USAF - National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. "Defoliant spray run, part of Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War." Taken in the 1960s. Uploaded via Wikipedia. Public Domain Dedication. |
For the following questions, I have provided my personal answers. As from the post title, I will be analyzing the article's cultural setting. These questions are take from the text, Writing Public Lives (p. 79).
1. What values, ideas, norms, beliefs, even laws of the culture play an important role in the text?
Climate scientist, David Keith, presents his views on geoengineering to reporter Brad Plumer, and more specifically, solar engineering or "solar radiation management." He states his values on the matter, them being in full support of the use of engineering to cool the Earth's climate; but he also states that the technology carries major risks not yet understood by scientists.
Although being a very biased source, Keith balances his opinions with the fact that risk can always outweigh a solution if not throughly thought out. He says that addition research will need to be made in order to fully comprehend the risk of conducting such global-scale experiments.
2. Does the text address these cultural values, beliefs, etc., directly or indirectly?
The text addresses Keith's views clearly and directly. As the article is a script dialogue between the reporter and the interviewee, audiences can get a much clearer read on what a person really thinks. Keith displays his opinions and beliefs on geoengineering blatantly and also gives off a sense of doubt to certain projects. In the end however, he always rebounds with a comment on how such experimentations could have a large positive impact.
3. What is the relationship of the text to the values, beliefs, etc.? Is it critical of these aspects of the culture? Is it supportive? Does it seek to modify these aspects of the culture in a certain way?
The values presented by David Keith serve as the main rhetoric behind the debate, as presented in this article. He states his views in a way to allow readers to attempt to comprehend the positive results that can come out of geoengineering the planet. His values are very supportive in his case of being a persuasive individual, backing certain methods of geoengineering, namely solar engineering and what he calls, "solar radiation management." In a way, it does seem that he tries to modify the reader's views of the culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment