My latest writing project was for a Persuasion course at Bloomsburg University (Fall 08). I chose as my topic the ongoing controversy of Dorje Shugden worship in the Tibetan Buddhist community. I was first made aware of this topic after attending the Dalai Lama's 2008 appearance at Lehigh University. Until then, I had no idea this was happening, and I felt compelled to learn as much as possible about it. So aside from making a good project for my class, it helped me with my own understanding of this important issue.
For this project I decided to take a look at both sides of the argument and analyze the persuasive techniques employed. The results below consist of a brief persuasive appeal written from the perspective each side, followed by an analysis of that appeal and the background research that was done to construct it. For the assignment, we were asked to select a target audience, so much of the analysis focuses on the audience (in this case Christian US Americans (18 and over, Protestant or Catholic).
This project was not held to the same standard of citation typically used in a research paper (because this was not a research paper). Any citations used were done purely as a courteousy and to offer the reader some background on where to explore more.
Disclaimer: These papers are not attempting to document my own personal views on the matter. These should be read in the context of an academic study. What I hope people get out of this is the sense of how persuasive techniques are employed and how they can be effectively used - by the same person - to argue competing sides of any issue (not just this one). This should also make us aware of the techniques being used on us daily by media, government and every other institution with which we interact.
Disclaimer update 1/14/09: I have received two emails about this project, one of them within 24 hrs of the original post! Let me restate - I will not be posting my personal feeling on this subject. This was an assignment. Also, any errors of fact within the messages are my own and/or were manipulated as part of the message. That is the point of this study after all. There will be no corrections as I wish for this to stand on its own as a snapshot in time. If, through any fault of my own, there is misinformation, then it serves to underscore the point that what one reads (even in the course of an academic project like this) should be carefully evaluated.For me, the central issue here is persuasive technique and the fluidity of truth.
Note: This work is Copyright 2008 and is presented for educational purposes. All rights reserved. Contact me if you are interested in publishing this. For those unscrupulous students who wish to download and appropriate my work, shame on you!!
