CHAPTER 4: THE POWER OF CONTEXT Joey Luke Diego Dakota Presented by:

POWER OF CONTEXT The power of context is best explained, by saying that an action carried out by another, in a certain situation can prove to be powerful, while on the other hand in other situations that same action can be near useless or non-relevant.

THE GOETZ CASE-DISAGREE On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz was on a subway train in New York, New York, and was seated next to 4 black kids when one of them approached and demanded $5 whole dollars. Goetz then proceded to pull out.38 mm, 5 shot hand gun and shot, all 4 kids. Later recognized as a hero.

 “The Goetz case has become a symbol of a particular, dark moment in New York City history, the moment when the city’s crime problem reached epidemic proportions.”(Gladwell 135)  This argument is illogical, Gladwell uses the slippery slope rhetorical argument by completely blowing the case out of proportion.

The Zimmerman-Martin Case is much like the Goetz Case, in the sense that it was a large Scale news story and then eventually everyone forgot about it. Gladwell played the Goetz case like it made everyone that lived in New York open their eyes to something that had been problematic for a while, but in reality did very little, and almost 20 years later cases like Goetz & Zimmerman continue to happen.

IF YOU WE'RE BEING MUGGED WHAT WOULD YOU DO ? WHY ?

THE BROKEN WINDOWS THEORY- AGREE  The broken windows theory is a concept brought up by criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. The idea is that if something is broken and left unrepaired, it makes others think that it’s ok to break more things.

 “Something else clearly played a role in reversing New York’s crime epidemic. The most intriguing candidate for that ‘something else’ is called the Broken Windows theory.”(Gladwell 141)  Gladwell uses logic in these statements by inserting the broken windows theory into why New York’s crime problem continued to decline.

A near perfect example of the broken windows theory is Detroit, Michigan. Since they did not enforce this, the city continued to diminish from the great place it once was. July 18 of this year, the city filed for bankruptcy, hoping to start anew.

IF THE COMMUNITY YOU ARE LIVING IN WAS BEING CLEANED UP, HOW DO YOU THINK THE ATTITUDES OF THOSE AROUND YOU WOULD CHANGE? WHY?

HUMAN INSTINCT-AGREE Psychologists believe that we act the way we do because of our genetics, or what makes you the person that you are. Thus, influencing the power of context to amplify and the actions that take place to mean more than in other situations.

 “…there are certain times and places and conditions when much of that can be swept away, that there are instances where you can take normal people from good schools and happy families and good neighborhoods and powerfully affect their behavior merely by changing the immediate details of their situation.”(Gladwell 155)  Logic is used to describe that if you take a good kid and put him in a bad situation it may change his behavior from good to bad.

 Money and fame changes everyone’s attitudes. Two perfect examples of that are: Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. Both started off as typical pop stars that little kids look up to, but once fame and money got in the way of that it put the 2 in situations they weren’t used to. Justin Bieber was recently accused of getting in a fight outside of a NYC nightclub and could face deportation if found guilty of assault or battery. Miley Cyrus has strayed from her Disney roll model status and took to twerking, setting great examples for all the little children out there.

IF YOU WERE PUT IN A SITUATION THAT YOU WEREN’T USED TO BEING IN, WOULD IT CHANGE WHO YOU ARE AS A PERSON? WHY? WHY NOT?

PROMPT QUESTION: What is your perfect example where the power of context was crucial to how things went down? Why?

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