Week 11_4/6/16_Political Correctness

I chose to write my rhetorical analysis on the link talking about Iowa state. This article is talking about how Iowa State is too politically correct. In this analysis, the situation will be explained and well as the intent the author had. Depending on the intent of this will help determine who the audience is made up of. Being politically correct is a way of describing the fact that every human group has its own expectations for behavior and speech.

            The first thing Charles Braun has the reader do is take a little quiz while reading. It is asking which of the following are good: diversity, discrimination, and sustainability. From these three topics, Braun states that a good university “requires the free discussion of ideas” (4). I agree with this discussion especially because many people take things the wrong way and may be easily offended. With the author referring to terms younger people do not understand and are not familiar with, the audience is most likely an older crowd. The author attended Iowa State back in the 80s so adults around his age most likely agree with him on most if not all things.  The intended audience is to be college students and older. College students can relate to this letter with it being about a different college while adults are familiar with what is right versus what is wrong.

            The purpose of this piece of writing is to explain to the audience what is deemed politically correct and what media portrays as being right. They each have their own definition of what they seem to be correct. Many examples were given to help illustrate this. One of the examples is that the Department of Residence displays “free condom” buckets in the dorms. This is not right in the eyes of both of these. Charles Braun disagrees with this action by bringing up how parents see those when they visit. No parents want to see that where their child is attending college. This can emphasize the pathos appeal with how the parents would feel about that.

            Another pathos appeal is when people are worried about a man who thinks he is a pirate and needs help, but a man who wants to become a woman is okay. This can bring up different emotions to someone who might be going through something similar. He explains his pathetic appeal on saying how no forms of love are equally valid. The example of a man wanting to become a woman did a great job on focusing on this point. For a logical appeal, Braun brings up the fact that there is a zodiac sign on the floor where people are afraid to step on it. This makes sense depending on the person, they could be disturbed by this picture. The other example relating to this is how the university does not put up Christmas trees for he sake of offending people.

            Overall, Braun did a great job on giving examples for the different points he was trying to make. The examples and word choice throughout were very fitting to his intended audience of college students being the youngest.

Braun, Charles. "Letter: Iowa State Is Too Politically Correct." Iowa State Daily. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.