Assignment:
Individual Paper
Ananlyze the attached memo ( On page 7) applying the critical thinking model discussed in
Asking the Right Questions.
In a short paper (7-8 double-spaced pages) apply all of the steps of the critical thinking modelto assess the arguments made in the memo. Include
all
of the steps. Leaving out discussion of steps will adversely affect your grade. Although not necessary for a passing grade, answers to some of the questions may be enhanced by doing additional research.
Remember that your task here is to evaluate the author's argument as objectively as possible,
not to give your own opinions on the issue. Be sure to use the analytical points as set out in the book, not your own thoughts on the issue.
Prepare your paper in the format your instructor requires and post it in your Assignments Folder. The citations and the reference list in the paper should be formatted in accordance with the APA guidelines.
Objective 2:
Use a critical thinking framework to evaluate alternative courses of actions and reach sound decisions in workplace situations.
Competencies:
Critical Thinking and Communication Skills
Criteria
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Excellent
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Satisfactory
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Needs Improvement
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1. What are the issue and conclusions?
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Clearly identifies and succinctly summarizes issue and conclusion |
Generally correct in identification of the issue and conclusion, but does not summarize issue and conclusion clearly.
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Does not correctly identify issue and conclusion, confuses concept of issue and conclusion. |
2. What are the reasons?
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Clearly identifies and succinctly summarizes all major reasons offered in the memo. |
Identifies some of the main reasons, but includes items that are not reasons and/or fails to identify major reasons.
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Does not identify main reasons, confuses reasons with other concepts. |
3. What words or phrases are ambiguous?
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Identifies the most important ambiguous words and phrases in the article and succinctly explains the effect ambiguity has on the author’s reasoning. |
Demonstrates general understanding of concept of ambiguous phrases and identifies some.
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Does not demonstrate understanding of ambiguous phrases; does not identify key ambiguity in the memo, includes laundry list of phrases without explanation. |
4 or 4 and 5
What are the value assumptions and conflicts?
What are the descriptive assumptions?
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Demonstrates solid understanding of value conflicts and assumptions and descriptive assumptions, clearly identifies and succinctly discusses the major descriptive and value assumptions and value conflicts in the memo. Demonstrates clear understanding of the difference between value assumptions and descriptive assumptions. |
Demonstrates some understanding of descriptive and value assumptions and value conflicts, identifies some and provides satisfactory explanation of their effect on the argument. May have some confusion over definitions, but generally demonstrates understanding of the concepts.
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Does not demonstrate understanding of descriptive assumptions, value assumptions and/or value conflicts. Omits discussion and/or confuses the concepts. |
5 or 6. Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
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Demonstrates solid understanding of the concept of reasoning fallacies and identifies the most important fallacies in the argument
by name
and discusses their impact on the argument. |
Demonstrates satisfactory understanding of the concept of reasoning fallacies and identifies most of the important ones by name with a satisfactory discussion of their impact on the argument.
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Does not demonstrate understanding of the reasoning fallacies, fails to identify the important fallacies in the argument with specificity. |
6 or 7. How good is the evidence?
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Clearly identifies types of evidence in the article and demonstrates the ability to analyze the quality of the evidence. |
Identifies a majority of the evidence in the memo and presents a satisfactory analysis of the quality of the evidence.
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Does not identify and analyze the evidence, does not demonstrate an understanding of the definition of evidence and how it affects an argument. |
7 or 8. Are there any rival causes?
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Demonstrates solid understanding of the concept of rival causes and clearly identifies possible rival causes in an author’s argument. |
Demonstrates satisfactory understanding of the concept of rival causes and identifies possible rival causes in an author’s argument.
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Does not demonstrate understanding of the concept of rival causes. |
8 or 9. Are the statistics deceptive?
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Identifies statistics in an argument (if present) and provides a solid analysis of the value of the statistical evidence. |
Identifies statistics in an argument (if present) and provides a satisfactory analysis of the value of the statistical evidence.
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Does not recognize the use of statistics in an argument (if present) and/or does not provide a satisfactory analysis of the impact of statistical evidence. |
9 or 10. What significant information has been omitted?
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Offers persuasive arguments regarding significant information that has been omitted and provides a convincing discussion regarding the impact of the missing information. |
Identifies some missing significant information in the article and offers a satisfactory explanation as to how this missing information affects the argument.
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Does not recognize significant missing information and does not demonstrate understanding of the impact of omitted significant information. |
10 or 11. What reasonable conclusions are possible?
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Offers persuasive alternative conclusions based upon the most important reasons offered in the article. |
Demonstrates satisfactory understanding of the concept of alternative conclusions and offers some plausible examples.
