Essay 2 Rough Draft! :)

Ashley Lewis

Instructor Thomas

English 102

25 February 2013                                                               

Should He Be Forgiven?

            In the article, “Riding High,” written by Brian Palmer, he states, “In 2010, cyclists failed 1.19 percent of the doping tests administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency.” In recent news, Lance Armstrong was found guilty of doping and has been stripped of every title he unfairly earned. Jonathan Biles, writer of the article, “OP-ED: Lance Armstrong’s true accomplishments are off the bicycle,” makes the argument that even though Armstrong doped to win, we should forgive him because of all his contributions to cancer research. On the other hand, Rick Reilly, a columnist for ESPN, argues that Armstrong was in the wrong and that Reilly is not ready to forgive him and no one else should either. Both men make great points about Armstrong, but they disagree on whether or not we should forgive him. I believe Reilly has the stronger argument because he knew Armstrong on a personal level, unlike Biles, who is writing from the outside looking in.

            Jonathan Biles, author of the article, “Lance Armstrong’s true accomplishments are off the bicycle,” believes that we should forgive Armstrong because of everything he has accomplished with his charity, Livestrong, which is for cancer research. Biles even goes on to state, “Armstrong has been heavily scrutinized and vilified for his drug use and elaborate cover-up, but his charitable contributions should outweigh these negatives.” He lists percentages and money that was raised through Livestrong, which do in fact match up, according to Charity Navigator. He gives links to the different websites that he used to get his information, so what he has stated is definitely believable and provable. But, the entire article is just an excuse to get us to look away from the fact that Lance Armstrong lied about doping to win. Biles is using the fallacy called red herring, since he is focusing on Armstrong’s charitable contributions to draw our attention away from the bigger issue. By focusing on Armstrong’s contributions to cancer research, Biles overlooks the deeper problem of the fact that Armstrong lied to countless people for many years. No person should be able to get away with such a heinous thing, no matter what good he has done for cancer research.

            Rick Reilly, author of the article, “It's all about the lies,” reminds us that Lance Armstrong lied about doping to win for fourteen years. Reilly is outraged that he was made to look like an idiot after all of the times he defended Armstrong. Reilly even explains about all of the times that he questioned Armstrong about the allegations and he would furiously defend himself. He knew Armstrong on a personal level and stuck by his side for fourteen years. When it came to defending him, Reilly himself writes, “Wrote it, tweeted it: "He's clean." Put it in columns, said it on radio, said it on TV. Staked my reputation on it.” His point is that he did everything he could to convince anyone who had doubts that Armstrong was innocent. But, it came back and slapped him in the face. In an interview with ESPN, Reilly repeats a lot of what he said in his article, which makes him very believable. I agree that Reilly is right because what Armstrong did was wrong and he has every right to be angry. Reilly put everything on the line, so Armstrong could look like the good guy.

            In sum, then, both men make very excellent points in their articles. But Reilly’s argument was more moving to me. No matter what amazing things Lance Armstrong has contributed to cancer, as Biles pointed out, it does not change the fact that Armstrong lied for many years to countless people. He embarrassed our country and has shown little remorse for it. Armstrong should not be forgiven so easily. As Reilly said perfectly, “Give me 14 years, maybe.”

 

Works Cited

Biles, Jonathan. “OP-ED: Lance Armstrong’s true accomplishments are off the bicycle.”   Pasadena City College Courier. 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

ESPN. “Rick Reilly Reacts to Lance Armstrong’s Interview.” Online video clip. YouTube, 17       Jan. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

Palmer, Brian. “Riding High: Why is there so much more doping in professional cycling than in    any other sports?” Slate. 15 Jun. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

Reilly, Rick. “It’s all about the lies.” ESPN. 17 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.

           

 

           

           

           

           

           

           

Summary of Lance Armstrong Articles! :)

“OP-ED: Lance Armstrong’s true accomplishments are off the bicycle” by Jonathan Biles

 In this article, Jonathan Biles is a supporter of Armstrong, even though he took performance enhancing drugs to win all of his races. Biles feels that Armstrong should be forgiven because of all the charity work he has done through Livestrong Foundation.  The foundation has raised $470 million for cancer research. This foundation is especially important since Armstrong is a cancer survivor himself. The author closes his article by saying Armstrong is only a man riding a bike and that he should be forgiven for all of the money and support he has raised for cancer.

 

“It's all about the lies” by Rick Reilly

 In this article, Rick Reilly is outraged with Armstrong about the doping. He says that Armstrong should not be forgiven so quickly. Reilly was made to look like a fool because of all of Armstrong’s lies. He recounts many conversations he had with Armstrong about doping and he would shoot each one down. And Reilly would continue to defend Armstrong, saying that he was not doping to win all of his races. Reilly is not ready to forgive him yet, even closing his article by saying, “Give me 14 years, maybe.”

Essay 1 Self Reflection! (:

1.       How would you tell the story of your thinking and writing process? Complete these sentences: “When I first began this assignment, I thought…..” and “AS I did some thinking, writing and research my ideas changed and I thought…”

When I first began this assignment, I thought, “Oh my God! I have no idea how I’m going to do this! I don’t even know where to start! Stress load, here I come!” As I did some thinking, writing and research my ideas changed and I thought, “Well, I suppose this isn’t SO bad, but it’s still stressful.

 

2.      How did you choose a text to analyze for this assignment?  What criteria did you use when selecting it?

Oh man, I had NO IDEA what text I wanted to use. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to find one. For whatever reason, I knew I wanted to do a video. So, I jumped on YouTube and just started searching. I came across the Sarah McLachlan BCSPCA Animal Cruelty video and I thought, “This is perfect! There’s SO much rhetorical appeal in this video.”

 

3.      What was the most difficult problem you faced while writing? How did you go about trying to solve it?

The most difficult problem I faced while writing was actually writing the paper. The ideas just weren’t coming to me. So, I stepped away for a while that way I could gather my thoughts. Once I came back to the computer, I made some progress with writing the paper.

 

4.      Whose advice did you seek while drafting, revising and editing? What advice did you take and what did you ignore? Why?

I took Mrs. Thomas’ advice, of course! She always knows what’s good and what needs to be fixed. I always try to take most of her advice because I know in the end, it will help me get the best grade possible. I also took Elizabeth’s advice, since we worked together for the peer response. Her advice helped me a lot too.

 

5.      What do you feel are the strongest points of this essay?  What are the weakest elements and how could you improve them?

I feel that my strongest points of my essay were my intro paragraph and the parts where I talked about pathos. My intro paragraph had a pretty strong hook to lure the audience in and my thesis statement (for once!) was very clear and direct. The parts where I talked pathos were strong because it was very easy to pinpoint the emotional appeal in the video. So, it was very easy to write about. The weakest points of this paper were the paragraphs about ethos and logos. Even though I knew what the ethos and logos of the video were, I had trouble trying to explain them in the paper. I could improve them by asking for advice about how to write ethos and logos.

 

6.      What will you do differently on the next essay assignment?

For the next essay, I will definitely ask more questions and take more advice. I always get embarrassed asking for advice, but it really does help improve my writing.