Rhetoric

I used to think that rhetoric was clearly communicating ideas that a writer has, but after working on the paper all semester, I have a new interpretation of rhetoric that is more specific than that which i formerly held. Rhetoric is tailoring information and arguments to a target audience in order to make them receptive to the information being presented, which has also been tailored to ensure that it appeals to the selected audience in a way that convinces them of the issue being presented. Gathering relevant information about a topic is no longer the main challenge in writing like it was in high school. The challenge is selecting the appropriate audience, the appropriate selection of information for that audience, and the appropriate language to address that audience. This new form of rhetoric that I have employed is a higher-thinking version of my basic definition, the applied usage of an over-arching paradigm. Originally, when I just started writing my research paper, I was nervous that it would have had to have been a 30 page paper due to all the relevant information, statistics, studies, journals, etc I found about my topic, but that was before I took into account the adapted definition of rhetoric that I was supposed to use for the first time on this assignment. It's obvious to me now how selective I have to be when arguing a point or even just presenting an idea to a group of people. The way the world is nowadays, using the words that are not appropriately selected for your audience will not only ensure that they aren't convinced by your ideas, it will also probably emotionally wound them beyond all rational thought, and allow them to harbor ill will towards you and your ideas forever. While this soft attitude is a thorn in the side of society, it is also a "survival of the fittest" situation. Whoever practices rhetoric the best and can communicate facts or, God forbid, their opinions will continue to be able to do so, and those who are tactless in speech and writing will be shunned along with all their ideas. Fight club prepared us well to present viewpoints on controversial issues. Even though there wasn't a great risk of truly offending anyone in class as the different sides of the arguments were usually assigned, some of the debaters' true sentiments shined through their arguments, which is an important aspect of rhetoric that should never be forgotten. An appeal to emotion is the most difficult tool in rhetoric to use the right way. Use a lackluster emotional appeal, and the audience will be largely unimpressed. On the other hand, regardless of the side you are arguing for, and emotional appeal that is too overstated will result in a breakdown of logic in the audience, causing them to actually be less receptive to the ideas you're presenting them with.

Multimedia Project

I've shared my presentation with the group on the drive, but I couldn't post it here. If you'd like to watch it, it's available in the class folder and you can leave comments on this post.

Research Paper Writing

I think that exercises involving writing a thesis and topic sentences that match would have helped me a lot in preparation for this research paper, and it would help a lot in general to keep the words in the paper close to the themes and arguments that we are trying to address. I feel like maybe one more short paper to briefly practice sketching an effective thesis and several supporting topic sentences would help the flow of my papers, and possibly the other authors in the class too. I don't think that in class writing would help as much as a take-home assignment because the term paper is take-home,  so the practice should simulate the final result as much as possible. I think the drafting process took place over an appropriate amount of time, and it wouldn't be greatly beneficial to make it either longer or shorter. If I could go back, I would initially put more focus in my arguments and topic sentences in relation to my thesis rather than spending most of my energy on the evidence supporting them. I think that using more than one stylistic guide could have helped me develop my traits as a writer better, but Graff was a good place to start for argumentative resources. One useful trick that I learned that I plan on using in the future is reading through my thesis and topic sentences as if they were a paragraph of there own to make sure I'm using similar language and continuing the flow of thoughts through my paper.

Mizzou Blog

Pro (should have been asked to step down):

• racist issues on campus not addressed
• parade issue not addressed by president
• Wolfe wasn’t supporting the students’ efforts or helping them get what they needed, therefore he wasn’t doing his job.
• Campus comes first, therefore, they must focus on the student's’ well being
• With the removal of such incidents, more time is focused on academics, athletics, and economy

Con (should not have been asked to step down):

• open dialogue would have been a better option
• Political Correctness is shoved aside
• Censorship is continuously placed on coddled american minds
• Mizzou is a racial utopia
• Columbia is a great place to raise a family and extend your education
• Racism was a systemic issue, not just stemming from one person, they should have solved it as an institution.

