Why Read?

When one looks for an article to read in their spare time, oftentimes one looks for an article that appeals to their interest. It isn’t very likely that one will choose to read an article that’s about something they aren’t interested in.

In Dan Amato’s article The Dark Side of Immigration he says “Most Americans are against illegal immigration, but I feel that the majority just don’t know that dire situation that our country is in and the damage that illegal aliens are doing to the United States” (Introduction, par. 4). Here he’s stating that he believes that most of his readers know nothing and are anti-immigration. He then goes on in his article to consistently give facts and data—just as if his audience knew nothing.

Is his audience really that uninformed though? Maybe they are. Most people in the United States are unaware of exact data and not many people can quote statistics at the top of their head. Is this what his readers are going to want though? Most people don’t want to read through long lists of every single thing that every single immigrant has done in the United States. Most people don’t even care whether or not this crime happened on this date at this time and at this place. They just want to know how this effects them in their life. Most readers are going to be paying attention to what’s in it for them—not what happened to some person in L.A five years ago.