Read the excerpt from "A Case for Restricting Hate Speech,” by Laura Beth Nielsen.These negative physical and mental health outcomes—which embody the historical roots of race and gender oppression—mean that hate speech is not "just speech.” Hate speech is doing something. It results in tangible harms that are serious in and of themselves and that collectively amount to the harm of subordination. The harm of perpetuating discrimination. The harm of creating inequality.
Read the introductory paragraph from a rhetorical text.(1) The backyard of a city apartment building is not the first place one might expect to find a chicken coop, but so-called "urban farming” has caught on in recent years as people embrace the benefits of eating local. (2) However, raising backyard chickens can be a significant health risk for the surrounding community. (3) Cities need to relearn the lessons of the early 20th century and ban the raising of chickens in urban settings.
The main purpose of a rhetorical text is to
Read this passage from a rhetorical text in a local newspaper. While out driving yesterday, I counted seven vacant storefronts in the four-block area of our town center. There are additional vacancies in the smaller business district on the north end of town. Not even ten years ago, we had two vibrant, bustling business districts, but now it’s as if we’re living in a ghost town. Sky-high rents have contributed to the dearth of businesses in town, and it’s time the town council does something abo
What is the main purpose of using rhetorical appeals?
Read the passage from "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau.Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government.
What is the purpose of addressing a counterargument in a rhetorical text?
What is a counterargument?
Read this passage from a rhetorical text.Among many serious problems currently afflicting the US healthcare system, the direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs may seem like a harmless practice. Yet there are good reasons to be wary of allowing drug manufacturers to pitch their products directly to consumers. In fact, the American Medical Association was so concerned about misinformation that it called for a ban on these ads. Yet the ads continue today. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does require drug ads to meet certain criteria including disclosing a brief summary of the risks associated with taking a drug, but the government must go further and ban such advertisements altogether. The safety of American consumers is at stake.The drug industry insists that drug ads keep patients informed about their treatment options. One industry group, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, says that direct marketing "encourages patients to visit their doctors’ offices for important doctor-patient conversations about health care that might not otherwise take place.” It is true that it is important for patients to discuss their treatment options with their doctors. However, doctors do not agree that drug ads facilitate these conversations. In fact, many are upset by ill-informed patients who demand new or expensive drugs, even when those drugs may not be the best or safest choice.
Read this paragraph from a rhetorical text that argues that hate speech should be regulated.[S]oldiers’ families, shoppers and workers are protected from troubling speech. People of color, women walking down public streets or just living in their dorm on a college campus are not. The only way to justify this disparity is to argue that commuters asked for money on the way to work experience a tangible harm, while women catcalled and worse on the way to work do not—as if being the target of a request for change is worse than being racially disparaged by a stranger.
A reader who makes the claim "We should stop the practice of tipping in the United States and instead pay workers a higher hourly wage” could state the counterargument that
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