby Hawthorne
Ideas Academy
Ruby,
DeleteI feel the same way and share the same views on this article as you. I agree that by informing the readers of the low voting rate in youth that she is actively trying to convince more youth to acknowledge their voting right. I am also curious as to why they would add the hyperlink probing that it does not help her statement.
Sincerely,
Kai Chase
Scared Straight in to the Voting Booth
ReplyDeleteThe author wrote this article to state facts and to try to inform the younger generation that they are needed, their voices need to be heard in the polls. The author states there are so many intellectual, smart young people in the word today who are wasting their voting rights. The author tries to persuade or change the youths mind on voting through presenting facts or logos, she also tried to appeal to the pathos by stating what could happen if more youths voted. Ethos was also projected through Beeson’s credentials, located at the bottom of the article.
The hyper link I selected was labeled, voter turn out rates. This meshed well with this article to help enforce the logos used in the article. The hyper link took me to a page with a table, a list of countries, the voting rule, the turn out of voters, women elected, date of election and notes. I feel this was placed to again, back up the logos of the article and to give more credibility to the information provided.
Sincerely,
Kai Chase
IDEAS
Craftily alluding to the prominent benefits of voting, as well as the obvious set backs of denying ourselves this instrumental tool, Ann Beeson's objective in writing "Scared Straight- Into the Voting Booth" was without a doubt to argue the precedence of voting. The author explains that the younger adult population (ages 18-35) have an exponentially low voting percentile, consequently framing her writing on a stable foundation of examples meant to evoke affirmative action from Americans possessing an abhorrence towards "civic engagement". The Government should work for the people, and those it effects are responsible to take a part in electing politicians who share similar beliefs; politicians who will serve as a paramount tool in developing the kind of country we want to live in.
ReplyDelete"-many of the young women who rallied recently at the state capitol to protest Gov. Rick Perry’s attack on Planned Parenthood hadn’t voted in the 2010 gubernatorial election." Beeson asserts in the 9th paragraph. She elaborates saying that had they used their right to vote against him, they might have avoided a great deal of stress. The author continues "I’ve also met plenty of bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment, fanatic about composting, obsessed with their carbon footprint — but they don’t vote either." Using these clear examples of seemingly foolish behavior, a vivid picture of how things could change if these people were to take a stand in advocating for their beliefs is delineated.
Multitudes of logos in the form of comparison and contrast, cause and effect, imagery, and metaphors, is utilized by the author to communicate her message. In each example, pure logic flows from her pen and through our minds like torrents of raging clarity. Creating a powerful description of the expectations of a civic engagement she writes "neighborhood meetings that plod along in rooms with stained carpets, cheap paneling and fluorescent lighting." Logically, what young person- or anyone for that matter- would want to engage their Saturday afternoon in this affair? Another powerful literary device can be found in paragraph 11; "the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction – do you really want to have no say in policies that determine whether or not you have a job, what you pay for college, whether climate change ever gets addressed or even acknowledged?"
The hyperlink "Their graduates helped Cruz" serves as a valuable addition of evidence supporting Ann Beesons purpose. It gives a real life example of how a group of young people were able to make a difference by electing a politician they preferred to a rich and full of connections Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. All in all, from start to finish, this essay was not written for us to twiddle our thumbs over. It is time to get involved in our government like we never have before. If everyone voiced their opinion by means of simply stepping into the voting booth, so much could change.
Zuri Shanklin
IDEAS
Dear Zuri,
DeleteI really enjoyed reading this article and how you formulated your choice of words to flow really well. This was extensively great and made me agree from start to finish.
John Ortega
HOPES
The author's purpose is to inform young people that they need to vote. She also questions why they don't vote. Lastly she argues that voting is something people should find fun, not a chore and that we should strive to make politics more fun. She has written this article because she feels strongly that young people should be involved in politics.
ReplyDelete• In the recent run-off elections to select Senate candidates for the race this fall in Texas (there was one for Democrats and one for Republicans) only 8.5% of eligible voters showed up.
• So why do so few young people vote?
• Most importantly, it should be terrific fun to vote and to stay involved after election day.
