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Rebecca Twining

Dr. Erin Dietel-McLaughlin

English 207

23 September 2010

Rhetorical Essay

There are many different ways an author can grab the attention of the audience. Many

times, the author skillfully entices a reader into his essay, book, or novel through stories or

dangerous adventures or appeal though ethics. There are many different examples in which a

writer can hook a reader: humor, satire, tone, use of examples, credibility, relevance to an

audience, ethical aspects, arrangement or organization, or development. Andrew Keen and

Lawrence Lessig demonstrate their ability to successfully hold on audience’s attention through

their use of credibility, humor, ethical aspects, relevance to the audience, and examples.

In Web 2.0, Andrew Keen writes about our seduction through technology. He writes

that in antiquity people were good at recognizing pit-falls and how they over came them. He

thinks that we have a false sense of security in technology. We rely on technology to run every

part of our lives. Keen writes that the web 2.0 movement is,

...bases upon a series of ethical assumptions about media, culture, and technology. It

worships the creative amateur: self-taught filmmaker, the dorm-room musician, the

unpublished writer. It suggests that everyone--even the most poorly educated and

inarticulate amongst us-- can and should use digital media express and realize

themselves.

This proves Keen’s position towards the advancement of technology as he clearly disagrees with

our use of technology over the recent decades. He compares our technological advances to the
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ideas that Karl Marx had about German ideology. Keen’s belief that our narcissistic society is

growing through technology is exemplified through the personalized adds on the web and our

personalized google searches. Keen states that “the consequences of web 2.0 are inherently

dangerous for the vitality of culture and the arts”. He uses examples of Mozart and Van Gough to

make his point more clear. Keen clearly wishes us to be more responsible with our use of the

internet.

Keen’s use of credibility in his article allows his audience to trust his writing and his

beliefs. For example, Keen quotes Kafka

‘I have no memory for things I have learned, nor things I have read, nor things I have

experienced of heard, neither for people nor event; I feel that I have experience nothing,

learned nothing, that I actually know less than the average schoolboy, and that what I do

know is superficial, and that every second question is beyond me. I am incapably of

thinking deliberately; my thoughts run into a wall. I can grasp the essence of things in

isolation, but I am quite incapable of coherent, unbroken thinking. I can’t even tell a story

properly; in fact, I can scarcely talk...’

Through this example, Keen undoubtedly expresses his thoughts on the subject of consequences

received from technology and shows his reader that he has researched the material and uses

credible sources to strength his argument. In addition to this example, Keen compares the web

2.0 movement to the movement of Karl Marx. This example reasonably persuades and draws the

audience in by recalling the infamous time in history when communism was introduced. This

thought, brought up by Keen is not only very interesting by itself, but it is also backed up by a

very credibly source such as the German novelist, Franz Kafka. The credibility of this novelist is

not questioned because of his famed works as a writer.

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Keens use of humor becomes evident throughout his writing. For example, Keen

demonstrates the effects of new technology on the old by describing Apple and Google and

Craigslist as “revoltionizing our cultural habits” and “newspapers are in freefall. Network

television, the modern equivalent of the dinosaur, is being shaken by TiVo’s overnight

annihilation of the 30 second commercial”. By comparing the antiquity of the “network

television” as a dinosaur, Keen provides humor to emphasize the drastic changes which new

technology has over come. Humor allows the audience to pleasantly enjoy the writing in addition

to giving their awareness to the main point of Keens’ argument.

Finally, Keens’ use of ethos appeals to the audiences sense of ethics. Keen describes the

memory loss that is undergone by many who become infatuated with technology. The obsession

becomes their downfall in the sense that all we have now is the “seduction of citizen media,

democratized content and authentic online communities. And blogs, course. Millions and

millions of blogs”. Keen believes that technology is taking over life as we know it now. Life is

becoming swallowed up by the addiction to the internet, social networking, and many other

gadgets that we have. I think that parents can especially relate to this idea of democratizing the

web because their children are currently using the web and do not know who is lurking on the

other side of the instant messenger, myspace, facebook, or even twitter. The internet has become

a tool for criminals to use for their benefit.

In Lawrence Lessig’s In Defense of Piracy focuses on the idea that the constant

beating down on the creativity of kids who pirate music and movies off the internet and create

their own mash ups. Lessig complies different examples of a mother, singer/song writer, and

lawyers to fully explain his point on drafting the copy right laws in a different manner in order to

prevent the underground piracy through technology. The lawyers are described as having a craze
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for the suits against teen, illegal down loaders. Many law suits are being filled not only against

teens but also against innocent music lovers and movie lovers.

Lessig uses an example of a young mother happily watching her daughters first steps to

argue against the copyright laws. The mother, Mr. Lenz, video taped her daughter walking with

as song by Prince playing in the back ground. The song was barely audible. Proud of her

daughters great accomplishments, she put the video on youtube for all the family to see. The

lawyers who represent Prince sued the mother for illegally displaying Prince’s music. Lessig

clearly exhibits his views against the copyright laws by uncovering this story and the law suit

that the young mother had to under go. I know that as the reader I was affected by this innocent

story and felt very badly for the mother.

Furthermore, Lessig uses ethos by stating, “We are in the middle of something or a war

here -- what some call ‘the copyright wars’; what the late Jack Valiant called his own ‘terrorist

war,’ where the ‘terrorists’ are apparently our kids”. By stating this, Lessig appeals to the

audiences sense of ethics and morality. It seems wrong to me to fight a war against our own kids.

He states all that would be accomplished by creating these rediculous laws and codes our kids

must abide by would be that our creative kids will see themselves as criminals. “We can only

criminalize it. We can only drive it underground, or make them ‘pirates’” (Lessig). Lessig points

our different ideas which he has for over coming this underground movement of pirating by

creating an outline.

Finally Lessig goes further and seize the audiences attention by appeal to the many

people who see themselves as the least bit creative. Lessig voices, “We could craft copyright law

to encourage a wide range of both professional and amateur creativity, without threatening” the

profits that arise from great media companies. Many people are looking for a change in the
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internet culture and do not want to live in fear of these overbearing copyright laws. The audience

in which Lessig addresses would like to see their kids growing in creativity and in love of

technology, not in fear of it.

In exposing Lessig’s faults, I would have to say that Lessig lacks the concrete research to

back up the ideas in his article. He pleads for a better crafted set of copyright laws but does not

state any of the current laws. In addition to the lack of credibility, Lessig fails to mention that

many teens are stealing songs and movies off the internet purely for entertainment. Lessig puts

full faith in the kid’s creative side and dismisses the corrupt side no matter how minute it may be.

Keen comes off with a very credible article and very well organized. One counter argument

might be that his writing is a bit negative. He emphasizes all the negatives aspects and

consequences of the overuse of technology. He intentionally leaves the positive affects of

technology in order to makes a stronger argument.

Between Andrew Keen and Lawrence Lessig, different techniques are used in order to

grasp the attention and support of their audience. Keen uses credible sources and hard evidence

to back up his ideas and thoughts of a certain topic, while Lessig appeals to the audience’s sense

of morality and ethics by telling a touching story. The ultimate intention of writers is to have the

full attention of their audience by making a compelling argument or having an unmatched

writing style. Both Andrew Keen and Lawrence Lessig accomplish this in their articles.
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Works Cited

Keen, Andrew. “Web 2.0.” Weeklystandard.com. The Weekly Standard LLC. (2010): Web.

15 Sep 2010.

Lessig, Lawrence. “In Defense of Piracy.” Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones and Co, Inc. 11

Oct

2008: Web. 22 Sep 2010.