Persuasive Dialogue (A Rising Stars Assignment) |
Ray: They should just leave him alone to do his job... Colin: Who? Ray: The President, of course, this stuff in Congress is bull, and you know it. Colin: Well, I don’t, actually, but I’m willing to hear you out, Ray. Ray: How can he do his job with people hounding him all the time? Colin: Okay, first, they have some pretty damaging evidence that he committed several crimes, but let’s let that play out. Why is it, exactly, you want me to believe he’s doing a good job? Ray: I want you to get behind him! He deserves your support, because he’s doing great things for the country! Colin: Okay… So give me an example. Ray: Immigration. How about that? He’s stopping illegal immigration. Colin: I’ll agree that illegal border crossing is an issue, but the immigration problem has many facets to it. I assume you can agree with that, right? Ray: Sure... Colin: And how is he actually stopping illegal border crossings? Ray: The wall, man. He’s building a great big wall along the border! Colin: So the solution is a medieval one… that was defeated by the catapult in the 400 BC. Brilliant... In fact, last week someone defeated the new wall with a battery powered sawzall. They have video of people having contests on who can climb it the fastest! Ray: Oh, that’s just a bunch of crap the media puts out to make it look bad! Colin: Yeah, yeah… fake news, I get it. But what if it is real? Ray: Then we add some guard towers! Let ‘em try it then! Colin: So now you’re advocating for a militarized border with our number one trading partner? How do you think that’s going to go over with them? Ray: Don’t care... Colin: You should. Not to mention we rely on their labor force to eat. Ask the farmers... Ray: Then let them come on a work visa! Colin: Most do. But our government is so slow processing them, they can’t keep up. If you ask me, I’d rather have food at a reasonable cost. Ray: That’s not my problem... Colin: It will be when you can’t afford to feed your family. But hey, maybe there’s a better solution. A wall will be insanely expensive… I know, I’m an engineer. It will also have serious consequences to plant life and animal migration, and in some places, put US land on the wrong side of the wall! Ray: I don’t care about cost or any of that stuff... Colin: But, what if we used drone technology. I would create jobs for veterans, ground penetrating radar could see tunnels, and they could carry non-lethal weapons. If all that fails, it could track people night or day for the Border Patrol. Ray: That sounds far fetched... Colin: It isn’t. It’s all available today. Ray: But if this President says build a wall, then damn it, I want a wall! Colin: I figured you’d say that… (WC-496) |