TFY Chapter 7

Summary

Evaluations are value judgments, not to be confused with facts. They can be open or hidden. Evaluations are done all the time, whether we are aware or not. We evaluate what we buy, what we want to eat, what career we wish to pursue and many other things. Words that indicate an evaluation are subjective rather than objective, words such as good or bad. The words can be emotional, such as fun or painful. We must guard against premature evaluations. One glaring, historical example occurred after the attacks on 9/11. When President Bush pressed Congress to allow America to go to war against Iraq, there was little skepticism for his claims of weapons of mass destruction. Congress accepted his word and voted to allow the war. Had the Bush administration allowed the inspectors to complete their job and evaluated the situation in Iraq based on the most complete set of facts available, war would likely have been averted. Instead, America is paying a steep price in treasure and American and Iraqi lives. We need to recognize manipulative evaluations. Ann Coulter attributes the entire belief system of the left to snobbery, from promoting immoral behavior to tree hugging, dismissing any other reason for leftists’ beliefs, in an effort to advance her own agenda. The skilled evaluations of experts are valuable to us, and we pay these experts for them. We trust their expertise to help us make wise choices. Those who use propaganda spread it to manipulate our opinions. Advertisements are a common form of propaganda. Every brand is the best, but how can they all be the best? You need to recognize when you are being propagandized. You will find evaluative words instead of facts.

Exercises

1. What evaluations does the author offer in her title and subtitle?

The author makes the claim that boxing is violent and brutal.

2. How does the author open this essay by finding irony in two situations?

The author finds irony in that Million Dollar Baby did not ignite a debate on the boxing violence. She also states that boxing, in another venue, would be a violent felony.

3. What three facts does she offer to support her evaluation of boxing as a brutal and violent sport?

The author cites a notorious quote from Mike Tyson, a boxing database and the stance taken by the AMA on boxing.

4. What contradictory evaluations does she describe in the last two paragraphs of this review?

The author says some moviegoers see Million Dollar Bay as a condemnation of boxing, while others see it as glorifying boxing.