Links to rhetorical tools:

Here are links to the rhetorical tools used in this class:

Schemes & Tropes -- Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca -- Fallacies -- Burke -- Rhetorical Toolbox -- Conspiracy Rhetorics

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Big Pharma and Robots!

Mikhayla Evans

Big Pharma and Cyborg Theory
The theory I want to use for my social movement is cyborg theory. With my movement these prescriptions and medical treatments are things people cannot live without. In class we talked about how we live a cyborg existence and used the example of our phones and how we need our phones for daily tasks and we can't seem to live with out it. In a way it is like an addictive substance. In cyborg theory there is a boundary that is being crossed and reified. The boundary that is being crossed with phones is defying that nature of humanity part in yourself. 

In my primary source from NPR, which was an interview with a mother of a child who needs the epipen and calls it "a matter of life and death." The price hike from big pharmaceutical companies has affected a lot of people who need this life saving drug to stop them from having a severe allergic reaction. The drug was originally at $100 per pack and is now at $600 per pack. So, parents cannot afford it for their children at all. The people who need it cannot live with out it. So having to rely on this epipen to live crosses a threshold. It crosses a threshold by defying that nature of humanity. The epipen is a cyborg part of people and people need it to survive. It is an extension of the person in a way that is not a part of their natural human existence. Cyborg theory fits right into the workings and rhetoric of the big pharma social movement.

This is a screenshot of the article title so people know what I am talking about:






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