Here's The Whole Gang

Current Event

NOTES:

Authority- nationality influences position. States that Assad’s regime lets militants get too close to U.S. Embassy. They look the other way.

Context- clear purpose: bring to attention that regime does not have a good grip on the country. Author states facts about Assad’s regime

Time- Up to date material. Also brings back to mind past conflicts in Syria

Tone- bias, for America, although he does not underestimate the terrorists

Emotions and persuasion. A topic we should be concerned about


ARTICLE:
Why Syria May Be the Real Victim of the Attack
The raid on the American embassy in Damascus signals a greater threat to the Syrian regime than to the United States
By SCOTT MACLEOD

RESPONSE:

I found that this article not only reported on the current raid on the United State’s embassy in Damascus, but the author also brought back to mind, the past international conflicts in Syria. I agree with the author about president Bashar Assad’s true hold on the people. Macleod stated, “terrorism tells the Syrian people something that no dictator wishes to show: that the regime does not have as tight a grip on the country as it would like its citizens to believe.” I believe Macleod’s nationality influences his position on this subject though. He claims that Assad’s regime was partly to blame for the raid because of past displays of security. During militant demonstrations in the past, the regime ignored the fact that there were mobs ravaging the grounds of other foreign embassies and missions. Macleod is also wise enough to not underestimate the terrorists behind the attack. He persuades us that this is a topic we should be concerned about. The clear purpose of this article is to bring to attention the tensions that exist between Syria and the United States, but also to show how little Assad’s regime actually has a hold of.

(From Time.com)

ACTT
A
Authorial Point-of-view: How might the author's race, ethnic background, occupation, political affiliation, social class, age, nationality, religion, influence their position?
C
Context: What is the context (background) or occasion in which the author is writing? Is the document private or public? Does the document have a clear purpose, perhaps as propaganda (see below)? Is the statement a fact, that can be proven, or an opinion, that expresses how a person feels? Is the information accurate or distorted? Does there exist faulty generalizations?
T
Time: How close to the event is the author? Is the author a primary or secondary source? Original research and sources are always preferable to secondary sources. The most persuasive argument is the one that supports the thesis with relevant, up-to-date, empirical data.
T
Tone: Does the author use strong words to suggest bias? Is the author oversimplifying the issue?
(from Mr. Aroune's web page)

Notes About Nothing Featuring Comments About Nothing That May Pertain to The Show About Nothing