Article Analysis: Smokers Get a Raw Deal by Stanley S. Scott
“Smokers Get A Raw Deal”
Vice President of Philip Morris Companies Inc. Stanley S. Scott, in his essay “Smokers Get A Raw Deal”, addresses the growing discrimination against smokers. Scott states that recently people who smoke are forced to, “… put up with virtually unenforceable laws regulating when and where they can smoke…” instead of, “… using common courtesy and common sense.” which is unjust and unfair (Scott 3). He supports his claim by giving several examples of times when smokers have been attacked in public by random citizens, like in New York, in a Seattle drugstore, on a Los Angeles bus, and in the Bronx (Scott 5). He also uses an allusion when he mentions the segregation of African Americans (Scott 1). Scott finally creates a false dilemma when he says, “ the basic freedoms of at least 50 million American smokers are at risk today,” he prompts American citizens to ask themselves if discrimination of any sort is okay? Scott adopts a professional and passionate tone for his audience, the readers of the New York Times, non-smokers, and in essence the nation.
Scott begins his essay with a faulty analogy between smokers their newfound “prosecution” and the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans. He states, “ […] millions of Americans are still forced to sit in the back of planes, trains, and busses.” he uses this analogy to Ms. Rosa Parks and her refusal to move to the back of the bus to not only grab the reader’s attention but to appeal to their emotions as well (Scott 1). Instead of giving his argument an air of urgency Scott’s faulty analogy only hurts his claim because the Civil Rights movement dealt with race, which is an inborn trait, and smoking is merely a behavior.
Scott furthers his claim with stories and examples of different times and places where the discrimination has occurred. He begins his fourth paragraph stating that the American Cancer Society has a program that encourages people to harass
Vice President of Philip Morris Companies Inc. Stanley S. Scott, in his essay “Smokers Get A Raw Deal”, addresses the growing discrimination against smokers. Scott states that recently people who smoke are forced to, “… put up with virtually unenforceable laws regulating when and where they can smoke…” instead of, “… using common courtesy and common sense.” which is unjust and unfair (Scott 3). He supports his claim by giving several examples of times when smokers have been attacked in public by random citizens, like in New York, in a Seattle drugstore, on a Los Angeles bus, and in the Bronx (Scott 5). He also uses an allusion when he mentions the segregation of African Americans (Scott 1). Scott finally creates a false dilemma when he says, “ the basic freedoms of at least 50 million American smokers are at risk today,” he prompts American citizens to ask themselves if discrimination of any sort is okay? Scott adopts a professional and passionate tone for his audience, the readers of the New York Times, non-smokers, and in essence the nation.
Scott begins his essay with a faulty analogy between smokers their newfound “prosecution” and the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans. He states, “ […] millions of Americans are still forced to sit in the back of planes, trains, and busses.” he uses this analogy to Ms. Rosa Parks and her refusal to move to the back of the bus to not only grab the reader’s attention but to appeal to their emotions as well (Scott 1). Instead of giving his argument an air of urgency Scott’s faulty analogy only hurts his claim because the Civil Rights movement dealt with race, which is an inborn trait, and smoking is merely a behavior.
Scott furthers his claim with stories and examples of different times and places where the discrimination has occurred. He begins his fourth paragraph stating that the American Cancer Society has a program that encourages people to harass