Rhetorical Analysis Of Mind Over Mass Media By Steven Pinker

Newton Minow, the chairman of The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 1961 to 1963gave his maiden speech as commissioner on 9th May, 1961 in Washington, DC. John Kennedy asked him to work at FCC. When he spoke about television, it was a time when radios were being replacedwith televisions. In his speech, he literally said television is a "vast wasteland" andpeople were stunned by his statement because people were really enjoying the transition from radio to television. Minow delivered the speech to the National Association of Broadcasters who were the primary audience.His arguments affected not only the primary audience, but a large number of people who were the secondary

Pop culture has been seen in the past to be a main ingredient in making our country’s I.Q. drop, or well, that the overall population is going to become dumber because of its rise. However, Malcolm Gladwell has felt differently, and decided to produce an article on how pop culture has effected the smarts of our country. In Malcolm Gladwell’s article “Brain Candy”, Gladwell effectively uses rhetorical appeals to prove his argument.

Nicholas Carr, author of the novel “The Shallows: What the internet is doing to our brains” explains in his works that media and technology is affecting the way our brain works and is used in our daily lives. Carr states, “The price we pay to assume technology’s power is alienation. The toll can be particularly high with our intellectual technologies. The tools of the mind amplify and in turn numb the most intimate, the most human, of our natural capacities - those for reason, perception, memory, emotion.”(Carr, 211) Carr continues to explain an interesting phenomena that occurred in society within the

The article "Mind Over Mass Media" by Steven Pinker uses logos, ethos, pathos, and other rhetorical elements to effectively communicate that mass media is a positive development and is not a reason for panic. The first noticeable rhetorical element in Pinker’s essay is the presence of a rhetorical triangle. A rhetorical triangle is made up of a rhetor, the audience, and the rhetor’s purpose. In this essay Steven Pinker is the rhetor because is the one trying to make a point to the audience. The audience is the reader of the article who is listening to the rhetor. Finally, the text or point the rhetor is trying to make is that e effects of mass media are not a cause for panic. In fact mass media is an effective way for humans to keep up with the modern age. The clearly defined rhetorical triangle in Steven Pinker’s essay is a surface level example of rhetorical elements in the text.

The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact it

Greenwald claims in his article that the United States government is using cluster bombs on a regular basis, and is lying to the public by denying the usage and supplying of cluster munition. Glenn Greenwald’s online publication “NYT Claims U.S. Abides Cluster Bomb Ban, Exact Opposite Reality” was published on 09/03/2015 on the website “The Intercept”.

In, “The Influencing Machine,” author Brooke Gladstone explains that the changing media does not change our brains if we do not let it. This goes against all the fears of technology thus far, essentially making us humans the artificial intelligence.

Once Jim Morrison said that whoever controls the media controls the mind. This shows that he had recognized the immense power and influence that the media has in our day to day lives. The media plays a very important role in the society as the source of information for every person. Hence, it is very hard for the modern society to live without the media. As a result of the media being the major source of information in our society, it is an undeniable fact the media shapes people’s opinions, attitudes and actions on particular issues (Czopp & Monteith, 2006).

Along with the progression of society, major advances have been made in hundreds of different fields — particularly technology. Controversy has risen, and debates ensued over whether today's young Americans are really “the dumbest generation,” due to their “money, media, e-gadgets, and career plans” [Source A]. While advances have been made, they have brought with them resources to benefit off of, and ultimately assist in the overall intellect and intelligence of the human race.

Throughout the article, Carr consults with credible sources that agree with him and believe that the internet is forcing our brains to evolve to face the growing nature of the web. A media specialist who Carr consulted with admits that, “[M]edia [is] not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought,”(Carr 92) and as media evolves it ,”[shapes] the process of thought.”(Carr 92) Carr argues that media is demising our intellectual ability, his argument is aided by his appeal to logos. Carr cities many credible sources that support his argument, that the internet is diminishing our cognitive ability. Car quotes multiple researchers and fellow “friends and acquaintances — literary

The media in American society has a major influential impact on the minds and beliefs of millions of people. Whether through the news, television shows, or film, the media acts as a huge database for knowledge and instruction. It is both an auditory and visual database that can press images and ideas into people's minds. Even if the individual has no prior exposure or knowledge to something, the media can project into people's minds and leave a lasting impression. Though obviously people are aware of what they are listening to or watching, thoughts and assumptions can drift into their minds without even realizing it. These thoughts that drift in are extremely influential. The massive impact

(Lehrer 839) I feel this hurt him because after using the whole texts to speak down on technology using your conclusion to bring up counter arguments made it seem to the reader he switched views. Pinker chose to immerse his argument with reliable sources and cites his work in a matter of fact way making the reader trust him. Pinker after introducing a point adds very specific details about his information such as; "psychologists Chris Chabris and Daniel Simmons and their book 'Invisible Gorilla'..., cognitive neuroscientists, accomplished people" making it comfortable for the reader to follow his argument. ( Pinker 895)

Is the internet making us smarter or dumber? People continuously argue whether this rise of electronic use and internet in our lives is a negative or positive aspect. In June 5, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, Nicholas Carr raises and answer the intriguing question,“Does the Internet Make You Dumber?”Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has bad effects on our brain. He says that the internet makes it harder to remember anything, and that is harder to move memories into long term memory. Those who are continually distracted by emails, alerts, and text messages understand less than a person who can concentrate. Nicholas Carr points that the internet can change the way our brain acts. He states that those who use the internet are shallow, and the internet is causing irreversible damage to our thought processes and making us stupid. A week later, Steven Pinker counters Nicholas Carr’s assertions in his own New York Time article,“Mind Over Mass Media.”He argues that electronic technologies are not as horrible as some may make it seem, and he starts his article by addressing how“New forms of media have always caused moral panics”(199). Throughout his article, Pinker explains why critics, who accuse electronic technology as harming to human intelligence, are wrong. He suggests that,“these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart”(200). Through media and social networking, the internet brings people closer together and provides convenience for people’s life.

Media is a huge part of people’s lives in today’s society. Through different forms of media people can now obtain vast amounts of information at the slightest touch of a finger. While it is convenient and comforting to have access to so much data, the question arises. How much of this information we receive shapes our lives? Mass media as an agent of socialization can prime and/or skew people’s belief system through mere exposure without the slightest clue of it affects. Mass media as an agent of socialization can structure people’s perception on society as a whole by simply using influence, control, and trust.

Steven Pinker (2011), a psychology professor at Harvard University, published his article “Mind Over Mass Media” in the New York Times in 2010. His article examines how the use of technology affects our thinking abilities; he argues a very debatable subject for media critics. For years, media critics have panicked because of each type new media that has emerged; “the printing press, newspapers, paperbacks and television were all once denounced as threats to consumers’ brainpower and moral fiber” (Pinker, 2011, p. 172). Most of the panics that these media critics create fail and ultimately end up being ignored because even with the years of technology, our IQs have only risen. For Pinker to prove his point that media does not affect our intelligence, he uses scientists as an example. He explains that science requires “high levels of brainwork and is measured by clear benchmarks of discovery” (Pinker, 2011, p. 172). Scientists