The author used ethos by trying to make the reader feel like she had been where they are and knows how boring politics can be.
Hyperlink: “Total Recall Live,”
This is a website where some young people are trying to make news and politics fun. They do so in a casual way that makes it feel natural. They act like they are having a conversation with you so it makes boring or unpleasant news more tolerable and even fun.
Victor Sanchez
IDEAS
Dear Victor,
Deletegreat essay but try to make your sentences flow more. Also in your third paragraph what you describe is pathos where ethos is relating the point to an official.
Mikel Keeler-Howarth
IDEAS academy
The article "Stared Strait-into the voting booth" purpose was to inform the reader about the incredibly low percentage of young voters and why the annual outcome at elections don’t seam to bread new voters.
ReplyDeleteOccurring inside the article, Beeson states that only 8.5% of eligible voters actually vote annually- probably because of the lack of interest in the political parties. She says that if young voters aren’t interested in what the candidates have to offer, young voters wont get involved. Beeson then shares her research of voting percentages by explaining that the voting outcome has dropped from 55% in 1972 to a shocking 24% by 2010. By explaining this, Beeson brings out the readers logical response to ask why? She then answers how to remedy this by using a metaphor, “And the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction.” Meaning that the only way to get the youth voting is to explain the consequences of not having a saying in their government.
I clicked in the site “Tanene Allison” and it took me to the website, The Huffington Post. This post was related and was unrelated to the article because it talked about the ways a young woman is being involved in her government and how she is there to make a difference. She is a Political and communications strategist. She as a young adult sets an exemplary standard of how our youth should be involved with the government. But it is also unrelated because it doesn’t explain how young people should participate in their communities.
HOPES
Lauren Benson
The purpose of this particular article was mainly to inform the reader about the astoundingly low amount of young adults that vote. I think she wants to try and inspire the next generation of adults to actually go out and vote for what they believe in. She also wants teens to convince other teens to vote. She even says "We need to put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active".
ReplyDeletePersonally, I find it a resounding statement about our generation that the presidential election only produces about 50% of voters from 18-35. The PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. This isn't deciding the captain on your high school bowling team, this is the person who will make all executive decisions for our country for the next four years! I was utterly shocked reading these statistics, and really think more young people should vote.
The hyperlink I clicked on was about the youth orchestra for Latinos. The site wasn't even operational and even if it was it would have had absolutely zero relevance to the topic.
Paul Oyama
HOPES Academy
Dear Paul,
DeleteI agree with your statements in your writing. I thought they made a lot of sense and was right to the point. Like when you said the author wants to inspire the next generation of adults to actually go out and vote. I fully agree with you. I thought that the author was trying to get the generation to vote by making them see this now. I thought your piece was great and had very good details. Good job!
Sincerely,
Chaz Pacleb
Hopes
I think the purpose of this article was to inform more elderly adults about the problem of young adults and their resistance to vote. Ann Beeson wanted to get more young adults to be more involved by voting. To support her argument on why young people may not want to vote, she says things like:
ReplyDelete• They do not see the connection between voting and a change in the world.
• There is real reason to political cynicism.
• Civil engagement can be very boring.
To support her argument that many young people are not voting, Beeson states:
• “In the recent run-off elections to select Senate candidates…only 8.5% of eligible voters showed up”.
• “I’ve also met plenty of bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment…--but they don’t vote either”.
Rhetorical strategies I think Beeson used would be logos, or logic. I think she is using logic in her argument because she has a way with her words that implies that young adults expect change, but at the same time, they are still unwilling to vote. I think that’s logic because if you want something done, then you have to actually do something. You can’t just complain and sit back and do nothing but complain more. Like the bike riders that want to save the environment, are obsessive about composting, and about our carbon footprint, yet they still don’t vote to start the change.
The link I clicked on was “organizes low-income construction workers”. This link was completely off topic and went into detail about the workers not being paid enough and they don’t get paid enough if they are injured on the job, and things like that, which are completely unrelated to the topic of young adults voting.
