Communication Strategies

In, Do We Need To Go There Again an article by Bel Bruno in the popular My Turn section of Newsweek, he argues that the events that fate deals out to each person, although sometimes seemingly completely negative, come together in subtle ways to ease situations which are otherwise fraught with anxiety and resentment in Brunos case, confessing his homosexuality to his conventional father.

The advocate of this argument, as mentioned earlier, is Bel Bruno, a magazine editor who is currently working on a book about relationships, the vagaries of urban life and the coming of the Internet Age. On reading the article, one discovers that he is a 42 year old bachelor and by his own admission, a homosexual. The style in which he writes indicates the lucidity that follows a period of struggling with and subsequently coming to terms with his sexual awakening. Statements such as, I, at 42, unmarried and the youngest of three brothers, was now his partial caretaker reveal his honesty to himself and the world around him. Since he does not mention anything more about his brothers, one tends to assume a limited bond between Bel and them. Certain portions in the article reveal the authors sense of humor and ability to see the lighter side of a situation rather than be weighed down by it. Towards the end of the write up he jokes about taking advantage of his fathers Alzheimers induced memory loss and the prospect of facing another Groundhog Day of coming out of the closet

At one point, it occurred to me that if this interrogation thing happened yet again, maybe I could revise my autobiography a bit- add in an adoring wife and kids, a spunky German shepherd, and a bad knee from my gridiron days at Penn State.

The authors target audience is mainly other homosexuals, most of who are faced with similar dilemmas when coming out to their parents.

Bel reveals his inclusion in this group when he says, Surely it is a rare opportunity to come out to a parent twice. Some never get around to doing it once. That being said, the article also addresses the painful process of coming to terms with the fact that one of your parents is dying. The article is also directed at people who have faced similar situations.

Although Bruno maintains an even, positive tone throughout the article, he implicitly attacks the conventional patriarchal mindset which takes pride only in knowing that a son fits the American stereotype by middle age (wife and two kids) or who played contact sports in high school (gridiron at Penn State) and treat homosexuality as being disgusting or unnatural The implicit message that Bruno delivers through the piece is that, sadly enough, it took a life threatening disease and layers of plaque on (his fathers) brains misfiring synapses to finally absolve the relationship that they shared of all the pent up, unexpressed awkwardness and disappointment that built up in the twelve years of silence that followed his initial confession. He claims in amazement that the second time around it felt all right. This is one of the reasons that his fathers passing away seemed timely. He says that it was alright because they had finally gotten the talk just right anyway.

The type of argument that Bruno employs in this piece are valid, inductive arguments. His fathers membership in the Moose Lodge is taken to be a good indicator of his conventional mindset. Similarly, his mothers participation in a mind-expansion class and a local production of Sondheims Company is taken to be a measure of her open-mindedness. Bruno uses another inductive argument when he claims that his fathers cheerful gathering of facts is related to his worsening Alzheimers condition. An appeal to authority is used when he talks about being in the closet to parents as being a flaming red flag on the homosexual dating checklist. It is not true that all homosexuals see secrecy from parents as being a red flag.

But being one himself, Bruno claims authority on the matter and gets the audience to believe what he is saying as universally true. The argument is also an invalid inductive argument which states

1. It is undesirable to be in the closet to ones parents.
2. I am in the closet to my parents.
3 Therefore, I am undesirable.

Both statement 1 and statement 3 are invalid. The first is assumed to be universally true based on limited knowledge and third is assumed to be related to the second without considering the other possible reasons for it.