Analysis Of Offensive Play By Malcolm Gladwell

678 Words3 Pages

In the article titled "Offensive Play" published in 2009 by the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell argues that NFL players, in particular linemen, and dogfighting resemble due to the amount of violence that has been done to their bodies and the long-term effects they acquired from the amount of violence. However, this analogy that Gladwell presents throughout the article that can be viewed as a false dichotomy. Gladwell deftly manipulates his audience into believing in the analogy by the end of the article, but the truth is that the analogy is far off because of player have an option of choice.
Gladwell makes this analogy hard to follow throughout the article because of spiraling transitions between subject focus. The article started with a long …show more content…

With those two strategies Gladwell increased his credibility as an author because of the personal narrative of the players that connects with the audiences, and the research reports that Ann McKee, who runs neuropathology laboratory at a hospital, Bennet Omalu, neuropathologist and Kevin Guskiewicz, Sports Concussion Researcher, provide that supports the claim that Gladwell is trying to make with his argument. Throughout the article, there were lengthy paragraphs focused on the narrative stories and as well as the doctors report However, Gladwell does use those two strategies when talking about dogfighting, but the length talked about dogfight is small that the reader forgets the analogy. Dogfighting is mention in the article at the being of the article with Michael Vick scandal and exert from the "The Social Milieu of Dogmen and Dogfights," article from a journal titled Deviant Behavior and doesn't refer back to dogfighting until the end of the article with the Michael Vick scandal and the Best Friends Animal …show more content…

Gladwell highlights Kyle Turley eagerness to get back to practice after so many injuries. However, the psychological state of mind that a player is different from what a dog has when it comes to a matter of choice. "[I]s no more than a dog's "desire to please an owner at any expense to itself," that argument that Carl Semencic makes in "The World of Fighting Dogs"(1984). A dog has no choice in either it fights or not because it is trained on loyalty to please its owner at in cost, whereas a player has a choice of where his loyalty is directed to. In conclusion, player choices push his body is a matter of choice, whereas a dog pushes his or her bodies to please his owner because the bond of loyalty

Open Document