Naea Oda
Hopes Academy
Dear Naea,
DeleteI agree with your opinion that this article was to inform elderly adults on the problem with young adults and their resistance to vote because it's true. In the article there was a lot of times when the author said he met up with teens who were all for going green or even teens who cared for their " carbon footprint " but as your evidence shows their were also the reasons why they were so resistant to vote. I like how you included the more important information and made it seem like you also ordered it from most important to lesser important info. Great job on your essay
Sincerely,
Joshua Blaine
Hopes
The significance of this blog was to elicit an emotional response amongst the youth of America because roughly 50% of our nation is not voting.
ReplyDeleteIf a person was asked, “what has our nation succumbed to? (In terms of politics)” they imagine a real snooze fest. But not only that, politics has becomes so controversial that no one really has the energy to conflict or argue another person’s point of view. Even when the voting system was generated down to the age of 18 instead of 21, people still believe that great changes can appear while sitting in their homes. “Young women rallied recently at the state capitol to protect Gov. Rick Perry’s attack on Planned Parenthood. But these women had skipped a step that might’ve kept them out of the heat” the author was conveying that if they had voted to begin with, they would have avoided going through all that trouble from the start.
In addition, our government, during election season deeply encouraged the youth of our nation, promising a more prosperous future with great benefits. However, once election season came to a halt, the youth were “ignored or chastised when they demanded accountability and solutions”. With that in mind, we can see a little bit more of why people, especially the youth, distract themselves off of government affiliations.
Furthermore, our people have substantially become lazier. Even if our general population had something ‘bad’ to against, they will not necessarily fight for it. The author explains “ I’ve also met plenty of bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment, fanatic about composting, obsessed with their carbon footprint — but they don’t vote either.” This statement might as well challenge our society to be more proactive and take on more action instead of whining and complaining.
The author’s writing strategy included imagery when she explained about a boring election gathering with stained carpets in the room with fluorescent light. She also used diction, with motive of convincing the reader to vote. The author also used Rhetoric. Towards the end, she elicited a response towards me after the main details and what her purpose and why she wrote this piece. When her argument concluded, I believed that voting can be fun, just like how I believe that video games are fun.
Voter turnout link – This is relevant to the article because it is addressing that our nation is at the bottom of the pit when it comes to voting. These given facts support the author’s main argument. Our country might be viewed as one of the leading and thriving country’s but this is basically saying that our people don’t care when it comes to our government. The voter turnout rate was at a staggering number of only 39%.
John Ortega
HOPES
Dear John,
DeleteI thought you had a lot of details in your response which is good. I like that you mentioned even after they lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, people still didn't do anything. Also the quote about how politicians encourage the youth during election time, then ignore them after. Good Job!
Sincerely,
Jenna
IDEAS
Dear John,
DeleteI love how simple but yet how detailed your introduction sentence is. You manage to answer all three questions in one complete sentence. Nice job.
Sincerely, Ariel Cummings
Dear John,
DeleteYour essay was well written! I agree with what you wrote when you said that politics were a "snooze button" when it comes to teenagers. Nice metaphor, haha. Anyways, great job!
Sincerely, Hazel Jarquio
The author, Ann Beeson, has written the article to inform the public that a large percent of young adults in America are not voting, and to determine what is keeping them from voting. The purpose of informing the public about this is to get more young people into voting polls. She states in her article, “First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.”
ReplyDeleteIn her argument Beeson uses logos to explain that if the youth would vote, it would be very beneficial to them in the causes they care about. “Many of the young women who rallied recently at the state capitol to protest Gov. Rick Perry’s attack on Planned Parenthood hadn’t voted in the 2010 gubernatorial election. They had skipped a step in the policymaking process that might’ve kept them out of the heat” Beeson states in the quote if more of the young women would’ve voted, they could have elected a different leader who would’ve supported Planned Parenthood. This is how Beeson supports her argument.
I chose the “Total Recall Live” hyperlink, it was a website called, “The League of Young Voters Education Fund”. The link did not have a strong relevance to the article based on the latest posting, for example one of the topics was about Batman. However, the website itself is definitely relevant to the topic. It is a website to encourage young voters, and that is what the article was suggesting, more ways to persuade young people, such as a young voters website.
