Category: Blog Posts

In his article, “The UK needs to respect the Brexit vote and leave the EU,” for the USA Today Opinion section, Nigel Farage aggressively condemns the idea of launching a second referendum regarding the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.  He insists that the British Parliament and Prime Minister Theresa May are refusing the acknowledge the will of the people–the majority of British voters voted to leave the European Union in the initial referendum in June 2016.  

SOURCE: USA Today published this article in its Opinion section, suggesting from the start that the reader should not interpret the content of the article as hard fact, but rather as the perspective of one person.  The newspaper even offers a somewhat half-hearted attempt to explain who that one person is through the byline: “Nigel Farage is a former UK Independence Party leader and vice chairman of the Brexit campaign group Leave Means Leave.”  Although the newspaper shows that Farage has a close proximity to the Brexit situation, they do not explain how just how close that is to their American readers who may have a lesser understanding of the intricacies of British politics.  Nigel Farage is a far-right politician, who has been very outspoken against immigrants and has been a person of interest in the FBI President Trump/Russia investigation since 2017.

MOTIVATION: In line with his connections with the far-right political movement, and his anti-immigration stance, Farage’s motivation in this article is to condemn the British Parliament and May for failing to agree to terms of withdrawal from the European Union. By placing the burden of blame largely on May and the “Remainers,” Farage attempts to create more division among the different parties of the British political system.

EVIDENCE: Farage makes several large-scale claims that he does not backup with evidence.  He writes inflammatory statements such as, “Not only was Brexit the biggest democratic mandate in British political history,” and “To ignore them or ask them to vote again, before the first decision is even implemented, would be incredibly damaging to who we are as a nation” without providing any evidence to support these claims. Farage relies too much on purposefully provocative rhetoric as opposed to grounded facts to support his claims.    

LOGIC: Although delivered with inflammatory rhetoric, Farage’s logic is ultimately sound.  His main claim is that to enact a second vote would be essentially ignoring the due democratic processes laid out in the initial referendum.  This logic is sound: the majority of British voters opted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union during a general election in 2016, and therefore the British Parliament and Prime Minister May should honor the democratic will of the people.  

LEFT OUT: Perhaps the strongest argument for this article’s credibility is just how little is left out.  Although the main section of the article is devoted to Farage’s composition, USA Today then follows his thoughts up with both contradictory and supporting thoughts from political writers from several outlets, as well as thoughts from the general populace.  The newspaper seems devoted to portraying the issue from multiple perspectives.

The day started like most days do: I gradually and begrudgingly blink awake and immediately reach for my phone.  Upon gripping it in my hand, its familiar weight immediately making me feel comfortable, I begin to scroll through my gmail, my Facebook, and my Instagram–actions that I will repeat several times throughout the next twenty four hours.  In fact, they are actions that I enact almost without thought or premeditation, ones that serve to distract me from the boredom of rote tasks or the stifling void of my own thoughts (I joke). All together, my scrolling, liking, and meme-tagging will take up around two full hours of my day.  It will significantly lengthen the time it takes for me to do my homework. It will distract me from my readings, some of my obligations, and from a few of my social interactions. It makes me sad to think that my screen time keeps me from enjoying my life without a filter, and makes it immensely more challenging for me to make time to sit with my own thoughts.  

Some of this time, however, I am happy to give up. For example, a solid chunk of these two hours were spent sending a hilarious meme around to my friends (I could almost hear myself giggle every time I hit the send button).  Another chunk of the time was spent coordinating social plans for the evening, and the reward of a fun time was well worth all of the texting.

In fact, the highlight of my twenty four hours–a long and winding trek on Mulholland Drive to look at the city lights with a friend–was only made possible by my media consumption.  In the morning, I spent forty-five minutes on Yelp, researching the best overlooks along Mulholland. (A fun fact–you essentially cannot park anywhere on the street past 9pm unless you want a $500+ parking ticket.  I love Los Angeles.) Another five minutes was spent on Google Maps, researching the best route to get up to the hills. Once my friend and I got in the car, I immediately queued up a necessary element to any night drive: an excellent Spotify playlist.  For the next three hours, we listened to amazing music, talked about our lives, and took in the city lights. And for all of the preparation that I so painstakingly did, I did not end up using that much of it. Once I hit Mulholland Drive itself, I just let myself wander the winding route without navigation, seeing where the night took me.  By the time we drove up to a deserted and windy overlook, our phones were tucked away, and the only visible light was coming from the city below. For anyone who has not seen it, Los Angeles at night is breathtaking; the lights emitting from the building and streets look like a thousand stars clustered in the dark sky. Although I had spent most of the preceding twenty-four hours necessarily tuned into my many screens, the best moment of the day was almost completely unplugged.