Appeals Activity One
The central message of the text under discussion is to show the readership that, though video games are regarded as the main reason for antisocial behavior of kids and adolescents, in fact the root of such troubles results mainly from some other factors such as the quality of home life and the lack of parents’ responsibility, for example.
Moreover, H. Jenkins stresses that playing video games can be beneficial for both children and adults in terms of educational potential of some of them.
As far as I am not a fan of video games, though I used to play them, I cannot boast profound knowledge of the issue. But I keep up with some statistics and the results of various researches on video games problem. That is why I would define my position as an audience member as neutral.
I guess the author of the article is trying to reach namely neutral audience, since he neither persuades nor dissuades the readership. According to his own words he only makes “an attempt to separate fact from fiction” (Jenkins). Thus, voicing this or that myth about video games, the author provides the audience with supportive information in understandable language to debunk the myth and also refers to statistics and competent opinions. For example, trying to debunk the myth that the availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence, H. Jenkins mentions some statistics and expert reports alongside with his own ideas, which makes the whole issue sound persuasive: “According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. According to a 2001 U.S. Surgeon General's report, the strongest risk factors for school shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure” (Jenkins). And the readers decide for themselves whether the information is worth being taken into consideration. In general, they are provided with all the necessary data to decide if those myths about video games are believable or not.
In this article the author uses logos, because all his thoughts and data are based on reason and logic and he appeals to the readers’ reason and logic as well. There are also a lot of statistics within the body of the text. The example above testifies this.
Works cited
Jenkins, H. Reality Bytes: Eight myths about video games debunked. Web. Accessed September 07.
