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Rebecca Twining
English 207
23 September 2010
Rhetorical Essay
There are many different ways an author can grab the attention of the audience. Many
times, the author skillfully entices a reader into his essay, book, or novel through stories or
dangerous adventures or appeal though ethics. There are many different examples in which a
writer can hook a reader: humor, satire, tone, use of examples, credibility, relevance to an
Lawrence Lessig demonstrate their ability to successfully hold on audience’s attention through
their use of credibility, humor, ethical aspects, relevance to the audience, and examples.
In Web 2.0, Andrew Keen writes about our seduction through technology. He writes
that in antiquity people were good at recognizing pit-falls and how they over came them. He
thinks that we have a false sense of security in technology. We rely on technology to run every
part of our lives. Keen writes that the web 2.0 movement is,
...bases upon a series of ethical assumptions about media, culture, and technology. It
worships the creative amateur: self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the
unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone--even the most poorly educated and
inarticulate amongst us-- can and should use digital media express and realize
themselves.
This proves Keen’s position towards the advancement of technology as he clearly disagrees with
our use of technology over the recent decades. He compares our technological advances to the
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ideas that Karl Marx had about German ideology. Keen’s belief that our narcissistic society is
growing through technology is exemplified through the personalized adds on the web and our
personalized google searches. Keen states that “the consequences of web 2.0 are inherently
dangerous for the vitality of culture and the arts”. He uses examples of Mozart and Van Gough to
make his point more clear. Keen clearly wishes us to be more responsible with our use of the
internet.
Keen’s use of credibility in his article allows his audience to trust his writing and his
‘I have no memory for things I have learned, nor things I have read, nor things I have
experienced of heard, neither for people nor event; I feel that I have experience nothing,
learned nothing, that I actually know less than the average schoolboy, and that what I do
know is superficial, and that every second question is beyond me. I am incapably of
thinking deliberately; my thoughts run into a wall. I can grasp the essence of things in
isolation, but I am quite incapable of coherent, unbroken thinking. I can’t even tell a story
Through this example, Keen undoubtedly expresses his thoughts on the subject of consequences
received from technology and shows his reader that he has researched the material and uses
credible sources to strength his argument. In addition to this example, Keen compares the web
2.0 movement to the movement of Karl Marx. This example reasonably persuades and draws the
audience in by recalling the infamous time in history when communism was introduced. This
thought, brought up by Keen is not only very interesting by itself, but it is also backed up by a
very credibly source such as the German novelist, Franz Kafka. The credibility of this novelist is
Keens use of humor becomes evident throughout his writing. For example, Keen
demonstrates the effects of new technology on the old by describing Apple and Google and
Craigslist as “revoltionizing our cultural habits” and “newspapers are in freefall. Network
television, the modern equivalent of the dinosaur, is being shaken by TiVo’s overnight
television” as a dinosaur, Keen provides humor to emphasize the drastic changes which new
technology has over come. Humor allows the audience to pleasantly enjoy the writing in addition
Finally, Keens’ use of ethos appeals to the audiences sense of ethics. Keen describes the
memory loss that is undergone by many who become infatuated with technology. The obsession
becomes their downfall in the sense that all we have now is the “seduction of citizen media,
democratized content and authentic online communities. And blogs, course. Millions and
millions of blogs”. Keen believes that technology is taking over life as we know it now. Life is
becoming swallowed up by the addiction to the internet, social networking, and many other
gadgets that we have. I think that parents can especially relate to this idea of democratizing the
web because their children are currently using the web and do not know who is lurking on the
other side of the instant messenger, myspace, facebook, or even twitter. The internet has become
In Lawrence Lessig’s In Defense of Piracy focuses on the idea that the constant
beating down on the creativity of kids who pirate music and movies off the internet and create
their own mash ups. Lessig complies different examples of a mother, singer/song writer, and
lawyers to fully explain his point on drafting the copy right laws in a different manner in order to
prevent the underground piracy through technology. The lawyers are described as having a craze
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for the suits against teen, illegal down loaders. Many law suits are being filled not only against
teens but also against innocent music lovers and movie lovers.
Lessig uses an example of a young mother happily watching her daughters first steps to
argue against the copyright laws. The mother, Mr. Lenz, video taped her daughter walking with
as song by Prince playing in the back ground. The song was barely audible. Proud of her
daughters great accomplishments, she put the video on youtube for all the family to see. The
lawyers who represent Prince sued the mother for illegally displaying Prince’s music. Lessig
clearly exhibits his views against the copyright laws by uncovering this story and the law suit
that the young mother had to under go. I know that as the reader I was affected by this innocent
Furthermore, Lessig uses ethos by stating, “We are in the middle of something or a war
here -- what some call ‘the copyright wars’; what the late Jack Valiant called his own ‘terrorist
war,’ where the ‘terrorists’ are apparently our kids”. By stating this, Lessig appeals to the
audiences sense of ethics and morality. It seems wrong to me to fight a war against our own kids.
He states all that would be accomplished by creating these rediculous laws and codes our kids
must abide by would be that our creative kids will see themselves as criminals. “We can only
criminalize it. We can only drive it underground, or make them ‘pirates’” (Lessig). Lessig points
our different ideas which he has for over coming this underground movement of pirating by
creating an outline.
Finally Lessig goes further and seize the audiences attention by appeal to the many
people who see themselves as the least bit creative. Lessig voices, “We could craft copyright law
to encourage a wide range of both professional and amateur creativity, without threatening” the
profits that arise from great media companies. Many people are looking for a change in the
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internet culture and do not want to live in fear of these overbearing copyright laws. The audience
in which Lessig addresses would like to see their kids growing in creativity and in love of
In exposing Lessig’s faults, I would have to say that Lessig lacks the concrete research to
back up the ideas in his article. He pleads for a better crafted set of copyright laws but does not
state any of the current laws. In addition to the lack of credibility, Lessig fails to mention that
many teens are stealing songs and movies off the internet purely for entertainment. Lessig puts
full faith in the kid’s creative side and dismisses the corrupt side no matter how minute it may be.
Keen comes off with a very credible article and very well organized. One counter argument
might be that his writing is a bit negative. He emphasizes all the negatives aspects and
Between Andrew Keen and Lawrence Lessig, different techniques are used in order to
grasp the attention and support of their audience. Keen uses credible sources and hard evidence
to back up his ideas and thoughts of a certain topic, while Lessig appeals to the audience’s sense
of morality and ethics by telling a touching story. The ultimate intention of writers is to have the
writing style. Both Andrew Keen and Lawrence Lessig accomplish this in their articles.
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Works Cited
Keen, Andrew. “Web 2.0.” Weeklystandard.com. The Weekly Standard LLC. (2010): Web.
15 Sep 2010.
Lessig, Lawrence. “In Defense of Piracy.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones and Co, Inc. 11
Oct