Contents

Preface for Instructors v

Introduction: The Empowered Writer xxv

1 Do the Media Manipulate Opinion? 1

Can you trust the images you see in the news? Do photographsand videotapes always provide objective pictures of an event?In April 2000 Americans found themselves uncomfortably con-fronted by these key questions as the media launched a barrageof conflicting images occasioned by the U.S. government'sseizure of a six-year-old Cuban boy from the home of hisMiami relatives. Front page stories from three of the nation'sleading newspapers graphically reveal the various ways a singleevent can be interpreted by the p res s . . . . An online magazinereminds us that pictures, "like words, can project illusions andtake events out of context." . . . "Which photo do you believe?"asks a noted political commentator. . . . If all stories have twosides, claims a Northwestern junior, then the Elian Gonzalezepisode is truly "a tale of two images." . . . A cartoon from theIowa State Daily makes a satirical point about the power ofphotojournalism.

Front Page Portfolio 3[The Miami Herald, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times/April 23, 2000]

WILLIAM SALETAN The Elian Pictures 6[Slate/April 24, 2000]

WILLIAM SAFIRE In the Dead of Night 14[The New York Times/April 24, 2000]

LINDSAY COHEN A Tale of Two Images(Student Essay) 19[The Daily Northwestern, Northwestern University/May 3, 2000]

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CARMEN CERRA Poison Ink(Student Cartoon) 23[Iowa State Daily, Iowa State University /April 24, 2000]

Our Body Image—How Early Does It Begin? 27Opinion polls show that most Americans are discontented withtheir appearance. Usually, women want to lose pounds and menwant to gain muscle in the hopes of achieving their "ideal"body images. Does this obsession with the way we look begin inadulthood, adolescence, or much earlier? As part of a Literacythrough Photography project in a North Carolina school sys-tem, an art teacher discovers what elementary school childrenthink of their bodies.... A New York Times reporter wonderswhy people are more inclined to lie about their height than theirweight or age. . . . A University of Nebraska broadcasting majorworries that too many young people are killing themselves be-cause of a "cultural expectation to be thin."

WENDY EWALD The Best Part of Me(Photo Essay) 29[DoubleTake/Winter 1999]ERIC NAGOURNEY A Verbal Way to Stand Tall 3 8[The New York Times Magazine/June 4, 2000]LESLEY OWUSU Weighty Issues (Student Essay) 43[Daily Nebraskan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln/February 1, 2000]

3 Are Gender Differences Real? 49Do males and females truly behave as though they come fromdifferent planets? Can gender differences be bridged by mutualunderstanding, or are they so innate that a communication gapbetween men and women will always remain? Are girls givenfewer opportunities in our society than boys? A reporter re-views the current scientific evidence for gender differences, ex-amining the roles of both culture and body chemistry in the for-mation of male and female personalities.... Popular televisionquiz shows, such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, may be bi-ased toward men, reports a leading liberal j o u r n a l . . . . In an

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elegantly concise anecdote, an essayist reveals a fundamentaldifference between men and women. . . . Two Kansas City Met-ropolitan Community College students heatedly debate a fa-vorite American topic: Do men or women make better drivers?

DEBORAH BLUM What's the Difference between Boysand Girls? 50[Life/July 1999]

EDWARD COHN Are Men's Fingers Faster? 58[American Prospect/April 24, 2000]

PENELOPE SCAMBLY SCHOTT Report on theDifference between Men and Women 65[Fourth Genre/Fall 1999]

Opposing Views: King or Queen of the Road? 68[The Spectrum, Kansas City Metropolitan Community C°He8e/December 8,1999]

STEVE DALTON The Mirror Is Not for Makeup(Student Essay) 69RACHAEL COWLEY Women Stop for Directions(Student Essay) 70

4 How Important Is Ethnic Identity? 76Do you ever see yourself as a representative of an ethnic orracial group? How important is it to your sense of identity tobelong to this particular group? How do you identify yourselfif, like many Americans, you belong to more thari one ethnicgroup? A young traveler revisits his native Vietnam and unex-pectedly discovers who he really i s . . . . A Kansas State politicalscience major believes that "politically correct" multicultural-ism is destroying American unity.. . . "What are you?" is not asimple question, explains a writer whose ethnic and culturalbackgrounds are not easily classified.. . . An ad questions thegovernment's charges against a Chinese American scientist.

