The essay originally appeared in The Huffington’s Post Gay Voices. It is written by Craig Taro Gold who describes himself as an author, LGBT rights advocate, an entrepreneur, and a song writer. The writer grew up in a Republican family as his father’s only son. His father fully supported the Reagan’s presidency and would do anything for the Republican Party. From the very early age, the writer was able to decipher that his father and his Republican friends were intolerant of anybody who held a view that was different from theirs. They labeled such challenges “secret agendas” and listed Muslims, Jews, Blacks Hispanics, the poor, unionists, and women who were advocating for equal rights as suspects.
Growing up enlightened the writer, and he came to understand that the talk about “secret agendas” was mere propaganda. The writer was born with all the privileges a boy of his age could enjoy at that time. It is clear that the writer is rational and independent-minded. He failed to understand why his father and his friends were always unhappy in spite of their “power, money, and privilege”. He termed the negative talk about the minority groups as unsubstantiated slander and, though confused at times, he refused to believe it.
Audience
The audience of this essay is the American electorate, particularly the Republicans who have settled on Mitt Romney as their candidate of choice. The writer is challenging them to come out of their cocoons and see the hypocrisy incorporated in the values of the Republican Party and its leadership. The party’s members sympathize with the plight of the suffering minorities, but they are afraid of speaking their minds out right in public lest they be should becondemned as being different from their fellow Republicans.
Rhetorical Strategies
Craig Taro Gold has an excellent command of rhetoric strategies. He cites a study which illustrates that people who do not watch any news at all are more informed about current affairs than people who watch Fox News. The viewers of such shows end up becoming angry, old, white men due to a myopic view of the world. The victims of the syndrome are convinced through propaganda that they have no power to stop the degradation of the society run by the people they have despised the others for centuries. The only reprieve for the situation is, therefore, to have a Republican in office. They, therefore, send money to support other angry white men (Republicans) and reserve their vote for “the whitest person on the ballot”. He provides statistics showing that 75% of people committing suicides in America are white males. The likelihood to commit suicide increases with age.
Organizational Strategies
The organization of the text fulfills its purpose. The author starts the essay with the story of growing up as a privileged boy brought up by affluent and doting parents. He describes how their intimacy as a family broke down as his father delved deeper into the party’s activities. He then captures the hypocrisy of the Republican Party as a party of double standards which supports some ideals and condemns others. He then attacks Mitt Romney’s condemnation of the 47 percent of people who do not pay tax as free loaders in the economy, his defamatory remarks about Latinos, and an intention to ban gay rights through an amendment to the constitution. He keeps the reader engrossed throughout the entire text.
Stylistic Strategies
The writer states that sometimes, he felt like a “spy who was born behind enemy lines due to a Y-chromosome and a white skin”. He refers to the Republicans of his father’s time such as Mitt Romney, Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh. To capture the weight of the matter, he uses his great-grandmother’s words about being cautious regarding people who discriminate against minorities. He claims that Mitt Romney does not care about 47% of the population while he and other Americans care for 100% of the population. Mitt Romney’s campaign ideology is an old-angry-white-man-agenda that should be rejected. Craig Taro Gold succeeds in convincing voters not to vote for a Republican party through rational and emotional appeal.