Blog #4: Op-Ed vs Daily Article

When picking which articles to read, I’m not going to lie, I scanned over them to see which were shorter – my mind wanders easily… However, all of them seemed to be pretty interesting topics. The two genres, op-ed and daily article, I think, are similar but different. One thing they have in common (and that I like) is that they’re both fairly short. They’re nothing like a descriptive and cited research paper – they’re concise and to the point!

An opinion-editorial is exactly what it sounds like. An opinion! The one that stuck out to me was “Criminal Rape Cases Should Not Be on a Ticking Clock” by Gloria Allred, aka the editorial written because of the all the light shined on the Bill Cosby sexual assault case stuff. What I noticed about op-eds is that they pick an argument or stance on the topic, elaborate on it, and try to persuade you to agree with them using evidence, which I feel like usually works.

In the case of Allred’s article, she’s a woman who was outraged by these rape allegations against Cosby and that it seems he’ll get away with his disgusting crimes. Her argument: he of course should not get away with this nor should any other rapist or assaulter. She starts out with a little context to the Cosby case stating that 50 women accused him of sexual assaults yet only one case has been filed AND it’s pending… She elaborates by explaining that many of these types of cases don’t get filed for numerous reasons, such as a victim feeling scared or ashamed. BUT, the one thing that shouldn’t be a reason for these cases to not follow through is that it’s too late due to the statue of limitations. She persuades the audience to support the Justice for Victims Act, a bill that would eliminate the status of limitations on these types of cases, with evidence that is mind-boggling. (If you didn’t read this piece, did you know that the crime of embezzlement of public funds is exempt from a statue of limitations yet a person getting sexually assaulted is not?! How stupid!)

Ethos in present in this article in that you get a sense that the author really care that this act gets signed by Governor Brown for the victims of sexual abuse in the state of California. She provides sufficient evidence and support on why rape cases should not have a countdown clock until the assaulter is out of the woods—logos. I mean 16 other states have passed the act already, why can’t Gov. Brown take 2.5 seconds out of his day to sign the bill? And finally she provokes emotions, especially for women, that what if this were me in this situation or someone I know? The criminals should pay for their crimes.

On the other hand, a daily article seems a little more factual and a little less argumentative. To me, it looks like the author is writing about the topic just to write about it and inform about it. Although I haven’t watched Stranger Things, but I think I should now, I read the article about it, “’Stranger Things’ and the Psychic Nosebleed.” I thought I wasn’t going to understand anything since I don't know the show, but that wasn't the case. It gave context of the show and talked about a specific subject from it as also seen in other suspenseful movies, nosebleeds. Side note: I’ve only had two nosebleeds in my life and they both were crazy bloodbaths. I can't imagine having them all the time like these characters! Ugghh! Anyway, this article tries to answer the question: why do these shows and movies depict nosebleeds as related to psychic or telekinetic powers? As mentioned in class, the question is answered and supported by research. Is there a biological explanation? A deeper meaning related to a woman’s menstruation cycle? Who even knows.

These genres are different from 15-page research papers in that they don't take up a lot of your time to get the facts, hear the argument, and make a choice to agree or disagree. You also don’t have to worry about how many sentences are in each paragraph!

When we have to write our own article, I’m not sure which one I’m going to pick… I wouldn’t mind sharing my opinion about a current event, but there’s so many I don’t know what I would choose! It’s also cool though that a daily article can be on a topic as fun as a hit TV show. We’ll see!

-- Victoria