Burbank’s “Shocked or Shot?”

1. Burbank’s “Shocked or Shot?” • Why are we more invested in this incident than reading about it a newspaper or online? • Where did find you ethos, pathos, logos in the text?

2. Due Dates • 10/11: In-class Library visit • 10/13: Summary/prospectus of topic due • 10/25: Rough draft due • 11/1: Final draft due

3. Review: terms • Claim: • main idea, thesis, opinion, or belief of the argument. “What’s the point?” • Support: • statements given to back up the claim. • Facts, data, personal experience, expert opinion, • Warrant • The connection, often assumed, between the claim and support. Assumption that makes the claim seem plausible. • beliefs, values, inferences and/or experiences that the writers/speakers assume they share with their audiences.

4. Claim • “The current taser policies leave too much discretion up to the police officer, which in turn has caused the taser to become a torture device, which is unacceptable, and therefore the taser should be banned.” (137).

5. Support • 3 incidents: mom, Miami student, elderly man • Quotes from experts: Duke university engineer professor, taser international researcher, police officers. • Statistics( Amnesty International, Journal articles, newspaper)

6. Warrant • Audience will identify with specific stories mentioned. • Audience will see it as abusive or excessive • Audience will agree that action needs to be taken or change should occur.

7. Parts of a Classical Argument • Introduction •  Background • Positive argument, your view • Negative argument, the opposition • Conclusion

8. Introduction

9. Background (CCM 138)

10. Positive Argument (CCM 140) • “Taser use needs to be ended until there is better means of controlling them. The only way this could happen is if every time a taser is used, there would a tracker assessing the report and questioning if a real gun would've been used in this situation. If the answer is yes, then the taser was used appropriately; however, if the answer is no, then the police officer's taser privileges would need to be revoked. Without having tasers available to use, police would go back to more traditional means of controlling situations, such as using their own strength to hold someone down if they really were a threat.”

11. Negative Argument (CCM139) • “Sergeant Dennis Colyer argued in front of Oxford residents in October of 2009, "If you were working, would you want all the tools not with you?" (Zetzer, 2009). While that does make sense, currently it is a policy that leaves too much discretion to the police officer, which in turn, is the cause of this overuse and abuse of the taser. Taser Inter- national researcher Angela Wright explains, "the problem with tasers is that they are inherently open to abuse, as they are so easy to carry and easy to use and can inflict severe pain at the push of a button, without leaving substantial marks" (Wright, 2008). The same article also reports that some people are shocked for merely not complying with police commands after they had been incapacitated by a first shock or "not complying" at traffic stops (Wright, 2008). This use of a taser is nowhere near the boundaries for which it was implemented. Yes, it does seem reasonable that tasers should be used when police officers feel it is necessary, but only when they would feel shooting a victim with an actual gun in the same circumstance would be necessary .

12. Conclusion (proposed solution) • “If we want to take control of these abusive taser incidents, we need to take action. To make this possible, you could contact your district's representative and let him or her know the current taser policy is not okay and action needs to be taken. On a smaller scale, you could sign the organization Stop Taser Torture's petition to the United States 141 Congress calling for public hearings on the systemic human rights violations occurring with the use of tasers.”

13. Qualifying Your Public Discourses Topic • Purpose: This exercise will help you qualify your proposed public discourses topic to ensure it is a relevant issue for public discourse, that you are truly interested in researching and writing about it, that you will be able to define an approach for arguing it, and, therefore, that it is worth your time and effort to pursue it further. • Change or modify your issue if you cannot answer “yes” to all of these questions. Your research question:___________________________________________________ • 1. Is this an issue that has not been resolved or settled? • 2. Does this issue potentially inspire two or more views? • 3. Are you interested and engaged with this issue, and do you want to communicate with an audience about it? • 4. Can you inspire your audience to be sufficiently interested and pay attention? • 5. Do other people, besides you, perceive this as an issue? • 6. Is this issue significant enough to be worth your time? • 7. Is this a safe issue for you? Not too risky? Scary? Will you be willing to express your ideas? • 8. Will you be able to establish common ground with your audience on this issue, that is, a common set of terms, some common background, and values? • 9. Can you find and obtain information in order to come up with convincing insights on the issue? • 10. Can you eventually get a clear and limited focus on this issue, even if it’s a complicated one? • 11. Is it an enduring issue, or can you build perspective by linking it to an enduring issue? • Can you predict audience outcomes?

14. Narrowing your topic • Go through checklist and make sure your topic works • Rework topic/brainstorm to find a topic that meets criteria. • Go through prospectus handout on your own and prepare to discuss in groups.

15. In-class activity • Share with your groups: • You proposed topic and audience—who are the people who can actually affect change in this issue? • What strategies will you use to persuade?

16. Homework • Identify your topic and audience • Outline claim, warrant, and support for your paper. • Post to thread on BB • Begin working on prospectus.