The losses of forwarding

The idea of “forwarding” is very intriguing and enlightening. Harris begins his definition of forwarding by describing how writing as a conversation pushes the discussion forward. That’s what forwarding is to Harris; taking another’s idea and absorbing, analyzing, and rewriting it to forward the original idea. Forwarding is about opening a conversation or discussion, “you add to it, push it ahead, keep it going” (36). These additions are not meant, for the most part, for the original writer, but are created to “persuade a third reader” (36).

            According to Harris there are four different ways of forwarding. The first one, illustrating, involves taking others text as a source for your own writing. Authorizing is when you “invoke the expertise or status of another writer to support your thinking” (39). Borrowing is just that, when you borrow someone else’s ideas. The final one is expanding, which is when the author adds his or her own opinion to what was taken from the original writer (39). All four of these categories involve a reader/writing taking and idea, concept, or image from another writer and adding a different opinion, using it as supporting evidence, or expanding on the work so it can be forwarded to yet another reader/writer where the process can be repeated.

            The blog that I am currently following is the CNN political blog. This blog provides great insight into the current political news. It provides news on the primaries as well as the presidency of Obama. While reading this blog I saw quite a few examples of Harris’ forwarding. In almost all of the articles that I read on this blog there are quotes from a GOP presidential candidate and then the author provides insight into what they are saying. For the most part this is an example of borrowing and expanding. The author takes the quote from another source and adds his or her own opinion to it to forward the text and entice other readers to do the same.

In this blog at least, the forwarding that is used can take the quotes out of context. The author takes a snippet of a speech and then critiques it. The quotes that are used can then be taken out of context by the third or four reader. So, the point from the original can be lost or diluted through forwarding.