QUANG BAO My Unhoming 77[A. Magazine /February-March 2000]

TRAVIS WEIGEL America's Identity Crisis(Student Essay) 81[Kansas State Collegian, Kansas State University/February 4, 2000]

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ROBIN D. G. KELLEY The People in Me 85[ColorLines/Winter 1999]

Advertisement: Charged with Being Ethnic Chinese 91[Chinese for Affirmative Action/2000]

5 Do Words Matter? 96

Do the ordinary words we use in our daily lives make any dif-ference? Can they create hostile environments or facilitate rela-tionships? Do we always know what they mean, even when weuse such common words as love and hate? How can merewords persuade us to make extravagant purchases? A NewYork University student would like to restore the awesomepower of a four-letter word—love... . The simple word sorrycan be one of the most powerful terms we can use in private orin public, argues one of the nation's leading linguists. . . . Whyare SUVs so popular? asks a noted cultural critic who believesthe key to their success is neither their size nor their expense buttheir phony "Western names."

CAMILLE DEANGELIS Pondering "Love"(Student Essay) 97[Washington Square News, New York University /October 26,1999]DEBORAH TANNEN Contrite Makes Right 102[Civilization/April-May 1999]

Editor's Supplement: Did Clinton Apologize? 109

JACK HITT The Hidden Life of SUVs 111[Mother Jones/July-August 1999]

6 Who Should Our Heroes Be? 120

Does everyone grow up with heroes and role models? Can wejudge a society by the kinds of individuals its young people de-cide to imitate? If so, what does America's obsession withmedia celebrities and professional athletes say about us? Is itpossible to find our heroes closer to home? A contributor toNewsweek's online weekly explains why his mother has becomea greater hero to him than all the comic-book superheroes of his

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childhood... . We would all be better off if we resisted our fas-cination with media personalities and discovered our heroesamong community activists, says a University of Kansas eco-nomics major.... One of America's most popular historiansdisputes our traditional list of heroes and proposes a new pan-theon of extraordinary though lesser-known individuals.

JIMTELLA Sipping Coffee 121[Newsweek.com/November 5, 1999]

BREEZE LUETKE-STAHLMAN Real People Make RealRole Models (Student Essay) 125[The Daily Kansan, The University of Kansas/February 7, 2000]

HOWARD ZINN Unsung Heroes 130[The Progressive/June 2000]

7 Today's Choices—How Do We DecideWhat to Do? 138

At a time when nearly all traditional moral values are beingchallenged, how do we make serious personal decisions? Onwhat grounds do we base our conduct: communal, religious, in-dividualistic? Should we follow conventional moral guidelines?Be politically correct? Do what our conscience dictates? A med-ical student ponders a personal dilemma: Should she learn howto perform abortions and risk her career and possibly her life?...An advertisement for the National Abortion Federation regretsthat doctors increasingly need to wear bulletproof vests towork.. . . In a controversial New York Times essay, a famousphilosopher raises moral responsibility to unprecedentedlevels.... If a successful marriage means being able to live to-gether harmoniously, then isn't it a good idea, argues a CentralMissouri State columnist, to try living together before gettingmarried?

ANONYMOUS, AS TOLD TO SARA CORBETTA Gun to My Head 139[Esquire/February 1999]

Advertisement: Making Abortion Safe 146[National Abortion Federation/1999]

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PETER SINGER The Singer Solution to WorldPoverty 149[The New York Times Magazine/September 5,1999]

BRENDA NEFF Living Together (Student Essay) 158[Muleskinner.org, Central Missouri State University/January 19,1999]

8 The Future—What Can We Expect? 163

The recent millennium celebrations inspired a great deal of ret-rospection, as writers looked back and evaluated the past. Butnot everyone felt nostalgic. Many used the occasion to wonderwhat the future held in store. What will life be like in thetwenty-first century? Will there be more incredible technologi-cal change? Will society be radically transformed? A leadingcommentator for Time magazine wonders how biogeneticbreakthroughs will fundamentally alter traditional male-femalerelationships... . Noting increases in intermarriage and the ero-sion of racial barriers, an African American essayist cautiouslyconsiders the disappearance of race. . . . The next frontier of sci-entific exploration should be the mysterious human brain, ar-gues a Western Illinois University student.... An advertisementworries about overcrowding.

