The Minimum Drinking Age Debate

http://primofe1.byu.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?ct=display&doc=RS_61040632882008eminimumdrinkingagedebate&indx=1&fromLogin=true&indx=1&fn=search&tab=remote&vl(freeText0)=lowering%20the%20drinking%20age&mode=Basic&scp.scps=000000200&vid=byu-cl
The minimum drinking age debate By Nancy P. Barnett, Ph.D
Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies

Argument

What are the consequences of lowering the drinking age on alcohol related harm?
Claim: Lowering the drinking age will lead to more fatalities.
Reason: Because lowering the drinking age will increase drunk driving.
Implicit Assumption: Whatever increases drunk driving will lead to more fatalities.

Audience

The article is in a newsletter at Brown University. So the audience is likely students who are interested law, drug addiction, and the effects of alcohol on society as a whole. It's definitely written to an educated audience who has some sort of interest in the matter. It doesn't have a catchy title like a newspaper tabloid, so I doubt the average Joe would be immediately drawn to its contents.

Goal

The article is subtly trying to convince the reader that lowering the drinking age is a bad idea, as it will lead to more deaths. At the same time it informs the reader, giving credibility to both sides, and allowing the reader to form an educated opinion on the matter.

How

The primary appeal is to Ethos and Logos. It doesn't attempt to sway the audience with emotion. Rather it presents the facts, adding credibility to the argument. The statistics she shares are from reliable sources and clearly support her argument. By presenting facts from both sides it makes the argument seem just. It concedes that there is opposition and even displays several counterarguments. In fact the opinion of the author isn't clear until the final paragraph. Once the author, Nancy Barnett, shared her opinion she immediately backed it up with Logos. She said, "there is no evidence that lowering the drinking age would result in less alcohol related harm... In fact there is considerable damage that it might lead to greater damage..." In two simple sentences she denies that the counterarguments have any validity and confirms the truth of her own assertion.

Effective

Even though the opinion is very understated it is convincing to the audience. A more educated population would not respond well to emotional pleas of why 18 year olds shouldn't drink alcohol. However when presented with evidence, allowed to think on their and given a simple opinion, I think the majority will