TOW 22

            With so many colleges across the country there is not much to set one apart from another.  Why then would the amount of applications to one school skyrocket going up by 30%?  According to Ashley Schaeffer, a writer for Total Frat Move, it is because of the legalization of cannabis.  Schaeffer claims that it only makes sense that prospective college students would flock to something that they enjoy.  That college students would flock to the legality of weed as they would any school on a top party school list.  He argues this point by constantly citing a Fox article on the same issue.  This proves to both strengthen and weaken his argument at the same time.  The reason it strengthens his argument is quite clear, because citing almost anything increases his ethos and makes him sound more professional.  Also it means that he can use their cited speakers to his advantage without having to go out of his way to find people to comment on the issue.  It is all in one place for his choosing.  If one reads into the actual cited article it comes from more of an un-opinionated angle and takes more of the side of the fact that marijuana is not bringing young people to apply to Coloradan colleges.  This could harm Schaeffer’s ethos because he is using an article that argues against his point to argue for it, but it could also be more effective depending on his audience.  Considering Total Frat Move’s audience of young college students, most people don’t check the source, but for those that do, they could believe that its different opinion shows an openness for ideas by the author because he is willing to use an article that disagrees with his opinion to bolster his.  All in all Schaeffer’s article is effective in transferring his opinion on the situation to his audience with the help of citations from an opposing Fox report.