Dial 'Xy' For Murder

Dial "XY" for Murder!

In almost every facet of this world, children are being born- born into poverty, born into hunger, born into conditions unsuitable for human beings to grow and learn. Ben Atherton-Zeman, a spokesperson for the National Organization for Men Against Sexism and avid author, not only agrees with this statement but also advocates change. According to Zeman, it is time to take a stand! Not against poverty, not against hunger, but against the male violence that permeates our society and American culture. This explosive growth in male violence is not only dangerous and hazardous to the male who commits it, but also the family and victim impacted by it. Zeman's outrage is displayed by his "Man's Manifesto," which is, essentially, a plea for the readership of XY, to re-examine the gender definition they stamp upon the foreheads of their sons. To accomplish this task, Zeman employs a variety of argumentative emotional methods to convince the XY member and spark the gender - REdefinition rebellion. Zeman bonds with the needs and values of the XY reading audience but ignores their larger intellectual motivation and begins to lose the focus of the audience as he employs fallacies of the mind.

"The nation barely blinked this week as 11-year old Nestor Herrera was stabbed to death outside a Springfield movie theatre by another boy his age." By using this as a first tactic in Zeman's "Man's Manifesto," the author is able to evoke an immediate reaction from his audience. With such a strong testimonial about male violence- sorrow, empathy, and anger all flood the reader in just the first sentence. Anyone should be able to realize that emotions, or pathos, are going to be this author's primary weapon. Additionally, Zeman uses diction, or word choice, in his relentless goading of the reader's feelings by using such vicious words as 'shooting,' 'tragedies,' and 'homicidal rage.' The types of words, when used properly, are very strong provocateurs to a reader's emotional state. Further into the article, he begins to demand change, and he uses his weapon once more, but this time with much more aggression. "Well, I for one am sick of it. One of the reasons why our sons are killing is because we have encouraged it." This declaration is a straight punch in the stomach to many readers as it generalizes and immediately accuses everyone of being slightly guilty of murder, the taking of life from another human being. This makes the reader begin to feel as though they are on a roller coaster of emotions, with its constantly aggressive peaks and ever-passive valleys. Zeman does not identify who his targets audience is until approximately half way through the article so that it does not exclude any one person from reading and relating to the emotions of the message. He intends to consume all readers by the force and power of his argument so that even those who are not his target audience still crave to know what his course of action may be. However, his diction leaves the reader questioning the reliability of the man behind the words. 'Recently,' 'usually,' and 'with the exception,' are mostly uncertain words that the reader recognizes and associates with claims of little or no reason.

Zeman concentrates his efforts toward the emotional side of