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Letters written by Ash
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- Written by: Rita Cormulley
- Category: Letters
- Hits: 4
The following essay is about neither Archie Bunker nor Ann Coulter (whom, you may note, is merely alluded to) although it does compare the two twisters of truth. It is about rhetorical devices used deviously as persuasion techniques during a debate.
Gloria:"Did you know that 65% of the people murdered in the last 10 years were killed by handguns?"
Archie:"Would it make you feel any better little girl if they was pushed out windows?"
Gloria:"Wow, that's convoluted logic!"
Archie:"Yes, and that's the kinda straight thinking I'm trying to put across here."
--from All in the Family, one of the most striking demonstrations of convolution in television history. Carroll O’Connor, the masterful actor who portrayed Archie (lovable bigot) Bunker, earned an M.A. in English and was as liberal as he was brilliant. Had he not believed the opposite of his startling punch lines, the satire wouldn’t have worked.
- Details
- Written by: Rita Cormulley
- Category: Letters
- Hits: 6
ash was intrigued by the story of a young woman who managed to elude disaster on the part of the same man who allegedly killed another young woman several days later. In contemplating the difference between the two cases, ash's first letter speculated the outcome in the earlier incident was determined by the victim's actions, for which she deserved a great deal of credit.
Note how the second letter, a reply from ash's detractor, misunderstood ash's point, indicated by the phrase "as well," as opposed to the "instead" he imagined it to be, precipitating the final letter, in which ash sets the record straight with one of her favorite rhetorical devices: flipping his logic to dismantle his argument.
ash's original letter:
God as savior and saver who helps us when we can’t fully help ourselves came to my mind while reading the article about Beth Bates, the young woman who ultimately escaped the deathly grip of alleged rapist and murderer Jerry Inman.
- Details
- Written by: Rita Cormulley
- Category: Letters
- Hits: 5
While very much moved by a story of altruism during World War II, ash did not consider the subject too sacrosanct for a punchline at the expense of one of her favorite conservative targets. Note the gentle sarcasm with which she arrives at the "inescapable" conclusion:
Speaking of Godliness, far too seldom comes a story which single-handedly counteracts the sum total of the rest of the day’s dispiriting news.
- Details
- Written by: Rita Cormulley
- Category: Letters
- Hits: 2
Read that first paragraph and ash knows: laugh out loud funny or cringe-worthy, it's tempting to go no further. Now take a gander at how much longer is this minor manuscript by ash's local paper's owner, the Copley Press, and completing it will be a "tough job" indeed. But a necessary one in order to appreciate the reward of ash's reply below it. Talk about b.s.ing an old b.s.er.
Social Security System Needs a Fix -- Now
GIVE PRESIDENT BUSH credit for standing his ground. He's not only willing to push for reform on important issues. He keeps pushing. And that's true even when his opponents are pushing back - and then gloating about it.
Look at the State of the Union address. At one point, Bush turned his attention to the nation's aging population and noted that Congress "did not act" last year on the White House proposal to save Social Security. That line prompted a tasteless eruption of applause from Democratic lawmakers, who seemed to revel in the fact that they wouldn't even discuss ideas to repair the nation's most beloved entitlement program.