RA #2- "The Death of Macho"

Title: The Death of Macho

Author: Reihan Salam

Date: October 28, 2012

Topic: Loss of Machoism for men in United States who are taking the brunt of the job losses during our recession.

Analysis of Argument

Exigence: Men are typically the bread winners. But with job losses due to the recession and women occupying a higher percentage of the workforce, men will be forced to consider women as the higher wage earners.

Intended Audience: Sociologists, Economists, Politicians & our society.

Purpose: To reflect on the history, modern day changes, and the inevitable changes to come within the gender roles in the USA.

Claim: There will be a position of power change from men to women, similar to other countries.

Main Evidence: Author, Reihan Salam, looks back at the recent history of Iceland’s economy impoding.  “When Iceland’s economy imploded, the country’s voters did what no country has done before: Not only did they throw out the all-men elite, they named the world’s first lesbian leader as their prime minister. It was said, Halla Tomasdottir, the female head of one of Iceland’s few remaining solvent banks, a perfectly reasonable response to the “penis competition” of male- dominated investment banking. “Ninety-nine percent went to the same school, they drive the same cars, they wear the same suits and they have the same attitudes.  They got us into to this situation- and they had a lot of fun doing it.”  Salam goes on to point out that soon after Iceland’s changes of power, Lithuania, who had major debt problems, elected its first woman president, Dalia Grybauskaite.  The United States is in a recession and therefore these types of changes are going to be part of our future.

Rhetorical Analysis:

Writer’s Strategy 1: LOGOS- The author uses historical facts, quotations and research to push his opinion of the future. 

Writer’s Strategy 2: PATHOS- Cause and effect, startling facts & emotion.

Writer’s Strategy 3: ETHOS- Credibility & authority research.

Reader Effect 1: The author quotes record high job loss rates in the United States relating to industries where men are typically employed.

Reader Effect 2: Salam predicts the economic crisis will dramatically accelerate the shift of power from men to women.

Reader Effect 3: He quotes sociologist and economists outlining the social and financial effects that can be for scene for the average American man.

My Response:  I find the use of the word Macho questionable.  It’s hard for me to believe that women have or will have an advantage in our society when it comes to power.  Men can choose any field of employment they please, and as a matter of fact they used to maintain all the fields until women were “given” the right to work.  Have women lost their femininity because they are educated and work?  No.  Therefore, I don’t believe men will lose their “macho” or power in our country due to having to find a new suitable field of employment.