Sincerely,
Jenna Stone
IDEAS Academy
The Authors purpose in this particular passage was to inform as well as question and even argue the topic of voting amongst young people. I believe the author is trying to explain why most youth now days, do not find the need to vote as compelling as before, and that it’s not just because our young people are “lazy” or “uninvolved”. Some evidence that supports this is:
ReplyDelete• “Some of the most active and committed people I know” – referring to young people
• Voter participation for young people (18-35) has teetered around 50%
• “Young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world.”
• “Civic engagement can be a snore”
• “Other citizens get how government is supposed to work but are deeply cynical about the political process. This isn’t just youthful ennui.”
• “There are still too few candidates who represent the diversity of the younger generation”
• “We need to make a better case that voting still matters.”
• “For democracy to flourish, we need people to do it all — vote, volunteer and raise some righteous hell.”
• “Some groups are doing things differently now, and we need more like them.”
To achieve her purpose, the author used diction to appeal to all ages and make the article more interesting. She also used logos (logic) by stating throughout the passage things that we should already know, yet fail to recognize or act upon.
The hyperlink that I clicked on was about Michelle Dahlenburg. This hyperlink supported the purpose of the article because it gave another example of how young people are actually quite active in the world, and uninvolvement is not the reason for such a low voter turnout.
Autumn Begley
Hopes Academy
Dear Autumn,
DeleteYour essay had an abundance of evidence which went to support your analysis. The fact that you were able to decipher what the author said about young people participating in other things besides voting and that you were able to use that in your response payed dividends in showing that you knew what you were talking about.
Mason Schwarze
IDEAS
Dear Autumn,
DeleteI always enjoy reading your essays. To me you seem like you take your time into reading and deciphering what you just read. Your essay also showed me that you knew a pretty big chunk of what you read with the facts you have included.
Sincerely,
Keisha Aki
Dear Autumn,
DeleteYour introduction was nicely put together. You answered captured exactly what the author's purpose was and gave a clear and detailed reason to why you chose those particular purposes. Good job.
Sincerely, Ariel Cummings
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe author Ann Beeson’s main purpose in having created this article was to inform the reader about the lack of participation in politics of this generation’s youth. This purpose was to inform the public to make a change to this and encourage teenagers that voting can be fun. Some examples are:
ReplyDelete• “In the recent run-off election to select Senate candidates for the race this fall in Texas only 8.5% eligible voters showed up.”
• “Just after the 26th Amendment to the Constitution added millions of young voters to the rolls by dropping the age from 21 to 18.”
• “Young people don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities.”
• “I’ve also met plenty of bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment, fanatic about composing, obsessed with their carbon footprint but they don’t vote either”.
• “Young people have given up on government, and it’s our fault because government sucks.”
To achieve her purpose she frequently asked the question why. Why is it that young voters are not motivated to vote? Why do we find it so boring? She constantly answers these questions and found out that some places actually made a difference and took a stand to make voting fun.
The hyperlink I have chosen was about Ted Cruz. This article had to do somewhat with Ann Beeson’s but not completely. Ted Cruz’s article was mainly about himself and how he succeeded to become Texas’s Republican nominee and much more. This article did not explain a lot about young adults voting.
Sincerely,
Ayden Drazic
After reading the article I thought that the authors purpose was to inform adults from the ages of 18-35 about the statistics of young people voting and that it would make a difference in our country if more young people voted. While reading the article in paragraph four line seven the author says “ the national average for young people (18-35) have teetered to just around 50% “. Showing that nationally voting is not even half yet. The way the author showed this was by showing a slight form of juxtapose. The author shows this when he shows how low America’s national young voting average is and shows how high Canada, France and Australia’s averages is. It shows a contrast in the level of participation in the government and voting with other countries.23 36 In voter turn-outs: out of the 36 countries 23 have a average of 65% or more, 11 has no vote percentage shown and two have a voter percentage lower than 50% being Switzerland with 47% and America with the lowest at 39%. This shows how bad we are in voting compared to other countries. It shows that our youth should get more involved into government. This link partly supports the article by giving statistical support in voting numbers in our country. It doesn't fully support the article because it doesn't give evidence in how these statistics affect the country.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Joshua Blaine
H.O.P.E.S
Anna Beeson’s article on voting was to inform the reader on the lack of voters in the United States and to persuade people to make politics entertaining and voting popular again. She supports her argument about the lack of voters in America by giving us average percentages of the United States voters as well as voter’s percentages from other countries. She also gives examples of really great activities that help encourage young people to vote. The link I clicked on was “voter turnout rates” which if you clicked on was actually quite shocking. It supported her article because it showed the lack of US voters, which personally showed me that I should reconsider how I see politics.
