Everything’s an Argument??? January 23, 2008

Upon reading the title of our course’s main book, Everything’s An Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, I was a tad more than skeptical at the meaning behind such a bold claim.  Everything’s an argument, really?  It seemed a bit cynical to me, and for a statement that encompassed such a vast array of possibilities, it seemed hardly feasible as well.  But every allegation deserves to be heard out, so I resolved to reserve judement until class when we discussed the first few chapters and I would have the input of others to take into account. 

As it turns out, my interpretation of the word “argument” is completely different from what Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz define the word as.  Whereas ”argument” to me holds negative connotations, bringing to mind images of disagreements, bickering, opposing viewpoints, etc., the book’s two authors see it not only as a means of dispute, but a way of simply informing another of facts.  This extends out in numerous ways, from arguments that are meant to explore and make decisions, to ones that are meant for meditation/praying or convincing another of some point.  Instead of our gut reaction to what we typically consider “arguments,” Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz offer the concept of “persuasion” where we take action on our convictions, or what we know to be true.

In looking at arguments in this sense, I am now totally aware of how everything could be considered such…everything in some way is informing another individual of something.  Such day-to-day conversations we hold or observe to signs posted, in one way or another, are conveying some form of a message to their audience.  I was shocked in fact by how frequently arguments surround us after our class discussion of food labels and the comedy routine about Hot Pockets, all of which employ stylistic methods such as pathos, ethos, and logos that we learned back in middle school. 

However, despite the book’s persistance that everything is indeed an argument, I still hold a few doubts about certain situations.  After seeing the “hurricane shelter ahead” sign in the text and marvelling at the reach this symbol seemed to be making at being deemed an “argument,” I began to question other forms of messages as well.  In particular I focused on visual representations, for the lack of dialogue directly correlates to our initial assumption as to what an argument is, and thus lends to our confusion.  For example, are photographs truly arguments? If I take a snapshot of my friend sitting on a bench, are we really going to go as far as to state that this is intentionally informing of us something? Perhaps that her smiling face is depicting her happiness, her posture indicates her relaxed nature, the bench relates her location? In a way, it all seems a tad over analytical for such a simple concept.  Maybe there is indeed more than meets the eye to this whole idea that “everything’s an argument…”