Ross Taylor Paintball Analysis

I would grade Ross Taylor’s paper a B-. My own personal view on paintball is that it is a war-glorifying sport in which kids take pride in hurting one another. I have played paintball once and personally, it was a painful and not very fun experience. Ross Taylor argues that Paintball is a greatly misunderstood sport that offers a certain skillset to players rather than simply promote violence. Taylor’s evidence and points of why people enjoy paintball, especially when he relates the game to building teamwork and being mentally challenging, were rather strong. However, my view on paintball barely changed and what I most took away from this essay was a new understanding and appreciation for why people are attracted to paintball. Taylor says, “paintball is a fun, athletic, mentally, challenging recreational activity that builds teamwork and releases tension” yet, so are most other sports in which the main objective is not to hurt others, and Taylor does not propose a rebuttal to this. Taylor appealed to pathos and logos the best. He shows pathos throughout the entire piece by sharing his personal relationship with the game and appealing to both side’s emotions. Taylor uses logos effectively by using many different types of evidence to support his claim and rebut the opposing views. His logos is portrayed with personal experience, quotes, and statistics and facts. Taylor’s ethos was often strong but it lacked certain clarity.