Randa Mahdy

Prompt: The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Balmer Island Gazette. "On Balmer Island, where mopeds serve as a popular form of transportation, the population increases to 100,000 during the summer months. To reduce the number of accidents involving mopeds and pedestrians, the town council of Balmer Island should limit the number of mopeds rented by the island's moped rental companies from 50 per day to 25 per day during the summer season. By limiting the number of rentals, the town council will attain the 50 percent annual reduction in moped accidents that was achieved last year on the neighboring island of Seaville, when Seaville's town council enforced similar limits on moped rentals." Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation. Response: While this argument seems convincing at first glance, there are critical flaws that raise doubt about the conclusion. The author gives a recommendation based on an unwarranted premise. In addition, the argument does not provide sufficient answers to several questions that shall be posed as follows. Firstly, the author claims that the population on Balmer Island increases to 100,000 during the summer months. What is the statistic on which the author’s claim is bolstered? Who conducted such statistics? Thus, the argument unfairly assumes that the population increase during summer reflects the increase in number of accidents involving mopeds and pedestrians. What is the number of casualties resulting from such accidents, as proven in surveys conducted by an official entity? There is no evidence offered to substantiate the author’s assumption, as the main premise involves a number fallacy which utterly diminishes their recommendation. Secondly, the author’s unstated assumption involves a causal fallacy, as they assume that mopeds rented by the island’s moped rental companies are the actual cause of accidents. The argument relies upon the assumption that moped rentals cause road accidents but there is no evidence to prove the causality. Too many other factors may affect the reasoning as well. For example, the author should have considered that the population increase during summer, had the previously discussed premise been true, could have caused the accidents, as a result of crowded roads. Therefore, the question here is what is the evidence that mopeds are the actual cause of accidents and not other factors? As such, what is the proof that the author’s recommendation of decreasing moped rentals would yield the predicted results? Thirdly, the author claims that the neighboring island Seaville has attained 50% decrease in accidents last year because its town council has enforced similar limits. The author provides no sound evidence or official records that prove the number stated in their argument. Furthermore, what other possible factors that could have caused the decrease in accidents in Seaville? Does the population in Seaville increase during summer, too? Also, is it wise to decrease the number of such popular means of transportation during an apparently touristic season on Balmer Island? What is the evidence that Seaville does not rely on alternative means of transportation, and hence, is able to decrease the number of moped rentals? Such questions should have been regarded by the author when they give the recommendation, as what is the evidence that the same results would be yielded on Balmer Island? Here, the author falls into a false analogy. Therefore, the quality of the statistical results might be problematic and unreliable; and accordingly, the recommendation might be too. In conclusion, owing to the above unanswered questions, it is not a viable recommendation to decrease moped rentals on Balmer Island by half during summer. If the author is to provide more sound evidence regarding the increase of population number on Balmer Island during summer, the percent annual reduction in moped accidents achieved last year in Seaville, and the applicability of the limits enforced in Seaville to Balmer, their argument would be more convincing, and their recommendation would be more applicable.

Prompt: Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position. Response: I strongly disagree with the opinion saying that scandals are useful for people to focus their attention on problems. Such assumption implies that scandals help raise people’s awareness regarding their social problems, which is totally untrue as shall be shown in the following reasons and examples. Scandals rely mainly on personal lives of public figures including performers and politicians. The attention focused on celebrities or governmental officials actually causes interference in these people’s lives which results in creating more problems rather than solving them. For example, a government official who is involved in corruption is not the main aspect of the issue on which people should focus. What actually matters is what is the problems rather than who caused it? In such case, focusing on the problems of corruption, rather than the scandal itself, is more effective. Furthermore, scandals are usually based on rumors made by the media. As such, the issue discussed among people might not be entirely true, as it could include falsified facts and even rumors. Accordingly, such scandal will, in fact, isolate people from the true problem, not help them focus on them. For example, some cases in court are not allowed to be discussed by the media, which proves that spreading scandals might harm other people’s reputation and lives. Moreover, when a scandal is spread, both the media and the masses mainly focus on the persons involved in the scandal, not actually on the problem per se. Thus, a scandal that ruins personal lives could cause damage to society more than opening their eyes on a specific social or political problem. In addition, scandals causes people to focus mainly on trivial issue not real problems, because of the rush they feel when they hear and spread scandals. Those who are in favor of the claim that scandals can help people more than a speaker or a reformer can are disregarding some important facts. There is a proven fact that scandals can harm people’s reputation as well as place them in deadly situations. The two most famous examples that prove that the scandals haunt people and have no desired results are those involving the former president of the United States, Bill Clinton, and the late princess of Wales, Diana. Series of unfortunate scandals have caused irredeemable damage to the former’s reputation and the death of the latter. In conclusion, my opposition to scandals springs from several reasons, firstly they harm personal lives; secondly, scandals are merely a means of distraction rather than focus; lastly, a scandal highlights a person’s reputation not a problem that must be solved.