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Does not demonstrate understanding of the concept of alternate conclusions and fails to recognize or discuss them. |
Content Grade: (possible 80 points)
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72-80
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64-71.5
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63.5 and under
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Your Content Grade
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Form
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Graduate level writing is reflected throughout the paper, including accurate spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. Citations are properly used (APA format) and all sources are identified and cited properly in the text and the reference list. |
Writing is acceptable, a few errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and/or sentence structure, and/or minor errors in citation identification and/or format.
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Writing does not meet graduate standards. Unacceptable number of errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and/or citation format. |
Form Grade: (possible 20 points)
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18-20
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16-17.5
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15.5 and under
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Your Form Grade
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Total Grade
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90-100 |
80-89 |
Under 80 |
Your Total Grade
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Memo:MemoTo:Mr. Kanye Kardashian-Fuentes (President, SAG-AFTRA Nevada Local)
From:
Ms. RuPaul Fabowlus (Director of Human Resources, SAG-AFTRA Nevada Local)
CC:
None (Confidential)
Date:September 10, 2013
Re:Al Jazeera America (AJAM) termination of union member employment contract (allegedly due to defamation by prior employer, FOX News).
This is in response to your request for our union HR office to evaluate the legal representation notification letter sent to you by the attorney for our union member, “Lil’ Lady RaRa” (legal name, Eugenia Glover). The letter indicated that she intends to file lawsuits against FOX News and AJAM. You wanted to know if the union should publicly support the union member in publicizing their legal case(s).
Background
“Lil’ Lady RaRa” (hereinafter referred to by her legal name, Ms. Eugenia Glover) has been an inconsistent dues paying member of our union since 2003. She is a DJ, voiceover artist, mime, program host and former news editor (self described on her website as “the Hottest Host in the Galaxy”). Ms. Glover worked at FOX News from 1999 – 2005. She was working as a news editor on the FOX News show, “The O'Reilly Factor hosted by Bill O’Reilly” in May of 2005. On the show on the evening of May 10, 2005, there was a segment of an interview with guest, Courtney Anderson (http://www.billoreilly.com/show?action=viewTVShow&showID=265). The interview included a discussion of laws regarding child abuse laws in Texas and the newspaper, the Houston Chronicle. The host, Bill O’Reilly, made comments on the air that resulted in the Houston Chronicle newspaper writing and publishing an Editorial Journal on May 12, 2005 entitled, “Editorial Journal: The No Facts Zone.” It stated in part, “O'Reilly claims his show is free of spin. Spin is when someone casts the facts in such a light as to reinforce his argument and weaken his opponent's. What O'Reilly did was to disregard the facts altogether, even going so far as to attribute to the Chronicle words and views it did not print and does not espouse. That's not spin; it's misrepresentation that is unprofessional, unwarranted and injurious to the public debate about a serious and urgent issue: protecting children from predators.” (Gibbons, 2005) Six days after the show aired, on May 16
th, 2005, our member, Ms. Glover, was terminated from her job as news editor at “The O'Reilly Factor”. Although she subsequently applied at over 400 media outlets around the world, she was not hired at any television channels. After Ms. Glover provided her FOX News employment for reference and background checks, she was always told that she was not selected for the position. Ms. Glover worked as an independent DJ, mime and substitute teacher during this eight year time period (from May 16, 2005- August 1, 2013). On August 1, 2013, AJAM offered her a news host position. As you know, our union, SAG-AFTRA, fiercely represents our members who are, “the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world.” (http://www.sagaftra.org/content/about-us) Ms. Glover was hired by AJAM on August 1, 2013 prior to her background check being completed. On August 16, 2013, AJAM called her in the Human Resources office and told her that she was being placed on suspension pending an assessment of her prior work history. She was fired on August 20
th, 2013 when she received a text message from her supervisor at AJAM that stated, “You are done here. Bye! LOL!”
Ms. Glover hired an attorney that same day and is moving forward to take legal action against FOX News for interfering with her ability to work and for AJAM for wrongful termination. She is planning to appear with her attorney on national news media outlets (including “Good Morning America”, “The View” and “Entertainment Tonight”) to publicize her perspective on these events. She posted on Twitter on September 1st, 2013, “#NEWSLIES - U Will NO the TRUTH SOON…” Her attorney has stated that as her union representation, we are “either with her or against her.” The attorney notification letter to our union office stated that we are “bullies” and “the dumbest union leaders in the universe” and have “wholly failed to adhere to the purported Mission Statement by abandoning a loyal member and one of the greatest talents of the millennia.” As you are fully aware, our Mission Statement includes the following,
“SAG-AFTRA is committed to organizing all work done under our jurisdictions; negotiating the best wages, working conditions, and health and pension benefits; preserving and expanding members’ work opportunities; vigorously enforcing our contracts; and protecting members against unauthorized use of their work.
