Pierce1 Donna Pierce Professor Alicia Bolton English 101 17 October 2013 Lets Argue: Virtual vs.

Reality In todays society there are arguments everywhere rather it be in class discussions or the technology that we use like Facebook and twitter. We as students have discussions and arguments on topics that we agree or disagree on. Having arguments on different opinions helps to stimulate our minds. During an argument, we discuss arguable positions, convincing evidence, and the use of rhetorical appeals like logos, ethos, and pathos. Two argumentative essays that generally meet these requirements are: Alex Weiss Should Gamers Be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing and Malcolm Gladwell Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted. Weiss Should Gamers be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing argues if a 13-year-old should be convicted of Virtual Stealing an amulet and a shield that doesnt exist in the real world. He acknowledges that he played three different video games, where two of them he could not steal from, but the one you could steal from to earn points. Meanwhile, Gladwell Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted claims that in the 1960s four black boys from North Carolina A. & T. College were asked to leave Woolworths because they sat a lunch counter where the white people sit and ordered a cup of coffee and they were told we dont serve Negros here(312). They started a protest that grew to about 70 thousand students. Both Gladwells essay and Weiss essay provides interesting claims and adequate reasoning, but Gladwells essay is a more effective argument because of its logos, convincing reasons, and evidence. First, the rhetorical appeal of logos is used in Gladwells, Small Change: Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted. For one, he starts off with several examples and reasons of real life traditional activism where four students from A. &T. College went out for lunch to a place that didnt serve black

Pierce2 people. Gladwell goes into details about the four students starting a protest that spread through the U.S. in a matter of weeks just by social activism. Michael Walzer wrote in Dissent, The answer was always the same, It was like a fever. Everyone wanted to go (314). He tells us our world is in the midst of a revolution. He then explains the use of social media and social activism. He gives examples of how the powerless can give voice to their concerns by using media outlets such as Facebook and Tweeter. In other words, Gladwell shows the readers that the social media reinvented social activism by using technology such as Facebook and Tweeter. His reasoning is convincing and effective because he shows that with social activism the protest traveled through the U.S. in just a matter of weeks and if we used social media, Facebook or Tweeter, it would have reached through the U.S. a lot faster. The use of logos in Alex Weiss Should Gamers Be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing is not as effective as Gladwells. Weiss does not use a lot of examples or logos in his story. He talks about how a 13-year-old is being convicted of a virtual theft that doesnt even exist. How can you convict someone of something that is non-existent to the real world? Weiss explains that the projects may seem foolish to those outside of the gaming world, but they represent a great deal to their creators (728). He uses himself in examples of when he was a teenager he played a video game that was called Eve. He stated that Eve is was one of the games that encouraged players to use real money called, isk which in turn is used to build highly desirable objects in the virtual world. He used examples of the different task that he used while playing the virtual video games. Another strength of Gladwells essay is his convincing reasons and evidence. Gladwell goes back to the 1960s where blacks were not allowed to eat in certain restaurants so they started a protest that reached places around the U.S. just by social activism. He gives details of how social activism and social media are similar but different. He claims that the events in the early sixties became a civil-rights war that engulfed the South for the rest of the decadeand it happened without e-mail, texting, Facebook or Tweeter (314).

Pierce3 Gladwell gives a lot of history from the 1960s about racial insubordination and violence. The marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the pasteven a sense of communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of tevelsion and the internet (316). Weiss, on the other hand, doesnt show a lot of convincing reasons and examples. His story is about virtual theft a video game that is non-existent to the real world. How can you charge someone from stealing an amulet and shield because their neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value (727). Weiss talks of the Eve online game in his story. Weiss stated that as a reformed online-gaming thief, this ruling makes no sense to me. It places too much value on the time people spend playing video games. Video games are not work ort investments for which people should be compensated, they are escapism (727). For example, one of the strategies of virtual video gaming is to take objects from other opponents to further you in the game. Virtual video games are for fun. They do not exist in the real world so therefore you shouldnt be convicted of a crime that doesnt exist by stealing material that is neither tangible nor material. In conclusion, while both essays have interesting positions and points, Alex Weiss Should Gamers Be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing isnt as effective as Malcolm Gladwell Small Change: What The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted. Gladwell provides a much stronger story with logos, convincing reasons, and evidence. Weiss stays on the topic of the virtual Theft, video games that are really nonexistent in the real world. Gladwells argument is a good example of the past and present of how social activist and social media are one of the same, but with social media news travels faster than with social activism of the 1960s. Weiss, on the other hand, is more of a virtual world that doesnt make sense to convict someone of something that is non-existent.

Pierce4 Works Cited Gladwell, Malcolm. Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, They Say I Say with Reading. 2nd ed Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & And Company, 2010. 312-328. Print. Weiss, Alex. Should Gamers be Prosecuted for Virtual Stealing? The Norton Field Guide to writing With readings and Handbook. 3rd ed. Ed. Marilyn Moller, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2013. 727-729. Print.