Introduction
The show of military is a very commonly done thing in almost all of the countries in the world. France, Russia, and China all hold military parades, and in some cases, countries hold military shows annually. The American military is the biggest one in the world, and having an unprecedented amount of power compared to other nations is a fact that almost everyone in the world knows. America has done well in showing the world its military might by indulging in wars and interventions in foreign lands in the post-World War II era, and there is not a single person on the planet with a doubt about the dominant military power of the United States of America (Cordesman). The purpose of military shows and parades is to show the relevance of military might a country possesses and there are no questions about the American military making it completely useless to show power in a military parade as America has shown in the battlefields that she created by herself to test its weapons and gain monetary benefits from it (Dane). The article chosen here for rhetorical analysis is an opinion piece by Fox News’ Tammy Bruce. The piece talks about President Trump’s decision to conduct a military parade for a show of power (Bruce).
The article argues that the decision made by the president is easily justifiable, and the reason that liberals are against it is more of a reason for the need for this parade. The article creates a different image of the parade than the one that is being portrayed by the liberal media outlets (Tharoor). The opinion piece is specifically important as it has a very aggressive and strong tone that pretty much shocks one when reading something that is based on arguments and reason. The show of Force for America at this point in history is without consequences and is a waste of resources as the world is familiar with American military strength.
Discussion
The article has a tone that is not very appropriate for a logical argument as the bias is not only obvious but has some elements of animosity that are very apparent from the way the article is set. The opinion pages are definitely there to show the opinion and the side that the news outlet is on, but the aggression in style is not wise as it makes even the logical point seem wrong. Various elements in the article can be seen as extreme and provocative, which should not be how the news is given to people. It is acceptable that personal biases are always there in the media be it Liberal or conservative media. Still, there has to be at least a try at making the biases less instigating.
The Fox News media empire is famous as the conservative-biased media group that has mostly favored the Conservatives and the Republican Party in almost all settings. The war between the media groups can be very clearly seen as the US news programs throwing jabs at each other constantly, leaving journalistic integrity to the side. Fox News uses the strongest language in this article. The article uses the sentence, “barks the first sentence in the New York Times’ coverage of the story,” about the New York Times article on Trump’s decision of the military parade. The language of the New York Times article is also not completely journalistic as the article starts with a sarcastic comment, but the use of the word [Bark] shows the extremes that Fox News can go to with ease. The opinion piece makes a strong statement against the liberals and Democrats who talked about Trump’s military parade decision by calling out every single one of them and answering their questions with rude comments. The liberal media also have biases, and they do show their perspectives through the news in ways that do not really go with how the news should be, but calling out every person who has a problem with an opinion piece is the extreme that should not have been seen in any form of media. Fox News does not seem like a reliable source for news as every news piece, including this opinion article, shows extreme biases.
The author in this article does not in any way appeal to reason as the aggressive language and style make the reader believe that there is no way that Fox News does not have at least some form of benefit to gain from this type of news coverage. The elements of the need for nationalism and pride in the American Forces can sit right with the readers. Still, the problem is the facts and knowledge about the wars that America has fought in the recent past in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The stance of the US Army has not always been clear, and there were a lot of indicators that showed war as a profiteering game.
The article does use some logical points to prove that the liberals are confused about the Presidency of Donald Trump as they sometimes claim that he is a puppet of Russians who appointed him as president by influencing the election results, and at the same time, they call him a Napoleon in the making who was an authoritative leader. The article argues successfully that liberals need to make up their minds about whether they think Trump is a puppet or Napoleon. The contradiction in the liberal thinking about him, in this case, is not understandable.
Work Cited
Bruce, Tammy. “Trump Wants a Military Parade and Liberals Are Hysterical (Just More Proof It’s the Right Thing to Do).” Fox News, 7 Feb. 2018, http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/07/trump-wants-military-parade-and-liberals-are-hysterical-just-more-proof-its-right-thing-to-do.html.
Dane, Lily. Blood Money: These Companies and People Make Billions of Dollars from War. 2015, https://www.globalresearch.ca/blood-money-these-companies-and-people-make-billions-of-dollars-from-war/5438657.
Tharoor, Ishaan. “Analysis | Military Parades Are about Ego and Power. Of Course, Trump Wants One.” Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2018. www.washingtonpost.com, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/08/military-parades-are-about-ego-and-power-of-course-trump-wants-one/.
Cordesman, Anthony H. U.S. Wars in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen: What Are The Endstates? 2016, https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-wars-iraq-syria-libya-and-yemen-what-are-endstates.
