How is it that American citizens have supported, and even allowed the passing of, legislature that ignores the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution? The Patriot Act, originally passed in October 2001, is one of the most controversial topics regarding American citizens’ privacy and security. The Patriot Act has elevated the investigatory power of our nation’s government to a record high. While this legislation directly contradicts the fourth amendment, it has saved many lives.

Arthur Schopenhauer, the eminent German philosopher, once stated, “One should use common words to say uncommon things.” Schopenhauer is describing how communication works best: when it takes place in a medium that both people can understand. The global trend towards the adoption of a single language is pervasive on both the national and international levels and has occurred in tandem with economic development and the political consolidation of unified nation-states.

Audience Analysis

America became known for foreign aid projects directly after World War II. These projects were meant to rebuild the economies of foreign nations that had collapsed after the war, in an effort to strengthen them against the influence of communism (Shleifer 381). While legislation such as the Marshall Plan, which aided the recovery of Europe after World War II, was heralded as a great success, present day foreign aid is widely denounced as a failure “among those who look at the data” (Shleifer 380). The truth is, much of this criticism is warranted.

When it comes to the topic of sustainable energy, experts will readily agree that it is a pertinent discussion in today’s climate crisis. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is in the question of how it should be funded and paid for. While some are convinced that private industry should lead the way, others maintain that the government should have a part in developing new cleaner forms of energy.  The ongoing debate over funding for sustainable engineering practices and emission reductions is in constant turmoil.

The United States of America has always been seen as a safe haven of opportunity. For this reason, many immigrants flock to this country in search for new beginnings and better lives. With this belief, when I was two, my family moved to the U.S. from India. My parents were the first of their generation to immigrate to America. Thus, they faced immense pressure getting accustomed to the new land.

The Egyptian protest movement of January 2011 has been called a “Facebook Revolt” (Giglio 1) and “A multi-media uprising” (Aljazeera).  Almost every day, news media churned out articles describing the influence of Facebook and Twitter on the protests.  “Since the rise of the Internet in the early 1990’s, the world’s networked population has grown from the low millions to the low billions” (Shirky 13).

Dot. Dot. Dot. My classmate’s examination paper was scattered on her desk, pencil tapping on a barren sheet.  Glancing up briefly from my work, I managed to catch her staring out of the classroom window, pencil revolving absentmindedly around her fingers. Briefly bemused, I suppressed the smirk that had spread across my face and returned my focus to the exam. Even as I continued my own essay, I could imagine her conjuring up numerous beginnings in an instant and discarding them in half the time.  Impatient rapping of graphite on desk alerts me to the onset of writer’s block.

Under the claxon call of the school-ending bell, my hand finally gave way. A long graphite streak was cut into the illegible gibberish of my English essay. As the rest of my fellow freshmen filed out to freedom, I remained behind to nurse my wounds. The problem lay not with the prompt, but with my palms. Even a writer with sublime rhetoric can be thwarted by the mutiny of peripheral neuropathy.

Audience Analysis