Fleming: Can Pictures be Arguments?

Throughout Fleming's ramblings of research, I found myself quickly overwhelmed and annoyed by his overanalysis of the term argument and what that term entails. Much as pictures are ambiguous, as discussed in his paper, so too I think are arguments. He discusses the difference between influence and argument, and concludes that picture cannot, independent of language, be an argument. Despite his heavy research, I still disagree. There are very powerful, convincing, and life-changing images that have consumed American culture and affected the way we think as a culture. Why does their have to be a rigid distinction, then, between argument and influence? I believe that images come with a certain amount of argument which the viewer then internalizes and analyzes, building its own set of powerful qualities which then have the ability to influence our opinions and behaviors.