Paintball: Promoter Of Violence?

Student, Ross Taylor, author of “Paintball: Promoter of violence or healthy fun?” writes for all ages about the game of paintball. He claims that paintball could be a fun and healthy and not a violent game. His audience for this passage is people who haven’t played paintball but, could also be for those who have played. Taylor produces a well put passage using common ground, psychic space, ethos, pathos, and logos to show how paintball is a fun, healthy sport.

Throughout Taylor’s writing, there is very little common ground or psychic space found. If the reader has played paintball before then, common ground is expressed through shared experiences in paragraph one. This is where he shares his stories of playing paintball and, how fun it was

Cause and effect, compare and contrast, definition, example, and statistics are all used to show logos within the essay. Compare and contrast is what seem to be found in this passage the most. The title itself is comparing paintball to violence and then also healthy fun. One of the biggest comparisons is at the end of paragraph eight when Taylor is talking about people comparing paintball players to killing. When in yet the paintball players weren’t the one killing people it was actually the bowling players. The game of paintball is also compared and contrasted to many other sports within this article. In paragraph three it compares paintball to the game of capture the flag because in both game you are on teams and try not to get tagged or shot. Paragraph nine by saying “they want to celebrate together as a team, just as softball and soccer” because paintball just like any other team wants to be there for each other after games. Definition was harder to find, but the two that stuck out were in paragraph two, four, and three. Paragraph three explains the game of capture the flag while paragraph two and four tell about paintball. Taylor uses quotes such as “Paintball is a fun, athletic, mentally challenging recreational activity” (para 2) and "The activity of paintball is athletically challenging” (para 4) to explain that paintball can be a healthy activity while having fun. The quote in paragraph four also provides an example of cause and effect towards paintball. If it is “athletically challenging” (para 4) that means you more than likely get a workout with it hereby shows how it is healthy fun. Statistics are located in paragraph seven stating that “85 percent of those injuries (eye injuries) weren’t wearing the required safety goggles” which leads us to cause and effect. In result of not wearing protective gear you can end up hurt thereby, making paintball