Review of Peter the Panderer
In this fictitious political speech I identified arguments and non-arguments, facts and non-facts, statements that are subjective and statements that are relativist. The fifth paragraph shows an argument. There are a series of statements that support the final claim that “…our community endured the same hard times.” The supporting statements start with Peter’s father being laid off at the Steel Mill, then their family not having enough money for school, and finally the football season being canceled due to low funding.
In the fourth paragraph I found the non-argument. The writer of the article, Peter, says that Jon wants you to “fear losing your job”, “experience hard times” and that he “wants to destroy America.” Peter does not explain how Jon is going to get us to be afraid, make us experience hard times, or how he is going to destroy America. There are no explanations that support the writer’s claims and thus that makes this paragraph a non-argument.
A factual issue can be answered by an objective test. A non-factual issue cannot be proven by experiment. I found the following statements to be fact; paragraph two, “Wall Street journal recently reported that unemployment has risen 4 percent…” Also in paragraph two, “In 2009, he signed an executive order…” In paragraph three, a factory worker was laid off in Michigan. In paragraph four, “The average American family now earns 5,000 dollars less per year…” In paragraph five, “Our high school football season was cancelled due to lack of funding.” I believe all of these statements can be proven to be true or false and so then are considered to be fact.
The next set of statements I found to be non-facts; in paragraph one, “We are at a turning point in our history…” In paragraph two, “…America is the greatest country on Earth…” And in paragraph five, “All of us felt that outsourcing was unethical…” All of these statements are a matter of the writer’s values, opinions and beliefs; they cannot be proven and
In the fourth paragraph I found the non-argument. The writer of the article, Peter, says that Jon wants you to “fear losing your job”, “experience hard times” and that he “wants to destroy America.” Peter does not explain how Jon is going to get us to be afraid, make us experience hard times, or how he is going to destroy America. There are no explanations that support the writer’s claims and thus that makes this paragraph a non-argument.
A factual issue can be answered by an objective test. A non-factual issue cannot be proven by experiment. I found the following statements to be fact; paragraph two, “Wall Street journal recently reported that unemployment has risen 4 percent…” Also in paragraph two, “In 2009, he signed an executive order…” In paragraph three, a factory worker was laid off in Michigan. In paragraph four, “The average American family now earns 5,000 dollars less per year…” In paragraph five, “Our high school football season was cancelled due to lack of funding.” I believe all of these statements can be proven to be true or false and so then are considered to be fact.
The next set of statements I found to be non-facts; in paragraph one, “We are at a turning point in our history…” In paragraph two, “…America is the greatest country on Earth…” And in paragraph five, “All of us felt that outsourcing was unethical…” All of these statements are a matter of the writer’s values, opinions and beliefs; they cannot be proven and