ReplyDeleteIn her last sentence, she uses irony telling us to, “vote, volunteer and raise some righteous hell”. Clearly she doesn't want us to rise up hell from under the earth, she wants us to do something drastic though, something that will change how young people see voting and enhance people’s interest in government.
Mo'orea Rohlfs
HOPES
Ann Beeson is an author of an article entitled Scared Straight – Into the Voting Booth. Her main purpose in this article is to inform the reader about how low the numbers are of the young adults who vote. She's doing so because she wants to encourage more younger people to get involved in elections.
ReplyDeleteBeeson supports her purpose with great evidence. In the beginning of the fifth paragraph, she states the fact that “In the recent run-off elections to select Senate candidates for the race this fall in Texas (there was one for Democrats and one for Republicans) only 8.5% of eligible voters showed up.” This fact shows that less than 10 percent of the younger people actually took part in voting. She also states that the national average of voters, aged 18-35, have teetered just around 50% for most presidential elections, and they’re half that in non-presidential election years – 24% in the 2010 midterm elections. This percentage is pretty low compared to the other countries' young averages. The author also says, “First of all, many young people just don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world. Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore” in the eighth paragraph.
Ann Beeson's article about young adults not participating in elections was a good argument. Perhaps young adults don't take part because they don't think it's as important and have better things to worry about, such as college. I also think that young adults don't take part because we know little about democrats and republicans.
The hyperlink that I chose to click on was about Tanene Allison. This link tells you more about who she is, what she does, and where she studied school. Her link doesn't exactly tie into the article, because it doesn't really tell much about her media platform. It just tells the reader more about herself, just so the reader knows more of who she is.
Sincerely,
Hazel Jarquio
HOPES
The reason that Ann Beeson wrote this article and the purpose that she embodied with it is so inform the public. Mainly citizens of the United States who have vote for an extended period of time that young people are not voting. While also informing them of what they can do to increase the percentage of young people that can vote. It is directed to this group of people because of that fact that they have the ability to change this trend is young voting through various actions that Ann Beeson names throughout the article. The various actions that I am speaking of include, “put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active – in community gardens, volunteer networks, sports clubs and cultural hubs.” (paragraph 12, line 1). This sentence is used to back us Ann Beeson’s claim that they can do things to improve young people voting a these ways of getting them involved can help that. She also speaks of making voting something that they are interested in by making it fun, “it should be terrific fun to vote and to stay involved after election day. What if the average civic gathering – whether it’s a political rally, grassroots group, school task force, or city council – involved cook-offs, improv or gaming?” Ann wants to show that by connecting with what young people would want to do you could convince them that voting is something that they want to do as well.
ReplyDeleteAnn Beeson uses a collection of rhetorical strategies to help get her point across in the article “Scared Straight - Into the Voting Booth”. One of the common strategies she uses is rhetorical questions. Such as “So why do so few young people vote?” (paragraph 4). This rhetorical question is one that will be directly answered in the article but gets the reader thinking about it so when it is brought up the reader already is in the mindset to absorb it. Beeson also used the commonly known of rhetorical strategy of logos by quoting statistics. One example is “we have yet to return to the voting levels of the early 1970s. Turnout was 55% in 1972 — just after the 26th Amendment to the Constitution added millions of young voters to the rolls by dropping the voting age from 21 to 18. To offer a more stark comparison, voter turnout rates have topped 70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia (where voting is compulsory).” (paragraph 6). This use of logos through statistics gives proof to back up the arguments that Beeson has been making through out her article. The link that I referenced in Beesons article was http://www.civicyouth.org/quick-facts/youth-voting/. In this link it gives you voting statistics for different racial groups of young people as well as location and gender. I found this link to be extremely relevant to the article. Due to the fact that is elaborates on broad statistics that she presents to the reader.
