Apocalyptic Argument

Words: 555

Pages: 3

Open Document

The article “How Apocalyptic Thinking Prevents Us from Taking Political Action” by Matthew Barrett Gross and Mel Gilles argues that the ever-prevalent reliance on using overdramatic, hyperbolic rhetoric for all dangers that face humanity causes an aversion to preventing avoidable problems. Instead of inspiring extreme action, Gross and Gilles argue, the apocalyptic language causes inaction through dismissal or paralyzing paranoia. People either dismiss threats because the apocalyptic claim seems too unreasonable or do not act because the thought of the tragedy causes too much shock. The key to the argument, though, is that the overuse of apocalyptic language detracts from action that should be taken on dangers that are actually severe and preventable. The arguments presented in this article are deeply flawed. Gross and Gilles contradict their own assumption of the power of fear, ignore possible reactions that people may have, and discount the potential benefits of heightened paranoia. …show more content…
If fear is the most effective way to garner attention, it does not make sense to attribute inaction to fear because the removal of fear would undoubtedly cause inaction by way of preventing any interest in a given topic. They even state that perhaps the “apocalyptic warning” was the only “way to sound the alarm about the devastating threat presented by global climate change…” If hyperbolic rhetoric was the only way to draw attention to the issue, it would be ridiculous to blame that same extreme rhetoric with inaction toward the issue. Surely removing the cause of interest in anything cannot be attributed with causing disinterest toward that same

The Road Essay

For Lack of a Better Name Post-apocalyptic life is something that people have feared and prepared for ages. Many people have predicted the end of the world. Many people have wondered how the world will continue after the apocalypse. In The Road, Cormac McCarthy provides the reader with some cultural values that will ensure the humanity is kept alive and some that will destroy it. Maturity is needed in a post-apocalyptic life. Without it, no one would take a leadership role and guide the people.…

Words 1380 - Pages 6

Barbara M. Cross's As I Lay Dying

acknowledges the importance of psychology of the Bundren children, he claims the novel’s meaning is constructed on the “narrative texture and the events of the plot.” (Cross, 251) The argument he presented is that the key to grasp some understanding of this book lies in the ironical interaction of low comedy and apocalyptic fervor. In addition to the analysis of the use and existence of comedy and apocalypse, Cross appreciates the beauty language within the text. The structure of this article is series…

Words 753 - Pages 4

Rhetorical Analysis: The Book Of Revelation

future exegenesis I may encounter. A rhetorical analysis, such as Fiorenza’s study of Revelation, provided me with a similar ethical consideration for exegenesis. Rhetorical analysis, as she emphasized, looks to reestablish the link between the apocalyptic text and the sociocultural context in which it was created. Additionally, it reconstructs the situation experienced by the author and their audience. For John of Patmos and his audience, their context was the widening gap between the rich and poor…

Words 728 - Pages 3

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God essay

Maritza Bivens Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher in pre-colonial times, composed a sermon that was driven to alert and inject Puritanical fear into the eighteenth century congregation. This Bible centered and serious audience sought religious instruction and enlightenment. Through the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards offers a very harsh interpretation to mankind. Edwards utilizes various rhetorical techniques to evoke an emotional response…

Words 351 - Pages 2

How Did Paul Write The Letter To Galatians

the divine nature of both his calling and the origin of “his” gospel (Soards 63). In the second section, Paul offers arguments concerning the freedom of the Christian from the law. Paul argues that neither Abraham nor the Christians are saved by the workings of the law. In fact, the law cannot save anyone. He tells them to avoid all trappings of the law. In Paul’s, apocalyptic mind, faith and the law are elements in two opposing realms, one potential and the other impotent (Soards 65), and the…

Words 465 - Pages 2

Rem Koolhaas Keynote lecture on two strands of thinking in sustainability Essay

and mankind. It depicts nature as a kind of punishment of mankind and, occasionally, mankind as a punisher of nature (6, 7). That narrative, however we look at it – religiously or otherwise – is a fundamentally anti-modern one, which insists on apocalyptic expectations. Friedrich symbolizes this feeling in some of his paintings, which generated a series of prophets. Perhaps Malthus was the first one, with his belief that a premature death must visit the human race. Others were Paul Ehrlich in 1968…

Words 2498 - Pages 10

Shia Islam Essay

faced a splitting due to the after death of Muhammad’s, meaning there could not be an agreement upon who should take his place as his rightful successor. One side of the argument, now knows as the Sunni’s, believed that his successor should be a member from Muhammad’s original Quraysn Tribe, while the other side, of the argument, now known as the Shia’s, thought that the rightful successor needed to be a blood relative, thus began the splitting into the Sunni Islam and the Shia Islam. Shia got their…

Words 785 - Pages 4

Terrence Malick's Days Of Heaven

In the booming turmoil of this mill emerges a verbal argument and Bill taking out his supervisor with a shovel. He flees by train with Abby and Linda out of Chicago. They find themselves harvesting wheat fields for a wealthy farmer (Sam Shepard) who falls for Abby at first glance. Bill and Abby conceal their…

Words 732 - Pages 3

I Robot Research Paper

Ethics and the Machine A Toulmin Model Argument In the 2004 film “I, Robot”, there is a recurring theme of apocalypticism associated with self-aware technology. The supreme robot intelligence VIKI (Virtual Interactive Kinetic Intelligence) evolves to gain a different understanding of the laws meant to control robots and their activities, and attempts to impose a new world order that subsumes human safety and continued survival with the surrender of mankind’s freedom of action. The notion that…

Words 2195 - Pages 9

Reflections On The Revolution In France

Amidst a wealth of metaphors and apocalyptic maxims, this line is perhaps the most memorable from Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. He masterfully employs the concept of chivalry to express his anti-revolutionary sentiment, and he dramatically connects it to images of land, sex, birth and money to express the widespread disorder that accompanies a loss of chivalry. Nowhere is this idea more explicit than in the following passage: ...–But the age of chivalry is gone. —That of…

Words 1885 - Pages 8