Thank You for Smoking Essay -- Peter Brimelow Tobacco Health Essays

Thank You for Smoking â€Å"Take another drag. That’s good for you.† One might not hear that everyday, but Peter Brimelow’s â€Å"Thank You for Smoking†¦?† is a very well written deductive argument that may have you believing that statement by the time you’re done reading his article. Brimelow’s argument is clearly inductive because he presents his samples right away which lead to generalizations that are drawn from those examples (McFadden). Brimelow comes right out early in the argument and informs the reader smoking can be beneficial to one’s health (141). Brimelow makes it clearly evident throughout the article that smoking is good for one’s health which is his major claim. The major claim is also known as a thesis (McFadden). Because most Americans have heard repetitively from the time they were little that smoking is bad for your health, Brimelow needs to provide valuable information to sway his audience. In this argument, he does a really good job of doing just that. Brimelow uses grounds, which are evidence and facts that support the major claim, to back up his argument (McFadden 2003) Parkinson’s disease among smokers appears to be half the rate of non-smokers. Alzheimer’s disease has been found to be as much as 50% less among smokers than non-smokers. Smoking may be responsible for what appears to be a 50% lower rate of prostate cancer among smokers` (142). These were a few of the statistics Brimelow provided to show how smoking may help prevent certain diseases. He didn’t stop there. On page 141 Brimelow documented the outcome of studies performed by D.M. Warburton that showed cigarettes to stimulate alertness, dexterity, and cognitive capacity. These grounds presented by Brimelow attract the audience... ...ke away from the power of Brimelow’s argument. Overall, Brimelow has a strong argument going here. He clearly has stated his claim and has strengthened it with powerful grounds, warrants, and backing. He exhibited skill in providing qualifiers and bringing up rebuttals and counter-claims. Brimelow falls short in a few areas of the argument. By using some fallacies and hasty generalizations Brimelow takes away from his strong argument. With some modifications in a few areas Brimelow would have a very good argument. Works Cited Brimelow, Peter, â€Å"Thank You for Smoking...?† The Genre of Argument Ed. Irene L. Clark Boston: Thomson/Heinle, 1998. 141-143 Clark, Irene L. The Genre of an Argument. Boston: Thomson/Heinle, 1998. McFadden, James. The Toulmin Method: From Classical Logic to Modern Argumentation. 2003. Buena Vista University. Storm Lake, IA