Journal entry response on blog: Capital punishment

Dear journal,

I recently read a blog entry titled Capital punishment, which was written by a pastor of an evangelical church. The blog entry deals with the death penalty, whereby hardened criminals would receive this penalty as a just reward for their actions. The author of this blog strongly condemns the death penalty and he uses numerous bible texts to support his view.  He also makes extensive use of particular generic and language conventions, which add to the influence and persuasion of the text. The pastor, who wrote this blog, represents the idea of Capital Punishment as something insensitive, ruthless and inappropriate, by making use of particular writing techniques.

The purpose of this blog entry is to persuade and convince the reader that the death penalty is wrong. The author clearly has negative views towards capital punishment and he seeks to impress such views on his audience. Being a Christian, the author feels that it is his duty to present the “truth” to those in society around him. He uses the Bible as the guidelines by which the truth is presented and the impractical idea of Capital Punishment is condemned. The context of this blog is very clearly stated as the writer provides background information into the topic of Capital Punishment in Australia. He says the following: “Capital punishment has been forever abolished in Australia by the recent passing of The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Torture Prohibition and Death Penalty Abolition) Bill. Even though no Australian State or Territory has the death penalty, this law ensures none can ever reintroduce it.” This information is makes up the opening statement of the blog and it provides contextualisation. Capital punishment is a very current and relevant issue in Australia today, it is an issue which society should evaluate and have their opinions about. The author also provides insight into his own personal context, by saying the following: “As a Christian I fully support this move by the Australian Parliament.” The writer of this blog calls himself a Christian and he makes numerous references to the word of God. The target audience of this blog would include the Australian society; namely all who are included in the law to abolish capital punishment. The writer of this blog seeks to further support this decision by making reference to the Bible and by outlining the negatives of the death penalty. The purpose, audience and context have been used to represent the death penalty in a negative way and to encourage and persuade readers to take on a similar viewpoint.

The pastor who wrote this blog entry seeks to impress his ideas on his audience. He represents Capital punishment as something which is no longer correct, necessary and which contradicts what the scriptures teach. The writer has portrayed this idea by his use of particular generic techniques which help to strengthen his argument. The generic convention of structure is an example of the way in which clever layout can be used to backup ones viewpoint. The blog begins by contextualising. It speaks of how capital punishment has been abolished in Australia through the passing of the Crimes Legislation Amendment bill. The author goes on to explain how he is a Christian and he makes extensive use of Bible passages to support this. The first paragraph of the blog entry also includes a brief summary of the points which would be outlined and emphasised. This opening paragraph and the used of contextualisation allow the reader to immediately understand the topic being discussed and also understand the writers’ view of capital punishment. The powerful statement, found at the very beginning of the blog, gives the audience insight into the negative representation of the death penalty, which is to follow. The use of paragraphs is another form of a generic convention which the writer has made use of. Paragraphs are also part of the structure in a written text.  Paragraphs break the text into groups to make it easier to read and which allow the writer to present a number of different points to support his view. This is what the Pastor has done, to give his blog a better structure and to outline his arguments in a more organised format. Each new paragraph in this blog contains a different point or idea which supports the writer’s negative representation of Christianity. For example, the first paragraph talks about how God, in the Old Testament, indicated that the death penalty was wrong. The second paragraph provides evidence of this from the New Testament, while the last two paragraphs provide the writers own ideas which throw a negative light on the topic. The blog entry ends with a brief concluding paragraph which simply restates the main arguments and leaves the reader feeling convinced that capital punishment is not the way to go. Another generic convention which underlines the whole blog entry is personal tone. Personal tone is almost always evident in blog entries and journal entries, as they usually portray the personal view of the author. The same is the case in this blog entry as the negative portrayal of capital punishment is part of the view of the writer. All throughout, the blog is very personal and it is all written from the perspective of the author. The writer provides no other point of view then that of himself, possibly to prevent the audience being distracted into accepting another view. What the writer does do, however, is use a bible verse which supports the death penalty and then contradicts this with another verse which seems to oppose it. For example: “stubborn and rebellious children who would not receive correction could be stoned to death” (Deuteronomy 21:18). However 1 Corinthians 10:23 states that if “something is permissible, it does not mean it is beneficial or constructive.” The writer then continues to emphasise the opposing text to strengthen his view. Generic conventions can really add to the power and persuasion of a text, as we see in this situation.

The writer of this blog entry also negatively represents Capital Punishment by the use of language conventions. Language, if used in the right way, can be extremely persuasive and convincing and the writer has made use of this to influence his audience into accepting his viewpoint. The first language convention, which has been used all throughout this blog, is quotations. The writer uses a large number of quotations from scripture to make it seem as if scripture is saying that capital punishment is wrong. Scripture does if fact state that the government “bears not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath on him that does evil.” (Rom 13:4). Quotations like this one are included all throughout the blog; however the writer then includes opposing bible chapters to attempt to portray that the death penalty is no longer relevant. For example: “Jesus made it very clear that “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” was a law that belonged to another era and not to the age of grace.” To someone who was not a Christian or who did not accept the bible in its entirety; this would be a very valid argument. Another language convention used to negatively present capital punishment, is particular persuasive techniques. Persuasive techniques are vital in texts which seek to impress a particular attitude, value or belief on the audience. The persuasive techniques that this writer uses are strong arguments which are very convincing in stating why capital punishment is wrong. The writer says the following: “Some criminals cannot be reformed because they are mentally ill, brain damaged or mentally retarded.  Is it right to take their life because of a handicap?” “The death penalty does not act as a deterrent.” “Capital punishment is not a more cost-effective option than prison.  In fact, it is cheaper to keep someone in jail for the rest of their life than to have them on death row.” These seem like very powerful arguments and many would be influenced into accepting that the death penalty is completely barbarous, outdated and defective. Connotation is another language technique which has been used to shed a negative light on the matter of capital punishment. Throughout the blog, the writer uses the phrase “Death Penalty” a lot more extensively then the phrase “Capital punishment.” The reason is that “Death Penalty” seems to have more negative connotations then the phrase “Capital punishment.” Capital punishment seems to indicate that it is something which the government has the right and authority to exercise, while Death penalty gives the impression that it is something cruel and unjust. Simple connotations like this can be used to create a powerful impression of how capital punishment is wrong. Another language convention which is also evident in this blog is figure of speech. The last paragraph includes the following phrase: “There are times when it is right to lock someone up and throw away the key, but…” This figure of speech presents the idea that locking someone up for life is the furthest we go; we would never go as far as to exercise the death penalty. Such language conventions evidently make a text very powerful and persuasive as is evident in this blog.

The blog titled Capital Punishment negatively represents the idea of the death penalty. The writer of this blog has made extensive use of generic and language conventions to powerfully present this idea and cause the reader to agree with what he is saying. The pastor who wrote this blog, made many references to scripture and often took scripture out of context. It is important, when reading blogs like this, that we as Christians evaluate what is being presented in the light and truth of Gods word.