Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Healthcare Is About Bodies And Ourselves'

Philip J. Hefner’s Opinion Editorial Bill Maher once described the healthcare reform for a universal healthcare system as being “the opposite of the free market.” In 2009, Philip J. Hefner wrote an opinion editorial entitled “Healthcare is About Bodies and Ourselves”. He states that there should be a universal healthcare system and that all countries in the world should participate in it, including the United States. He then goes on to state the five themes of prominent and frequently told stories in the mass media and in marketing campaigns. Hefner’s use of various rhetorical devices including listing, annotating, repetition, and his lack of credentials make his argument for a reform in the health care system in the United States weak. Hefner uses listing in his opinion editorial. In the third paragraph he starts to list basic themes along with examples of stories that are frequently broadcast in the mass media. An example of this is “(1) Every possible technological advance should be brought to bear in health care… Scanning technologies for example, are very sophisticated technological procedures, driven by …show more content…
Throughout the list that he makes in his third paragraph, Hefner inserts websites to back up his information for numerous examples. In his first point of his list, he inserts “See, for example, the web site of a leading manufacturer of health care technology, GE- http://gehealthcare.com/usen/ct/products/ebt.html.” Hefner also inserts another annotation in with his second point when he states, “These scans have given rise to large, lucrative business enterprises that are redefining the term ‘preventative medicine’- check the web site http://heartcheckamerica.com/p_m.htm.” This device is meant to strengthen Hefner’s credibility by proving his information to be correct. It is also meant to provide additional background information to the reader if they are