A proud member of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA partners with our fellow unions in the U.S. and internationally to seek the strongest protections for media artists throughout the world. We work with governments at the international, federal, state, and local levels to expand protections for American media professionals both at home and abroad.” (http://www.sagaftra.org/content/about-us)
Discussion
This attorney notification is an assault on our union. It is anti-American. Foreign artists and everyone in these United States and beyond knows we are the most powerful labor union for media artists. Ms. Glover and her greedy lawyer want us to put our good name and reputation on the line to support a member who could not get a job for over eight years. If we are publicly embarrassed by Ms. Glover and her attorney on national television, our more famous and successful members (Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Meryl Streep, Charlie Rose, Honey Boo-Boo, etc.) will not vote for you in the upcoming union presidential election. Therefore, if you rebut her lawyers’ proposal (for us to appear publicly with her in the media), you will win the admiration of all our members. I had lunch the other day with a group of our members, and everyone was in agreement that if you opposed this, they would vote for you (at least 73% of the voters). This will set the stage for your re-election next year at the end of your present term.
Ms. Glover is a weak mime and we should only represent the best mimes in the world (http://www.mime.info/). Also, it was an embarrassment to Mr. O’Reilly at FOX News when the show on May 10, 2005 aired. The Houston Chronicle editorial stated,
“The 19th century American writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said of a man, "The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons." Were he alive today, Emerson might be thinking of television host Bill O'Reilly.” (Gibbons
,
2005)
The editorial made the show host look foolish (I attached a clip of the show for you to see for yourself what really happened). Everyone knows that Mr. O’Reilly is one of the smartest people in the entire country which is why he was given a primetime cable news television show. My brother-in-law says that he is a genius and supreme leader of their genius group, MENSA.
After the May 10, 2005 show, even leading global media experts like “The Rude Pundit” posted on the web,
“He claimed the paper said the law was too harsh, he said the paper's "taken a lot of shots at me" so it must be liberal, and then, while "interviewing" Austin criminal defense attorney Courtney Anderson, he took out the bunny and starting gulping down eyeballs like olives: "Counseling, community service projects, all of this touchy feely BS the Houston Chronicle's putting out there, because whoa, far be it from society to have zero tolerance against child molesters. We can't have that. This is the kind of pinhead stuff that's hurt this country." When Anderson dared to imply that what O'Reilly was saying was not, actually, in the article, O'Reilly bit the head off the bunny: "You're misreading this article. This article, number one, criticizes Florida for passing the law, says they don't like the law. The law is too harsh, all right, number one."” (http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/05/why-bill-oreilly-ought-to-be-sodomized.html)
Ms. Glover is an unpopular DJ and an even worse news editor. If we were to allow such a non-famous and unaccomplished individual to sully our union name by associating with her, our Nevada Local office could cease to exist. We represent the best of the best in the world and are the #1 ranked most phenomenally powerful labor union in American history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAG-AFTRA) with 92.7% approval. We have to maintain our reputation!
We must oppose Ms. Glover and her attorney now, or we do a disservice to our members and will regret it later. I speak for truth and common sense. We have to be strong and show no weakness to this delusional member. I am currently checking to see if her union dues are current right now because everyone knows that people who are not famous and successful do not pay their bills.
Finally, lawsuits and the greedy ambulance chasing lawyers who file them, are ruining this country. According to a recent article posted in a prestigious Wall Street newspaper, the additional legal costs of doing business adds 21.3% of hidden costs to the price of each product or service transaction in this country. If we were to support Ms. Glover and she publicly insults FOX News, their hosts or AJAM, we will have to deal with potential legal action from their lawyers which could bankrupt us.
Conclusion and Recommendation
SAG-AFTRA Nevada Local should not support Ms. Glover. Our members will lose their pride in being part of our union and potentially their jobs if we appear in the media attacking powerful organizations like FOX News and AJAM. If Ms. Glover wants to be successful, she should abandon this wasteful legal action and instead practice her mime, DJ and hosting skills. She needs to leave our prestigious union alone.
Just say the word and I will draft a reply to this effect for your signature.
Gibbons, James H. "Editorial Journal: The No Facts Zone."
Houston Chronicle. Houston Chronicle, 12 May 2005. Web. 10 Sept. 2013. .