Revision of #1
The first method the author takes is to appeal to the authority to make her thesis rational and credible. She quotes what Justice Hugo L. Black says: “the Federal Government is without any power whatsoever under the Constitution to put any type of burden on free speech and expression of ideas of any kind.” This quotation is from someone who has a greater power on making a decision about the way in which the First Amendment should be applied to pornography. Hence the quotation has an effect of clearly showing that a person with authority, in fact, supports her thesis; any type of censorship of pornography is wrong. Most people have a nature that makes them tend to follow what authority says. Therefore, this first method leads the audience to believe what the author will say from now on will be very rational and credible, and also supports her thesis directly.
After Jacoby gets credibility, she supports her point by using comparison and ridicule. Her point is to show that it is unreasonable to believe in the feminists’ argument that pornography “pose[s] a greater threat to women than similarly repulsive exercises of free speech pose to other offended groups.” To prove this, the author compares pornography to women and a march of neo-Nazis to survivors from the threat of Nazis, and states that “it is ridiculous to suggest that the porn shops on 42nd street are more disgusting to women than a march of neo-Nazis is to survivors of the extermination camps.” When the argument by the feminists proves to be unreasonable, Jacoby’s audience thinks that an argument opposing what feminists say seems more reasonable to believe in. Consequently, her second method of comparison and ridicule strengthens her thesis because it is an argument that opposes the feminists’.
Because Jacoby achieves some credibility with her essay and proves that the feminists’, or her oppositions’, argument on censorship is absurd, she is, now, able to use statistics taken by herself. Although Susan Brownmiller says pornography is “the undiluted essence of antifemale propaganda,” Jacoby argues that pornography is not necessarily obscene. She uses her statistics of five women’s reactions to one picture in Penthouse to prove that there is something between art and trashy, and “got responses that ranged from ‘lovely’ and ‘sensuous’ to ‘revolting’ and ‘demeaning’.” The statistics show that different persons have different views on what they see, suggesting that not all pictures of naked women are obscene. If each person has his/her unique perception about one picture, then is it possible to consensually censor any picture of naked women? Jacoby would say “No” to this question.
Jacoby uses the technique of shepherding her audience’s attitude through the first two methods described above and her sympathy for her oppositions. First of all, she appeals to the authority. Second, she brings up irrationality of her oppositions’ argument. Then, she says “I think [the undiluted essence of antifemale propaganda] is a fair description of some types of pornography.” Her strategy here is first to provide her readers with the most reliable source to grab their attentions, to lead the audience not to stand for the feminists’ side but hers, and to show that she is sympathetic to what they feel about pornography, resulting in a proof of her fair attitude toward the issue. The audience is directed to think she is trustworthy through these methods. This technique is hidden from most of her audience, and is the most supportive of her thesis.
In her essay, Jacoby, in fact, shows her hatred toward some types of pornography such as ones that are “the brutish subspecies that equates sex with death and portrays women primarily as objects of violence.” However, even with this attitude, she believes that any form of censorship of pornography is wrong because no one can violate the right the First Amendment protects as she states: “free speech is its own best antidote.” I never thought about censorship of pornography until I read the essay “A First Amendment Junkie” by Susan Jacoby, but I believe, now, that we should never allow any censorship of pornography. She is definitely right about this point.
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