Working Heroes In Disguise
Steve Olson defends the Blue-Collar Guy in his written work Year of The Blue-Collar Guy. He uses pathos, repetition, imagery and many other rhetorical strategies to bring his point across to the readers.While not as serious or scientific as other writers, Olson sheds light on the common conventional image of the BGC, or blue-collar guy. Olsen starts off his essay with an easy to spot fallacy. His writing is full of stereotypes, both on the BCG and the white-collar men. One major stereotype he brings up is, “ BCG’s have been portrayed as beer-drinking, big-bellied, bigoted rednecks who dress badly.” ( Olson 1 ). Olson goes on to justify these descriptive adjectives. Men of the blue collar professions cannot wear suits and ties to work, it is a safety hazard. On the same point, the work these men do make them large and give them literal rednecks. Olsen also mentions the, “ . . . narrow-shoulders, wide-hipped lawyers . . .” ( Olson 1 ). Obviously, he did not justify or defend this particular stereotype because that would defeat the purpose of his writing. One thing Olson writes is an allness fallacy as well as a stereotype. “ An ever widening butt. . .” ( Olson 1 ). He is using humor to put down the white collars and group them together as lazy office workers. While he uses stereotypes often, they are always …show more content…
Olson is trying to show those who would have time to read essays like his, aka the white collar men, that the blue collar men are people to be appreciated. They do “ . . . things the old fashioned way, and we have earned that honor.” ( Olson 2 ). Here the author is telling the reader that though the work is manual and hard, that doesn 't take away its need to be respected and noticed. Olson uses humor to get most of his points across but it is clear that he is directing this essay towards those who have the stereotypes in their
Steve Olson defends the Blue-Collar Guy in his written work Year of The Blue-Collar Guy. He uses pathos, repetition, imagery and many other rhetorical strategies to bring his point across to the readers.While not as serious or scientific as other writers, Olson sheds light on the common conventional image of the BGC, or blue-collar guy. Olsen starts off his essay with an easy to spot fallacy. His writing is full of stereotypes, both on the BCG and the white-collar men. One major stereotype he brings up is, “ BCG’s have been portrayed as beer-drinking, big-bellied, bigoted rednecks who dress badly.” ( Olson 1 ). Olson goes on to justify these descriptive adjectives. Men of the blue collar professions cannot wear suits and ties to work, it is a safety hazard. On the same point, the work these men do make them large and give them literal rednecks. Olsen also mentions the, “ . . . narrow-shoulders, wide-hipped lawyers . . .” ( Olson 1 ). Obviously, he did not justify or defend this particular stereotype because that would defeat the purpose of his writing. One thing Olson writes is an allness fallacy as well as a stereotype. “ An ever widening butt. . .” ( Olson 1 ). He is using humor to put down the white collars and group them together as lazy office workers. While he uses stereotypes often, they are always …show more content…
Olson is trying to show those who would have time to read essays like his, aka the white collar men, that the blue collar men are people to be appreciated. They do “ . . . things the old fashioned way, and we have earned that honor.” ( Olson 2 ). Here the author is telling the reader that though the work is manual and hard, that doesn 't take away its need to be respected and noticed. Olson uses humor to get most of his points across but it is clear that he is directing this essay towards those who have the stereotypes in their