Arguments In-class 11/10/15

• The speaker, presents the positions of saying the “N-word” from the perspective of a white man and a black man, he also brings up the perspective of saying redneck jokes while being a redneck and while not being one, he then mentions jewish jokes from a non-jewish perspective and a jewish perspective. The speaker only really argues from the position of a white man and he’s arguing expecting a white audience.
• Our group found it pretty persuasive, he represented both sides fairly well, he refuted the other side. You can jokingly call someone a redneck without them getting angry, then said that he’d get in a fight if someone outside of south Texas said redneck. He mentioned his past and his book, that’s it. Our group felt like it was pretty thorough, he considered the opposing side, thus improving his arguments.
• No, he does not he states from the beginning that saying the “N-word” is wrong for a white man, his language reinforces that. Special interest might be to get his book to sell. He does consider opposing views, he uses the views of someone born outside south texas, and as non-jewish. He is his own source thus it reflects his own viewpoint.
• Our group interpreted the publisher as the Boston College that the speaker was lecturing at. We determined that this could’ve influenced his speech, thus influencing him to use words and statements more tuned to a younger yet educated audience. He was acting liberal.
• No, our group did not have any outstanding sources other than our own personal opinions on the subject.
• Our group believed that it did both, most of us believed that in the right context it could be seen as a friendly joke, and we all agreed that you wouldn’t say it to someone you had just met. We believe that it mostly supported our thesis. It represents a point to mainly acknowledge.
• The speech seemed to be focused on a mainly white audience, stating “Let the blacks figure it out on their own…”. Our group was definitely a part of that audience. The main point was to argue should white people say the “N-word”