Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy: The Critical Citizen's Guide to Argumentative Rhetoric

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface to Teachers (and Curious Students)
Part I: Preliminaries
	Chapter 1: An Appeal to Students
		English as a Survival Skill
		Critical Education in Historical Perspective
			“An End to History”
			“Majoring in Debt”
			“Students Stand Up for Workers’ Rights”
			“The Abandoned Generation: Democracy Beyond the Culture of Fear”
			Young America’s Foundation Website
		A Preview Case: September 11, 2001
			“The Voices of Dissent”
			“Thoughts on September 11”
			“Faced With Evil on a Grand Scale, Nothing Is Relative”
	Chapter 2: What Is an Argument? What Is a Good Argument?
		What Is a Good Argument?
			“The Intellectual Free Lunch”
		Analysis, Synthesis, and Judgments
		Style and Tone, Eloquence and Moral Force
		Conclusion
		Rhetoric: A Checklist for Analyzing Your Own and Others’ Arguments
			A Historical-Causal Analysis of “The White Problem”
	Chapter 3: Definitions and Criteria of Critical Thinking
		Critical Thinking and Cultural Literacy
		Making Connections
		Dialogue in Critical Thinking and Literature
		Recursiveness, Cumulativeness, and Levels of Meaning
		Drawing the Line and Establishing Proportion
			from The American Scholar
			“A Noiseless Patient Spider”
			“Can Patriotism Be Compassionate?”
			“Multiculturalism”
	Chapter 4: Writing Argumentative Papers
		Prewriting
		Writing
		Postwriting
		Locating and Evaluating Sources
		A Model of the Writing Process in a Student Paper
			from The Beauty Myth
			The Backlash Myth”
Part II: Attaining an Open Mind: Critical Thinking and Argumentative Rhetoric
	Chapter 5: Viewpoint, Bias, and Fairness: From Cocksure Ignorance to Thoughtful Uncertainty
		Relativism and Commitment
		Biased and Unbiased Viewpoints: The ESBYODS Principle
		Acknowledge Your Own and Opposing Viewpoints
		Rogerian Argument, Believers and Doubters
		A Semantic Calculator for Bias in Rhetoric
		Case Study: Anita Hill versus Clarence Thomas
			“The Effort to Destroy Clarence Thomas”
			“Can I Get A Witness?”
		Thomas vs. Hill: Postscript 1, 2001
		Thomas vs. Hill: Postscript 2, 2004
			“Strange Lies”
	Chapter 6: Questioning Culturally Conditioned Assumptions and Ethnocentrism
		Totems and Taboos
		Ethnocentrism
		American Ethnocentrism
			“Battle over Patriotism Curriculum”
		Questioning Capitalism
		Phallocentrism
		Other—centrisms
			from A Room of One’s Own
			“Rescue Me, Please”
			“Objectivity in Connected Thinking”
			“The Campus Anti-Sweatshop Movement”
			“In Defense of Sweatshops”
			“Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America”
	Chapter 7: Overgeneralization, Stereotyping, and Prejudice
		Prejudice
		Class Prejudice
		Reverse Prejudice
			“Will Sex Stereotypes Never End?”
			“An Unexpected Education at St. Anthony’s”
			“Life on the Expense Account”
			“Beverly Hills vs. the South Bronx”
			“How to Slash Corporate Welfare”
			“Corporations: Underworld, U.S.A.”
