Bias In The News - ARTICLE ANALYSIS

breitbart.com

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2018/11/17/university-of-houston-clear-lake-toxic-masculinity-is-ruining-society/

University of Houston-Clear Lake: ‘Toxic Masculinity’ Is Ruining Society

Tom Ciccotta

17 Nov 2018

Keystone/Getty Images

The University of Houston-Clear Lake is blaming “toxic masculinity” for a variety of social issues.

According to a report from Campus Reform, the University of Houston-Clear Lake is playing a documentary called The Mask You Live In about the effect of “toxic masculinity” on society. For the uninitiated, “toxic masculinity” refers to the belief that Western men have been conditioned into a set of beliefs about acceptable expressions of masculinity. Proponents argue that failure to “be a man” causes men to crumble and lash out at others, particularly women.

The film argues that “toxic masculinity” is the reason why boys are more likely than girls to commit suicide, crime, and fail out of school. It’s an irresponsible reduction of the complex issues that young men face. Of course it is an issue that some men are conditioned to feel that they can’t be sensitive. Or that they can’t engage in more feminine activities and expressions. However, it is a wild assumption to connect this to all of this issues that men face.

In a statement, the university’s diversity administrators said that the diversity will help students think critically about gender.  “UHCL’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion hosts numerous programs and activities on challenging topics including the evolving perceptions of masculinity,” the school official said. “By considering different points of view, students gain the skills necessary to become better leaders and critical thinkers.”

Students at the university said that they weren’t surprised that the university decided to screen such a partisan film in an environment where no expert would offer a counter perspective to its outlandish claims.

“I’m not surprised at all that the university sponsored this event,” one student said. “A majority of the student programming at UHCL is based around social justice and equality. The discussion moderators did make an effort to promote positive, healthy masculinity, but I’m not sure if our short 20-minute discussion did much to neutralize over an hour’s worth of propaganda.”

PURPOSE: To criticize the decision of a University to screen a film depicting ideas concerning “toxic-masculinity” and in doing so, make the entire concept as a whole appear outlandish.

DEVICES:

Pronouns - Us vs. Them - The author makes a clear distinction between the “outlandish” administration team and the, sane in comparison, student body. By alienating the administration staff that made the decision to incorporate such ideas into the lesson plan, the author is instilling a sense of mob mentality into the reader by urging them to side with the thoughtful criticism of the much larger group: the student body.

Ethos- The author provides quotes from students who were subject to the ideas produced by the film on “toxic-masculinity” in order to make the reader feel as though all perspectives have been considered and, in turn, that the news source can be trusted. In addition, by providing the reader with a quote that still manages to subscribe to the ideas of the author, the opinions expressed in the article now appear to be held by many, not just by the author.

Logos- The author provides a wide variety of statistics associated with men in order to demonstrate the wide range of problems that men are often said to face. “The film argues that “toxic masculinity” is the reason why boys are more likely than girls to commit suicide, crime, and fail out of school”. In doing so, the author deems the film’s entire argument as unreasonable and illogical as it is seemingly impossible for one problem to be the cause of such a wide variety of issues.

Bias through Photos- The photo displayed at the beginning of the article demonstrates an extreme example of the ideas expressed in the author’s definition of toxic-masculinity. “‘Toxic masculinity’ refers to the belief that Western men have been conditioned into a set of beliefs about acceptable expressions of masculinity”. By depicting the western cowboy (an archetype associated with the past), the author mocks the idea of “toxic-masculinity” by taking it out of context and placing it in the framework of a joke.

Bias through Word Choice- The author uses words such as “outlandish” and “assumption” sporadically throughout the article. In doing so, the reader who may be inclined to sympathize with the opposing perspective is made to feel as though he himself is “outlandish” and prone to make “assumption”s.

Bias of the Source - The author is himself a man and therefore is more likely to perceive the concept of “toxic masculinity” in a negative manner and, in turn, may feel the need to defend himself and his manhood.