In Rush Limbaugh’s essay, “Condoms: The New Diploma”, he shows the absurdity of the distribution of condoms in high school. He goes on to say that abstinence should be the only sex education because condoms do not provide full protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Limbaugh’s essay is a one sided opinion that maintains a constant thesis and is sarcastically persuasive, but contains several logical fallacies and little support for data. Limbaugh essay could appeal to the average conservative, but would probably alienate liberals because of its strong one sided opinion, and educated readers who are able to look past his sarcastic humor and find his generalizations illogical and foolish.

Upon analyzing Limbaugh’s essay I was able to identify the rhetorical elements. This is a biased essay as it was intended to be. Limbaugh shows this by discussing the absurdity of the distribution of condoms in high school throughout the entire essay. He only lists the advantages of abstinence leaving out any for school provided condoms as he believes there are none. He uses rhetorical questions, hypothetical situations, and facts for grounds to support his argument. However, wh

en listing the opposing side’s arguments he ridicules them by providing dismissive and sometimes sarcastic rebuttals. For example, Limbaugh states that “advocates of condom distribution say that kids are going to have sex, that try as we might we can’t stop them.” Then goes on to add if sex is going to be “something you can’t stop kids from doing” so is smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, and shooting guns. The essay stays on track with the idea promised in the title, avoiding any ideas that would pull the essay away from the main topic. The thesis statement which is clearly stated in the first paragraph says that condom distribution in public schools is ridiculous and the logic behind it shows people what is wrong with public education today. The overall tone of this essay is entertainingly persuasive because of his use of sarcasm and irony to illustrate his claim. For example, Limbaugh says that to distribute condoms or make them available to students in a school setting would condone and even promote sexual activity. He continues to say that if Johnny were trying to persuade Susie into having sex he could just say, “Hey, everything is okay. Nothing will go wrong. Heck, the school gave me this condom, they know what they’re doing. You’ll be fine”. The essay consists of about thirty percent data and about seventy percent sarcastic generalizations. However, he doesn’t use statistics very well, nor does he appeal to expert authority or popular opinion. For instance, he says, “The condom failure rate can be as high as twenty percent,” but where did this information come from. Furthermore, he uses language manipulation coupled with exaggerations that seem persuasive, but many flaws can be found in his argument. First, the only solution presented in his approach to sex education is that of abstinence, neglecting to consider a combination of the two. What if condoms were made available to students through the school nurse, while abstinence was taught in the classroom? His presentation consists of either handing out condoms to teens while saying, “Enjoy!” or teaching abstinence. There is

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