Ibrahim Ali
Professor Mary
Rhet 105
Date: 2/1/17
Word Count ± 1200 words
News: Fake or Real?
News nowadays is very difficult to differentiate between fake and real. Fake news sites are looking more and more legitimate and more misleading than ever. With the presence of social media, these fake news sites are able to spread their incorrect and inaccurate information reaching millions of people faster than ever before. However, fake and real news sites still have their differences and comparing them with the Toulmin Method can highlight these differences.
The New York Times wrote an article on Bowe Bergdahl, a former American prisoner of war who was detained by the Taliban. Bergdahl was freed when he was swapped for five Taliban prisoners in 2014. This New York Times article specifically discusses about Bergdahl asking former President Obama for a presidential pardon. The thesis of this article is that Bowe Bergdahl is in a dire and unfair situation so he is requesting this pardon as a way to escape the situation. Bergdahl was investigated by the Army and the investigation concluded that Bergdahl acted under good motivations that were delusional noting his many years of captivity in harsh conditions. However, a commander ordered him to be prosecuted in a general court martial in which Bergdahl could receive a life sentence if he is found guilty. (Savage, Charlie “Bowe Bergdahl, Facing Desertion Trial, Asks Obama for Pardon.” nytimes.com). This shows that even when Bergdahl’s case was reviewed and investigated already, people of power such as a commander in the army still want him punished even after the investigation found him innocent.
Eugene R. Fidell, who was Bergdahl’s lead defense lawyer, said that he would file a motion to have the case dismissed if it was not resolved by the Inauguration Day because a fair military trial “would be impossible after Donald Trump becomes the commander in chief” (Savage, Charlie “Bowe Bergdahl, Facing Desertion Trial, Asks Obama for Pardon.” nytimes.com). This statement by the lead defense attorney further shows how dire Bergdahl’s situation is. It displays how his doom is almost guaranteed because Trump said many negative things about Bergdahl like he was a “dirty, rotten traitor” and because of his negative attitude toward Bergdahl, he would not allow a fair trial. (Savage, Charlie “Bowe Bergdahl, Facing Desertion Trial, Asks Obama for Pardon.” nytimes.com).
On top of being very likely to have an unfair military trial if not pardoned, Senator John McCain also said that he would have an oversight hearing about Bergdahl’s case. This makes it seem as if Bergdahl’s fate is set in stone, as if having Donald Trump as president wasn’t enough of an obstacle in the first place. This makes it seem as if former President Obama was Bergdahl’s only real hope of escaping a fate that seemed all too certain. This request for a pardon looks like a desperate plead for help.
The author shows that he has a warrant of fairness/democracy. Throughout this entire article, he listed the many obstacles that Bergdahl and his attorneys have to fight through if former president Obama did not pardon him. The author also casts Donald Trump and senator John McCain in a negative light because of their objection and relentlessness to prove that Bergdahl is guilty. As previously stated, Bergdahl’s lead attorney Eugene R. Fidell claimed that there is no way for Bergdahl to get a fair trial once Donald Trump would be inaugurated as commander in chief. This implies that Donald Trump would not be rational and logical by looking over all the evidence gathered by previous investigations regarding his case and would immediately find him guilty and throw him in jail. However there was no qualifier, backing or rebuttal found in this article.
On the other hand, RedFlag made an article claiming that former President Obama would go on a pardon spree before his term ended. The claim of this article is that President Obama is using his power as president to be very giving in terms of pardoning people and giving commutations. The article stated that Obama had granted 148 pardons since he took office, which is fewer than his predecessors who also served two terms. However, Obama surpassed every other president in the amount of commutations that he granted, 1,176. (“Obama set for pardon frenzy as he leaves office… May include Clinton and Bergdahl”, redflagnews.com). The type of people that Obama has given commutations are mostly nonviolent narcotic offenders. So because of the large amount of people that Obama gave commutations to, the author wonders if Obama would give much higher profile people like Edward Snowden a pardon before he leaves office.
The supporters of people like Edward Snowden and Bowe Bergdahl were putting immense pressure on Obama to pardon them because they were unjustly sentenced or were sought by the justice system. Not only that, Snowden and Bergdahl’s supporters put even more pressure on Obama by saying that Snowden and Bergdahl might suffer death penalties or life sentences when Donald Trump becomes commander in chief (“Obama set for pardon frenzy as he leaves office… May include Clinton and Bergdahl”, redflagnews.com). The supporters are asking Obama to be their savior in a way because they make it seem as if Bergdahl and Snowden have terrible fates that will ruin their lives if he doesn’t take action and pardon them in the last few days of his final term in office as president of the United States.
Because now former president Obama was so giving with commutations and pardons, supporters of people like Snowden and Bergdahl saw Obama as their only possible hope to get them pardoned. The supporters are firm in their belief that someone like Trump who calls Snowden a “terrible traitor” would not be empathetic or forgiving in any way, shape or form. However, because of the sheer amount of commutations that Obama has given throughout his terms along with pardons, the author believes that there is a possibility that Obama would pardon such highly controversial people such as Snowden and Bergdahl. Warrants, backing and rebuttals were not found in this article however.
In comparing the two articles, the first thing that was striking was the much larger amount of evidence the author used to support the claim in the New York Times article. There was much more evidence listed to support his claim and therefore made the argument much more understandable and legitimate. The lack of solid support and evidence in the fake news article made any sort of claim that the author made very lackluster. It felt like the author was mostly stating his own opinion, rather than making a claim and using information and evidence to support his claim. This lack of legitimate support and evidence makes the fake news article stand out much more when compared to the real news article and is also the main difference between real and fake news sources.
Works Cited
“Bowe Bergdahl, Facing Desertion Trial, Asks Obama for Pardon.” New York Times. New York Times, n.d. Web. <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/us/politics/bowe-bergdahl-asks-obama-for-pardon.html>.
“Obama Set for Pardon Frenzy as He Leaves Office… May Include Clinton and Bergdahl…” RedFlagNews.com. N.p., 07 Jan. 1970. Web. 03 Feb. 2017. <https://www.redflagnews.com/headlines-2017/obama-set-for-pardon-frenzy-as-he-leaves-office-may-include-clinton-and-bergdahl?rq=bowe%2Bbergdahl>.