Final Essay Analysis (Part II: Finding Sources and Building an Argument)

Continuing the process of writing an essay for the final assignment of my technology and culture in America class, the next step was to decide on a position for my argument. Basically, I could either argue that Giles Slade was correct in his book Made to Break and that we are moving toward a disposable society, or that he is incorrect and that society is moving away from disposability by “going green”. After thinking about it for a bit and looking at some possible online sources, I decided to agree with Giles Slade and argue that our society is becoming disposable. Before I even started looking at sources, I had already decided most likely that I would go with this argument, but reading extra information from outside sources really made me positive that this was the position I wanted to take.

After roughly deciding the position I wanted to take in this essay, finding sources was the next step. Finding sources and seeing the general attitude of sources from both positions was what I used to either prove to myself that this was the position I wanted to take or that I should go with the counter-argument. Although Made to Break by Giles Slade was my primary sources, find some outside sources was not very difficult at all, being that this whole “green” movement is getting bigger and more advertised every day. After reading through sources, I found it quite interesting that most of the sources promoting the “green” and talking about things like global warming really weren’t scientific at all. All of the information I found from actual scientists and experts in their fields basically said the opposite and greatly supported the argument that our society is becoming disposable. Most of the scientific sources even denied the effectiveness of many of the products promoted as “green” movement and even stated they were harmful to the environment. To me, this really confirmed that I should argue in favor of Giles Slade. Also, this really proved to me how strong an influence the media and advertisers have on society. American culture is definitely an impatient one, and other than helping me to confirm which argument I wanted to take, these sources really showed me that more often than not people would rather believe media hype than do research themselves to prove whether something is true or not.