In this essay, I analyzed four sources of my choice and linked them with one another to develop a rhetorical situation. I chose the topic of communism and capitalism and the controversy between them. The reason I chose the topic, is because not only is it a very sensitive topic but it is very opinionated as to how people believe our government should be.    

The Controversy Between Communism and Capitalism

“A life without choice or freedom is the life of a slave.” In the article, Why Communism ALWAYS fails published by news24.com, the author uses a personal and authoritative tone throughout the article to express to the audience that people should feel fortunate to live in a Capitalistic/Democratic country. The audience are people interested in world political views. The author manipulates the reader into believing several conflicting points of view in order to demonstrate how easily words can be used to deceive an audience. Opinionated statements and rhetorical questions are used throughout the article to convey emotion and to gain the reader’s trust.

Why wouldn’t someone want a great solution to reach equality amongst all men, women, and people of color? “Communism is the easiest system to sell to people who are poor, not because poor people are stupid or lazy or envious of partaking in the banquets of the rich, but because Communist and Socialist rhetoric sound so reasonable, fair, and workable.” It’s then followed by the question “What is wrong with sharing?” The writer’s choice of words is conversational between him/her and the reader. The purpose of this tone and style or writing is to try and manipulate the reader into believing that Communism is simple. Posing questions about equality gets the reader more involved with the author’s point of view and is a way of exposing the reader to advertising type tactics used to get people to buy into Communist views. The reason the author manipulates the audience is to help make them understand the situation that people, who are now suffering, were put into when they bought into Communism. People who currently live in places such as Cuba and China. It is easy to fool people into thinking Communism is great because we live in a society where there is this mentality that equality is what will make our problems go away and that we will live in “peace” and “harmony” knowing that everyone is treated fairly. It is of no surprise that there is no name associated with the author of the article. Therefore, the audience does not know if the if the author is authoritative in the field, Instead, the author feels just like he/she is “one of us.”

After convincing the reader of the “idealistic” view of Communism, the author sets the tone to forcefully present the facts.  The author brings the reader back to reality and clearly explains the purpose of the paper: Communism always fails. The writer makes his/her point that, on paper, Communism sounds fantastic, and then explains that in reality, it will fail. The writer uses a monotonous and robotic tone to describe how people living under the Communist rule must stand in line each day to receive specific foods every single day of their lives. It is as if there is no color, no individuality, everyone is stripped of creativity, even in what they want to eat each day. The writer is able to appeal to the reader by using a frustrating tone to make the reader understand and be grateful for Capitalism. This tone is very different than the one used by Steve Forbes in Forbes magazine (2017) in which he authoritatively states, “No system has been as effective as capitalism in turning scarcity into abundance.” Forbes’ approach is one of the completed command: there is no comparing the two systems; Capitalism is the best option no questions asked. This direct tone is very different than the compare and contrast one taken by the present article.

The News24 author continues his powerful demonstration by stating that a sense of “equality” ties in with Communism, everyone gets treated the same. In another example, the writer demonstrates how work life would be, you have two different occupations; physically intense hands-on job and an administrative position, both work the same hours each day – there is no pay “with no bonuses, no overtime pay, and promotions that are seemingly randomly chosen, efficiency in all sectors drops to an all-time low.” The information presented by the author is simply to explain the purpose of his/her paper: to convince the reader that socialism is wrong! The author is very careful in how he/she presents the information about fair pay because he/she wants the reader to feel frustration for those who feel unfairly compensated.

The writer then ties his/her thoughts together by talking about how greed is in our human nature and is the reason Communism will fail. While Communism provides people with their basic needs for survival, it does not satisfy the wants and desires people dream of.  The inability to satisfy one’s dreams and desires are made more frustrating by seeing the life of luxury lived by the government official. The opinions presented by the author support the definition of greed used by Robertson (2013): “Greed can be defined as the selfish desire to possess wealth, substances, objects, people, power, status, appreciation or attention far beyond what is required for basic human comfort.” The 24News writer states, “We know this from historical Communist regimes that The Great Leader and his closest comrades at the top of the regime are living with the same opulence as the former leaders of the Capitalist system!” to keep justifying that Communism on paper may state “equality” amongst all, but in reality, it’s not because of greed and corruption. “Capitalism may look selfish and exploitive, but it has to be to allow people to have the freedom to trade what they don’t want for what they do want, provided they can afford it.”

The writer then plays the devil’s advocate when talking about Capitalism, but states it in a way to motivate the reader in understanding the benefits of living in a Capitalist country. The writer is powerfully stating that Capitalism is the best option because we are not limited with what we are given, but we are given the opportunity to better ourselves.  As Fromm (1939) famously stated ‘Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction’. Just as Fromm used very powerful, and emotional words, the author does the same. He/she ends the article by stating “So be weary of those who want to bring the ‘benefits of Communism to your doorstep.” The authors chose to use an analogy between Communism and slavery is a bold choice that automatically creates an emotional reaction in the reader.  The tone, writing style, and sentence patterns used throughout the article are powerful and convincing.

The author from 24News does a great job convincing the readers on one specific view, as do the other authors. There are a lot of different ways to convince people towards your own views or beliefs, whether it consists of using empowering quotes or using a tone of authority. It is clear that the author purposefully wants to be an unknown. He/she wants to relate to the everyday person. The author clearly writes his/her paper for anyone who may have read socialistic rhetoric and thinks it sounds reasonable.  The author’s tone is one of a critic, one that understands that all ideas can be shaped to sound reasonable and believable. John Kenneth Galbraith made a strong statement which read, “Under Capitalism, man exploits man, Under Communism, it’s just the opposite.” In saying this he is able to leave the audience in their own thoughts instead of inputting his direct opinion. As human beings, we are entitled to our opinions and we might not agree on certain views, but authors use many different elements of style to convey information to their readers and oftentimes, influence their opinions and emotions. The subject, tone, audience, and subject chosen by this author make it clear that he/she knew how to pull at the emotional heartstrings of the audience to convince them of his/her point of view.