With many conflicting political ideologies that exist in the highly volatile political age.docx

Really Rough Draft

"New Rules" by Bill Maher

                With many conflicting political ideologies that exist in the highly volatile political age, it is common to have commentators and comedians who capitalize on it. Some speak of modern politics through fear mongering, strategizing, and reporting; others, such as comedians, use satire, underreaction, and overreaction to communicate their points. Bill Maher, host of HBO’s hit talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher”, uses his book, “New Rules”, inspired by a segment on his show, to communicate his political beliefs to his audience. In his book, he uses the above rhetorical strategies, including satire, underreation, overreaction, and irony to convey his motif.

                Maher states in the foreword of the book that he does not intend on telling anyone how to live their lives. “This is a simple, humble collection of rules that basically points out how everyone but me has their head up their ass.”(VI) He expresses his distaste for the utter disregard for limits that the general public has and because “it seemed about time that this “structureless” society of ours to get back to the idea of rules, limits, and boundaries.”(VI) Maher goes on to say that the general American public has confused the meaning of “freedom” as to mean “without rules or boundaries”. He ties rules in with rights of American citizens by saying, “Rules are the signposts that define where our rights end and those of our fellow citizens begin.”(VII) He implies that courtesy, consideration, and common sense are unfortunately outdated for a “self-obsessed, success-by-all-means, get-mine culture” (VIII) as ours has become.

                Throughout his book, Maher uses nonpolitical jokes to give his work a playful theme and lighten the mood because it is, after all, a book about politics. Some of them have absolutely no bearing on problems of society, but are common problems or annoyances that many people deal with frequently. A demonstration of this is his malcontent with news organization advertising, “News organizations have to stop using the phrase “We go beyond the headlines” That’s your job, Dummy. You don’t see American Airlines saying “We land our jets on the runway!”(140). Some of his other ‘rules’ are still problems that affect people often, but  have societal meaning behind them, “The big oil companies must stop running ads telling us how much they’re doing for the environment. We get it: You rape the earth, but cuddle afterward. It’s insulting…” Maher begins his rant, so to speak, with an actual problem that many people can identify with, the over exploitation of the earth and its natural resources. “…like a killer dumping a body by the road side then adopting a highway. If you folks at Shell really are serious about cleaning something up, start with your restrooms” (75). He then adds humor by way of an anecdote about the cleanliness of gas station restrooms, which are notorious for their lack of cleanliness. Through this method, he creates somewhat of a rapport with his readers which allows him to engage them better.

                Maher also uses irony to help his point. In a rule he wrote contending the National Rifle Association, Maher lists some organizations that are antigun. The list includes the American Medical Association, the American Trauma Society, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, among similar others. The rule is in response to the NRA listing these organizations as “enemies”. The rule up to this point is mainly rationality. If all of these medical and psychological organizations are antigun, then guns must be bad. He continues the syllogism, false or not, with, “Hmm. What could all these organizations have in common? Oh yeah! They’re sick of cleaning up after the NRA!”, which adds satire to the rule.

Adam Klaser’s peer review

 1. Yes, the thesis does follow the structure and identifies the central argument of the book being analyzed. The argument that is being made is that political commentators and comedians use fear mongering and overreaction to influence their audiences. The techniques that you say that the author uses to make this argument are satire, under reaction, overreaction, and irony.

2. The argument is important because everyone that is involved in politics nowadays uses only fear-mongering or overreaction to communicate their point instead of using a sensible approach to issues. The exigence of this book is everyone that is interested in politics.

3. It contains some support that refers back to thesis. However, since the paper isn’t finished I expect that there will be more than enough support once it is finished.

4. The strongest part of the paper is the paragraph about irony because it provides statements that support his thesis quite well.

5. The weakest part of the paper is the thesis because it doesn’t clearly state what the argument is that the author is trying to make.

6. Yes, all of the quotations that you use make references back to thesis and explain how the author is making his argument. An example of how one of the quotations refers back to the thesis is when you use the quote, “We go beyond the headlines” That’s your job, Dummy. You don’t see American Airlines saying “We land our jets on the runway!”(140).

7. The paper seemed to be well written with no grammatical errors.

8. This paper definitely reads like an analysis It uses quotations that effectively show how the author is making his argument in the book. The best example is when you quote, “Hmm. What could all these organizations have in common? Oh yeah! They’re sick of cleaning up after the NRA”. This perfectly shows how the author is using satire to make his argument.

9. As of right now I would give this paper a B simply because it is not finished. Once it is completed I could see it getting an A-.

10.  Criteria based question 4-  Yes the paragraphs that you have finished so far seem to revolve around the rhetorical techniques used in the thesis.

Descriptive outline:

Says, essay as a whole: Today, political commentators and comedians use fear-mongering, strategizing, and overreaction to make their political ideology sound better than the opposing one.

Does, essay as a whole: The paper presents an argument.

Says, First Paragraph: The author uses satire, overreaction, and irony to make his argument that political commentators and comedians are manipulating politics to their advantage.

Does, First Paragraph: Presents a thesis that shows how the author provides his argument.

Says, Second Paragraph: America has mixed the meaning of “freedom” to mean “without rules or boundaries”.

Does, Second Paragraph: Gives a quotation about the issue discussed in the paragraph.

Says, Third Paragraph: Some problems have no bearing on society but are common problems that many people have to deal with.

Does, Third Paragraph: Uses quotes from the book that shows how these problems are occurring.

Says, Fourth Paragraph: Talks about irony, and how some of the antigun organizations make the NRA look like enemies and that guns must be “bad”.

Does, Fourth Paragraph: Uses specific quotes from the book to analyze how the author uses satire to make his argument.