continued post

Blog Prompt 3 11.6.15

My first week at Northridge, I was shocked and relieved too see that everyone else was "faking it" too. "Come on, Larry you could've done much better than this"(1), I thought, laughing to myself at the thought of my superior trying and failing to screw me over yet again. I introduced myself to the boy whose locker was next to mine; he said his name was Charlie, and I dazzled him with an anecdote (2) about how I came to study there at Northridge. I told a story about an egotistical teacher who didn't rest until he got me kicked out of my last school. What Charlie didn't know was that the story was really a satire (3) about Larry's self-serving, willingly ignorant attitude towards those who he commanded. Charlie countered with a tale about how he ditched study hall one day to get some donuts. I wasn't impressed to say the least; it was no doubt an attempted appeal (4) to my apparent anti-establishment sentiments. As is glaringly obvious by now I'm sure, Charlie was quite the flat character (5) in the grand scheme of my plans at Northridge, as he did not offer even the slightest bit of insight into the underground drug-ring that operated during lunch and study-hall hours. However, Charlie's slapstick (6) humor and pervasive buffoonery (7) provided the perfect cover; the drug kingpins would never expect Charlie's new best friend of being bright enough to uncover their industry. One dark, dreary, damp day (8), I came slowly and unwillingly (9) into school to find Charlie negotiating heatedly with a group of guys I sarcastically (10) referred to as "The one percent" due to their designer salmon shorts, gelled hair, and sickening "My dad could beat up your dad" attitude. I was surprised, and I found it ironic (11) that Charlie, someone who wasn't even intelligent enough to be anything but genuine, was talking so passionately with people who only knew how to act like the models they saw in magazines. I never got my answer, as Charlie and I made eye contact and he made his way over as the trust-fund drones threw words at him that had connotations (12) which their sheltered minds couldn't begin to fathom. It was clear to me that they weren't actually friends, as their attitudes (13) toward him were reflected blatantly in their tone (14), which indicated their disgust for anyone who dared differ from them. I asked Charlie why he would talk to people who treat him so poorly, but he only answered with "Oh, they're not that bad, they just like to mess around with their friends". From then on it was clear to me that Charlie was a highly unreliable narrator (15) when it came to social tensions and cliques, and I reminded myself to gather information from other sources regarding the investigation. I was instructed to spend my first quarter at Northridge focusing only on blending in, but it was difficult as each group was made up of what seemed to be a ridiculous caricature (16) of kids from my High School days. It was impossible to belong to one group of students while communicating with any other. Trying to fit into multiple groups was like trying to put one leg into both holes in your pants (17). I quickly became known as "Jake the floater" (18), because I would spend time with all the different groups each day trying to get a hold of who knew about dealers, suppliers, buyers, etc. I was just getting into a groove with my social status, but the pace (19) of my experience was about to pick up faster than I could ever have expected. Charlie ran up to me one morning looking like a kid who just robbed a candy store (20). He pulled me over to his locker, ripped the door open, and my jaw dropped halfway to the floor (21). It was clear to me now what he had been discussing so fervently with the one percent.

To Be Continued...