BARBARA EHRENREICH Will Women Still NeedMen? 164[Time/February 21, 2000]ELLIS COSE The Colors of Race 173[Newsweek /January 1, 2000]BRANDON ECKENRODE The Next Frontier(Student Essay) 179[Western Courier Online, Western Illinois University/January 29,2000]Advertisement: Remember When This Was HeavyTraffic? 183[Negative Population Growth/1999]

9 Can We Resist Stereotypes? 189

Why are we so quick to label people? Where do stereotypescome from? What harm can they do? Are some group stereo-

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types accurate? Are stereotypes an inevitable part of everyone'slife in all societies? On a trip to Africa, the assistant director ofthe New York Civil Liberties Union observed male behaviorthat would have provoked slurs or stares back in the UnitedStates . . . . A magazine editor who wanders into the wrong partof town confronts the "poisonous thought" of racial stereotyp-ing. . . . A Filipino student can understand why she is stereo-typed because she herself has done the same to others: "Stereo-types exist for a reason, and prejudices die hard," she argues. . . .By asking a disturbing question, a stark advertisement driveshome the effects of stereotyping.

BILL BATSON In Africa, Men Hold Hands 190[Essence/December 1999]

JOHN MONCZUNSKI Cornered 195[Notre Dame Magazine/Spring 1999]

THEA PALAD Fighting Stereotypes(Student Essay) 200[The CyberSignal, The College of New Jersey/January 24, 2000]

Advertisement: Driving While Black 204[American Civil Liberties Union/2000]

10 Affirmative Action Programs—Are They Still Needed? 209

Have recent state policies ended affirmative action programs inthe United States, or will these programs continue in one formor another? Can admissions officers find ways to circumventstate legislators and ensure greater diversity and better minorityrepresentation in the classroom? Two authorities on affirmativeaction policies debate whether the SATs should take race andethnicity into account when calculating scores. . . . A Universityof Rochester senior takes issue with a campus newspaper col-umn condemning affirmative action programs, while anotherstudent argues for retaining them.

Opposing Views: The End of Meritocracy: Should the SATAccount for Race? 210[The New Republic/September 27, 1999]

NATHAN GLAZER Yes 211ABIGAIL THERNSTROM No 216

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Opposing Views: What Should We Do about AffirmativeAction? 223DANIEL BERKOWITZ End It (Student Essay) 224[The Campus Times Online, The University of Rochester/March 25,1999]

ANYA LAKNER Keep It (Student Essay) 226[The Campus Times Online, The University of Rochester/April 8,1999]

11 God and the Constitution—Must They Be Separate? 232

When the nation's founders agreed on a First Amendment thatprohibited Congress from establishing a religion or from deny-ing anyone religious freedom, how far did they intend their re-strictions to go? Did they want to prohibit all forms of religiouslanguage and displays in public? A noted Boston columnistwonders why the Ohio State motto "With God All Things ArePossible" is unconstitutional while all U.S. currency proclaims"In God We Trust." . . . The Anti-Defamation League urgesAmericans to maintain a strong "wall separating church andstate." . . . With the recent epidemic of school violence, a num-ber of community leaders have advocated posting the Ten Com-mandments in public schools: The editorial board of a VirginiaTech online paper sees this suggestion as clearly unconstitu-tional, whereas a columnist at Truman State University in Mis-souri finds nothing wrong with the idea.

JEFF JACOBY Can We Use the G-Word? 233[The Boston Globe/June 1, 2000]Advertisement: The Wall of Separation 238[Anti-Defamation League/2000]

Opposing Views: Do the Ten Commandments Violate the FirstAmendment? 242

EDITORIAL BOARD Yes (Student Essay) 243[Collegiate Times, Virginia Polytechnic Institute/February 11, 2000]

ANDREA HEIN No (Student Essay) 245[New Media Index, Truman State University/September 2, 1999]

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12 Is the War on Drugs Worth Waging? 251

Are U.S. drug laws obsolete? Do they do more harm thangood? Arid if marijuana, heroin, and other substances are ille-gal, why isn't alcohol prohibited? Isn't alcohol similarly dan-gerous? Doesn't it cause irreparable social harm? The publisherof a Latino political journal explains why the "government's es-calating battle to keep people from consuming illegal drugs hasbeen a miserable failure." . . . If legalizing alcohol doesn't work,why should we think legalizing drugs will help solve socialproblems? asks a UCLA columnist. . . . A prominent Newsweekessayist argues that "beer and booze are not the same as illegaldrugs. They're worse." . . . Mothers Against Drunk Driving(MADD) issues a warning for parents.. . . Concerned aboutunjust sentencing for drug offenders, an advocacy group offerssome practical advice based on historical precedent.

