Dissecting “Dying From Dust in the Wind”

In the 2019 Arak Journal article “Dying From Dust in the Wind,” Author Jeong argues that Korea is not approaching the country wide air pollution problems properly. Jeong’s main criticism is that Korea is not owning up to the pollution and decides to put the pressure more on China while giving half-hearted responses to the problem while making great observations on how Korea is not doing a good job fighting the air pollution. On the contrary, Jeong has stuffed the article with such a large amount of quotes and statistics from other organizations with little analysis. There were very few counter arguments which added to the feeling that Jeong was not arguing and rather presenting findings.

The intro to Jeong’s article immediately appeals to the reader's emotions with pathos. By asking the reader to “go outside, take a deep breath and relax” while letting “the fresh air fill your lungs with life and energy”(Jeong 7) then directly countering this hypothetical by saying ”air you breathe is actually deadly”(Jeong 7) builds positive emotions for the reader to then be instantly juxtaposed by the depressing emotions. This triggered the audience's emotions about the topic causing them to care more about what Korea is doing.

The paragraph where Jeong talks about the artificial rainfall solution is the epitome of how this is ineffective. The majority of the paragraph is quote after quote with very little analysis on how the counterargument is incorrect. After about four quotes back to back Jeong finally discusses his opinion on the quotes with one line of analysis that counters the points Joeng has made throughout the article up until this point. If Jeong had analyzed the four floating quotes before the final analysis mixed in conclusion, the paragraph would have seemed more necessary while also not supporting the counterargument like it does now.