Fly on the Wal

“Fly on the Wal” by Charles Platt, New York Post 2.7.09

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02072009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/fly_on_the_wal_154007.htm?page=0

At first, I thought Charles Platt’s “Fly on the Wal” was another piece of his fiction writing. Then, I thought it was possibly a brilliantly conceived satire. Unfortunately, it is none of these things.

The piece is about Platt going undercover as a worker at Wal-Mart only to discover that working there is the best thing that has ever happened to him. In reality, it is a shameless advertorial.

Controversial view of Wal-Mart aside, the writing is sophomoric at best. The article is a stream-of-consciousness rant filled with clichés, poor word choice, contradictions, and lies.

I know many people who have worked at Wal-mart. The summer-before-last I applied at Wal-Mart. None of my personal experience or experience of my peers re-enforces what Platt claims. There is no diabolically ingenious quiz, the store does not run as a Timex watch, not once have I ever been greeted by anyone pope-esque.

The main question I’m left with after reading this piece, and I’ve read it multiple times, is how much Wal-Mart paid Mr. Platt and the Post for this story?

Now that would be a Wal-Mart story worth reading.

-Allen Reed

Op-Ed Group Project

The project will chronicle two poorly constructed op-eds and use specific examples to highlight how not to write.

Fly on the Wal
The Kindle Swindle?

By Allen Reed and Kaycee Toller

The Millennial Generational Test

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rodriguez2-2009mar02,0,199145.column

Hyper-idividualism at its finest is what Gregory Rodriguez calls the Millennial generation. He paints a vivid picture of who we are and contrasts our generational test, surviving the current economic conditions, with that of the Greatest Generation, baby boomers and generation Y. I enjoyed his descriptive language that pokes fun at the "me-first" mentality of "the most educated and technologically savvy generation ever." What I really liked about this piece though is the research that he did to support his idea that yes, we will survive. He interviewed and included quotes from actual Millennials looking for jobs and included statistics and comments from specialists. He nicely balanced everything out with a sprinkling of his own opinion, which I think is crucial to this kind of writing.

The Kindle Swindle?

This piece is from the New York times and was published on February 24. In it, the president of the Authors Guild makes the argument that Amazon's latest e-book portable device, Kindle 2 infringes upon audio book rights with its text-to-speech capability. The writer injects some good information about advancements in computerized voice technology and seems to be very familiar with the Kindle 2 features.
What was lacking in this op-edwas a convincing comparison between authentic audio books and the voice of the Kindle. The writer also failed to provide supporting facts that suggest the flourishing audio book industry has taking any hits as a result of this kind of technology. What I did take away from this piece was the message that writers need to be aware of their rights in a time when their ideas are so accesible and can be transmitted so easily.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/opinion/25blount.html

Revenge of the Glut

This Op-Ed piece by Paul Krugman appeared in The New York Times on March 1st and deals with the origins of the global debt crisis. I liked this column because it is from a reliable and trusted source who’s very fluent in economics (Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in October), but who can still write about the subject in a way that people who are not familiar with economics can understand.

In the column Krugman states that when Asian countries stopped importing capital after their financial crisis of 1997-98 and began protecting themselves by exporting capital, the world was “awash in cheap money,” looking for somewhere to go, with a lot of it going to the United States and European countries.

The inrush of capital created the illusion of wealth in small European countries, such as Estonia, Ireland and Iceland, just as it did for homeowners in the U.S. This created the bubble that would, at some point, have to burst.

Krugman is honest about not yet knowing exactly how we are going to get out of this financial crisis, but his account of how it began and still unfolds is interesting and informative.

Back Online by 2010

This op-ed column is by Eric Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of Google, and it is from March 1 in the New York Times. It discusses our economic crisis. Rather than a dark, gloomy piece about stocks continuing to plummet and how there is no end in sight, he has a rather positive spin on the situation, which you don't see very often. Schmidt says he expects to see growth by the end of the year and thinks investors will start to take advantage of bargain stocks. He also says the Internet will play a key roll, since it allows small businesses to compete on a more level playing field with large corporations. It is well-written and his positive outlook is refreshing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/opinion/01schmidt.html

Op-Ed: Gay Marriage on Trial

Gay marriage on trial

The next round in California's long fight over same-sex unions takes place before the state Supreme Court. And controversial Prop. 8 is just the beginning of the argument.

By Nicholas Goldberg
March 1, 2009
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg1-2009mar01,0,2867679.story

This Op-Ed piece from the LA Times talks about the recent struggles over gay marriage issues in California. It breaks down the issues and then explains beyond the issue itself and goes into what will happen in the oral arguments the Supreme Court is about to hold this Thursday taking on Proposition 8.

What I really like about this piece is that the writer knows what he is talking about and backs all of his opinion up by a ridiculous amount of facts. He also outlines the issues thoroughly and answers questions most people have about the gay marriage issue with what he knows and what he thinks. This piece is very smart, very well-written and extremely thorough. Read this article if you are curious about the gay marriage debate and want some behind-the-scenes information about it.

Op-ed: One ride forward, two steps back

I don't have any kids, but this op-ed piece from the New York Times seemed to0 interesting to pass up. The article explores the possibility of forward-facing strollers as a factor in language development problems in children.
I liked how the article mentions some evidence that backs up this claim, but does not say that children who ride in forward-facing strollers will absolutely have slower language development. The article merely suggests that rear-facing strollers encourage parents to interact with their children more, which can help a child's linguistic development.
I also liked how the article provided possible solutions to the perceived problem, such as parents talking to their children regularly and stroller companies coming up with affordable strollers that take child development into account.
I think the best part of this op-ed is that it included numbers and data, and still managed to keep my interest. I know I sound like a twelve-year-old, but I tend to stop reading an article if it has too many numbers.

Op-ed: Cowherd: Looking at life through the prism of Facebook

This op-ed column, published on March 2 in the Austin American Statesman, was about a columnist who recently joined Facebook.

Kevin Cowherd, columnist for the Baltimore Sun, spoke of how the social networking site is a new way to waste time.

I liked how he made the column personal by talking about his experience on Facebook and that of his children. Some of the remarks he made were funny too. However, one thing that might have improved the column is statistical data. Maybe he could have included statistics regarding the age range of Facebook users, or the amount of people on Facebook in one hour. In all, it was a good slice of life column.

Just incase the above link doesn't work, the Web address is below.
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/03/02/0302cowherd_edit.html

Op-Ed: Big Mother is watching

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-klein2-2009mar02,0,2898685.story

This op-ed by Karin Klein from the Los Angeles Times is over the issue of a kid's privacy. Usually you hear that kids should have no privacy, but Klein gives an opposite opinion. She states that although she enjoys having the option of checking up on her kids, even checking up on what they're spending their lunch money on, she would rather have them have their childish worries and learn from their own mistakes.

I thought this was very well written. She developed her opinion very well and made you see another side of the privacy argument from a parent's viewpoint.