SWA #21

1)

It is very obvious what is being argued right off the bat in this article by The Onion. They are arguing that society never reads anything in a newspaper they only skim and look at pictures because they want to move on with their lives and don't have the time to read all those words. Everyone freaks out when all they can do is read a big article versus just reading a subtitle or looking at a picture. I can tell this is the argument because the quotes in this article from random people convey that they hate having to take the ten minutes out of their day to read and if it was something important, there would be a picture.

2)

This article uses hyperbole to convey the extreme impatience that Americans have when someone puts down a large article to read with only words. For instance, when they say, "endless 500 words" it is an exaggeration because 500 words is not that much writing to read. The best example of hyperbole in this article is when they say, "Sources also reported a 450 percent rise in temple rubbing and under-the-breath cursing around this time." This is extreme exaggeration and shows that society is in that much of an uproar over something as small as reading an article. All of the hyperbole helps to advance The Onion's argument because to a degree it is true and all of the reader's of this article know it. It strengthens the argument because mixed in with the quotes it is just proof such as Landsman saying "Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it doesn't even have a point."