Susan Sontag's Arguments

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The first amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of speech and the press, as well as freedoms in such things as religion, assembly, and petition. Countless soldiers, airmen, seamen, and patriots paid with their lives to ensure any person with an idea or voice could air their opinions without fear of legal reprisal or punishment; God bless them and the USA. In an article written by Susan Sontag titled “Regarding the Torture of Others” photographs are used to spur reflection and tell a story of war; in this case torture. While the story is of unfortunate and condemnable events, Susan’s argument is bias and preys upon the twisting of facts to some degree in order to serve her purposes. This article brings to light things most of us would like to forget, and attempts to sway the reader to arrive at the same conclusion about the war in Iraq that she has; that it was wrong. Susan sets the platform and establishes the tone of her argument by defining torture for the…show more content…
Making that absurd accusation works to her advantage though; Susan knows the reader will reject that claim because not every person participated and/or facilitated the abuse of those prisoners. Susan also knows the reader will ponder who to blame, so that blame is not focused on them. This is where Susan offers up her scape goats, the US Military and the Bush administration. Happy to be relieved from the accusation of war crimes, the reader is more disposed to agree with her than to go back to being guilty. Her goal with this shifting blame is meant to prevent critical thinking by the reader, and facilitate a persuasive argument. However; if the reader does look closely at the facts, they will soon realize that neither the Military nor the Bush administration as a whole could be to blame for the same argument she uses to let the reader off the

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