Levels of Conflict

Question One

Conflict: Curfew

My parents were conservative extremists! I could not attend school dances, movie theaters, or simply—spend the night with a friend from school. My dad had good intentions, however he would not let me explore the world because of the mistakes he made when his parents allowed him free reign. I once asked my father if I could stay the night with a friend from church and his response was, “that’s where it starts. You will end up pregnant and on drugs.” There isn’t a good response for that kind of remark, so I gave up on any hopes of a social life. A specific issue we clashed the most was the strict curfew my parents assigned. When I first started driving, my curfew was ten o’clock. When I turned 18, I prayed my dad would have some revelation with his extremist ideas and revoke any curfew. He didn’t agree with that idea, instead he pushed it back an hour; my curfew was 11 at age 18! In Kaufer’s terms of policy conflicts, our conflict was a differing opinion of local value. Kaufer explains this level with the example of the conflicting values of the size of the car. In my father’s case, his idea and value of the time I was home was different than mine because he did not agree with ‘young’ women staying out in the dark. I did not think on those terms, rather wanted to experience good times with my peers. My father’s idea of the specific topic of curfews was that there was a correlation between evening time and assaults against women. I hoped to ‘resolve’ the conflict with my defense of age and experience.

Question Two (analogies and conflict levels)


Savio’s analogy of Mississippi and civil rights in relationship with his remark, “in the world but of the world” illustrates the overwhelming issue of the power given to a minority of society. The allusion is forwarding from the Christian conception of the faithful figure of the church. These analogies work together to progress Savio’s argument of the ‘factory’ products of the University. Any actions that goes against the University’s status quo is denied because it advocates a need for change—a concept which the University does not accept due to the bureaucratic mentality. Savio’s argument is closely related to Kaufer’s policy conflict level of conflicting global values. I present this assumption because there is not an obvious solution. The administrators are not accepting of compromise and/or resolutions to the University’s troubles. Savio mentions, ‘sit-ins’ advocating a radical change, in his specific example he was describing an argument against discriminatory hiring practices. The administrators immediately stopped the sit-in because, as Savio explains, “it goes against the status quo of which the university is a part."


Question Four (stasis and ethos construction)


Professor Bullard’s inclusion of causal arguments regarding the issue of post-disaster clean up enables the audience to recognize the reality of the situation, beyond Bullard’s personal opinion and/or experiences. His strategy presents his claims as reliable evidence against the racial discrimination for the government’s responses. Bullard attempts to argue the personal issue of race and government by presenting the ‘behind the scenes’ of the government’s response after hurricane Katrina. His method of persuasive ethos greatly impacts the audience’s reaction regarding the government’s response of current and past disasters.