Professor: Bernadette Stockwell, Ph.D.
Student: John C Gibson
Semester: Fall 2022
Essay Response To This American Life Episode “Retraction”
In the episode “Retraction,” This American Life interviewed Mike Daisy about his withdrawn fictional drama work with a blaming undertone. The host appealed to the audience by attributing quality control issues when the radio station miscategorized drama and non-fiction works. This American Life’s mission statement says that the station produces both non-fiction and fiction genres of work, with non-fiction journalism for most of its production (thisamericanlife.org, 2022). The radio station is a weekly program with tight scheduling to create new content. It is a balance between quality and quantity.
Western civilization values quality over quantity, though. Western civilization values the division of labor and distinct professions for distinct works. In Plato’s Republic, the artisans’ city-state has specialized professions for different aspects of ancient life. For example, for a wheat farmer to work efficiently, Plato declared the need for plow makers and draft horse suppliers. For a plow maker to work proficiently, Plato proposed the professions of blacksmiths and wheel makers. The ideal city-state included twenty different jobs within three levels of the wheat farming labor force. Plato asked if a farmer is raising draft horses themself, who is watching the changing wind and weather, and who is going to irrigate the crops timely and according to the changing rain? Modern life is not different from ancient life in separating professions. A chemical engineer specializing in space material production, such as aerogel, is very different from a mechanical engineer specializing in space flights. Being a fiction writer is a unique profession in itself. The training for a fiction writer that emphasizes speed should be different from that of a non-fiction writer, who works on, for example, scientific paper editing.
In the western world, which holds very high regard for non-fiction writers, such as general writing professors, people, by training, should be able to determine the profession of a non-fiction writer by their speech pattern and context. In Plato’s view, when a farmer speaks, they talk about farms and act as a farmer in a properly functioning society. In modern life, a chemical engineer is not mistaken as a mechanical engineer specializing in space flights. So, the radio station’s mistaken identity appears to have undermined Western values and warrants further action when the radio host created an episode to shift the blame onto the content creator.
Works Cited
About This American Life. (n.d.). This American Life. Retrieved October 22, 2022, from https://www.thisamericanlife.org/about
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