JAMES E. GARCIA War and Hypocrisy 252[The Texas Observer/January 21, 2000]

ADRIAN HAYMOND Can Legalization Solve America'sDrug Problem? (Student Essay) 257[Daily Bruin Online, University of California, Los Angeles/October28, 1999]

ANNA QUINDLEN The Drug That PretendsIt Isn't 263[Newsweek/April 10, 2000]

Advertisement: Do You Really Want Jim, Johnnie, Jose or JackRiding Shotgun with Him? 268[Mothers Against Drunk Driving/2000]

Advertisement: Just Say Not Guilty? 271[Common Sense for Drug Policy/2000]

13 How Do We Define "Hate Crime"? 277

Should certain crimes—violent or otherwise—targeted atmembers of a different race, or at gays, or at people with dis-abilities be specially designated as "hate crimes"? Are suchcrimes worse than other crimes? Do they deserve greater penal-ties? A world-renowned feminist explains why hate crimes areso often committed by heterosexual white males. . . . When

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poverty and social class enter the picture, hate crime can be-come especially violent, as it did, a Nation essayist recounts, inthe ritual murder of a young gay man in Laramie, Wyoming. . . .A Brigham Young University newspaper editorial thinks that ahate crime designation will only result in greater conflict. Thatopinion is challenged in a response that argues for the necessityof such legislation. . . . An advertisement for an online magazineisn't afraid to offer a politically incorrect opinion.

GLORIA STEINEM Supremacy Crimes 278[Ms./August-September 1999]

DONNA MINKOWITZ Love and Hate inLaramie 286[The Nation/July 12,1999]

Opposing Views: Do We Need Hate CrimeLegislation? 294

EDITORIAL BOARD Hate Crime Laws Are Unnecessary(Student Essay) 295[The Daily Universe, Brigham Young University/January 19, 2000]

HEATHER SUMMERS Hate Crime Legislation IsNecessary (Student Essay) 296[The Daily Universe, Brigham Young University/January 24, 2000]

Advertisement: Why Is It a Hate Crime . . . ? 299[Salon.com/2000]

14 Can Violence Be Explained? 304

Few people would dispute the fact that violence is a main fea-ture of American films, video games, and television. But to whatextent can violent behavior, especially among the young, be at-tributed to violence in the media? What other cultural and so-cial factors are involved? A communications professor believesour investigations into the "culture of violence" should be more"holistic" and include an examination of our socially stratifiedconsumer culture. . . . In a monthly column, the chair of US Air-ways believes that we can successfully respond to the alarmingviolence in our schools only if we make a concerted effort onmany levels. . . . A Tulane student attempts to explain a curiousfact: Why is it that as the overall crime rate has fallen, the num-

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ber of mass murders has skyrocketed?.. . . Children aren'tborn violent, the Ad Council assures us, but they can learn tobe.

SUSAN DOUGLAS A Look at Terror with MyDaughter 305[The Progressive/June 1999]

STEPHEN M. WOLF Countering Violence 311[Attache/July 1999]

CHRIS WOOTEN As the Murder Rate Falls, ViolenceSoars (Student Essay) 317[The Tulane Hullabaloo, Tulane University/October 22, 1999]

Advertisement: Children Aren't Born Violent 322[The Ad Council/2000]

15 Is the Death Penalty Necessary? 327

Is capital punishment the most effective way to deal with con-victed murderers? Is it fair to those who died to let their mur-derers go on living? Can we always be certain we are not exe-cuting an innocent person? These questions invariably arise indiscussions of one of America's most divisive issues: the deathpenalty. Writing for a controversial photography project spon-sored by the United Colors of Benetton, a journalist evaluateshis experiences with death-row inmates. . . . A professor andauthor seriously wounded by the Unabomber believes that re-venge has its virtues in a morally responsible society. . . . A Bis-marck State College student systematically rejects anti-deathpenalty arguments such as those voiced by a University ofTexas sociology major. . . . The latest arguments against capitalpunishment are concisely advanced in a recent advertisementfrom the American Civil Liberties Union. . . . In a brief excerptfrom the best-seller Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejeanconsiders the morality of execution as retribution.

KEN SHULMAN We, On Death Row 328[Benetton Supplement/January 2000]

DAVID GELERNTER What Do MurderersDeserve? 334[The Utne Reader/March-April 1999]

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Opposing Viewpoints: Should Execution BeAbolished? 340

CARL VILLARREAL An Eye for an Eye Doesn't AlwaysApply (Student Essay) 340[The Daily Texan, The University of Texas at Austin/February 8,1999]

ANN KNUDSON Should the State Kill?(Student Essay) 342[Mystician, Bismarck State College/February 24, 2000]

Editor's Supplement: From Dead Man Walking,by Helen Prejean 346Advertisement: Thanks to Modern Science.. . . 348[American Civil Liberties Union/2000]

Alternate Tables of Contents: Rhetorical Patterns,Working with Research and Information,and Motivations for Writing 355

The Periodicals: Information for Subscription 365

Index of Authors and Titles 375