	Chapter 8: Authoritarianism and Conformity, Rationalization and Compartmentalization
		Paddy Chayevsky, from Network
		Rationalization, Compartmentalized Thinking, and Double Standards
		Double Standards and Selective Vision
		Other Defense Mechanisms
			from “An Interview with Adrienne Rich”
			“On the Merits”
			“Greens Dodge Links to Unabomber”
	Chapter 9: Semantics in Rhetoric and Critical Thinking
		Denotation and Connotation
		Definition and Denotation in Argument
		Connotation in Argument: “Cleans” and “Dirties”
			“Language as a Key Mechanism of Control”
		Euphemism
		Abstract and Concrete Language
		Unconcretized Abstractions
		Literal and Figurative Language
		Literal and Figurative Language in Literature
		A Semantic Analysis of Rush Limbaugh
		Summary: Applying Semantic Analysis
			from Where I Lived and What I Lived For
			“When Words Cheapen Life”
			“Framing the Issues”
			“Look Behind Statistics for Changing Definitions”
	Chapter 10: Avoiding Oversimplification and Recognizing Complexity
		Recognizing Complexity
		Reading Between the Lines
		Irony
			“My Dungeon Shook”
	Chapter 11: Some Key Terms in Logic and Argumentation
		Deductive and Inductive Arguments
		Implications and Inferences
		Setting the Agenda
		Tone and Style
		Polemics
		Ground Rules for Polemicists
			“Vouchers, Choice: Opposing Views”
			“Chicken Little Calling Out, ‘Global Warning’”
			“Lies, Damn Lies and Racial Statistics”
			“White Racism: The Seductive Lure of an Unproved Theory”
			“Closing the Wealth Gap”
	Chapter 12: Logical and Rhetorical Fallacies
		Glossary of Logical and Rhetorical Fallacies
	Chapter 13: Causal Analysis
		“Ya Got Trouble”
		“Other People’s Children: North Lawndale and the South Side of Chicago”
		“Crisis in American Education”
		“Post-Feminist Swill Redux”
		“Equality: A Grand Fallacy”
	Chapter 14: Uses and Misuses of Emotional Appeal
		Appeals to “Cleans” and “Dirties”
		Puff Pieces and Hatchet Jobs
			“Bunker Hunt’s Greatest Investment”
		Predictable Patterns of Wartime Rhetoric: Appeals to Fear and Pity
			“The War Prayer”
			“The Real War 1939–1945”
			“War Is the Supreme Drug,” An Interview with Author Chris Hedges
Part III: Thinking Critically About the Rhetoric of Politics and Mass Media
	Chapter 15: Thinking Critically About Political Rhetoric
		Prestudy Exercises
		Political Semantics
		Liberalism, Conservatism, Democrat, Republican
		Socialism, Communism, Marxism
		The World Political Spectrum
		The American Political Spectrum
		A Guide to Political Terms and Positions
		Notes on the Guide to Political Terms and Positions
		Predictable Patterns of Political Rhetoric
		A Note on Twenty-first Century Modifications to Table 15.1
		Political Viewpoints in Sources
			“Political Party Statements of Purpose”
			“If We Decided to Tax the Rich”
			“The Intellectual Class War”
			“Ventura: Act Got Old, but the Message Prevails”
			“Fascism Anyone?”
	Chapter 16: Thinking Critically about Mass Media
		Do the Media Give People What They Want?
			“A Professor Challenges the Press”
		Are News Media Objective? What Are Their Biases?
		The Debate over Political Bias in Media
		Conclusion
			“The Illiberal Media”
			“Networks Need a Reality Check”
			“Liberal Hate-Speech”
			“My Sports Right or Left”
			“Outfoxed Tweaks Rupert Murdoch’s Mayhemosphere”
		Assignment for a Paper
Part IV: Deception Detection
	Chapter 17: Special Interests, Conflict of Interest, Special Pleading
		“‘Iron Triangle’ Would Quash Competitiveness”
		“Quayle Group Meddles With Our Safeguards”
		“Letter to Dr. David Kessler”
		“Corporate Funding Taints Public Debate”
		“The Historic Power of Special Interests”
		“When Money Talks”
		“Secrecy and Financial Conflicts in University-Industry Research Must Get Closer Scrutiny”
		“Fat and Happy in D.C.”
	Chapter 18: Varieties of Propaganda
		Invective, Smearing, Disinformation
		Lobbying and Public Relations
		Government Public Relations; The Military-Industrial Complex
			“Propaganda Under a Dictatorship”
			“How to Watch the Next War”
			“Flack Attack”
			“Confessions of a Tobacco Lobbyist”
			“Truth, Moore or Less: Fahrenheit 9/11”
	Chapter 19: Advertising and Hype
		Are You Taken In by Ads?
		Advertising Sells More than Products
		Political Advertising
		Hype
			“Extravagant Expectations”
			“Ten Food Secrets You Should Know”
			“Children Now Facing Adult Heath Issues”
			“Road to Ruin: Sport Utility Vehicles and the Greening of Environmental Destruction”
Part V: Putting It All Together in a Long Paper
	Chapter 20: A Case Study: The Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class
		Sklar versus Weicher
			“Let Them Eat Cake”
			Wealth-Gap Claptrap”
			“George Bush’s Tax Return”
		Applications in Student Papers
		Summary of Suspicious Statistical Arguments
		An Outline of Conservative and Leftist Arguments on the Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class
			“The CEO Makes What? Return of a Fair-Pay Debate”
			Left Watch: Why Try Holly Sklar’s Socialist Plans for Economy When United States Is Doing Just Fine?
			“What’s Behind Income Disparity?”
	Chapter 21: Collecting and Evaluating Opposing Sources: Writing the Research Paper
		Assignment for an Annotated Bibliography and Working Outline
		Sample Working Outline, Annotated Bibliography Entry, and Term Paper
		A Model Student Research Paper (Using MLA Style)
	Chapter 22: Documentation
		Citations in Your Text
		Works Cited Section
	Chapter 23: Research Resources
		Sources in Print
		Online Resources
Glossary of Rhetorical and Critical Thinking Terms
Works Cited
Index