Please grade my issue essay!

[mightyheidi]

Much appreciated ^___^ Virtual cookies await! 

 

Prompt: 

 

People who make decisions based on emotion and justify those decisions with logic afterwards are poor decision makers.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and explain how these considerations shape your position.

 

Though some argue that passion and emotion is the underlying force behind great works of art, history and society have shown us that rash decisions based on emotion are often faulty. Great works of literature, such as Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, seem to be imbued with emotion, but are actually the products of careful planning. Furthermore, during the Civil Rights movement, leaders such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X utilized emotion as a tool to organize the American populace against injustice. Even though emotions played a significant role in their success, logic and calculated planning ultimately led to the zenith of the social movement. Finally, rash decisions based on emotion are rarely popular in the long run. After the 9/11 attack, George Bush declared the War on Terror in a moment of heightened emotion for the nation. However, the War has proven to be a drawn out, heavily wasteful endeavor in the long run. Therefore, though emotion may often play an important role in decision making, people should carefully consider their decisions logically before carrying out their impulses.

 

Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse is a poignant work that chronicles two separate days over the course of 10 years. The novel has little plot and depends heavily on the emotions and interactions of the characters. One of the main characters, Lily Briscoe, notably devotes her life to painting and capturing the emotions of moments with her artwork. However, her brushstrokes are measured, much like Woolf's own prose and characterizations. Woolf crafted the novel over a period of many years, reworking elements of the plot and characters to paint her vision of daily life and human interaction. Her work was not finished in a stroke of emotional genius; rather, it was the product of careful planning, editing, and a logical process of creation.

 

Although at first glance the Civil Rights Movement may have been powered by emotion, careful study reveals that many of the tactics that leaders employed were actually previously planned. Though moments such as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech seem to capture the heightened emotion that drove the movement, the crowds that gathered for his speech were organized by a multitude of leaders in the movement. The Freedom Riders, contrary to popular belief, actually were well-organized young, black students who dressed up in suits and boarded public buses. They were not spontaneously arrested, and their arrests were deliberately planned out attacks to expose the violence inherent in the State's treatment of black folks. Even Rosa Parks, who some believe was conveniently on the bus at the time of her arrest, was a student activist who deliberately refused to get off the bus. Even though these civil rights leaders were passionately dedicated to their cause, they brainstormed tactics that would lead to their ultimate success. Finally, Malcolm X was a brilliant leader who used the tactics of the Black Panther Party to counter state violence. For example, he led the Black Panthers on a campaign to provide universal free lunch to low-income students in inner cities. Without his foresight, the Civil Rights Movement would not have thrived under the sole emotion of anger. Rather, he was able to channel that anger productively toward concrete change, such as increasing state provisions for low-income families.

 

Finally, George Bush's decision to invade Iraq and Afghanistan is an example of a poor decision made based on emotion and justified with logic. Throughout the course of the war, Bush justified the invasion as a natural defensive response to the September 11 attacks. However, the War reflects a larger global context of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East and broader hostilities between the West and developing nations in a competition for natural resources. As a result, thousands of U.S. soldiers and Afghani civilians have perished in the War on Terror, a death toll that vastly exceeds the number of 9/11 victims. Furthermore, the War has costed the U.S. billions of dollars and has instigated unrest throughout the Middle East. Bush's decision, in the long run, has been unpopular with the U.S. public, even though many supported the same undercurrent of emotional anger in 9/11's aftermath.

 

Emotion is an essential quality of humanity and deserves to be recognized in our lives. However, when making important decisions, one must consider both logic and emotion for the best choice possible. Experience has shown us that the best decisions arise from careful planning and intellectual thinking. Even when emotion plays an important role in our decision making, we must balance the situation with logic and deliberation. 

Edited August 8, 2013 by mightyheidi

[SLHK4]

your point has been clearly made and supported with detailed examples. Maybe the beginning can be more concise and thematic, leaving out examples. Add some transition words between paragraph 2 and 3.