Everything the world does revolves around money. It is subjected to regulation, taxation and inflation by the government. What if there were a currency that was not? Bitcoin was founded with this vision. It is an attempt at creating an online currency. If you have been paying attention in the news lately, this has become quite a controversial idea. As more and more people decide either in favor or against Bitcoin, James Angel writes in hopes of persuading people to take the latter stance and avoid the usage of Bitcoin.
Angel utilizes rhetorical questions and historical analogies to aid his organization and strengthen the claim that people should stay away from Bitcoin. He begins with a short summary, synthesizing the mass of information that is available pertaining to Bitcoin. To begin the transition into his argument, he asks "Why not turn to Bitcoins?" Many people are wary of the government controlling their money, so this is a valid question to ask. His explanation addresses his opposition. A second rhetorical question strengthens his assertions by taking a stronger stance: "So are Bitcoins the currency of the future? I think not." By utilizing these rhetorical questions, Angel is able to successfully transition his piece from objectivity to acknowledgement to argument.
Bitcoins are a unique item; there have not been very many things like it in history. Therefore, connecting it to a well-known idea allows the audience to connect the novel idea to something already in their memory. "...Printing more almost worthless money, as the U.S. did in the American Revolution and Robert Mugabe did in Zimbabwe. One can expect governments to throw up legal roadblocks to prevent such competition from cutting into the lucrative business of printing money." Angel draws connections to the future of Bitcoins and the past American Revolution and Zimbabwe economic plunders. The future implications that Bitcoins will have are unknown, and this draws negative assumptions through the possibility of repeating bad habits. Angel successfully warns people from entering into a company with such an ambiguous future.
If Bitcoins becomes very successful, the world as we know it would change drastically. Our monetary system has remained alive because of governmental assistance and monitoring. Through effective rhetoric, James Angel successfully argues that we must prevent this from occurring.
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