Invincible India

THE POTATO MAKES A COMEBACK is a news article published this year 2008, written by Terry Wade who is a journalist of the Herald Tribune. Terry Wade, the author of the article has written this proposal of idea from an outsider’s point of view. Since he didn’t collect the information himself in India, he had probably not thought of the conveniences and reactions of the people in India, and pushed the idea into the ideal plan. He did not consider deeply about how the Indians would take this suggestion, or how they would feel when the suggestion is given to switch their main and most major dish to potatoes. This article was written for the people that are connected to the government, a researcher, or some position mighty enough to influence the food production of a country. Although that would be the main intent, the article is also addressing intellectuals and aware adults as part of their audience too. The aim of the article is to suggest a solution to the world food scarcity crisis, and to educate those who have not considered the problem seriously before. The article is trying to persuade countries like India whose diet focuses on rice and wheat to convert to potatoes as their source of carbohydrates and grains. Also, the article was written so that even if the potato solution is not considered or approved, the readers would get an inspiration of other solutions to this problem. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to suggest the potato idea, or to give inspiration to lead to future solutions. The writer is trying to objective by only stating facts and not opinion, but is also being subjective by listing facts on the positive aspects of the plan, and none of the negative. “…the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable “a hidden treasure.”.” “Potatoes come in about 5,000 types. With colors ranging from alabaster-white to bright yellow and …potatoes offer inventive chefs a chance to create new, eye-catching plates.” “”They taste great,” said Juan Carlos Mescco, 17” “Potatoes are a great source of complex carbohydrates, which release their energy slowly, and – so long as they are not smothered with butter – have only five percent of the fat content of wheat. They also have one-fourth of the calories…” Most, if not all of the facts that are said are boasts to the potato solution, or defense to any doubt the reader may have. The author Terry Wade is expressing his opinion and beliefs, trying to persuade the readers to match his thinking by giving the one-sided facts, but he never directly states his opinion. Also, since the article was written only a few months ago, and food scarcity is a problem that is occurring now, he probably still has the same beliefs and has not taken into consideration the side effects of the solution when writing the article. Therefore, the article was probably mixed with beliefs and views of the situation than rather analyzing the whole scenario carefully.

Haruka Fukukawa

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/16/business/potato.php

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Language Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.