Issue 4 示范

tesolchina_RAUID: 3675555

Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.  

With the development of modern mass media, scandals are almost ubiquitous.  Hardly can a day go by without some news reporting scandals involving high-profiles politicians, athletes or movie stars.  While it is true that scandals often attract public attention and may expose certain problems, I do not believe that they are useful in solving social problems as they often focus public attention on the wrong issues and can hardly maintain public attention for a sufficiently long time. After elaborating these two points, I will also address the argument that scandals can usefully create pressure for the government to introduce reforms.  


To begin with, the attention from the public after a scandal does not necessarily focus on the right issue. Take the Clinton scandal and impeachment for example.  With the release of Starr report, the Clinton scandal has attracted the national and even international media attention. But the majority of American people seem to find it more interesting to talk about whether or not President Clinton had sex with Monica Lewinsky. They would even get into the debate over whether oral sex would count as sex. But the real issue that should capture public attention is whether or not the President had lied and still deserved the trust of American people. With the media always interested in reporting sensational news, the Clinton scandal failed to focus public attention on the right issue and therefore was not very useful for the development of American politics.


In addition, when a scandal is involved in powerful corporation, a professional public relations team will very quickly take actions to address the crisis and divert the public attention from the right issues. The oil giant BP, for example, was responsible for the oil rig explosion in 2013 and subsequent oil spill in the gulf of Mexico. During the scandal of this ecological disaster, BP hired a sophisticated PR team to launch a massive campaign to paint themselves as victims of tort law suits and shift media attention from the aftermath of the oil spill.  The large corporations like BP has the large amount of financial resources at their disposal to manipulate the media and the public opinions when necessary. As the public is often forgetful while overwhelmed by the news and scandals, it is fairly easy for them to get away from such scandals.  In other words, one cannot really rely on scandals to solve problems involving big corporations.


Some people may argue that scandals are still useful in creating pressure to push the government to reform. For example, after the scandal of Sun Zhigang, a Chinese university graduate who was tortured and killed in Guangzhou Center for the Homeless, Chinese government has abolished the institution of arresting the homeless in the large cities.  While this case leads to some desirable outcome, it is doubtful that we should count on scandals like this to reform a nation’s legal and social infrastructure. To fix the numerous problems in a modern society, the best solution is to educate the people about their rights so people can speak up against injustice when their rights are violated. We cannot just overlook the injustice in our daily life and wait for scandals to fix the problems in our society.  


In conclusion, while I acknowledge that certain scandals may eventually lead to some progress in our society, most scandals are not very useful in reforming the society as the public often focus their attention on the wrong issues and the powerful corporations can easily divert public attention through their public relations campaigns.  To achieve real progress in social development, we need better education to increase people’s awareness of their rights and their sense of justice.



issue范文与提纲目录(tesolchina)
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麦小粥UID: 3463784

感谢分享！！！

yorkyanUID: 3835290

王老师，今天在改小伙伴的作业时，发现一个可能的问题。
范文的第一段中：
I do not believe that they are useful in solving social problems as they often focus public attention on the wrong issues and can hardly maintain public attention for a sufficiently long time.
在从句中，I do not believe that…and …，我觉得两个部分中的内容应该都是不相信的。按照句意，在句中的第二部分是否应该删除hardly，意思是"不相信... and 可以长时间保持"。