Bottoms Up
Underage drinking has been a huge problem among adolescents everywhere. There have been many disputes over the years on whether or not the legal drinking age should be lowered. Some argue that lowering the drinking age would put more responsibility into the hands of the youth and that they would act maturely towards it, as in Fr. Dennis Tamburello’s article. On the other side of the argument in the article written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHS), it is believed that lowering the drinking age would be nearly catastrophic. They believe that if the drinking age is lowered then teenagers and young adults would just abuse it and become reckless. While both articles give good and valid arguments, the article by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has the stronger argument because it gives the reader more logical than emotional appeals that are relevant to the point they are making.
Although Tamburello is a college professor, this does nothing to prove that he is credible when it comes to the issue of underage drinking. In the article The Legal Drinking Age Exuberates Drinking, Tamburello talks about his experience with college students at Sienna College, where he teaches. His credibility is not very high because his areas of expertise are Reformation studies, Calvin studies, interreligious dialogue, and mysticism. The only knowledge he has of underage alcohol consumption is his experiences with college students and what he has observed. Also his article was written on a personal blog instead of a scholarly journal or magazine. Tamburello also tries to point out that he taught an alcohol-awareness course crafted by the Prevention Research Institute. But, he only mentions this in a brief sentence in the middle of his article and fails to let his reader know anything more about the course he taught or what the Prevention Research Institute is.
On the other hand, The Minimum Legal Drinking Age Should Not Be Lowered is an article written by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which proves to be much more credible than a college professor. The DHS is the government’s principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has conducted a lot of research to back up all of the arguments and statistics that they give. Although Tamburello is lacking credibility behind his article, he does a good job on backing up his point with plenty of emotional appeals. He first points out how he believes that the drinking age of 21 endangers lives more than saves them. His reason is that alcohol becomes the “forbidden fruit” to young adults and they think that it will be so tempting for them that they will use any means necessary to obtain it. Tamburello also points out that because he has taught over 20 years at college that he has seen his fair share of underage drinking. He tries to play it off like he knows everything about underage drinking just because he has worked at a college for a long period of time. He also tries to grab the attention of the young adults he may have as an audience by saying how he thinks if an 18 year old is allowed to vote, get married and do other “adult things” then they should be able to drink as well.
The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ article does not have nearly as many emotional appeals as Tamburello’s, but that works to their advantage. They point out that if a young adult thinks that drinking will be a good experience, then they will be more likely to drink than someone that does not share their belief.
In Tamburello’s article, there were no logical appeals for his article was mostly based on emotional appeals. With his lack of research to back up any of his arguments that he tries to make, readers may find it hard to actually believe anything that he is saying. Throughout his article, all he does is state his opinion on the issue of