Friday, November 4, 2016

Analysis of "Why You Should Fear Your Toaster More Than Nuclear Power" 11.4.2016

          Is nuclear power truly dangerous? This issue is discussed in the paper "Why You Should Fear Your Toaster More Than Nuclear Power." The author's purpose of this paper is to explain why nuclear power is beneficial and not as dangerous as we thought. I found this position to be somewhat shocking since I previously believed that nuclear power was harmful. This was most likely because in this day and age, social media is everywhere, and it mostly talks about all the dangers of nuclear power and not its benefits, which causes many of the modern day people to imagine mutated animals and tumors when nuclear power is mentioned.
          Throughout the paper, the author uses rhetorical techniques, such as logos and another source's ethos. In the paper, the author uses logos by comparing many objects that were thought to be harmless, such a toaster and a brick wall, to nuclear power. Comparing two objects shows a use of logos because it makes a logical connection that if a brick is emits more radiation than nuclear power plants, then nuclear power may not be as dangerous as what we believe. This rhetorical appeal is extremely effective because many people in the world would have never thought that a brick had the ability to emit radiation; therefore by using a brick wall as a comparison, it really puts an emphasis on the fact that nuclear power is harmless. The comparison between the toaster and nuclear power gives off the same effect as the comparison between the brick wall and nuclear power. Although the author does not mention his own ethos, he does mention the ethos of the sources he used, which makes his evidence more credible and effective in supporting his position. An example of using another source's ethos is when he uses information from the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Labor is a government source, which makes its evidence credible and reliable. Overall, through the use of rhetorical techniques, this paper is effective and supports its position well.

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