Justice and Compassion in Public Discourse

1. Form in "A Matter of Simple Justice: The Report of the President's Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities."

This genre sample is in our course packet under the "Political Rhetoric and Public Policy." It's not one we discussed in class, but it is worth examining with respect to form. The very basic form is one of a formal business letter. However, like many of the open letters that we have read in other genres, the intended audience is much wider than the addressee (the President). The letter serves as an introduction to a larger report.

The deeper (non-surface level) form might be articulated this way: justification, elaboration, recommendation. This structure is not tied to the form of a letter, but to the form of an effective argument. The letter opens by immediately justifying why this topic is worth the president's (and by implication the government and nation's) attention. The topic, write the authors, is related to the "democratic ideal" and the US's place in the international spectrum. This justification serves to demonstrate why attention is needed and therefore expands the audience.

The "elaboration" phase of the letter further explains why discrimination against women is a problem from both a legal and social standpoints, and also points to the analogous case of the Civil Rights movement. The recommendation section clearly outlines the solutions to the problems articulated in the elaboration.

This form contributes to the idea of sustainable discourse for several reasons: first, the form reaches past the audience of women to an audience of all citizens who may be concerned not only with women's rights, but also with international affairs, social justice, and fair and equal application of the law. (It also functions as deliberative and epideictic rhetoric at same time.) Justification and elaboration are imperative to this piece of discourse's ability to achieve its aim and reach a desired number of people.

2. Within my historical-causal analysis, I will be exploring the topic of literature and resources for family and friends of people who self-injure (known colloquially as "cutting"). While there is a significant amount of information for the professional community (social workers, psychologists, medical professionals), there is a serious lack of good, compassionate, helpful information for lay people (parents, friends, teachers, students, etc.). Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of harmful sources of information on this topic that are highly judgmental, inaccurate, tied to religious language in hurtful ways and such. The few good sources I have come across are small and often limited in scope.

I am interested in investigating exactly what has caused this lack of quality information for non-professionals. While there are certainly unhelpful or harmful publications in every area of mental health, most areas have a significant number of good quality resources.

Some audience considerations will be the use of medical terminology in both the historical-casual analysis, sensitivity to possible audience reactions given the nature of the topic, and making sure the analysis paper does not appeal to an audience only of people who are impacted by this topic.

One thought I have had concerning the final genre project (inspired by the guidebook for Little League parents Dr. Graban mentioned in class) was a short handbook for family and friends of people who self-injure. I am aware, as I am not a medical professional or mental health professional, that this could be a difficult undertaking, and I am very open to other ideas.

Works Cited:

Presidential Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities. "Letter to the President" (1969). In A Matter of Simple Justice. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1970. iii-vi. Microfilm. ED 055157.

Winerowd, W. Ross. "Dispositio: The Concept From of Discourse." College Composition and Communication. 22.1 (Feb 1971):39-45.