Teresa Carranza

March 21, 2017

Writing 2
WP1: Portfolio

Murder is wrong. Most people are not able to commit murder but those who do feel that they

are able to justify their actions, all except for psychopaths, who lack the ability to empathize and

differentiate right from wrong. Psychopaths are the main focus in the blog entry Defending the

Psychopaths-An Ethical Dilemma written by a law graduate and manual titled The Art of

Urban Survival, a Families Safety and Self Defense Manual written by Stephan Verstappen, and

although they share a common topic that is where the similarities end. By varying the purposes

of rhetorical situations it can determine how an author communicates a text and how it is

received by the audience.

Writers use tools like context and conventions as a way to identify with their targeted genre.

Each genre has its own specific conventions, blogs are meant to be short and easy to read, by

dividing the text into its main parts and the use of headers allow readers the ability to skim

through, while still getting the information. In the blog article Defending the Psychopaths,

readers are introduced to the argument of why psychopaths shouldn't be held responsible for their

crimes, followed by three headings The Psychopath in modern law, Defending the actions of

psychopaths and Criticisms of the Legal Position of Psychopaths which state the sections

focus. Similar to blogs, manuals are brief and detailed but differ from blogs, by being able to

answer the readers question. The first page of the self defense manual has a table of content,

which is meant for easy reference. In the table of content readers see that the book is on

surviving predators, after it addresses who the predators are, psychopaths and criminals,

followed by how to protect against them, distancing yourself and fact checking them. By

identifying with a convention the writers are able to start establishing tone and credibility.
 Through the use of vocabulary, writers are able to reach out and target a specific audience

while setting the tone. The tone of the both genres relies mainly on the level of vocabulary.

Although blogs are available to the public, the vocabulary used in this blog is meant for an

educated audience, like people who work or study law,

Pritchard vehemently argued that the psychopath was depraved of moral principles, and
Barnes postulated that the psychopath had a deficiency of moral competences. Citing Fields
and Morse, Sifferd and Hirstein noted that some philosophers deem psychopaths less
criminally responsible than others due to a lack of moral knowledge or rationality.,

by having a background in law its possible the audience will be able to understand the

references to philosophers and understand the language used. After reviewing the text the readers

are able to depict that the tone for the passage is ambivalent. While the blog left readers confused

and unsure on how to perceive psychopaths, the manual is able to be clearly interpreted. Because

the manual uses clear statements and an everyday vocabulary level the writer establishes an

informative tone easily,

In the urban environment criminals fulfill natures role of predators. While the strategies
criminals use vary widely there is an important distinction between two types of criminals,
the psychopathic, and the non-psychopathic,

the set is informative. The writer is also able to establish its intended audience before readers

even open the book, for the simple fact that it is a manual on safety and self defense, implying

that the specific audience are those who are trying to educate themselves on safety and self

defense. After establishing these conventions the readers are able to get closer to the purpose of

each genre.
The authors are able to use rhetoric as a way to analyze the conventions in the text. Although

rhetoric is used as a convention in both genres, the way its presented differs leading to it having a

different meaning in the blog than in the manual. In the blog, one way rhetoric is presented as

repetition of rhetorical questions,

So could a psychopath argue a mental capacity defense on the grounds that his reasoning is
ultimately flawed and therefore he should not be held fully responsible for his actions? Is the
psychopathy unable to recognize the nature and quality of an act, and its wrongfulness? If so,
could he not rely on a mental capacity defense?,

the purpose of the questions are to get the audience to take different perspectives on psychopaths,

whereas in the manual, rhetoric is used as a way to establish credibility through logic. Rhetoric

through logic is seen when describing the characteristics of psychopaths, the author states the

characteristic, explains what it is, how it work, why its affective and what happened without it.

With each explanation came a better understanding of psychopaths adding credibility as the piece

goes on.
By varying the purposes of rhetorical situations the authors were able to form different

genres with the help of conventions, rhetoric and context. By using the conventions to build the

structure of their work they were then able to arranging the context in a manner that built their

genre. When building their genre, the writes also used rhetoric as a way to target a specific

audience. Choosing a genre and having a targeted audience are what give a piece its purpose, as

seen with the blog and the manual. The purpose of using blogs as a genre so the author can

informally express their thoughts, whereas, in writers using manuals as there genre are solving or

advising problem or concern.