Ifthehar Ahmed 10/9/18
Shamecca Harris
Issue: Race Relations and Politics
Source #1(Magazine Article): https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/12/conservatism-withoutbigotry/544128
Conservatism without bigotry, written by Peter Beinart, is about conservatives in reality vs what the liberal media had painted them to be. This article attempts to explain that conservatives are trying to put up their valid political beliefs and how they contend with the vicious labeling of the term ‘racist’ by liberals and the media alike. This article also attempts to make liberals understand the true motives of conservatives, simply trying to hold on to traditional beliefs that aren’t discriminatory in nature. This article also goes in depth into the flawed logic of liberals.
Peter Beinart tries to convince his audience of liberals and people who are politically neutral that conservatives aren’t inherently racist nor are synonymous to it. It’s to tell the truth behind the false image of conservatives painted by liberal media and make liberals understand the true motives of conservatives and why their logic so flawed. Beinart, for example, states that “conservatives need liberals to stop abusing their cultural power,” as one of their main motivations, and then explains that liberals have the greater power to stigmatize due to elite institutions giving power to accusing one of bigotry. What this evidence illustrates is how the author is trying to prove his case of the seemingly tyrannical power that liberals have, just by using the word “bigot.” Another piece of evidence that validates his purpose is how he simply states that conservatives “may feel an impulse to conserve the past,” but liberals always associate the past with subordination, due the history of America being marked as such. This shows us that the author already tries to humanize the conservatives with the misunderstanding by liberals of the motivation of conserving the past.
Going hand-to-hand with purpose, Beinart’s stance is very evident as he’s strongly opposed to the practices that liberals have subjected conservatives to. This is shown throughout the article mostly trying to debunk liberal beliefs about conservatives. For instance, he pointed out that liberals defame entire groups for bigotry, then stating the example with political scientist David T. Smith stating that liberals are less likely to support a Mormon for public office because of the “Mormon church’s anti-gay-marriage initiative.” Beinart evidently illustrates his opposition towards liberals, countering their beliefs and providing evidence to prove liberals’ ironic discrimination.
The genre is that of a magazine article, the December 2017 issue of The Atlantic. This is provided in the title that says the issue of the magazine. In addition to that, this article is directed towards mostly conservatives, although liberals are also a major player of the audience. This is exemplified through the article with all the evidence against liberals and how they have abused the word “bigot” to get their way and how liberals can stop what they been doing. What this leads to is validation with conservatives and a sort-of lesson to liberals, who the author wants to reform.
The rhetorical situation of the article is the blatant stereotyping of conservatives as “racists” and the effort to bring understanding to the liberals who do the stereotyping. This is shown throughout the article and shows the political conflict that currently plagues American government. It’s a situation about racial identity and history clashing and the things needed to stop this issue.
Source 2(News Article): https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/19/why-has-the-conservative-class-become-so-dependant-on-the-politics-of-race
The article, “Why has the conservative class become so dependent on the politics of race,” is about the impact of political conservatism and race in Australia and the motive and effects that’ll bring to the political and ethical landscape in Australia, mainly negative. The purpose of this article was to try and explain the supposed purpose behind why conservatism has become a dependent on racial politics. From what is gathered in the article, one statement that solidifies the author’s purpose is “nonetheless, conservatives in their pursuit of success appear at ease with continually putting race on the agenda.” In addition to this, the stance of the author, Joumanah El Matrah, is one of anti-conservative opinion, as evidenced by the employment of language such as the following statement, “Cultural and political conservatism is doomed to the same fate if it cannot recalibrate its vision and purpose. It cannot allow its political vision to be hijacked by those committed to maintaining a decrepit social order based on the delusion of race.”
The genre of this piece is that of a newspaper article, from the company, The Guardian. In addition, the newspaper is entirely directed towards liberals, as the language used in the article clearly appeals to the liberals negative and dismissive view of conservativism. One statement even declaring that “Conservative ideology does not require racism and yet it is increasingly being viewed as part of its intellectual framework, and it’s certainly become part of its branding.” The impact of language of this is too propagate the view that conservatives are particularly open to race and are very close-minded in all matters pertaining to them.