***

The Sting

As I looked into Charlie's locker, I couldn't muster up a single thought for what I was seeing. Pounds and pounds of white pills and powders, and a roll of what must have been over a thousand dollars on the top shelf. It seemed that I had befriended the one percent's newest dealer. I went home early that day to call Larry and start organizing a take-down, as I was much closer to the source than I formerly imagined. I asked him where he got all these drugs, and he simply said "Joe". Joe was the ring leader of the one percent, which I assumed were the kingpins  of the school at this point. Not surprising. Larry called me back and said that they would bug the one percent's lockers the next day, and I would soon be off the case with a success under my belt. For the rest of the week, I laid low waiting for my department to gather  enough evidence to make some arrests. Annoyingly, Charlie kept asking me what I thought about the drugs, to which I always just shrugged like I was totally indifferent. At the end of the longest week of my life, I gave Larry a call. I got no answer. I called his secretary, no answer. Strange. I went out to the parking lot, got into my car and drove to my office to figure out what was going on with everyone. Our entire suite was empty, and Larry's desk was cleared off. Very unusual for such a workaholic. I was walking around his desk, checking to see if he had any recordings or videotapes from the wires they installed. After I failed, was on my way out when I noticed something written on the office chalkboard. It said in big letters: "NOTHING..?". Not knowing what it meant, I decided to return home after my strange day. When I got to my car, Charlie was waiting for me. I didn't know how he got there or how he knew I would ever go there, but as soon as he saw me he charged. he pulled a knife, and my training took over. I drew my .22, dodged around his swing arm, pressed the barrel up to his temple and fired. the small caliber round made short work of his brain, bouncing around in his skull and scrambling them like a smoothie. I walked over to the SUV that wasn't there when I pulled up, popped the trunk, and sure enough, there were Larry and his secretary.

Women Employment Argument

Boys: Pro equal hiring 
Girls: Leave it how it is

Pros:

• Out of the S&P 500 companies women only hold 4.4% of the CEO positions. That equates to only 22 out of the 500 companies on the list
• Men and women each make up about half of the population, so it is logical for women politicians to be more prominent for equal representation of the citizens’ needs
• Only 14.2% of the top five leadership positions at the companies in the S&P 500 are held by women
• Progress in just letting the problem work itself out has been extremely slow over the last 80 years and is almost nonexistent
• This article examines many explanations for why women have not risen to the top, including lack of line experience, inadequate career opportunities, gender differences in linguistic styles and socialization, gender-based stereotypes, the old boy network at the top, and tokenism. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1006226129868 - to overcome basic differences, women should be put in higher management positions so that firms can get acclimated to the changed climate
• Maggie Wilderotter, one of the 24 women in the top five highest positions in any company is being replaced by a man and therefore progress is going from next to nothing to backwords
• Stereotypes of women are one of the main things holding them back and as society we are not dropping the stereotypes anytime soon so action needs to be taken
• Women do make it into management and board rooms, but with such an overpowering ratio in favor of men, it is the same as not having any women at all, as the men can speak over women and get recognition from their “good old boy” attitudes
• Companies with women in upper level management positions significantly outperform those with all men in the upper level positions so there should be a push for more women in upper level positions

• “As there were more women, the first woman became more active. They were all more active as the number of women increased. It's a group dynamic. When you bring on one of any demographic group, they’re trying to figure out how they fit. With more, that's not an issue. They were more vocal, more willing to push their issues when more women were added to the board. More relaxed” (Male CEO). -competency is rarely the issue, it is only a factor of upper management selecting only who they want.
  
  
  Cons:
  • Women have caught up with men in terms of education. In fact, in the United States and a number of other countries, women now actually surpass men in educational achievement. (Harvard Law School Blog)
  • So there is not a problem with female achievement. The problem enters in when young adults try to balance work and family, and women end up carrying nearly all of the caregiving responsibilities. (Harvard Law School Blog)
  • Women’s participation in the U.S. labor force climbed during the 1970s and 1980s, reaching 60 percent in 2000. (International Labor Organization)
  • One in five women are working part time... while at the start of the recession less than one in ten women were doing so. (International Labor Organization)
  • The overall unemployment rate for women is lower than men’s and they are also less likely to be among the long-term unemployed. (International Labor Organization)
  • The March 26th issue of Time Magazine proclaims on its front cover “The Richer $ex- Women are overtaking men as America’s breadwinners.
  • “Almost 40% of wives make more money than their husbands…Women today make up almost 60% of U.S. college students and earn the majority of doctorates and master’s degrees…In the majority of U.S. metro areas, single, childless women in their 20s make more per dollar than their male peers.” (Time Magazine)
  • Even more importantly the percentage of managers who are women has risen from 35% to 38% of the last twenty years
  
