The Assignment: Play the Devil’s advocate in your chosen niche. Find a provocative stance or an unexpected thesis by writing about and exploring a contentious or confusing issue and then make your argument. Try picking an argument you normally feel strongly about and take the other side.
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You hear them at night: feral and stray cats calling to their mates or brawling in the alley ways. They are a huge nuisance in the United States, especially in cities. Wherever there is a steady food source, the cats will survive: near homes, near restaurants, and anywhere with a population of rodents or birds.
With a steady food supply, these cats procreate rapidly. The gestational period for a feline is two months, and she usually has three to six kittens in each litter. A female cat can become pregnant immediately after giving birth. She will often have several litters per year.
Her kittens become sexually mature at five to six months of age. Then they procreate. The cycle continues. Before long, there are hundreds of inbred cats infesting the neighborhood.
Aside from the noise, these cats—who are essentially wild animals due to lack of human socialization—carry disease. They are magnets for fleas and mites, and can spread parasites, such as giardia, to humans.
Although many groups advocate trap, neuter, and release programs, these programs do not remove the problem. It is true that a population of neutered cats will not grow as rapidly as an intact population, but they still infest the same areas. They are still a major problem for the residents and businesspersons who must share their space with these cats.
For this reason, it sometimes becomes necessary to humanely euthanize an entire population of cats. Once the colony has been eradicated, it’s important to remove all food sources. If residents and businesses continue to leave unsecured dumpsters or provide seed to local birds, another stray colony will move in to the same location.
Once the cats and food sources are removed from a particular area, the residents and businesses may resume normal activity.
You've made a good argument. I think you can make it stronger by moving all of the issues - noise, disease, even adding damage to wildlife - together at the beginning. That way you have your set of "problems", then you can discuss why TNR won't solve the problem.
ReplyDeleteThe argument is stated clear, dry and without obstacles. This approach often provokes many questions, as it invariably contains ambiguous language, "normal activity" for example, and leaves the readers to scale the level of emergency in their imaginations.
ReplyDeleteSecond, some linkage to uncommon references, or those not typically mentioned on your web space, like "giardia" would be helpful; to say nothing of statistics or documentation to back up your description of your subjects procreative timetables.
I admit, perhaps I overestimate the level of detail required to have your point made, but nonetheless humbly offer these suggestions.
Thanks for the input, guys! -ZN
ReplyDeleteThe DA is about getting you thinking. It forces you to understand your opponents ideas like a lawyer on one side of the courtroom, but it can also, dare I say it, help you empathize with the opposition. Writing about an issue helps you think about it. Putting it into your own words helps you understand it better and possibly in a different way. If you start playing with your preconceived notions, you might surprise yourself. This is the type of writing you want to approach – ideas that are not fixed in your mind. If you are reaching to understand something new, then you can take an audience with you.
ReplyDeleteI get many answers for this assignment. Some students make fun of the opposition. Some put up disclaimers as you did. The best essays grow out of a new understanding of the initial issue approached. I am trying to jump start your mind. Ultimately, the entrenched sides of an argument get us nowhere, and repeating them is not going to get anyone noticed.
How we can think about ideas, even polarizing ideas, in a new way is what matters. Writing that surprises is writing that rises above the din.