Bordering on Absurdity is trustworthy

Michael Mandel wrote an article titled "Bordering on Absurdity" for Business Weekly. Right underneath his title he said, "Cars can move more easily from country to country than people, and that is crimping both human potential and economic growth." I thought it summed up the article quite nicely. Mandel is pro immigration and he will use the article to tell the readers why.

Ehtos is a "persuasive strategy built on trust" says Gary Layne Hatch (Writing and Rhetoric chapter 4). We generally trust those who have authority and/or those who have good characteristics (is. knowledgeable, experienced, reliable, etc.). There are a few moments in Mandel's paper where he makes it easy to trust him.

The first thing I noticed was that the article was found on businessweek.com. The title is exactly what it says. Weekly Business articles. An article on this website would seem trustworthy to the reader because the website itself is truthful and trustworthy.

Mandel also gains the readers' trust in paragraph 6. He is talking about an other economist's research to prove his pint on immigration. Not only does he give this economist authority by telling the reader that he is from UC Berkeley, but he also gives the reader al ink to the economist's own article on the subject. Showing the audience where he got his information is a huge sign to trust him.

At the very end of the article it says "Mandel is chief economist for BusinessWeek." That shows the reader that Mandel is also in a position of authority, and so he is therefore trustworthy.

Audience Analysis

Mandel's article on immigration is written very well for any audience. The reason why is hte structure of his article. He has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Inside of the body he has headers to organize the different catagories he will talk about. So it is very easy to understand where his article is going. An other good thing he has in his article is that he has a rebuttal with every point he makes. he lets the reader know what the other side is saying, and then defends his side according to the other side's opinion. The structure makes it easy for all audiences to read this article and understand Mandel's opinion. He can't hide anything, there is no reading in between the lines. This allows the reader to take the information given to them and go their own way. I think that it is important that his article is written to all audiences so that he has the opportunity to change some reader's opinions to his own.