Analyzing Purpose

In this post, I will answer that questions from the "Thinking through the Purpose of Your Public Argument" portion within Writing Public Lives, in order to further analyze my purpose of composing Project 3.

ashley rose, "72.365 purpose for the pain & world suicide prevention day." 9/10/2009 via Flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic

1. What is the goal of your argument? What do you want your audience to think, feel, do, believe after reading it?
The goal of my arguments is for people to see the reasons why marijuana legalization is logical and necessary in America. I want my audience to feel enlightened about the benefits of ending the ban on cannabis, and be inspired to do further research on legalization. My desire is for my audience to no longer blindly believe the misconceptions, if they are already doing so, about legalization. I also want my audience to realize that the issue of legalization involves more than just a moral aspect, because making the decision to end the prohibition of cannabis encompasses logical and economical beliefs as well.

2. Plausible Actions/ Reactions:
-Audience will want to read more about the benefits of legalization
-Audience will want to look deeper into anti-legalization texts
-They will be more interested in forming their opinion on the debate
-People will become more emotionally invested in the issue over legalization

Not Plausible:
-Audience becomes offended by my argument
-Audience feels that none of the info within my argument is new or relevant to them

3. Possible Consequences:
-People will be more aware and knowledgable when encountering debates about marijuana
-They will be more willing to vote directly on marijuana legislation, if given the opportunity in the future/ will consider marijuana views more when voting for elected officials
-Audience will be more openminded regarding legalization
-People will see the outdated and incorrect ideas that marijuana opposition is based off of
-Individuals will have an opinion in the debate, rather than just allowing the people with extreme viewpoints to constantly be the leaders in the discussion of the issue
-Audience may be more willing to take action (sign a petition, take part in a protest) after reading my text

4. The most ideal audience for my argument would have to be young American adults, who are most likely between the ages of 18 to 35. This age range will be helpful because people of these ages are not set in their ways and tend to be more willing to accept change than older individuals. Thus, after reading my argument my target audience will hopefully feel more educated and more confident to speak out and share their new found knowledge about cannabis legalization when confronted with the overly conservative thoughts of their elders, some of which I intend to disprove in my argument. Marijuana legalization will affect the America that we, the people of my target audience will have to be a part of in the future, thus we must be wiling and able to be an active part of this debate.