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Emilia Grant English 1101 09 October 2013 Rhetorical Analysis: 47 Things They Want Happening Now In order to complete a rhetorical analysis of each of these articles, one must first set the parameters. The context for each of the following articles is the recent and ongoing government shutdown. Democrats and Republicans have failed to come to consensus over Obamacare and as a result politicians have basically decided to hold the government hostage until the situation can be resolved. Several government funded agencies and services have been put on hiatus and employees have been put on furloughed until the government resumes business. In light of the shutdown, the media has begun taking sides on the situation, either favoring the Conservatives or the Liberals or just poking fun at the laughable state our government is in. October 2, 2013 Happening Now This article is written by Clint Henderson of Fox News. The exigence for this article is to inform readers on the effects of the government shutdown and the struggles Obamacare faced as it came into effect. The main audiences for this article are viewers who tend to be conservatives. Fox News has a reputation to conservative in their views and how they portray the news, and that remains true for this blog post on their site. The author, Clint Henderson, expresses a biased view against Presidents Obama policies. He uses careful and subtle wording to convey a Conservative leaning message. He comments on topics that puts the Obama administration in an unflattering light. "Obamacare's exchanges opened yesterday in all 50 states, but many people had trouble signing up. The huge demand crashed computers, and froze many folks out. Overall this article, achieves what it sets out to do. It directly wanted to present news to its viewers, but at the same time, indirectly presented their own political opinions on recent events.

Vo 2 47 Fun Things You MUST Do During the Government Shutdown This article is published by Funny Or Die. The exigence for this article is to make light of the government shutdown. The main audience this particular article would be young adults and teenagers. Funny Or Die is an entertainment and comedy site, rather than a political or news source; that being so, the point of this article was to attract site traffic by poking fun of rather serious situation that has been all over the news recently. The article isnt structured in any traditional sense; instead its just a chronological list of things to do during the government shutdown. That whole list has a sarcastic tone and message, mocking everything and everyone involved with the government. Go to the hospital and demand you see the best doctor they've got Get told that you'll have to wait a few hours like everyone else Exclaim Is this what my tax dollars go to? Waiting like some idiot? Take a look at all the blank faces staring back at you and go That's what I thought (Funny Or Die) It uses a very casual and playful wording to reach and appeal to the broad audience. Overall, the article achieves what it sets out to do. Directly, it wanted to be humorous and indirectly, it wanted to attract attention. This Is What They Want This article is written by Charles P. Pierce of Esquire. The exigence for this article is to express the authors opinion on the government shutdown and the alleged Republican agenda. The audience for this article would then be more liberal or at least more liberal-minded. Charles P. Pierce makes little effort to hide the fact this article was written to express his firm opinion on the why the Republican Party insists on this government shutdown. Hes direct and to the point,

Vo 3 accusing conservatives of turning their backs on Americans for money. The language and wording he uses is critical and even insulting. What the vandals in Washington are shooting for right now is a subject population whose tattered freedoms depend on the whimsical ethics of the American corporate class (Pierce). Overall, this article achieves what it sets out to do. Directly, Charles wanted to bash the Republican Party and expose their agenda. Indirectly, the article was to generate views by giving a somewhat extreme perspective on the government shutdown. The point was to express a strong opinion and Charles P. Pierce did just that.

In my opinion, my favorite by far was Funny Or Dies 47 Fun Things You MUST Do During the Government Shutdown. The article was by far the most creative and entertaining. I find that humor is the one of the best ways to get a point across. The article is up for interpretation; the reader can take away whatever he or she wants from it. It could easily be a quick laugh or an inventive way to shed new light on a topic. Charles Pierces This Is What They Want was a close second just because of how blatantly belligerent he was.

Vo 4 Works Cited

"47 Fun Things You MUST Do During the Government Shutdown." Funny or Die. N.p., 01 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.

Henderson, Clint. "October 2, 2013 Happening Now." Fox News. FOX News Network, 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.

Pierce, Charles P. "This Is What They Want." Esquire. N.p., 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 Oct. 2013.