ThunderReaders » word play http://tinternteacher.edublogs.org Dr. Crowley's Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, Missisquoi Valley UHS Fri, 04 Jul 2008 21:58:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Bob Herbert: Clear-eyed, direct, and concrete http://tinternteacher.edublogs.org/2008/06/28/bob-herbert-clear-eyed-direct-and-concrete/ http://tinternteacher.edublogs.org/2008/06/28/bob-herbert-clear-eyed-direct-and-concrete/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:42:22 +0000 tinternteacher http://tinternteacher.edublogs.org/?p=9 My Times post for today involves a writer whose style is markedly different from Maureen Dowd, who in a previous post  I celebrated in for her wit, word play, and irreverent humor.  Bob Herbert’s persuasiveness comes from a different set of tools:  direct evidence, appeals to reliable authority, straightforward reasoning.  Even with this concreteness, perhaps because of it, there is still an eloquence to Herbert’s style.

I need to warn you that this link, responding to recent Congressional hearings on the government’s use of torture, has graphic and potentially upsetting images.  The ideas are probably even more upsetting.  But this essay is a model of professional argument, with embedded research, clear logic, and powerful evidence.  Maureen Down helps me think by making me laugh; Bob Herbert helps me think by helping me see. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/opinion/28herbert.html?ref=opinion

 

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