The Achievement Habit Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Bernard Roths' book, The Achievement Habit, talks about how reasons are bullshit in the second chapter. He talks about how people use excuses to hide the fact that people aren't willing to give something in our life a high priority. Roth uses an example of a student getting a flat tire. Even though it probably did happen, getting to class wasn't a high priority in her life. She could have left earlier and then even if she did get a flat she might have got to class on time. Roth says that reasons are a polite way to have an excuse. "Excuses" is more of a negative way of saying something.

In the last paragraph I mentioned the student with a flat tire. Roth used Ethos when he was talking about that situation. When he talked about how even though

that it might have been true, he mentions the student's character/credibility when he say that he thought the student didn't have a high enough priority when it came to getting to class on time. Roth said that if there would have been a consequence for their actions then that person would have made more of an effort to get to class earlier. Not all people tell a lie, but not a lot tell the whole truth either. People say what they think sounds better. They might be telling the truth for the most part but they leave the small details out, like leaving the house a little late or not really caring if they were on time or not.

When people hear the words "reasons are bullshit" they use mostly Pathos thinking.

They sometimes wonder what he means by that. Roth uses examples that happen in everyday life, whether you are a student, parent, or teacher. He uses examples like when he was always late to the board meetings, perspective of others, the flat tire, or a hypothetical example like punching someone in the face and not having a reason. He has a sense of trustworthiness because people can relate to what he is saying. People understand what he means by reasons are bullshit. Roth connects with his audience because he lied about being late to that board meeting. He said that the traffic was busy, which was true, but he didn't mention that he left his house a little late. People relate to it more when he puts both reasons, true or false. He also mentions that people usually stare when you walk into a room late and how bad/uncomfortable that makes you

feel.

Roth also uses Logos a lot too.

He uses logic when he gives the examples. He gives real life reason why people might give excuses. When he gives the examples he tells what happened first and then he mentions on what they could have done different to not have to give the person that excuse. Like when he mentioned that he was late for that board meeting. He said that there was a lot of traffic when he was on his way. He mentioned what he did that made him late; squeezing in emails or phone calls and just not leaving in enough time. Roth said that he did not see that his meeting was a high priority so he didn't really think about what if he was late. He said that it didn't have any negative business consequences, but it did have an effect on his self-esteem. Roth said that he always felt bad when he always came in late and how people would stare at him when he walked through the

door.

Most people give reasons because they don't want to face the consequences to what really happened. So they just tell part of the truth so that they don't have to deal with a punishment. But what if there was a punishment even if you gave an excuse? Would people still use them? People often tend to feel bad when they use the excuse because they either don't feel good about lying to someone. There is always another way around something so that you don’t have to give an excuse. Leave early so that you are not late, plan ahead, or just tell the full truth if you get caught doing something that you think you have to tell a little lie. There is always ways to not have to have an excuse for something. It just depends on if you want to own up to the reason or not.

When Roth said reasons are bullshit, he really meant it. It is a prettier way of saying an excuse. Roth mentioned that if people didn't explain their behavior, it would be unreasonable. People just need to own up that not everything in our life is a high priority, but we shouldn’t give reasons on why we don’t want to do them.