The Rhetoric of David Brooks - Essay Example

The Rhetoric of David Brooks Behind every piece of writing, from works of high literature to ubiquitous internet blogs and wall graffiti, is a writer with a main purpose. Whether it is to inform, to entertain, to affect, or to influence the readers, a writer should have the capacity to fully employ the art of persuasion since it would determine the acceptability of his or her written work. This rings true for the article entitled “People Like Us” (2003) by political and cultural commentator David Brooks. In this article, Brooks argues that the United States remains a homogenous nation despite the commonly held notion that the country is a melting pot of different cultures. He reasons that even though the US has been a home for different people coming from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, the whole American society is arranged in a way in which these people are specifically grouped accordingly. Such organization creates a generally homogenous American society nonetheless. By analyzing the persuasive tools and techniques used by Brook, this paper maintains that the article “People Like Us” is convincing for the reason that he is able to generate support by using rhetorical appeals which consists of a thought-provoking introduction, presenting supportive facts to establish his credibility, appealing to general human emotion and pointing out the logic of his case. By referring from the title “People Like Us”, readers may right away assume that Brook is positioning his article as a write-up that discusses the cultural and social identity of the American people. It is certain that the author has established a rhetorical situation that generally deals with the characteristics of America as a nation. To be specific, such a situation has called forth the re-examination of what most, if not all, people regard as the cultural and social diversity in the United States. Diversity as we know it can be defined as the seamless integration and interaction of different people coming from different racial and ethnic backgrounds. He however admits through his article’s introduction that people are “not really interested about learning the true nature of diversity in the American society although they are talking a great deal about it” (Brooks 130). Perhaps, Brooks sees this situation as an opportunity to come up with a write-up that would elicit interests from his target readers – possibly made up of American citizens coming from all walks of life, as is evident from the author’s use of simple words and uncomplicated sentence structure. In grabbing the readers’ fancy, he ended his introduction by stating that “people [make] strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves”(Brooks, 130). Such statement contradicts the notion that the United States is a country of people that readily entertains diversity. In addition, the statement also serves as an opportunity for Brooks to start on changing his American readers’ notion about their country. Given this abovementioned rhetoric a situation as well as Brooks’ purpose and audience, does his article argue the absence of diversity in American society effectively? Answering this question requires an in-depth rhetorical analysis. Of course, not anyone can utilize strategies to effectively appeal to the readers’ reasoning. A writer, above anything needs to have credibility to do so. Brooks can be regarded as a credible writer for a topic that addresses American society. His years of being a political and cultural commentator add up to this credibility, thus assuring the readers of “People Like Us” that they are being fed with relevant and substantial information. One of Brook’s supporting arguments revolves around the fact that people choose to reside in places where they can find someone whom they share the same ideals about life. He expounds on this argument by citing numerous examples that include a scenario in Washington, D.C, in which Democratic lawyers tend choose to reside in suburban Maryland, while Republican lawyers stay in suburban Virginia (Brooks, 130). Such example mirrors Brooks’ knack of using factual information to support his arguments. This type of example helps to solidify Brooks’ credibility by illustrating his primary argument – that people tend to choose to live in areas where their ideas are shared by the people around them. In showcasing such flair moreover, he also cited how the people’s tendency to group themselves accordingly can be used as a business strategy. He mentioned that selling an imported wine, for example, would be profitable in rich communities because more people would be interested in it while an RV-related business venture would not do well in Philadelphia where RV aficionados do not live (Brooks, 132). With this, Brooks indirectly talks about the concept of market segmentation which is defined as the process of dividing a large market into identifiable segments basing from similar needs, wants, and characteristics (Tatum, 2010). Some may question what market segmentation has got to do with Brooks’ argument, in regards to the lack of cultural and social diversity in the United States. It is important to note that he uses this kind of relational and analogical devices as a writing technique to expound the discussion on the article’s main thesis statement. He uses these different examples to illustrate his concepts and to persuade his audiences by establishing credibility because there are many well-founded examples of what he’s talking about. After all, the need to segment a market supports his idea that people tend to group themselves with others whom they share