SWA#4

     The text, “Isn’t That Special” is an argumentative piece that was first published on the NRO website that provides reasons and statistical evidence to show how self absorbed our society and generation has become.
     The intended reader or audience is mainly the people of the 1970’s as well as the current generation. The audience is expected to be able to relate to the cartoons and television shows he uses as examples to prove the point that everyone in today’s world is taught to be self-absorbed starting early. Because of the author’s use of past and present television shows that are easy to relate to and his statistical evidence, the audience is probably going to be convinced by his argument to a degree.
     The author is Jonah Goldberg who is an editor of National Review Online. The author is motivated to write this article to prove that our culture has taught and is continuing to teach children to think highly of themselves and to keep a competitive nature in everyday activities.
     The author is constrained by his belief that people are overly self-absorbed and that adults are this way because they were forced to grow up too fast and want to be kids or stay as young as possible. He feels that the television shows in the past and the present are representation of telling people that they should revolve the world around themselves. He is also probably part of generation that he is aiming this argument towards. Because of the reference to the television shows the audience is probably drawn to agree with the author on how many people have grown to be conceded or at least look out for themselves before others.
     The argument started when the author as well as many other psychologists, believed that how kids are being raised today is continuing to make our culture more individualistic and competitive and is forming a very self-absorbed culture that is continuing into adulthood. He says that because of the way many adults of a certain generation were raised as children, they want to stay children or at least teenagers, which places so much emphasis on looking and acting young.