No More Hunger Games
Did you know that approximately 1 billion people go to sleep hungry every night? We live in a world where people are separated into two categories: the well-fed/over-nourished, and the malnourished that are struggling to survive. In Margaret Mead’s article, “The Changing Significance of Food”, Mead informs the reader about the issue of malnutrition around the world and her purpose is to persuade people to help those battling starvation. This argument is mainly an evaluation of the widespread problem of malnutrition which is the underlying cause of deaths all around the world, and an evaluation of our responsibility as humans to get the job done and feed the hungry. Her intentions are to grab the reader’s attention with the use of effective appeals and heavy description of starving people to help persuade people to support her proposal. Throughout the text, Margaret carefully uses these techniques to help engage the reader into the issue of malnourished people around the world. Margaret strongly believes that it is unethical to leave anybody starving, and proposes that together we can help eliminate famine and provide nutrition throughout the world.
In another article, “The Only Way to Have a Cow”, Bill McKibben also uses many effective appeals and strategies to help persuade his readers to accept his proposal. In this next article, McKibben proposes that producers discontinue the feedlot system and that consumers buy more grass-fed meat. McKibben makes these propositions with the help of personal experience such as being a vegetarian himself, providing supporting information from a vegetarian’s point of view, and by using logos of facts and case studies to support his proposition. In his article, McKibben starts right off the bat by stating that he has not consumed any red meat in years; nor has he consumed any McDonalds or hamburgers. He states that vegetarians and vegans have upped their attack on the consumption of animal flesh, pointing out not only that it’s disgusting but also a major cause of climate change. This statement can help persuade many vegetarian readers by being able to relate with McKibben. Another strategy that McKibben uses is the careful technique of providing evidence and facts. According to case studies, “the UN Food and Agriculture Organization finds that a half pound of ground beef has the same effect on climate change as driving an SUV ten miles.” McKibben adds, “going vegan is 50 percent more effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions than switching to a hybrid car, according to a University of Chicago study”. The use of case studies is critical in McKibben’s text because the use of logos helps support his argument by providing the valuable numbers and facts that help prove his point: that eliminating red meat would help our climate change. Another major technique that McKibben added in his text was the use of a big icon such as Paul McCartney, who is also a vegetarian. Paul McCartney states, “the biggest change anyone could make in their own lifestyle to help the environment would be to become vegetarian.” McKibben uses Paul McCartney as an image to propose to his readers that they should too make a difference and choose to become vegetarian. With the use of effective appeals and strategies, McKibben’s article is effective because when the reader is faced with the question of “to meat or not to meat”, they will most likely choose “not to meat”.
Margaret Mead is a well-known anthropologist that studied diverse humans and came to multiple conclusions about the human race. She believed that people could work together to change their traditions and to create new ideas. “The Changing Significance of Food” is a well-written article that pushes people to make a difference in the world by helping the starving people. Margaret Mead sets the urgent tone of the article by beginning with an informative first paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention. Her statement is that food