Assignment 11

From reading the "$78 million dollar bag" I learned more of what not to do when writing an argument. i found this essay had alot more flaws than anything really helpful to me. One thing I noticed from the essay that stood out was the attempt to try and connect with the reader. They tried to establish a personal comical feel by saying" ...you probably did it last night". I think this is off putting to the reader because they are assuming that everyone does it. This article though is written more for the skeptical reader. so their attempt wasn't very good and instead pushes the reader away in a sense. I realize when I'm trying to establish a connection I need to consider who my audience is and how they will take it. The next thing I noticed that didn't work was their attempt to try and over simplify the whole idea of why we pay so much for marijuana misdemeanor charges. "...all this for some black guys smoking reefer" I'm paraphrasing, but the statement though was racist and threw any sort of professionalism they had out the window. I knew before and know now that when your writing never say something that can make your audience hate you and sound untrustworthy.  I also thought they should have cited their sources better. It makes the audience less skeptical when you have information coming from a reliable source rather than just pulling them from thin air. I know that if I;m ever going to make some sort of claim I will back it up with reliable evidence.