9/11 was a tragic event that had a huge impact on the lives of countless people. Because it was an important event in history, it was the topic of many news articles. These articles had many different approaches to discussing the controversial topic of 9/11 over the years. Some of these articles are written about the effects of 9/11 on people's personal lives. For instance, Christopher Frizzelle's article for The Stranger, “A Monstrous Decade, A Fanatical Family, and the Worst Birthday in Human History: Ten Years of 9/11” is a crass and witty commentary on his personal experience with 9/11. Some other articles were written about the 9/11 conspiracy theories. For example, …show more content…
For example, in Christopher Frizzelle’s article, he writes, “It was a completely fucked thing to do...” His use of casual profanity shows that he uses a personal, crass, and informal register. This register is used because the general reader of The Stranger is young, urban, and liberal. However, the general reader of Popular Mechanics Magazine is much different. Because Popular Mechanics Magazine is a magazine that is mostly about cars, space, technology, and flight, the general reader will most likely be focusing on the technical aspects of 9/11. For example, Popular Mechanics Magazine used many facts about technical aspects. “ FACT: jet fuel burns at 800 degrees to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit, not hot enough to melt steel (2750 degrees Fahrenheit)” (Popular Mechanics Magazine). Because the readers are focusing on these aspects of 9/11, the editors of Popular Mechanics use a formal, concise, and factual …show more content…
For example, the popular mechanics article appeals to logos when they write, “ FACT: On 9/11 there were only 14 fighter jets on alert…” (Popular Mechanics Magazine). Their factual approach to debunking conspiracies manipulates the reader by appealing to the logical part of the reader's brain. Christopher Frizzelle uses an entirely different approach to sway the reader. For instance, he uses pathos to manipulate the reader when he writes, “She has soldiered through so much grief - her father died when she was 17, her only brother has been in and out of jail and halfway houses for decades, her mother is estranged…” (Popular Mechanics Magazine). Here Frizzelle is trying to appeal to the reader’s emotions in order to make them feel sympathy for his mother. These articles are similar in that they both are written with biased opinions. Christopher Frizzelle’s opinion is biased because he is a white. The opinion of the editors of Popular Mechanics Magazine is also biased because they are predominantly white. Being white makes their opinion biased because making people believe that 9/11 was the job of terrorists not the government does not negatively affect them. They do not have to suffer from the effects of Islamophobia caused by the belief that 9/11 was entirely the work of Muslim extremists, therefore it is easy for them to make that