  
  • Cindy Padnos, entrepreneur, found that women-operated, venture-backed high tech companies average 12 percent higher annual revenues. They also use on average one-third less capital than male counterparts' startups.
  • From a corporate perspective, there's a tremendous benefit to having a diverse workforce
  • "It's almost impossible to think a corporation can be successful in identifying the right products and meeting the market needs when the market is half women and half men."
  • Bryant said a company's workforce must reflect the market it serves.
  • "That's what makes it easy for corporations to rally behind 'let's grow the diverse population of our employee base'," Bryant said.
  
  
  "Con Argument is saying that women don’t need the laws to change in order to be hired because women are becoming increasingly educated, the workplace would benefit with diversity and if the employment rate of women continues, more women will be employed than men (The overall unemployment rate for women is lower than men’s and they are also less likely to be among the long-term unemployed. (International Labor Organization))."

Blog Prompt 3 11.6.15

My first week at Northridge, I was shocked and relieved too see that everyone else was "faking it" too. "Come on, Larry you could've done much better than this"(1), I thought, laughing to myself at the thought of my superior trying and failing to screw me over yet again. I introduced myself to the boy whose locker was next to mine; he said his name was Charlie, and I dazzled him with an anecdote (2) about how I came to study there at Northridge. I told a story about an egotistical teacher who didn't rest until he got me kicked out of my last school. What Charlie didn't know was that the story was really a satire (3) about Larry's self-serving, willingly ignorant attitude towards those who he commanded. Charlie countered with a tale about how he ditched study hall one day to get some donuts. I wasn't impressed to say the least; it was no doubt an attempted appeal (4) to my apparent anti-establishment sentiments. As is glaringly obvious by now I'm sure, Charlie was quite the flat character (5) in the grand scheme of my plans at Northridge, as he did not offer even the slightest bit of insight into the underground drug-ring that operated during lunch and study-hall hours. However, Charlie's slapstick (6) humor and pervasive buffoonery (7) provided the perfect cover; the drug kingpins would never expect Charlie's new best friend of being bright enough to uncover their industry. One dark, dreary, damp day (8), I came slowly and unwillingly (9) into school to find Charlie negotiating heatedly with a group of guys I sarcastically (10) referred to as "The one percent" due to their designer salmon shorts, gelled hair, and sickening "My dad could beat up your dad" attitude. I was surprised, and I found it ironic (11) that Charlie, someone who wasn't even intelligent enough to be anything but genuine, was talking so passionately with people who only knew how to act like the models they saw in magazines. I never got my answer, as Charlie and I made eye contact and he made his way over as the trust-fund drones threw words at him that had connotations (12) which their sheltered minds couldn't begin to fathom. It was clear to me that they weren't actually friends, as their attitudes (13) toward him were reflected blatantly in their tone (14), which indicated their disgust for anyone who dared differ from them. I asked Charlie why he would talk to people who treat him so poorly, but he only answered with "Oh, they're not that bad, they just like to mess around with their friends". From then on it was clear to me that Charlie was a highly unreliable narrator (15) when it came to social tensions and cliques, and I reminded myself to gather information from other sources regarding the investigation. I was instructed to spend my first quarter at Northridge focusing only on blending in, but it was difficult as each group was made up of what seemed to be a ridiculous caricature (16) of kids from my High School days. It was impossible to belong to one group of students while communicating with any other. Trying to fit into multiple groups was like trying to put one leg into both holes in your pants (17). I quickly became known as "Jake the floater" (18), because I would spend time with all the different groups each day trying to get a hold of who knew about dealers, suppliers, buyers, etc. I was just getting into a groove with my social status, but the pace (19) of my experience was about to pick up faster than I could ever have expected. Charlie ran up to me one morning looking like a kid who just robbed a candy store (20). He pulled me over to his locker, ripped the door open, and my jaw dropped halfway to the floor (21). It was clear to me now what he had been discussing so fervently with the one percent.