Dear Wylie,
DeleteYour analysis of the authors writing was extremely concise and showed that you really understood what she was saying, what strategies she was using, and how the strategies helped convey her message. It's interesting that your link related to the topic as mine was completely unrelated.
Sincerely,
Colby
In the article, “Scared Strait-Into the Voting Booth,” Ann Beeson was informing readers of the astonishingly low voting rates of young adults. She supports her stance by explaining how in a recent run-off election in Texas, only 8.5% of eligible voters showed up thus creating an unfair election. She also states that the nation’s average is about 50%. Later, she goes on to compare the U.S. to other countries like Australia, Canada, and France who’s averages reach up to as high as 96%.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, Beeson uses mostly logos and a little bit of pathos. She uses logos by appealing to the readers’ logic by giving examples of how low our voting percentage is which makes us concerned that elections aren’t serving their full purpose if not everybody is voting, and therefore, elections aren’t quite accurate to what the nation wants as a whole. Ann also uses pathos by making the readers’ feel bad that the voting average of his/her country is so pathetic compared to that of foreign countries. Our natural instinct is to get defensive which will hopefully result in an increase in voting.
The hyperlink that I clicked on was about the low income of construction workers in Austin, Texas. I think this is relevant to the article because Christina Tzintzun is a pretty young adult and is getting involved in politics by being the director of “Workers Defense Project.”
Kai Harrison
IDEAS
Dear Kai,
DeleteI really think that the way you constructed your opening paragraph by stating the purpose of the authors writing and then directly backing it up with evidence was very strong. It really shows that you know what you are talking about and absorbed the article.
Sincerely,
Wylie Barker
The author's purpose of this article was to inform as well as argue about the fact that people (more youth) do not participate in voting. The author also uses their experience with different people they have known in paragraph 10 "I’ve also met plenty of bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment, fanatic about composting, obsessed with their carbon footprint — but they don’t vote either". People are wanting to change the world but do absolutely nothing to solve any of the problems. In fact that whole paragraph talks about people that have great ideas for making the world better but don't put it really in to action where they could educate and pass on the things they are doing that benefit the world.
ReplyDeleteThe author goes into percentage of people actually voting which is low. In paragraph 6 "70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia".
Moving on to how the author portrayed the message towards the reader was by using the sense of logic as well as using ethnics.
Keisha Aki
HOPES Academy
The author of the article Scared Straight – Into the Voting Booth, Ann Beeson, her purpose was to inform the reader on how a lot of young citizens don’t have the go power to vote. That it literally seems like to get their attention you have to scare them into voting, by threatening and informing them that they will lose or miss opportunities.
ReplyDelete• After the 26th Amendment to the Constitution added millions of young voters to the rolls by dropping the voting age from 21 to 18. To offer a more stark comparison, voter turnout rates have topped 70% in Canada, 79% in France, and 96% in Australia.
• The fact is, for many young people – all right, most people – civic engagement is a bore.
• And the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction – do you really want to have no say in policies that determine whether or not you have a job, what you pay for college, whether climate change ever gets addressed or even acknowledged? Scared straight into voting.
Ann Beeson uses the appeal of reasoning, logos. It’s true that young people are not active in voting because it’s boring to them. And the only way to get our attention is to make some sort of effort to stress the impact it has on us.
The hyperlink I chose was Turnout 55%, and this link is a table from 1998-2008 the different percentages of National Voter Turnout, Vote and Population, gender, race and ethnicity, non collage and collage and lastly educational attainment. These tables do support what Anne was informing us in her article.
Ariel Cummings
HOPES Academy
Ann Beeson wrote the article “Scared Straight — Into the Voting Booth” to inform people of the small amounts of young adults that haven’t been vote. She wants to argue young people to change their views on voting. She tries to do this by using examples of the voting percentages of other countries in comparison to the United States.(Paragraph 6) She does this to say (in basic terms) the right to vote allows the people to make the biggest decisions of the countries. The people aren’t exercising this right.
