Shame on Trump or Shame on You?

Shame on Trump or Shame on You? There has been to this day, forty-five Presidents come into office. All of whom have signed several executive orders while being in office, but our newly President, President Trump has already taken a step no other President has taken so quickly after moving into the White House. On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that is being known as the immigration ban. Putting an indefinite ban on immigration from seven different Muslim countries including; Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. Not allowing any refugees to enter the United States for 120 days and no Syrian refugees until further notice. Some are praising President Trump for his actions, others are despising him for it, but he is the commander in chief so why not just keep your opinion to yourself? People often are getting paid to put their opinions all over the internet to persuade people to agree with their argument or simply just prove why they believe they are right. Some articles on the internet are more opinionated than others, others are more credible, some are more persuasive. There are many criterias for evaluating, say, an article online, such as the language the writer uses, the writers background, the background on the website the article has been posted on, choices of images within the article, title of article, time the article was posted, how much the writer considers both sides of the argument and if the online article has different links attached to support their claims is another way to become credible. All the criteria listed previously are ways Michael A. Cohen, a main contributor for the newspaper, The Boston Globe on national politics and foreign affairs (Cohen, 2017) makes it easy to interpret his highly opinionated but very truthful and credible article posted about his negative opinions and bias thoughts on President Trumps actions of his executive order. The first thing you evaluate when you glimpse at this article are the two things in bold and big; the title, Trumps immigration order Shame on you, Mr. President and picture, a large group of people chanting and yelling while holding up signs reading REFUGEES WELCOME and SHAME ON TRUMP. Both immediate signs indicate to the reader that the following article will be in almost every way against Trumps immigration ban. The title uses charged language, such as the words Shame on you, those words are not typical words an author uses in their title unless their feelings towards it is trying to be made very clear, and in this case, it is because this makes it known instantly that (Cohen) is upset with Trumps decisions. Cohen also distinctly chose a picture of protesting people who are against the ban to simply show that he is not alone and has many supporters when believing that the order is wrong and goes against every American way. Before you start evaluating the article itself, it is important to find out how credible the author is. Michael A. Cohen contributes to The Boston Globe newspaper but he is also an author of a book on pivotal moments in American History called American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division. He has been employed as a speechwriter at the US State Department, as well as a lecturer at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs (Cohen, 2017). Since he has previously been a lecturer at a University, he must have a degree of some sort in world affairs or anything belong to that category, also because of him being an author over a novel on American Affairs and moments in American History adds to his credibility. Therefore, Cohen must know what he is talking about when it comes to politics and national issues because of all the things he has been doing in that field all his professional career. On top of all of that, Cohen has 44.5 thousand followers o n twitter and over 81.2 thousand  tweets. He has a lot of followers so therefore meaning people listen to him and believe him in what he has to say on any kind of topic which also adds to his reputation. Michael A. Cohen is a contributor to the newspaper, The Boston Globe. The Boston Globe has been Boston, Massachusetts primary newspaper for over 100 years. The newspaper has had many different contributors for them, with most of them being experts in their fields and what they write about within the newspaper. They include all different varieties of articles from politics, to sports, to kitchen, etc. It is a larger newspaper so therefore they are aware their reputation is on the line because more people will be reading their articles which in tales that they only hire credible and trustworthy authors who make them look good in the publics eye. First off, when you read this article the first thing that strikes the reader is the word choice Cohen uses throughout the article. He uses very charged language such as fundamentally un-American, slap in the face, Shame on you, pointless and wrong (Cohen M. A., 2017), all negative references towards the immigration ban. He uses such strong language because of how strongly he feels towards Trumps decision to ban immigrants. He states many things about immigrants and how Syrian immigrants are probably the least likely to harm Americans, and the countries that include all of the refugees who have harmed Americans in terrorist attacks are not part of the ban because Trump has business relations with all of those countries but none with the seven countries he banned immigrants from, which is considered to be strange according to Cohen. Cohen calls it fundamentally un-American because it turns against all the American values and slaps the faces of millions who are familiar with the Americ an and immigrant experience. Later at the end of the article, Cohen expresses Trumps immigration order is pointless, counter-productive, and  wrong. Period. (Cohen M. A., 2017) More charged language from Cohen out of anger towards the order because of his past and family history that led him to be in America in the first place. Cohen adds an important story about his ancestors to the article to express the importance of immigrants and allowing people to make their way into this great country. He includes how his mother was born in Great Britain but came to America as a child because her parents were German Jews who escaped from