Evaluation of Rhetorical Situations

For this blog post, I found three sources that interest me and relate to my major (psychology).

1. LA Police Unit Intervenes To Get Mentally Ill Treatment, Not Jail Time

• Author/Speaker
• Stephanie O'Niell wrote this article. She is a pretty well known journalist; she got her degree in law from Loyola Law School. Her job now is with the Southern California Public Radio. She lives in Southern California, and has been on Twitter since October of 2011. 
• She is a good authority to be speaking about jail, because her degree is in law. Her long career in journalism also helps support her credibility. 

Image by Ape Lad. "Laugh-Out-Loud Cats #58." Uploaded 7/12/07 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license. 

• Audience
• This article was written for NPR, so the majority of readers are more liberal-leaning. The article is in support of the police departments getting involved on a more personal level with potential criminals; because conservatives tend to be more hands-off, they would probably not be as supportive. 
• Context
• The article was published in July of 2015, so it is a recent article. The article is written in what is almost a blog format; it has short paragraphs, white space, cited images, and a prominent title. 
• O'Niell uses LA as an example of how police should be treating mental illness, and she hopes to help her audience see how beneficial this new system is. Some of her other articles are also about instances where health and law come together. One of her recent articles is titled,"Assisted Suicide Bill in California Hits Major Setback". 

2. Being Transgender Is No Longer a Disorder

• Author/Speaker
• J. Bryan Lowder is Slate's LGBTQ and culture writer. He has been on Twitter since December of 2008, but I couldn't find anything about his education or background. He lives in New York City. 
• Audience
• Slate is a publication that is geared more towards the younger generations, but that doesn't mean that its articles aren't applicable to those over fifty. 
• Due to the nature of the article, most people reading it would be LGBTQ supportive. His blatant celebration of this momentous decision by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) would most likely offend people who are transphobic. 

Image by Dombrowski, Quinn. "Pride Flag". Uploaded 10/7/12 via Flickr.
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

• Context
• This article was posted in July of 2012, right after the APA announced that gender identity disorder, now called gender dysphoria, would no longer be considered a disorder.  This article is written in more of a news article format; it has longer paragraphs and only one image at the beginning, but it does use hyperlinks. 
• The article alludes to the previous decision by the APA in the 1970s when homosexuality was removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). 
• The majority of Lowder's other articles for Slate are also related to LGBTQ culture and rights. He has an article titled, "What Will Happen After Marriage Equality?" 

3. What Science Says About Using Physical Force To Punish A Child

• Author/Speaker
• Jessica Samakow is now the Senior Editor of the Huffington Post, but she was previously the Editor for HuffPost Parents. This establishes her as fairly credible, because she has had a lot to do with parenting issues and controversies in the past. 
• Samakow lives in NYC, and she has been on Twitter since November of 2010. I couldn't establish her education background. 

Image by BK. "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
Uploaded 5/7/14 via Flickr. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

• Audience
• Huffington Post is a liberal media source, so the article is intended for more left-leaning readers. The article also talks about Adrian Peterson, a football player, so readers with knowledge of the controversy surrounding him will have more background on the article. 
• Context
• This article was posted in September of 2014 right after the news of Adrian Peterson using physical violence to punish his son broke. The article has short paragraphs, and even has sub-headings, so it looks like a blog post. 
• A recent article of hers is titled, "The Haunting Realities of Postpartum Depression, Illustrated."

Reflection:

Jayni used two of the same news sources as I did: NPR and Slate. However, she used a scholarly journal as one of her sources. That provided a more intellectual perspective on a contemporary controversy, but it might be a little to dense/difficult for this project.

Nick found three sources that are all somewhat biased, but can all be understood even if the reader doesn't have extensive knowledge on the topic. Because rhetoric is usually based on an individual's opinions and views, it is difficult to find completely neutral articles.

I think that my analysis was a good start. Until I choose which controversy I'm going to use for this project, I won't know exactly what type of source I need to look for. Especially for rhetorical sources, I don't know if a scholarly article would be useful, because they are often neutral or too difficult to comprehend and simplify for the purpose of this project.