Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan - Article Example

Rhetorical Argument and Good Writing Michael Pollan’s “Escape from the Western Diet” is one of the examples of good writing that satisfy Aristotle’s definition of a good writing art. Pollan is a credible writer who has great language command in the art of writing. His work “Escape from the Western Diet’ is a convincing article that bears a cohesive message that identifies the dangers of eating western foods. The author appeals to the emotions of the reader by expressing the consequences of eating these foods. Pollan states that these foods are dangerous and that scientific tests have proved that these foods are the main cause for serious diseases such as diabetes and High blood pressure. Throughout the paper, Pollan develops ideas that point to the need for the society to abolish American foods that companies manufacture and have lost their traditional value. His enthymeme is that western foods are dangerous to human beings because they are the major cause of diseases in the community, and that people should avoid eating them. As Aristotle suggests, Pollan appeals to the Ethos, Pathos and Logos to appeal to the people to stop eating the western foods. Pollan is a credible author who has written a wide range of material in respect to nutrition and he commands a lot of knowledge in this field. He has a good background in nutrition awareness making his writing credible and acceptable within the public. This perspective of the writer is what Aristotle terms as the “ethos” or rather the credibility of the author. Aristotle states that for an author to be persuasive he must be “intelligible, have a good will for the public and virtuous character” (Rapp Para. 1). These virtues of the speaker make them credible and whatever they write is likely to grasp the attention of the public. The main message of the author seems to be virtuous and aims for the good of the public. Advising the public to “eat the right food” to avoid diseases seem to be concerned with the good health of the public. In addition, the author draws support from a wide range of credible resources that give his work credibility. As Aristotle states, the ability of an author to remain credible makes his work credible and acceptable by the readers. Pollan’s ability to remain credible and to associate with other credible sources helps him to develop a good writing that is attractive to the public. Secondly, Pollan’s enthymeme has a specific message that Western foods are bad and the society should avoid it for a healthy living. Throughout the essay, the author provides logical ideas to support his argument against use of western foods. He argues that manufactured foods lose their natural composition and have dangerous organic compounds that can cause human illness. When he questions whether a steak from a steer that consumed a diet of corn, antibiotics and hormones is a whole food, he engages the reader in a logical argument that aligns them to his main argument. In addition, he provides a logical argument on the prevalence of diseases in the society today, a situation that was not evident in the traditional society. This way the author convinces the audience to take his direction and see the value of natural foods. Moreover, Pollan provides a logical solution to their problems by suggesting that the only way to remain healthy is to revert to traditional way of eating that had less negative health impacts. Pollan seems to follow the idea of “Logos” that Aristotle saw as the only way to convince the leader on any issue. Aristotle states that inductions and deductions help the author to support shape an enthymeme that convinces the audience (Rapp Para. 2). The idea of Pollan to engage the audience in rhetoric is the same idea that Aristotle proposes for constructing an enthymeme. Thirdly, Aristotle states that another way to get the audience on board is appealing to their emotions. In the society, many people make decision depending on their emotions and the same way they judge the work of a writer. The writer’s ability to touch the emotions of the people by citing issues that that are close to their heart determines the effectiveness of their enthymeme. Pollan is keen to touch on matters that are sensitive to the society and those that can influence their decision-making. He states that the main reason why the society should abandon western foods is that they cause illness and lead to the increased mortality rate in the society. Pollan states that these diseases cause “diabetes, heart disease and cancer” diseases that have become killers today. The increase in these cases makes this a sensitive issue in the society and touching on them makes the audience more likely to side with the author. Just as Aristotle recommends, Pollan strives to make his audience a better people who are free from diseases (Rapp Para. 3). On this ground, it is possible to regard Pollan’s idea on western foods as reasonable. However, at some point, it is possible to provide a counter argument and argue that Pollan’s work is inconsistent. At the beginning of his essay, the author contradicts his argument particularly on the best types of foods for the society. While he warns about the carbohydrate hypothesis and provides an argument on the use lipids, it becomes unclear for the reader to determine the right types of foods. According to Aristotle, the ethos perspective of an article depends on its authenticity. Pollan does not entirely subscribe to the scientific ideas proposed on nutrition. Arguing against the scientific principles jeopardizes the credibility of Pollan’s work. The idea of the author to contradict the general principles of science makes the author vulnerable to criticism of losing his ethos as he puts forward the idea of dropping western foods and adopting healthy traditional foods. Although the main idea of the author is to appeal to the public to support the war against western foods, he provides them with a ground to raise the question of scientific integrity. In conclusion, the work of Pollan “Escape from Western Diet” is an example of a good writing that satisfies Aristotle’s criteria of an ideal enthymeme. Pollan’s main idea is to convince the public to abandon the western foods that are the major cause of the increase in serious diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. He provides logical ideas that help the audience to deduce the major conclusions of the writer, providing them with the opportunity to agree with his ideas. Secondly, to remain credible, he provides intelligible ideas and draws from credible sources to develop ideas that the public can believe. This makes the audience eager to learn from him and benefit from his rich content. Lastly, Pollan strives to appeal to the emotions of the audience to influence them in making judgment on the effects of western foods. By discussing sensitive issues such as increase in serious diseases that have become killers in the society, he manages to influence the people to abandon the western foods. Pollan, in construction of his enthymeme, he uses the principles of ethos, pathos and logos that are crucial in writing convincing articles. On this ground, Pollan’s essay is an ideal example of a good writing. Works Cited Rapp, Christof, "Aristotle's Rhetoric", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2010. Accessed from: . [Accessed on 6th Mar, 2014] Read More