Analyzing Monica Potts 'Essay' What's Killing Poor White Women

Education is important, but is it the key to living a long life? In the article “What’s Killing Poor White Women?” American Prospect writer Monica Potts, tells a story about an uneducated white woman, Crystal Wilson who sadly passes away at the young age of thirty-eight. Potts argues that a lack of education exclusively among white women ultimately results in a shorter life expectancy. The author includes research, rhetorical devices, and fallacies to support her argument, but unfortunately fails at convincing us of her argument. Her use of research is persuasive; however, her rhetorical devices and fallacies take away from her main points. The author begins the article telling Crystal Wilson’s unfortunate story in reverse chronological order; attempting to grasp the reader’s emotions immediately. She begins explaining the

When the author was discussing jobs and how working gives women a “sense of purpose,” she includes the statement that, “women who are already unhealthy are less likely to work, so are more likely to die” (599). This quote is one of the ways the author uses the post hoc fallacy. This is saying that just because a woman does not work, the automatic result is her death. This is an extreme illogical relation to events, and is obviously incorrect. In addition, at the end of the article, when Megan, Crystal’s daughter is trying to put her life back together, the author adds, “finishing college would give her the best chance to escape her mother’s fate” (608). While this could have some truth, Megan just like Crystal, has family history of short life expectancies and simply going to college is not going to fix that. This is an example of the use of the over simplification fallacy in the author’s argument. Potts’ use of the post hoc fallacy and the over simplification fallacy overall took away from her argument, and did not lead to