Argument Analysis 3- "Agonism in the Academy"

Of all the arguments that have been presented thus far, most of them are pertinent issues that we might see in the news everyday. Deborah Tannen takes a topic that most people would have never though about, explains what it is and when it occurs, and then proceeds to prove why we do it. We as humans have an argumentative nature and Tannen exploits that part of homo sapiens to prove that we don't always needs to debate for the sake of debating.

Like most persuasive writing, Tannen starts her argument with a story of her past that helps relate her topic to the reader. In order to further explain a subject such as agonism that may not be as widely known, Tannen slowly allows the reader to become accustomed to her argument by first relating to the reader. She begins to analyze the human psyche explaining that we as humans have the tendency to argue for the sake of arguing whether or not we have valid data or reason to back it up. Unfortunately this is where she stops connecting with the reader. She begins to incorporate logos into the essay by quoting other authors and bringing hard evidence to the dispute. Cultural linguist Walter Ong directly describes this behavior as "agonism" which Tannen then uses as a basis for the rest of the argument. However, in no way does she ever achieve a balance in her article because she can't seem to emotionally connect with a large demographic. The average adult does not have the vocabulary nor reading level of a linguistics professor therefore its makes it hard to establish a personal connection to the issue.

Despite the fact that she states her thesis early and gives supporting evidence and examples, the essay seems to ramble. She begins talking about "aspects of our academic lives" and how they can be described as agonistic. At this point Tannen loses a portion of her audience because not everyone is involved in the world of academia and she fails to relate this to the portion of the population that is not. Repeatedly, agonism is associated with students in a classroom when this behavior is seen in almost every aspect of life. Therefore she cannot connect to her whole audience and ultimately cannot write a successful persuasion.

While I believe agonism is an unfortunate event in our society, Tannen fails to make me believe that this happens outside of a classroom or academic setting. It can pertain to so much more than the academic world and thus Tannen loses an entire group of which she could have persuaded.