Harvey Holden

Zack De Piero
English 101-108
November 18, 2016
Sociologist vs Journalist
Has the truth ever sounded so boring, whereas a lie sounds just flat out
awesome and better than the truth, even if its far from it? Now Im not saying that the lie
always sounds better, or even that the truth is always the boring one, but the way you
deliver a message may effect on your impact to the listener or the reader. In writing,
there are 3 different appeals which are Logos -- appealing to logic --, Ethos -- appealing
to credibility of the author to convince the reader --, and Pathos -- appealing to
emotion.The two pieces of genre that Ill be looking at comes from a Sociologist named
Nicki Lisa Cole -- who has a systematic(Ethos) appeal -- and a Writer named John
Metta -- who has a personal(Pathos) appeal -- to see which author had a bigger impact
on me as a reader.
A Sociologist has to subtract themselves from the equation while analyzing
people, and a Journalist is someone who gathers information for a report, magazine,
news, and more, but unlike a Sociologist, they can include personal input. Nicki Lisa
Coles article is titled What is Racism? , and right away, I noticed Coles first line of
her bio that states she [has a]Ph.D.[and] is a sociologist and freelance journalist with
expertise in consumer culture and global supply chains. I can see her credibility(Ethos)
to be a Sociologist, along with her very own saying that she made stand out Sociology
is not simply a field of study; it is a way of seeing the world. (Cole). Looking past her
bio, I can see where the Sociologists perspective on racism starts to come in. Moving
on to John Mettas sermon I Racist I can also see his bio as well and it states Im a
writer. I pretty much live in a notebook with my fountain pen. I also write poetry that
makes computers do stuff. . After reading just the first bit of the sermon, I can tell that
Metta is going to be talking from personal experience. Especially by his use of using I
in situations like When I was younger[...] and To illustrate why, I'll tell a story:
(Metta). The use of these are effective hes appealing to us through the use a pathos,
which makes it easier to place yourself in his shoes and feel where hes coming from.
Turning over and focusing on Coles Sociologist Report titled The Seven Forms
of Racism then proceeds to break it down to Representation, Ideological, Discursive,
Interactional, Institutional, Structural, and Systemic. After reading each definition of
both, Cole appeals to me without putting her own insight into any of it. It felt as if I was
reading facts that I couldve just read out of a Sociology textbook instead. She also
keeps it professional by avoiding the use of harmful words when she says like
mascots for the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, and the Washington
R*******(Cole). Cole also tended to use huge words back-to-back, such as
essentialized , caricatures , representations , representational , encapsulates ,
and untrustworthiness . This gave me the effect of getting tongue twisted, and also
finding myself a bit lost. It also didnt help that she used the definition word in the
definition of the word itself.

The start of certain paragraphs are also majorly emphasized by making the first
word such as WE or I. As I read on, I could also see events that took place over the
years that involved racism such as The shooting of Walter Scott in North Charleston
resonated with me because Walter Scott was portrayed in the media as a deadbeat and
a criminal[](Metta). He also keeps it blunt when he writes -- which is a lot
easier(appealing) than reading Coles writing-- when he says Even when we make shit
up, we want it to be white. (Metta) Last, he ends it strong with a So I'm asking you to
help me. Notice this. Speak up. Don't let it slide. Dont stand watching in silence. which
had the effect of me thinking about how I feel about racism, especially after reading this
sermon. One thing that I did like that Metta did was his use of repetition throughout the
sermon. In my class reading As A Result, Gerald and Birkenstein explained that:
Furthermore, writers would never make an impact on readers if they
didnt repeat their points often enough to reinforce those points and make
them stand out above subordinate points. The trick there is not to avoid
repeating yourself but to repeat yourself in a varied and interesting
enough ways that you advance your argument without sounding tedious.
I found this to be something that Metta did throughout his entire sermon that
could keep any audience that hes giving his message to keep more than interested with
his amount of repetition that flowed perfectly to the end.
Looking at these two perspectives on racism, I believe that one can conclude that
the sermon was far more appealing that the article. Its all thanks to the appeal that
Metta took relating to the audience and his use of recent racist events that went by.
Sure Coles view is probably the proper way to look at things, but as a human being,
none of us are perfect and its hard to act an expected way. It probably wouldnt have
been correct for Cole to use her own opinion since shes a Sociologist, but shes also
listed as a Journalist. Its also hard to pay attention to the truth when it doesnt appeal,
but with a slight twist, you can grab anyones attention.

Sources
Graff, Gerald and Birkennstein, Cathy. As A Result - Connecting the Parts.
Class Handout Gerald Graff, Cathy Berkeinstein, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Metta, John. "I, Racist." THOSE PEOPLE. N.p., 2015. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.

Cole, Nikki Lisa. "What Is Racism? A Sociologist Explains." About.com

Education. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.