Voice Post

One of my favorite bloggers, Karl Widerquist, writes in association with the United States Basic Income Guarantee website. His credentials are substantial: A Ph. D. in Political Theory from Oxford University and a Ph. D. in Economics from the City University in New York. Dr. Widerquist’s blog is a space where he partially steps away from the formal writing found in his books and journal entries, and writes freely about a topic he is passionate about.

I take personal interest in analyzing the voice that Karl uses in his posts. To me he represents the rational yet passionate expression that I would like to have come across in my own writing. On the whole, I feel convinced and moved by Karl’s writing because he appeals to logic in an engaging way.

In a post titled, “Conservative website finds USBIG behind vast government conspiracy,” Widerquist employs a number of techniques which epitomize the effectiveness of his voice. One of his favorite techniques is the use of parenthesis to provide qualification to statements.

“Although this is the first time (I know of) that the USBIG website has caught the attention of conspiracy theorists, it is not the first time that BIG has caught their attention.”

Here Widerquist moderates his statement by acknowledging his potential inaccuracy rather than making his statement unequivocal. Often times the parenthesis allow him to make a broad and strong statement that is quickly tempered by an aside in parenthesis. While this weakens the strength of his arguments on the whole, he gains credibility by not overstepping what is rationally justified.

Another technique he uses is a repeated simple sentence structure to display passion in an escalating argument.

“Over the last 30 years or more, the U.S. welfare system has been slowly but consistently              dismantled. The minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. Individuals’ rights to      organize unions have been reduced. Taxes on the wealthy have fallen while government      favors for the wealthy have increased.”

To me, this repeated sentence structure connotes an individual speaking to a crowd, getting louder and more expressive, ushering the audience along to the peak of her argument. A lot of very important information is contained in these short sentences. If each point were elaborated upon by Karl, he would run the risk of his readers losing sight of his overarching point. Instead he lists them off, rapidly and with confidence, maintaining the readers focus and steadily building to the overall point.

In another of Karl’s posts titled, “What does the Stone Age have to do with us?” he uses rhetorical questions on multiple occasions to further his own argument while encouraging the reader to think for themselves about the topic in question. Readers frequently bring entrenched viewpoints to an article. To get them to even consider an alternative point of view, one must first get them to question the certainty of their original belief.

In Winderquist’s article, he wants his readers to rethink what appears to be a rather obvious statement that modern man is better off than our hunter-gatherer ancestors. He creates room for discussion on the topic through rhetorical questions:

“How do we know that property began as private property? Are we sure that every single modern worker is better off than our hunter-gatherer ancestors?”

Rather than immediately making a statement in conflict with a reader’s intuition, he eases into his argument by simply raising a question. This voice technique reduces the abrasiveness of topics that are not predisposed to be well-received by their audience.

Although I don’t agree with all of the arguments Winderquist makes in his blog, I have immense respect for the voice he uses in his writing. I hope to incorporate a number of his techniques into my own writing. I am passionate about a number of divisive issues which require rational and informed arguments, but also need to keep readers engaged. Finding a balance between evidence-based argumentation and gripping prose requires practice and guidance. For me, Karl Winderquist offers an effective style I hope to emulate in my future writing.