Anti-gay legislators in Kansas: You’ve been overtaken by history
Speaker - Leonard Pitts; stands up for gays and lesbians; values freedom of choice and harmony between people
Occasion - legislator Macheers sponsored bill prohibiting gay/lesbian customers from receiving a service if it went against an employee's religious beliefs
Audience - people against change towards gays/lesbians in society (using Kansas as an example); Christians
Purpose - to reveal the idea of moving towards a new society (one in which gays/lesbians are supported/accepted) to people believing in old ideals
Subject - society is moving quickly into a new era of thoughts and mindsets; people stuck in the old way of thought will be run over
Tone - irritated, disdainful, forthright, cynical
Leonard Pitts Jr. tackles a controversial topic, one that is subject to much debate, well not necessarily in his eyes. A piece of legislation recently arose in the Kansas legislation. It dealt with limiting the service for gays based on and employee's beliefs - and it passed overwhelmingly. Pitts criticizes the main sponsor of the bill, Kansas legislator Charles Macheers, primarily by calling him a hypocrite. Macheers claims that discrimination is hurtful, yet Pitts explains that his new bill is just a creative way to discriminate against people with different sexual orientations. Pitts goal in writing this piece is to imply that those who stand in the way of change in society will be washed away with a wave of new mindsets. He ridicules Macheers multiple times, as seen in: "his brazen attempt", "apparently, Jim Crow is alive and well", and "they were just dead-enders". Not only does Pitts support his purpose with ridicule, but he also uses the fact that many different groups in society are beginning to accept gay rights such as "most young conservatives", federal courts, and the most of the country. Pitts' mocking of Macheers shows a point of view that many people in society might share: those who remain in the past will be overrun and surprised by the "freight train of change". The value of this position is huge because it alerts those with the same mindset as Macheers that they will have great difficulty reverting back to the now old way of life of not accepting gay rights.
Speaker - Leonard Pitts; stands up for gays and lesbians; values freedom of choice and harmony between people
Occasion - legislator Macheers sponsored bill prohibiting gay/lesbian customers from receiving a service if it went against an employee's religious beliefs
Audience - people against change towards gays/lesbians in society (using Kansas as an example); Christians
Purpose - to reveal the idea of moving towards a new society (one in which gays/lesbians are supported/accepted) to people believing in old ideals
Subject - society is moving quickly into a new era of thoughts and mindsets; people stuck in the old way of thought will be run over
Tone - irritated, disdainful, forthright, cynical
Leonard Pitts Jr. tackles a controversial topic, one that is subject to much debate, well not necessarily in his eyes. A piece of legislation recently arose in the Kansas legislation. It dealt with limiting the service for gays based on and employee's beliefs - and it passed overwhelmingly. Pitts criticizes the main sponsor of the bill, Kansas legislator Charles Macheers, primarily by calling him a hypocrite. Macheers claims that discrimination is hurtful, yet Pitts explains that his new bill is just a creative way to discriminate against people with different sexual orientations. Pitts goal in writing this piece is to imply that those who stand in the way of change in society will be washed away with a wave of new mindsets. He ridicules Macheers multiple times, as seen in: "his brazen attempt", "apparently, Jim Crow is alive and well", and "they were just dead-enders". Not only does Pitts support his purpose with ridicule, but he also uses the fact that many different groups in society are beginning to accept gay rights such as "most young conservatives", federal courts, and the most of the country. Pitts' mocking of Macheers shows a point of view that many people in society might share: those who remain in the past will be overrun and surprised by the "freight train of change". The value of this position is huge because it alerts those with the same mindset as Macheers that they will have great difficulty reverting back to the now old way of life of not accepting gay rights.