Texas State University



Essay #2: Toulmin Analysis of a Pop Culture StereotypeHacker and Sommers suggest in The Bedford Handbook that you keep a log of stereotypes that you notice in the media such as “ads, TV commercials, TV shows, new coverage and films” (145). (Your findings will become your introduction for your essay.) After you have done so, pick one and write an essay in which you answer the following questions: 1) What logical fallacies are being perpetuated (Hacker and Sommers 142-53)? 2) What are the unspoken assumptions/warrants (Lunsford, Ruszkiewicz, and Walters 131-51)?Your final paper should be 500-750 words. Document your primary sources using MLA. Here are two essays written in response to this prompt: Sample Essay #1: “Black Republicans: It’s Not a Punchline” by NicoleOn June 25, 2014, Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report reported on the victory of Thad Cochran in a Mississippi primary race against Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel. Colbert showed video clips that captured the media’s stereotype that Black people do not vote Republican. For example, Rush Limbaugh said, “It’s unreal the level of Black turnout in a Republican primary!” And Laura Ingraham, Fox News contributor, asked, “Is this the future of the Republican Party? You brag about your big spending ways to the voters and you rely on the support of black liberal Democrats to get you elected?” I think there is still a stereotype that Blacks are poor and uneducated, and therefore do not vote, or if they do vote, they vote Democratic. On The Fresh Prince of Bellaire, it was a running joke that Carlton was weird and uncool, in part because he was politically conservative, while Will, his hip cousin, couldn’t be bothered with anything as boring as politics. Smith also came from a poor, urban neighborhood, which fits the stereotype of how most Blacks live. The fact that Will went to live with a wealthy African American family was part of the joke, as in “let’s watch this cool Black guy live among these hilarious African Americans who are trying to act like rich (that is White) people.” For Carlton, that meant being a Republican, but he was a buffoon, the butt of Will’s jokes. Even though according to Gallup Politics, 22% of Democrats and only 2% of Republicans are non-Hispanic Black, this fact does not validate these pundits’ unspoken warrant that Blacks are not Republicans because they are not smart and civilized enough to participate in politics and don’t make enough money (because they are not smart and civilized) to have their interests served by the Republicans. People do not automatically assume that Whites are Democrats because they are uneducated or criminals. I don’t think Rush Limbaugh thinks he is doing anything wrong by expressing such surprise that Blacks voted in a Republican primary. I’m sure he believes that he is just expressing a statistical fact. But Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton who was on The Colbert Report to talk about the fiftieth anniversary of Freedom Summer in Mississippi had a different reaction to this high African American voter turnout. In response to Colbert’s question “Would you like to take a moment to apologize to Chris McDaniel?” Holmes Norton replied, “I’d like to take a moment to say to those who went to the polls--those African Americans-- you sure knew what to do with the vote that we went to get for you in 1964. Thank you!” Sample #2: Asian Nerds by MichelleWhat do Dr. Cristina Yang from Grey’s Anatomy, Rajesh Koothrapalli from The Big Bang Theory, and Abed Nadir from Community all have in common? They are all smart, they’re all nerds, and they’re also all Asian. The last fact wouldn’t matter so much if you could find lots of other Asians on TV. who aren’t nerdy and smart, but you can’t. Fundamentally, it is a logical fallacy to look at someone of a particular race and assume you understand their strengths and weaknesses with no evidence at all. Such arguments are worthless since they cannot be proven true, but can easily be disproven simply by actually meeting or talking to the people who are being lumped together.Sure, the Asian stereotype may not seem harmful, but it is still a judgment based only upon ethnicity and appearance. In other words, just because people hold positive opinions of others does not make those opinions somehow not a stereotype. Why do Americans stereotype Asians? Hacker and Sommers write that “stereotyping is common because of our human tendency to perceive selectively. We tend to see what we want to see; we notice evidence confirming our already formed opinions and fail to notice evidence to the contrary” (144). I agree, and specifically it is non-Asians who are perpetuating this stereotype. Since non-Asians are in the majority, they will probably not even think twice about the Asian stereotype. And even if Asians do complain, they’re in the minority, so who really cares? I am an Asian American, and I hate math and science. Now that Asians such as Mindy Kaling of The Mindy Project and comedian Margaret Cho are creating their own scripts, these stereotypes are becoming more apparent. There was recently a production of Candide on campus that featured an Asian actor. This new “evidence” of a different type of Asian will go a long way to challenging a faulty argument. ................
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