Rhetorical Analysis Of Op-Ed Don T Blame The Eater

Personal Responsibility In David Zinczenko’s op-ed Don’t Blame the Eater (2002), the author asserts that the widespread cases of childhood obesity in not the fault of the individuals, but merely a symptom of lack of available information on nutrition, paired with a limited number of financially viable options for people to eat. Zinczenko supports his assertion with anecdotes about his personal struggle to overcome childhood obesity, as well as examples of the difficulty of calculating true calorie content of fast food. His purpose is to provide persuasive commentary on America’s growing obesity in defence of the consumer. The author uses an earnest tone in an attempt to create an empathic link with the reader early the op-ed, in order to utilize a more critical tone in his discussion of the fast food industry. …show more content…
A short walk over to McDonald's reveals an assortment of food ranging from fruit parfaits to Big Macs, all costing between one and six dollars in price. If I were to buy a Bacon ClubHouse Burger, it would run me around six dollars. That burger contains 740 calories (37% of federally recommended levels), 46 grams of fat (64% of recommended levels), and 1480 milligrams of salt (62% of recommended levels). Pair that with a large soda and my bill runs about eight dollars. For the same amount of money I could walk over to Haggens and buy a pound of salmon, a bag of grapes, and pound of apples. And yet, I like so many others will chose McDonalds every time. But more importantly, it is just that. A