ReplyDeleteWhen Beeson uses the examples like the “fun factor” or about the “bikeriders” that care so much about the Earth but yet don’t vote. Within these examples the author uses the rhetorical strategy of ethos. This is because with the example of the “bikeriders” the right thing to do would be to vote. And in the “fun factor” example the people wouldn't want to be doing something not fun but the right thing to do would be to vote.
In the hyperlink Turnout was 55% it supports the article being as it show the table of over the years and the percent of votes voted.
Noah LaMadrid
Ideas
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteScared Straight... Into the voting booth
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the article “Scared Straight.. Into the voting booth” was to inform the reader of the rapid ascent of apathy in the youths of modern day America towards voting, politics and the government in general. The essay is obviously aimed at young readers, seeking to spark their interest in voting by pointing out many of the hypocrisies of men and women who view voting as something for the older generations, one example of this is when the author, Ann Beeson, informs the reader about how she has met “..bike-riding young people who are passionate about saving the environment, fanatic about composting, obsessed with their carbon footprint — but they don’t vote either.” Which is an obvious attempt at trying to appeal to the audiences values by using Pathos, or Passion. Beeson seeks to use this sentence to point out hypocrisies present in those who care about the environment, or the world, and simply do not vote because they view the system as ineffectual or corrupt.
Beeson also uses both Ethics(Ethos) and Logic(Logos) to support her argument; her most discernable use of Ethics being in the third paragraph where she states: “Tanene Allison is developing a new media platform to give a voice to women, people of color and gay and lesbian youth. Cristina Tzintzun organizes low-income construction workers. Michelle Dahlenburg helps incarcerated women through theater and creative writing. John Fiege is making a film about people taking direct action to address climate change. Patrick Slevin launched a youth orchestra for Latinos.” In this paragraph, Beeson begins to cite individuals who have used the political process to make real changes in the world for the better, thus appealing to our Ethics. Beeson then begins to cement her argument by delving into the Logic behind it, citing the percentages of voter turnouts in America, and comparing them to other countries: “...only 8.5% of eligible voters showed up. These determined citizens essentially decided the outcome in November, given the extreme odds against a Democrat defeating the Republican run-off winner, Ted Cruz. … national averages for young people (18-35) ...just around 50% for most presidential elections, …half that in non-presidential election years – 24% in the 2010 midterm elections.” From this paragraph Beeson begins to draw conclusions using inductive reasoning from the information she is presented with, finally coming to to the denouement that to boost America's youths interest in politics and thusly begin to chip away at the apathy that appears to be holding them all hostage, we, as a country, must place “young people” in charge. Beeson backs this opinion up with historical evidence revolving around events orchestrated by the young, such as the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, saying that such events helped to entice the masses emotions, rather than just their brains.
Beeson continues to elaborate on this by using the 2008 elections as another example, citing how America’s youth took an active part in the political rallies, most of which were in Obama’s favor. The final point Beeson makes is to say how establishing young people as a leading force in the political structure of America, could help to make the process more engaging by “a political rally, grassroots group, school task force, or city council – involved cook-offs, improv. or gaming?” all of which can appeal to different types of youth in America’s society. With all of this evidence, opinion, diction and syntax, one can easily see that Beeson was attempting to make a article that tries to appeal to the younger American audience and hopes to entice their interests in politics to make a difference in the world.
Ryemin Liddle
HOPES Academy
Scared Straight.. Into the Voting Booth (Continued)
ReplyDeleteThe link I clicked lead me to the “Total Recall Live” article, located on the “The League of Young Voters Education Fund” website, The link failed to show any relevance to the topic at hand, being the apathy the American youth possesses in regards to politics,one of the topics was a complete schism, being about a fictional comic book hero. The website itself however, possesses relevant data to the topic present in Beesons article, it encourage young voters, which is what Beesons purpose was, it also goes into ways to persuade others to your point of view, and has several links to other informative websites.
Ryemin Liddle
HOPES Academy
The author’s purpose for writing this article is to inform the general public (readers of the NY TIMES) about the low turnout rates of young voters and the reasons for it, and some solutions to create more interest in the Civics. Her reason for this is because the generation not participating in our country’s politics, is the generation running our democratic future
ReplyDeleteTo inform the reader of the low turnout rates, the author first shares the statistics of low turnout rates.