The rhetorical situation is how the supposed more open-minded people respond to the view of the ones that have a narrow perspective of race. This article sets up the very critical tone of many liberals, with the anti-conservative rhetoric and opinion, all leading to arguments against this party of people with perspective that this ideology is inherently flawed and needs to be stopped from taking over the political landscape.
Source 3(Scholarly Source): http://go.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Journals&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=TopicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CA500323267&docType=Report&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CA500323267&topicId=00000000LVYM&searchId=&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true
The paper was an analytical study on the relationships of social disadvantage and the preterm delivery of black vs whites. The purpose of this paper was to simply inform and provide evidence of the disparity between the two races when it ultimately came down to how the babies are born, raised and other ever-lasting effect so both races across a lifetime. This is further evidenced by the statement “Our objective was to investigate the contribution of multiple individual- and residential area- level factors related to social disadvantage to the black-white disparity in preterm delivery among a large population of California births, which represent one in eight of all U.S. births.” The stance is very objective, as the paper has various forms of statistical evidence and analytical conclusion from them, as evidenced by statements such as “Gestational age was based on best obstetric estimate from birth certificates. We excluded 11,160 infants with gestational age that was missing or outside 20-41 weeks and then 15,041 with any other missing variables, leaving 756,660 births (625,778 white, 130,882 black) available for analysis, with no missing data on covariates.”
The genre is that of a research paper, revised and reviewed by several other researchers. This is evidenced by all the data and analytical language, as seen by the previous statements. The audience is directly towards those who heavily rely on research and facts, therefore a more older audience looking for the real objectivity behind the politically charged opinions of the liberals and conservatives. Which ties into the rhetorical situation, the facts behind the opinions and what it means for the collective as a whole, in this case, the objective representation of the race relation issue that has been politically charged.
Source 4(Web Source): http://politics.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-238
The piece on the relationship between race, ethnicity, and politics was written by Aida Just. The purpose of this piece is to simply state the effects that race has and have on the political landscape and how that has come to be. This is backed up by the tone of the article, reciting the history of this relationship with slavery, the American Civil War, etc. The article even has theories of such things in its language, with no politically charged ideology nor opinion. For example, this statement of “The idea that ethnic identity structures people’s political attitudes and behavior has roots in social identity theory. This theory stipulates that any group is defined in relation to other groups. In addition, the basic human need to assign order and meaning to the social environment encourages people to differentiate themselves into social groups even in situations where no real differences between groups exist (e.g., Tajfel & Turner, 1986).” Given from the purpose, the stance that the piece takes is also of objectivity, as previously mentioned the tone and professional language taking place.
The genre is that of some sort of resource, like a textbook, as this is meant to teach and inform the reader of the relationship. This is evidenced by the summary, as it states about discussing such a topic and the explanation of the topic. The audience of this piece is towards more professional, formal people, as it contains very formal and analytical language presented to the readers for them to decipher and learn from. The rhetorical situation of this piece is that of learning the history of race relations and what can be observed and learned from it.

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Words Cited
1. Beinart, Peter. “Republican Is Not a Synonym for Racist.” The Atlantic, December 2017, https://www.theatlantic.co m/magazine/archive/2017/12/conservatism-without-bigotry/544128/, Accessed 9 Oct. 2018.
2. Matrah, Joumanah El. “Why has the conservative class become so dependent on the politics of race?” The Guardian, 18 Jul. 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/19/why-has-the-conservative-class-become-so-dependant-on-the-politics-of-race, Accessed 9 Oct. 2018
3. Carmichael, Suzan L. “Social disadvantage and the black-white disparity in spontaneous preterm delivery among California birth.” Novel NY, 11 Aug. 2017, http://go.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Journals&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=TopicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CA500323267&docType=Report&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=OVIC&contentSet=GALE%7CA500323267&topicId=00000000LVYM&searchId=&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true, Accessed 9 Oct. 2018
4. Just, Aida. “Race, Ethnicity, and Political Behavior.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Jan. 2017, http://politics.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-238, Accessed 9 Oct. 2018