To Be Continued...

GMOs

Pro:
-nearly all foods are gmo, and no negative effects have been recorded so far
-foods can be more hardy and resistant, bigger crop yields
-more efficient use of resources
-artificial selection has been around for a long time

Con:
-breeding weed-resistant plants may produce super-weeds/ "GMO" weeds
-GMOs still take just as long to mature as non GMOs
-GMOs could be crossed with allergens that people are not aware of

Fight Club Papers

Being forced to represent a point of view that is contradictory to the one that you naturally form from your own logic and emotions helps greatly with advocating for a cause because you can present different viewpoints contrary to your argument to appeal to those who might not be convinced by your topic and argue against them to persuade those who might share the same arguments that contradict your natural point of view. the ability to argue for any position and clearly see pros and cons, irrespective of emotional bias is a huge skill that is largely unappreciated in persuasive writing. Even though debates can help someone think of counter-arguments, it's still difficult to argue against the counter-arguments with evidence, as some may be way too specific, illogical, or just too obscure to dream up as an opponent, and therefore impossible to debate against. In a verbal debate, its easier to appeal to a wider range of people as the focus is nearly all on the present point of debate, rather than one single point in a paper which is heavily dependent on all the rest of the words written. In a debate, it's much easier to broaden an argument without being obviously self-contradicting. However, a paper is easier because of the time-frame and the ample amount of sources that the author can accumulate to back up the arguments. Both situations have their own pros and cons, but generally people's minds can be more easily molded in the free-form dialogue of verbal debates and crossfire.

Self-Driving Cars Debate

Pro (Flip the switch) - Valdes:

• it is more rational to hit a man who is sleeping and not paying attention than to hit people that are aware of what is happening
• it makes more sense to sacrifice him because he is not aware
• less guilt associated with the situation because you killed less people
• did not kill people with lots of families
• less lives lost = less harm to society
• killing no one at all is the best option, but if you have to kill, kill the least amount of people
• 90% of people in the survey chose to minimize harm
• people tend to agree that it is the best option for the circumstances
• either way you violate a moral rule, but this option is the lesser offense
• if you do not flip the switch and killed 5 hikers, people tended to be more traumatized and emotionally stressed out
• anxiety about the effects of the decision

Con (Don't flip the switch) - Krupowicz:

• If you do not flip the switch, it is natural way of life
• not at fault if you do not get involved in the situation
• same outcome; as if you were never there
• selfish to think or act on the situational fact that we can choose who lives and dies
• not up to us
• up to fate
• human life is invaluable, so 5 lives is the same as 1 life
• all or nothing; not quantifiable
• self-driving car should be programmed to stay on the road because it is machine and its decisions need to keep it on the road
• there could be negative consequences that complicate multiple people's lives rather than just killing one person

Buffalo Grove Flag

1. A flag is something that we see but we never really look at. This video gives ideas for great designs for flags that can inspire more spirit.

2.

3. The original flag of Buffalo Grove, IL is pretty simple, although the focal point is a circle of leaves and a bison, which may be too intricate if the designer followed the one-by-one and a half inch rule. The symbolism is good, but the colors are strange because it includes two shades of brown and one shade of green, which are not very basic or easy to differentiate. There are no words or mottoes, and it is pretty distinctive. For my flag, I kept the four diagonal lines from the original flag, but instead of the bison in the middle I put a blue circle, symbolizing an oasis because the founders of Buffalo Grove chose the location based on the bison stopping for a drink near a pasture in which they were grazing. Because of the grazing and the Midwest, I changed the four lines from brown to yellow for wheat, corn, and grass which were and are farming staples in Illinois. I kept the background white for the sake of simplicity. I tried to keep the best balance possible between being distinctive yet simple, and I didn’t add any words or the village crest, seal, or motto for the sake of a simple, attractive flag that can be easily remembered and recognized. The old flag is decent, but it seems quite outdated and it could use some more "pop" because most people don't care enough to stop and read into a flag or fly it if it doesn't look cool.