Nazi Germany into the UK where they luckily were basically given a second chance by escaping Germany then eventually migrating to America unlike the rest of his grandmother and grandfathers siblings and family members at the time who were trying to migrate to a new place and had a very difficult time doing so (Cohen M. A., 2017) . He uses this personal story to appeal the readers emotions by trying to reach out to not only people who agree with him, but to people who may be uncertain on how to feel about the order. He explains how without immigration his life would not even be possible right now. His ancestors came to America, the land of the free, looking for a better life and they were able to find it and start a life, have a son (Cohen) and allow him to have a life he may not have been able to have somewhere where they started, but now that is not a guaranteed possibility anymore and it causes pain to those refugees who got that opportunity because other will not and may not. Furthermore, this article is a very biased source for more reasons than just its choice of words. The fact that Cohen does not even consider being a little bit neutral shows that it is a very biased source. Never once does Cohen mention a reasoning as to why he believes Trumps order may be okay or why other Americans may support the order. He makes very clear within his article, Shame on you, President Trump. And shame on any American who refuses to condemn this. (Cohen M. A., 2017). Instantly, he makes it clear that if you, for some reason support the immigration ban then shame on you because you must be just as un-American as Trump has been for setting the ban in the first place. He shows no empathy for those who support it because the article is completely one-sided towards being against the executive order which is a kind of article that preaches to the choir, whose message speaks to mostly people who already agree with them and whos not exactly trying to persuade anyone to think their way by being considerate to both sides, but just degrading the side against Cohens opinion in this case. To add to the previous points, to make his article more credible, Cohen adds links throughout the article to support his claims he is making. When Cohen is stating how not one Syrian refugee has committed a terrorist attack on the United States, and how you are more likely to be struck by lightning or shot by a toddler rather than a refugee, he adds a link of a chart that a European Media Director on Human rights and world conflict who has over 65.5 thousand followers on twitter, tweeted, showing the death causes of Americans annually, and it clearly showing that other Americans and unusual things are killing more Americans than any kind of immigrants coming into the United States. (Stroehlein, 2017) Also, another way Cohen does this is when he claims that the countries who have committed terrorists attacks on the U.S. but who were not banned are all in business with Trump, he adds a link to an article in the NY Daily News that shows and states each country who is a business partner of President Trumps but did in fact have a role in some sort of terrorist attack on the United States, yet still is not on the list of the immigration ban, (Sommerfeldt, 2017) which does not seem to add up the most according to Cohen. Lastly, Cohens article was released just two days after the executive order was announced to the public. Which can go either way, it could be good because the article is so relevant, time wise, to the order so therefore meaning they are not just getting things from his past and using it against him; all the news and facts are all recent and accurate about Trump. Or it could be looked at as, it has only been two days since the order and people, like Cohen, still are absorbing the ban and are just ranting things out of their emotions of anger because they (Cohen) are affected by it more than the next person so therefore wanting to do all they can to express it is wrong and how terrible of a person President Trump is for doing this, which indeed makes this a very biased source in that aspect. To put it all together, Michael A. Cohen uses many different criteria to use in his article that prove his article is very biased and one-sided but also full of information and credible facts that cannot be ignored just because he is very stern with the words he chooses to use throughout his article. He uses charged language, specific images and does not mention or show remorse for the other side of the story to get his point across that he believes what President Trump is doing is wrong but with Michaels credibility, when the article was posted and the different links he uses to back up everything he claims, you should believe that what he is stating is true even if he is not being considerate towards those who have different views as him. It may be too early for Trump to be doing all of this and maybe it is just in time. Everyone is going to have their own opinion on it, and it may not be the same as the person next to you, and that is okay as well. But just because something or so meone seems inconsiderate of all sides and is very biased does not automatically mean that the source is not credible or reliable, and this article posted in The Boston Globe by Michael A. Cohen proves a very biased source can be very credible as well. References: Cohen, M. A. (2017). Staff List. Retrieved from Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/contributors/mcohen Cohen, M. A. (2017, Janruary 29). Trumps immigration order Shame on you, Mr. President. Retrieved from The Boston Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/01/29/trump-immigration-order-shame-you-president/3WuTOdNBAOutfbzC1wIxOL/story.html Sommerfeldt, C. (2017, February 1). President Trumps Muslim ban excludes countries linked to his sprawling business empire. Retrieved from Daily News : http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-muslim-ban-excludes-countries-linked-businesses-article-1.2957956?cid=bitly Stroehlein, A. (2017, January 28). How about injecting some facts into the discussion? Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/astroehlein/status/825388473649594369 Article link: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/01/29/trump-immigration-order-shame-you-president/3WuTOdNBAOutfbzC1wIxOL/story.html