“Toronto Mayor Airs Bloody Cloths” is an article written by Carolyn Cooper and published in the Jamaica Gleaner on January 26, 2014. In this article the author persuasively argues that we are not capitalizing on the rich cultural values of the Jamaican Patois.
The author begins by highlighting the infamous Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford whose cursing of two Jamaica expletives have gone viral. Cooper continues that as a result of this a producer from the Canadian media contact her for her expertise in defining the syntax of the language used by Ford. Cooper concluded that a wide section of the international media is intrigue with the use of our language by Ford, yet promoters of tourism, the creative industries and the elite of the society fail to see the value of our culture.
The author’s thesis statement is “we don’t appreciate the value of our language as cultural capital”.
Cooper uses a combination of cause and effect and spatial patterns writings in his attempt to persuade tourism promoters, the creative industries and the elite in the society, who are his intended audience. He highlighted that the cause of poverty is a lack of economic development. The description of the “home” of the man that he helped contains vivid imagery. While the author’s aim is to persuade he also intends to discredit this lady who has criticized him. He is angry at this lady. He doesn’t think she has the capacity to criticize him on economic issues. He uses simply diction whenever he is addressing her. His refusal to mention her name probably demonstrates his contempt of her.
Mason uses several literacy devices to make his point. She started by rhetorically referring to the Gleaner as having a long and distinguished pedigree. She uses several puns such as “bath” in the first paragraph, “bright” to describe the English teacher, ‘holes” which are there to penetrate and “clatt” when referring to waving nuff clatt. She uses the hyperbole of “intended to go through life speaking mathematics”.
Cooper article contains some fallacies. The fallacy of overgeneralization is evident by her suggestion that “In Jamaica we don’t associate “patois” with skill. Another fallacy identified is ‘hasty conclusion” which Cooper declares that introducing an oral exam is ‘another subject for students to fail” The use by Cooper of effective language skill, vivid spatial patterns and good organization effectively achieved her purpose of convincing her audience that as Jamaicans we are not taking advantage of the cultural value of our language.