Tannen argues that Americans have developed an "argument culture" where they see issues in absolutes and address problems through arguing rather than balance and listening to different perspectives. She provides examples of how this adversarial approach now permeates many aspects of public and private life from media to personal relationships. While arguing has its place, overusing it isolates people and prevents constructive resolution of conflicts. The proliferation of technology also enables avoiding direct interaction. To overcome these disadvantages, Tannen suggests adopting a less oppositional approach and making more effort to understand different views.
Tannen argues that Americans have developed an "argument culture" where they see issues in absolutes and address problems through arguing rather than balance and listening to different perspectives. She provides examples of how this adversarial approach now permeates many aspects of public and private life from media to personal relationships. While arguing has its place, overusing it isolates people and prevents constructive resolution of conflicts. The proliferation of technology also enables avoiding direct interaction. To overcome these disadvantages, Tannen suggests adopting a less oppositional approach and making more effort to understand different views.
Tannen argues that Americans have developed an "argument culture" where they see issues in absolutes and address problems through arguing rather than balance and listening to different perspectives. She provides examples of how this adversarial approach now permeates many aspects of public and private life from media to personal relationships. While arguing has its place, overusing it isolates people and prevents constructive resolution of conflicts. The proliferation of technology also enables avoiding direct interaction. To overcome these disadvantages, Tannen suggests adopting a less oppositional approach and making more effort to understand different views.
Tannen argues that Americans have developed an "argument culture" where they see issues in absolutes and address problems through arguing rather than balance and listening to different perspectives. She provides examples of how this adversarial approach now permeates many aspects of public and private life from media to personal relationships. While arguing has its place, overusing it isolates people and prevents constructive resolution of conflicts. The proliferation of technology also enables avoiding direct interaction. To overcome these disadvantages, Tannen suggests adopting a less oppositional approach and making more effort to understand different views.
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Hanh Nguyen
Le Thi Hanh Nguyen - 2013520018
Vu Thi Diem Phuc
TAN213E(GD1-HK2-2122) JIB.1
THE ARGUMENT CULTURE - SUMMARY & RHETORICAL ANALYSIS
Solving things with opposition and seeing issues in absolutes are becoming an irritating habit of
Americans in every aspect of life. This is the focus of an article of Deborah Tannen - a professor
at Georgetown University and “a best-selling author of many books on discourse and gender”
-“The argument culture” published in The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers by Stephen
Reid in 2014. With the main audience being the social in general, her goal is to portray the
phenomenon among the Americans which is addressing problems with arguing, figure out some
outstanding motives, show us its disadvantages and to offer some suggestions for overcoming
this adversarial perspective.
One of the main rhetorical elements Tannen uses in her argument is the way she states her view
towards the issue with 5 clear points. At the very beginning, she begins with strong statements in
order to emphasize the main issue “Balance. Debate. Listening to both sides. Yet today, these
principles have been distorted. Without thinking, we have plunged headfirst into what I call the
"argument culture." After that, she exposes a commonplace false assumption that has become a
mindset of American society: “Opposition is the best way to get anything done. One of the great
strengths of our society is that we can express these conflicts openly, but we have to find
constructive ways of resolving disputes and differences.” To support her opinion, she presents
several pieces of evidence that the argument culture appears everywhere in our lives, from public
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interactions, personal relationship to the media and even social issues “Nearly everything is
framed as a battle or a game in which winning or losing is the main concern.” By providing facts
and examples, Tannen shows how her conclusion can be true, and therefore giving more
credibility to her argument.
However, the author does not completely deny the positive side of arguing but does claim that
sometimes it is necessary and right to fight, for example to defend the country or argue for your
rights or against offensive or dangerous ideas or actions. But that is not the point here because
according to Tannen, “the ubiquity, the kneejerk nature, of approaching any issue, problem or
public person in an adversarial way” of the argument culture is the thing that matters in this
article. In the next part, the author draws the attention of the audience to the bizarre phenomenon
of Holocaust denial, one of the reasons accounting for argument culture, with the case of Deniers
that “have been successful in gaining TV airtime and campus newspaper coverage masquerading
as "the other side" in a "debate”. Besides, the power of words in shaping perception is also taken
into consideration. Nevertheless, regarding the “smashed” and “bumped” example, personally, I
do not see it as supportive evidence since it does not effectively connect with the main claim of
the part which is “Sometimes you have to fight” as well as not really link to the previous
paragraph whose topic is methodology of Holocaust denial.
Another related factor is put forward is high-tech communication. The author did great in
starts a claim by making a personal connection with the audience and then transitions to a more
direct confrontation with his audience with her own story: “My father-in-law startles phone
solicitors by saying, "We're eating dinner, but I’ll call you back. What's your home phone
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number?”, and then she supports the idea by showing how the proliferation and increasing
portability of technology tools such as TV, E-mail or Internet isolates people.
The impacts, which are all negative, of the argument culture are also illustrated with clear bullet
points, making it easier for the audience to keep track. Each small claim is followed with
effective evidence so that readers can vividly understand the harmful effects of this habit. And
eventually, Tannen ends her argument by suggesting some recommendations that broadly covers
every subject, from individual to public arena to society in general. The last sentence is a call-to-
action one “It's an effort we have to make, because our public and private lives are at stake”,
which creates a strong tone, encourage audience to change themselves for a better society.
With a mixture of logos, pathos and ethos appeals, Tannen effectively indicates her view towards
the issue with 5 clear points, each point is fully supported with both strong and motivative
claims, assumptions and examples. Although there are times the examples and the evidence do
not associate with the main thesis as well as link to each other, the smaller claims do not
effectively back up for the idea the author wants to convey, the article generally has been
successful in shedding light on the audience about the negative impacts of argument culture and
put forward some recommendations to get rid of this adversarial mindset.
Work Cited Tannen, Deborah. “Argument Culture.” The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers, 10th ed., edited by Stephen Reid, Pearson, 2014, pp. 305-309.