Following her statistics, she shares the reasons. “Firstly, many young people don’t see the connection between voting and their commitment to improve their communities, advocate for a cause, or change the world, Secondly, there are very real grounds for political cynicism. And finally, let’s face it, civic engagement can be a snore.” The solutions she shares are simple, put young people in charge, tie it to things young people care about, make civic gatherings fun, and scare them straight into voting. We need to get young people to become more interested in participating in civics because the younger generation is this country’s political future, and “For democracy to flourish, we need people to do it all- vote, volunteer and raise some righteous hell.”
She used logos when she shared the logical reasons for low voter turnout rate, using statistics and blunt statements. She used pathos- when she described solutions, solutions that would make young voters passionate for their involvement.
The hyperlink I clicked on led me to a website that shared statistics of youth-voting from state to state. It did support the article because it showed the statistics of the turnout rates of young voters, which was one of the points in the author’s purpose.
Respectfully,
Noelani Cassidy
HOPES Academy.
The author, Ann Beeson, wrote this article to inform young people about how many eligible voters aren’t voting no matter how much they care about certain things going on in their community. Beeson wants to get more voters into the voting booth WILLINGLY. She does this because she wants more voters in the voting booths changing the country for the better. America is run by a democracy which means that people have a say in the way things are run, but she doesn’t see the point of letting anyone vote when they don’t take that opportunity. One of the rhetorical strategies that I noticed Beeson use was an anecdote. She talks about a dinner party she had where all her guests said their kids didn’t care about voting. She also uses syntax which bring all the words and sentences together in a way that was not only easy to understand, but also easy to follow.
ReplyDeleteOne of the links that the article leads to is the Voter Turnout Statistics. Those statistics are actually quite relevant to the article itself because it shows how much the rest of the world takes part in their votes compared to the United States.
Erica Cabalona
IDEAS Academy
What’s the Purpose
ReplyDeleteExpressing her opinion in the article ‘Scared Straight — Into the Voting Booth’ Ann Beeson aspires to engage America’s youth in the democratic process, she broadens the spectrum of her target audience by informing an elder generation of how they can help support the up and coming participants in democracy. Beeson appeals to youth by sympathising with them then firing up their passion and providing guidance in a way they can relate “And they reached their goal – they elected Obama. Problem was, it was the wrong goal. The party ended, and many were disillusioned when change didn’t happen overnight. Voting is critical, but it is just one step in the broad spectrum of engagement required to advance real change, whatever your goals and ideology. For democracy to flourish, we need people to do it all — vote, volunteer and raise some righteous hell.” Here she opens with pathos; expressing a situation (the election of President Obama) where many felt the same. Beeson delved further into that feeling of disillusionment and discouragement by playing upon it; in doing so she was able to encourage youth that there is more to democracy than just filling out a ballot, you have to be passionate and willing to get out there and participate in order to let your voice be known. Beeson reminds the adult audience that sitting around making a mockery of youth’s disposition over the democratic process is not beneficial in the slightest. She states that adults as much as their youth have to get out and make a change in order to progress and make a difference. “We need to put young people in charge, because they will engage their peers where they’re already active…Voting should be tied directly to issues that young people care about, as a natural extension of other forms of involvement, creative expression and collective action. And the best way to counter youth cynicism may be to rub their noses in the stale fruit of inaction…” Beeson also states through a metaphor that there is a possibility that the only way for this youth to learn is to let them find out for themselves the implications of lack of action.
The hyperlink ‘Their Graduates Helped Cruz’ is an article discussing Nick Dyer the Youth Outreach Director for the Ted Cruz campaign, and how his efforts in reaching the youth of Texas greatly helped Cruz earn his seat in the U.S. Senate. Though this article greatly addresses that getting in touch with is a successful way to encourage youth to be apart of their political futures, it does not address the other points Ann Beeson made in her article ‘Scared Straight — Into the Voting Booth’.
Emily Faretta
IDEAS Academy