In the 21st century social acceptance and social media have both progressed to wider audiences, one fueling the other, working together to spread awareness. Dan Savage and Urvashi Vaid both wrote about their experiences with LGBTQA+ youth, and using social media to increase the understanding of their battles. Both authors wrote to a general audience of people who might have a relative or friend experiencing bullying or who feels the urge to make the world more accepting. Throughout both articles the use of personal stories and use of emotion to evoke feelings in the readers empowers the arguments.
To build a trusting relationship both authors opened up about their lives. Savage wrote about his experiences being bullied, as well as his husbands struggles as a child. He also gave information about his career and just how he made it to his current job. Through his words, he shows us how caring and empathetic he is, mourning the loss of the many LGBTQA+ teens who committed suicide. Vaid opens up about meeting her partner, and how she copes when life knocks her down. When talking to a wide audience as both authors are, it is best to evoke basic human emotions. People respond to death and intolerance. Both authors do a respectable job of balancing out harsh emotions with positive and uplifting stories of hope and determination.
Each of these articles ends with a call to action. Action Makes It Better uses large social changes to show how life has continuously gotten better. Vaid speaks about her personal role in activism and how it has improved her life. She writes about how easy and important it is to get involved in any cause important to the reader. It Gets Better is full of emotional stories from the perspective of an empathetic author. Starting with painful emotions, Savage introduces his video project and gives information on how impactful human stories can be. His entire It Gets Better Project shows that hope is the greatest gift adults can give kids.
In order to strengthen the argument of both of these pieces the authors use facts as well as personal stories. The It Gets Better Project was projected to be a 100 video movement to increase awareness of the joys of living. Dan Savage was disheartened by LGBTQA+ teen suicides as well as the bullying those kids were enduring. His small project grew to over ten thousand videos, with special guests such as Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama. True social change was observed as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed and Gay Straight Alliances were created in more schools. Dan Savage uses all of these uplifting facts to show how we the people can create positive change. This sentiment is echoed in Urvashi Vaid’s piece about social activism. She quickly uses historical faces and social changes to show how close to home activism can hit. Without glossing over the hardships of activism she shows how meaningful it can make a person feel. To be part of change is to have a purpose.
Emotions are produced through personal stories to resonate with the audience of social bystanders the importance of being active. Two articles citing the importance of caring about fellow humans show just how easy it is to change other people’s lives. Fiery calls to action, and poignant final sentences make these articles near impossible to forget. With proof of social change integrated into the articles, it is hard to ignore the success of activism. Invoking emotions such as empathy and hope are effective ways of constructing an argument. Both Savage and Vaid accomplished spreading the awareness of social change.
Works Cited
Lunsford, Andrea A., John J. Ruszkiewicz, and Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument: with readings. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, A Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016. Print
Savage, Dan. “It Gets Better.” Emerging Contemporary Readings for Writers. Ed. Barclay Barrios. Boston: Bedford: St. Martin’s A Macmillan Education Imprint, 2010/2013/2016. 405-410. Print
Vaid, Urvashi. “Action Makes it Better.” Emerging Contemporary Reading for Writers.
Ed. Barclay Barrios. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, A Macmillan Education Imprint, 2016. 411-412. Print