While many, both young and old, take pride in America’s standing amongst the other leading countries in the world, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times argues that we may need to reconsider why we’re cheering, and whether or not we’re actually number one. Relying primarily on statistics and exemplification, Kristof argues that the United States, while remaining the top economic power in the world, is seriously lacking in other areas.
He begins by stating that although Norwegians are wealthier per capita and that the Japanese have a longer life expectancy, America can at least be proud that, “the world watches the N.B.A., melts at Katy Perry, uses iPhones to post on Facebook, trembles at our aircraft carriers, and blames the C.I.A. for everything.” (Kristof) Here he uses statistics to support his claims about Norway and Japan, while using exemplification to somewhat sarcastically support that claim that we’ve grounds for boasting as well. Kristof continues to state that “proposed Republican cuts in Medicaid, food stamps and public services” (Kristof) that are believed to increase America’s competitiveness, would actually do the opposite. In that instance, Kristof used exemplification of somewhat popular policy changes to illustrate the reasons for America’s 16th place out of 132 other countries according to the Social Progress Index.
As Kristof concludes his article, he includes the idea that, “All this goes to what kind of a nation we want to be, and whether we put too much faith in G.D.P. as a metric.” (Kristof) The inclusion of this makes the audience question something that they may not have previously considered: what exactly do they imagine the United States’ future to look like? Overall, I believe that the article was effective in encouraging Americans to rethink our national values, and wether we will place social factors over economic ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment