President Bush and the 14 Points of Fascism

[tw]

Most interesting is the opening statement:

Pinochet. Suharto. Franco. Mussolini. Hitler. These are the ranks that George Bush has joined – the ranks of the authoritarians, the ranks of the fascists.

This is where you define what audience you want. For example, extremist George Jr supporters will never see another fact in that paper. They now have you buttonholed and will refuse to give any credence to what comes after it.

Whereas if that above quote was posted in the conclusion, then some with extremist attitudes would have read farther.

There is no good or bad interpretation. Demonstrated is how the same paper could be 'manipulated' so that those who view emotionally might read farther. Not all such papers are intended for the emotional. That paper could also have targeted only moderates who would view it in a critical manner based only in facts. The opening statement would drive off those with political agendas and would make them obvious by their emotional and illogical replies. That first statement can do so much to target the paper's audience.

One point by another that I agree with: a short statement quoting the relevant Dr Britt point at paragraphs discussing that point would have made it easier to read. The paper is written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with and need not reread any of Dr. Britt's fourteen points.

Most important, the paper usually goes after each of 12 points with a discussion of the point and with references to examples. Whether anyone agrees or disagrees with the paragraph is not relevant. Each of the twelve points is discussed in a logical manner.

Some teachers have a problem with that. They cannot separate their personal bias (political agenda) from an analysis of how logic is presented. Using only a first reading, discussion of each point appears to stay right on target which is how good papers should be written. And which is easily accomplished because Dr Britt broke his concept into 14 clear and distinct (numbered) points. Therefore your paper did not have to do that for the reader.