the same needs, wants, and characteristics. Grouped people therefore create a homogenous society since the very idea of homogeny deals with organization. By stating the idea of a homogenous America, Brooks establishes his credibility and begins to set up his case. In furthering out with the argument of a homogenous American society, Brook introduces his idea of human nature first by soothing his readers by skillful writing style and then by examining human nature. It can be discerned that the use of formal and simpler words are aimed at eliciting more interest to otherwise curious target readers. Moreover, the use of declarative sentences effectively positions the author, as well as his article, as someone that is authorized to talk about the topic, contributing to his credibility as well. For him, people group themselves according to shared identities. Everyone wants to avoid the hassle of dealing with people whom are different from them and so, they resort to sticking with their own. Such kind of grouping also is a form of establishing a sense of security according to the author (Brooks, 130). No doubt that despite the claims of a diversified American society, a Black neighborhood exists apart from the Asians community as well as the Hispanics community. Brooks then states that this tendency is an innate human characteristic after all, therefore arguing that the reason why America can never be considered as a diversified nation is that the American people themselves lack the emotional will do so. What is more interesting is that his hypothesis about this is a well accepted idea in sociology. According to the Theory of Social Identity. people resort to associating themselves with others whom they share the same value as part of their identity management (Moghaddam and Taylor, 1994, 61-62). With such association, they are reinforcing their identities and creating a sense of self at the same time that they naturally create a homogenous society because of their emotional needs. In addition to this, such association is necessary to create a strong society. As mentioned by the “Gemeinschaft” model, grouped people acts as societal glues which in turn reinforce the members’ sense of shared morality (Tönnies, 1988,49) and creates the kind of homogenous society Brooks is trying to reveal. It is highly possible that Brooks might have had stumbled upon these concepts given his academic and professional background. What is amazing is how he is able to integrate such sociological concepts into his own topic. With the author defining human nature and how it relates to a homogenous American society, in addition to using factual evidences and relational devices to prop up his argument, Brooks is able to turn to logic to finish his argument. Logic, when used in rhetoric, can be considered an element of persuasive writing which uses reason as a means of talking to the intellect of the reader. It is not a strategy, but a vital part of every form of rhetoric. There are strategies, though, that can be utilized to stir an article’s appeal to logic such as the strategies used by Brooks. It is highly noticeable that the bulk of Brooks’ work revolves around the use of logical appeals, which, as aforesaid, include ideas from the statistics and definitions he refers to at earlier points of the article, carefully positioning the ideas so that his thought process can be followed. Perhaps, appealing more to logic is the preferred approach to an intellectual audience such as the readers of The Atlantic who would be the readers of “People Like Us.” This is because the article and the publication is expository in nature. The author has been trying to prove that the United States, despite being considered as melting pot of different cultures, remains homogenous. Proving this point would require him to expose information that is left veiled or unnoticed by his target readers. The aforesaid rhetorical analysis on Brook’s “People Like Us” reveals that the author uses strategies that would position his article as a persuasive material that would appeal more on the readers’ rational mind. In doing so, he used strategies of establishing credibility, appealing to emotions and adhering to a logical presentation as he argues why the American society is considered homogenous rather than diversified. These usual strategies would not be adequate if not for Brook’s writing style. He made his article readable and easily comprehendible to American readers using simple syntax and simple sentence structure thereto avoiding being too technical. Overall, the convincing power of “People Like Us” lies in Brooks’ capacity to use logical appeals which places the American society into a different angle while the author maintains throughout his write-up that the American citizens have the natural tendency to more away from individuals whom are different form them and instead, group with those people whom they can easily identify with thereby creating an overall organized society characterized with homogeny. Works cited Brooks, David. “People Like Us.” Atlantic Monthly Sept. 2003: Print. Writing Public Lives. Ed. Christopher Minnix, Carol Nowotny- Young. Plymouth MI: Hayden McNeil, 2010 135-141. Print Moghaddam, F.M. & Taylor, D.M. Theories of Intergroup Relations. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group. 1994. Tatum, Malcolm. “What is Market Segmentation?” 2010. WiseGeek.com. 20 September 2010. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-market-segmentation.htm Tönnies, Ferdinand “Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft.” 1887. Community and Society. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. 1988. Read More