Taking and Approach

Harris’ idea of “Taking an Approach” seemed very simple to me. Taking an approach, in simple terms, is about taking someone else’s work and making it your own. It is different then countering because the goal is to “transform… not replace or rebut” (74). You are not trying to take some else’s work and make them look further the discussion by arguing, you are changing the meaning to fit you ideals. The best example that Harris used to describe what taking an approach was, was a cover song. A cover song is and ideal example. It involves taking some else’s work and injecting your own meaning into it. “Think of Aretha Franklin turning Otis Redding’s macho demand for  “Respect” into an assertion of female independence” (75). A perfect example. Franklin took someone else’s creation and made it her own powerful song.

Taking an approach is not limited to song; it also can involve taking another’s plot or story line. How many times have we seen the Romeo and Juliet plot arise? Harris explains that there are three different ways to take an approach. These three approaches are; acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself and reflexivity. The first one implies somehow telling where you influence came from. The second one is about flipping the question on the writer and the third one about “reflection on key choice” (79).

Acknowledging influences are used a lot when article are being writing. In a New York Times article about Iran, they use a quote from an official. While quoting the man they say according to an I.A.E.A official. This is a prime example of Harris’s taking an approach. The author mentions exactly where he gets his influence. Another example of the acknowledging influences was observed in the CNN political blog. Again, they mentioned exactly where who their source was stating, “According to a CNN/Time/ORC International poll released Tuesday.” In these news stories it is really easy to find an example of taking an approach.

I think that a lot is gained when taking an approach. I feel that it supplies the reader with a different perspective on the same concepts. To understand an idea fully one must view it from both sides of the argument. I feel that taking an approach enable the reader to understand different sides of a story.