CRITICAL READING

DWI PUJI SEPTARINI100221400423

I care about this topic because …

The controversy about the effect of chocolate in our life? Is it good or bad?

Reasons:1. Most people like eat chocolate.2. There are opinions that

chocolate give bad and good impact for human health.

3. Just few researchers explore about benefit chocolate in health wise.

4. Benefit of chocolate in economic side.

Author’s attitude

o Some of authors are being pro. They agree that chocolate has some benefits in our life.

1. They argue that chocolate has good effect in our body, such as it is good for our heart and reduced the risk of stroke.

2. Chocolate is a good commodity to be developed.

o The others are being contra. They argue that chocolate is dangerous because :

1. Cacao is toxic and addictive, just to make money.

2. Regular chocolate consumption could cause weaker bones and osteoporosis

Enjoy! Chocolate Is Good For Your Heart

• Source : Meredith Melnick– TIME magazine (August, 29th 2011). She is a reporter and producer for Healthland .

• Pro-side : To show the reader that researchers have analyzed about benefits of chocolate for human’s body. Even though she has positive attitude to the result of the studies, she is still hesitant because the studies which the researchers do, do not mention about why chocolate have positive effect for human’s body. She agrees that chocolate has some benefits such as good for our heart. • My attitude : it is surprising that chocolate is good for human’s heart. I think researchers have developed the research until they get a valid result because when people especially people who have heart illness know about this issue, they will consume chocolate to get better. It has to be concerned.

Analysis

Mind Over Chocolate

• Source : Alana B. Elias Kornfeld (March, 26th 2009).She was Senior Editor, Healthy Living for two years.

• Pro-side : she shows that there is a new invention which offers the positive intention of chocolate. It is the product called Intentional Chocolate which uses a special recording device to capture the electromagnetic brain waves of meditating Tibetan monks.• My attitude : I am quite hesitant about that product because I cannot imagine how can chocolate is infused with good vibes.

Analysis

Chocolate Is Bad for Your Bones!

• Source : Stefan Anitei – Softpedia(January, 28th 2008). Stefan Anitei works as science editor.

• Cons-side: she shows that regular chocolate consumption could cause weaker bones and osteoporosis.

“Cocoa and chocolate have been promoted as having a range of beneficial cardiovascular properties. But the effect of chocolate intake on other organ systems has not been studied. These findings could have important implications for prevention of osteoporotic fracture,“• My attitude : it is surprising readers that chocolate is bad for bones, I think women have to concern about it because young women will have babies and it is dangerous if women’s bones get weaker.

Analysis

Health benefits of dark chocolate can be ‘deceptive’• Source : Mohit Joshi-TopNews ( December, 21th 2007)

He led a global Sales and Marketing team.• Cons-side : according to his background, he wants to show the readers that there is connection between what manufactures do and the health benefits of chocolate. Many manufacturers remove flavanols from chocolate because of the bitter taste, therefore the benefit of it has gone.

“Think twice before indulging into dark chocolate the next time, for claims that the sweet is good for your health might have been misleading, according to health experts.”• My attitude : I am pro with his arguments because as I know, the tastes of most of chocolate that I have ever eaten is sweet, not bitter as the real cocoa, so I think manufactures have remove the flavanols from their products.

Analysis

Raw Toxic Chocolate

• Source : Paul Nison– LivingFood.com He is a chef and writer. He has written many books about

health and healing.• Cons-side : his cons arguments about chocolate is so brave. He tells clearly that chocolate is toxic and he tells about his experiments with his friends to find out the effects of cacao.“I chose to write about this topic because many raw food eaters today are being misled and told that it is healthy. It is dangerous and people need to know the truth. ”• My attitude : it is amazing knowing someone so brave to tell his argument. He has shown his studying with his friend. I think his article is good enough.

Analysis

Overall, I stand on cons opinion. As I know most people like chocolate. For the health side, I am still hesitant to the result of the invention of chocolate because I think researchers need to do other researches to make the result valid because as they said, “we all know chocolate makes us feel good, even if science isn't 100% sure why yet. Keep trying guys” So i think they have not been confident about the invention.The chocolate companies should take care about the compositions of their products, because that composition is the main influenced to the benefit of chocolate.Chocolate now is different with chocolate in the past.

My Attitude:

Analysis of Articles

What are the facts you can get from the texts? What are the perspectives/interpretations from the texts? What can the writer’s purpose be?

The facts: Researchers found that there are negative effects of eating chocolate such as acne, tooth decay, addictive effects, weight gain, and bad for human’s bones. Yet recently other studies against the last researches which said that chocolate have more good effects than bad effects for human’s health.

The writer’s purpose can be good information for people who like eat chocolate especially for chocoholic and also for the businessmen who sell the chocolate product.

What arguments, illustrations, or metaphors used by the writer to convince you?

Both authors which pro and cons use the example and explain the report of the researchers’ studies to persuade that now chocolate also has some effects for human’s health, good and bad.

They also use figure of speech such as “The news keeps getting sweeter: eating chocolate has been linked to lower blood pressure, a reduced risk of heart disease and now, in a new study, a lower risk of stroke in women.” this figure of speech is used by pro people to convince that chocolate is God food.

Also there is a metaphor such as “… there are many toxic things that people do everyday…”

What do you think about those arguments, illustrations and metaphors? Are they weak or strong? Why?

In the articles which are show the good effect, the authors’ arguments are weak, because it is mentioned that researchers are still learning that chocolate consumption has linked with lower blood pressure, lower levels of bad cholesterol and reduced risk of stroke and heart attack and that observational cannot prove a direct effect and why chocolate makes us feel better.

Yet, the figure of speech which they use are quite strong. For pro opinion, they use the metaphor in the beginning of article so the readers will feel interest about the information. For cons opinion, the metaphor is used in the end of article to convince the readers about effect of chocolate.

Arguments which is weak:“It’s not clear why, but some past studies have attributed chocolate’s heart benefits to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which may help blood pressure and improve insulin resistance.”

“We all know chocolate makes us feel good, even if science isn't 100% sure why yet. Keep trying guys”

Which text is the most and the least credible? Why?

The least credible: “Mind Over Chocolate” by Alana B.Elias Kornfeld because I still cannot imagine that how can there is “intention” infused into the chocolate. In addition, James Fallon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine, is skeptical about this product. He said, "So I take a rutabaga and put it close to my head, and it somehow changes the food and improves the mood of the person who ate it?”

The most credible: “Raw Toxic Chocolate” by Paul Nison because this article show the complete result of the research which tell about the bad effect of chocolate and the explanation of them.

Ethical Component in the text

• Ethical Component1. Ethical Standard: the right to freedom

- The people who cons to the opinion which says that chocolate has more good effect think that actually the big problem is, at that point so many people are already addicted to it and can’t stop even if they wanted to. Very similar to the addiction people have to cooked food. They just can’t except that it’s not healthy for them so they make excuses to keep consuming it.

• Virtue of honestyI appreciate the pro people about what they have found in researching the advantages of eating chocolate even though they have not been confident about the result. So the people could consider more.

• Practical ComponentThere is a practical components inside the story, that is, the story is very useful for the readers and the manfactures. As for myself, this story helps me to be aware to all of food that I eat, not only chocolate but also other food. I also have to manage how much which is appropriate to be eaten.

Thank You