Adrian Vega

Professor Werry

RWS 796

Draft: Strength/Weakness

21 September 2016

Draft

The greatest weakness of “Public Thinking” is the anecdote about the Kenyan student, Okolloh. Thompson begins this chapter by introducing the idea of the Kenyan student turned blogger, but does not really make a clear connection the the rest of the piece. Moreover, Thompson never resolves this introducing; this example is unfinished, stale, and stagnant. He make the point that Okolloh reached a certain level of recognition after years of blogging: “Publishers took notice of her work and approached Okolloh to write a book about her life” (48). By explaining that the publishers took notice of Okolloh, Thompson seems to allude to an idea of hope for writing. In other words, he is attempting to express that writing will have some kind of change in society. Essentially, this anecdote has a lesson: writing will effect the reader. Considering the American audience, this point he is making with this anecdote is not as effective. Also, this unresolved story is confusing and stretching to make a clear point.