TOW #21- "Here's How We Will Start Fixing Metro"

An article written in The Washington Post this past week identifies the issues with the Metro system and offers some solutions to how to fix these issues.  It was written by Paul J. Wiedefeld, the manager of the Metro system.  Since November of 2015 he has been making changes to the Metro system in order to improve it.  This article was written to share the biggest issues with the Metro and his ideas for solutions.  One of the ways he does this is by using statistics to present his audience with the issues of the system.  He mentioned that last year the number of rail car mechanical failures caused the rate of late trains to double.  Wiedefeld also presents the audience with financial information to show that Metro has the financial means to make productive changes to the system.  In order to appeal to ethos, he admits the issues that the Metro system has.  This makes his audience trust him to give them the facts of the problems and to acknowledge that problems exists.  Then, he begins to propose his solutions.  He addresses issues of safety and security first, to appeal to the audience, most of which are Metro riders.  This allows the author to build up a connection with his audience in order to get them to listen to what he has to say.  Since they are concerned about their safety on the Metro trains, they will be more likely to support his solutions on this issue.  The author strategically arranges his argument in this way to get his audience's support.  Continuing his focus on his audience, he addresses customer experience, in order to appeal to the Metro users.  His plans focus on reducing wait time and delays.  The focus he puts on his audience's needs are what allow readers to agree with his argument.  However, in the argument he lists a lot of things that he will fix but is not too clear on the "how".  He introduces a "get well" program, but not how he will implement it, how it works, or how he will afford it.  He focuses only on what its outcomes would be.  But the audience can not know for sure that these outcomes will be guaranteed because of the lack of supported information of the plan's success.  Hopefully Wiedefeld can implement these solutions and ultimately improve the Metro system for future customers.

TOW #20- IRB: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill's biography has been a very informational book so far compared to the other IRB's that I have read.  As I'm learning a lot, I am also taking in some of the writer's style that is used to paint a picture of Winston Churchill as the author wants the audience to see him.  In chapter 5, "The Center of Events", the writer uses strategies of rhetoric in order to provide accurate information about Churchill in a positive light, even when his actions were not viewed so positively by others.  The author's ability to reveal the good side of Churchill even in his worst moments is the result of Keegan's use of arrangement of information and negative diction.  When presenting a situation in which Churchill was responsible for deploying police against strikers when he was home secretary, the author is able to use arrangement to show the necessity of Churchill's actions.  To justify Churchill's controversial actions, the author explains, "The need to contain industrial unrest, fomented by the recession of 1909, forced Churchill to deploy the police against strikers on several occasions... he was even obliged to put troops on standby during riots at Tonypandy," (Keegan 74).  Before even mentioning Churchill's actions, Keegan explains the context of the time period and the need for a leader to contain the unrest of the industrial workers.  By presenting this information first, Keegan is able to alter the view of Churchill's actions by showing the audience that he was forced into ordering the police to do this.  Rather than explaining Churchill's actions as his own, the author shows how the time period affected Churchill's decisions.  This places more blame on the 1909 recession and the strikers rather than Winston Churchill.  Another way that Keegan portrays Churchill in a good light is through the use of his negative diction against those who opposed Churchill.  When explaining the repercussions of Churchill's deployment of police against strikers, Keegan mentions, "'Remember Tonypandy!' was a cry that haunted him for years after his return to the Conservative Party in 1925, and helped to make him, quite unfairly, better remembered as a home secretary hostile to the working classes," (Keegan 77).  The author's bias towards Churchill seems very apparent in this quote because of his use of negative diction.  The use of the words "haunted" and "quite unfairly" victimizes Churchill.  Keegan makes the audience sympathize with Churchill and understand how the opposing side was attacking him for something he could not control.  Whether or not Keegan's bias towards Churchill undermines his credibility in this biography is debatable, however his use of rhetoric in this chapter very clearly helps him achieve his purpose of portraying Churchill in a good light.  He is able to help the audience see some of Churchill's most controversial decisions as uncontrollable ones forced upon him.