Analyzing My Own Assumptions

It is difficult to be free of opinions on a topic that is as highly debated as climate change is.  The opinions fly between political parties, scientists, and the general public.  Understanding my own assumptions on the subject will help me evaluate other’s opinions with clarity.

Wade M. "Thinking" 08/30/2008 via Flickr.
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.

I have only heard about climate engineering from people who believe that it will not work.  I do not have the knowledge to make my own decision as to the best way to solve climate change, and therefore I have to depend on what others say.  The article makes a presumption that the readers accept that climate change is a serious man-made problem that needs immediate attention.  While I may agree with this, I have to see how not everyone reading this article would go in with that presumption.

I do not believe that there is no value in climate engineering and that we should just throw this idea away.  Even if there are flaws, they should be worked through.  My disagreement for his total abandonment of climate engineering will have to be taken into effect when I evaluate this article.

The U.S. is also a place of high energy consumption (i.e. factories, cars. etc.).  It is easy to relate to the author’s belief that doing something to fix the problem is imperative.  However, since I am not from the science community, I cannot relate to the contempt shown for the aerosol particle solution. 


Reflection:

Both agreeing with the author and disagreeing with the author can both lead to bias that can affect how you analyze the writer's rhetoric.  Joy Kosik's post discussed how she agreed with the author which makes it easier to read multiple times and break down, but can also lead to missing some of the incorrect assumptions and unfair emotional appeals that the author might make.

Just being completely honest with yourself on what you feel about a certain topic can be incredibly helpful.  Gabee Mazza's blog post reminded me that trying to pretend you weren't biased toward the subject would be actually harmful.  Instead of trying to cover up your bias, you are better off getting it out there in the open so that you can truly see how this might affect your analysis of the author's rhetoric devices.