Abuse through Social Media

            In Amanda Hess’ article “Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet,” a very major exigence is brought to light. The exigence that she discusses throughout her article is the harassment of women through social media websites. Women, especially women journalists, are more susceptible to threats produced through social media. It is a sad truth, but Hess tries to educate her readers about the harassment that women face and the ineffectiveness of law enforcement in regards to the internet.  Her audience consists of a wide variety including men and women who use social media as well as law enforcement officers for not being able to do anything about these threats.

            To appeal to her audience, she utilizes pathos by describing her own horrific experiences with men over the internet. A sense of disgust overcomes the audience due to the obviously revolting comments that are sent out to the accounts of these women. By describing her own experiences as well as the vast amount of examples that she uses throughout her article, the audience feels like action needs to be taken in order to combat this disease that has taken over social media. Even though she does describe how she went about getting one of her harassers’ to let up, she does not offer a definable solution to help relieve this problem. However, she does describe how Citron believes that there could be a possibility to cease or lesson the harassment by applying the Civil Rights Laws to the internet. Although it is an interesting proposal, for it to come to fruition, there would have to be changes made since the internet is so vast and not a set workplace.

            Her ethos and logos are interconnected throughout the article. She establishes her credibility by listing these specific dates for legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also by describing the experiences of other women and of herself, she shows credence because she is in a position that many other women are in. This only helps the purpose that she is trying to get across which is to raise awareness of this ongoing problem that women are facing from the harassment of men on the internet. She definitely accomplishes this through the pathos and ethos that she utilizes. By raising awareness of this situation, there is hope that action will be taken in the future.

The Downfall of being Interconnected

           With the introduction of social media, humans have begun to be able to communicate with each other all over the globe within seconds. In Charles Seife’s “The Loneliness of the Interconnected,” the author describes how humans have become more susceptible to being close-minded due to the introduction of social media. People rarely go out of their way to look at different perspectives, but instead tailor their searches to their own personal beliefs.

Seife does succeed in conveying the point that people are consumed by their own personal prejudices by utilizing specific examples. By describing how different news organizations target their explicit audiences, we are able to see how society has become locked on their own personal biases instead of branching out to rid themselves of false ideas. By becoming interconnected within social media and through news networks, people have become blinded by only the things that they believe matches their already formed beliefs. The example of the South African president believing that the anti-HIV drug was more harmful than good is a great example of how the internet affects people. Due to his lack of insight, almost 300,000 people lost their lives. With this use of logos, Seife is able to back up his points to prove how humans have become isolated from one another.

Although the examples that Seife uses are excellent, it makes his writing more disjointed and harder to read because of the sheer amount that he uses. Examples are great, but too many of them can hinder the points that are trying to be made.  Some of them seemed like they were placed there just to take up space instead of being thoroughly explained and incorporated into his overall purpose. Even with this, Seife manages to describe his main point thoroughly.