What is Original? fight club

Pro: McManus
-lots of songs with "la dee da"
-Easier to get ideas digitally, people don't feel the need to be as creative
-top 40 songs aren't creative or original, just "catchy", have mass appeal
-short attention spans means a lot of material being pumped out, leads to copying songs because its much quicker to produce.
-"original" ideas are only made popular when they're marketed well i.e. Apple touchscreen
-some songs are made to be sampled, others are unique


Con: Dizon
-Fashion industry: no copyright, easy to get knockoffs, but originals get more credit because they are higher quality than copies
-Chanel and Versace copying each other
-"new" in fashion is synonymous with "weird"/ unusual
-everything is based off a copy with new ideas mixed into it
-more copying leads to innovation in art
-big artists' integrity come into question by copying- Beyonce's "Drunken Love" intro

The removal of the American spine

The main point of this article is that in modern society, everyone is encouraged to obsess over everyone else's sensitivities instead of people just dealing with their uncomfortable feelings like adults. The article says that this causes a lot of problems because people can barely even communicate anymore due to the filters that they have to apply to their speech, and also no one is developing the "thick skin" that people need in the real world.
"Emotional reasoning dominates many campus debates and discussions." 
What Lukianoff is saying here is that the "Coddling" is counterproductive because emotions are taking precedence over logic and knowledge, which is poisoning education (135). This is not to say that people shouldn't be aware of others' issues, but rather people should learn the balance between getting offended at anything that opposes their opinion, and keeping an open mind to new points of view (135). The article sums up the argument well with the following quote:
"According to the most-basic tenets of psychology, helping people with anxiety disorders avoid the things they fear is misguided." Anyone familiar with certain therapeutic treatments for anxiety orders should agree that avoidance is a terrible policy, as stressful situations in the real world are inevitable and a lot of therapy is based on exposures to anxiety-inducing situations (73). Lukianoff would tell you that colleges are striving "to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense."(72) This isn't any kind of solution to the problem, as it doesn't solve anything; it only puts off the inevitable. This problem has already caused too much damage, and as Lukianoff states, it's even bad "for American Democracy, which has already been paralyzed by worsening partisanship".

 Lukianoff, Greg, and Jonathan Haidt. "The Coddling of the American Mind." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, Sept. 2015. Web. 10 Oct. 2015.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say / I Say. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2015. Print.

Angel of Death

DISCLAIMER: Do not read this post if you take offense to graphic language, the song I chose contains material meant to draw a visceral response from the audience.

Slayer's song "Angel of Death" was controversial when it first came out, and still is today due to rhetorical techniques only utilized by metal bands. the song is about Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi physician who performed human experiments on the victims at Auschwitz during the second world war. At the time that this song came out, Slayer was the most extreme band in existence, and they employed a technique popular in death metal which I refer to as satirical irony. It is common for vocalists to adopt the point of view of the person they are commenting on, and express the disgusting thoughts that the person has. This is why there is a stigma against this song in particular, people who are ignorant of this technique think that the vocalist is literally saying that he wants to do these things, when he is really ridiculing the sick person who committed these crimes against humanity. Tom Araya, Slayer's vocalist, has a higher-pitched, clean style of vocals that is present mainly in hardcore punk and thrash metal. This style of vocals usually convey a lot of angst as it is easier to annunciate vocal inflections when you're not growling. Overall, the cover by "Jaytromusic" on Youtube gives off very different vibes. His vocal style is less clear, taking after Chris Barnes and George Fisher of Cannibal Corpse, modeling his low, guttural words after death metal and black metal more than thrash metal. These lower vocals are associated less with political commentaries that are common in thrash metal and hardcore. This style of vocals is meant to exaggerate the purely evil side of the words, rather than a larger meaning behind them. Because of this, the tone of the song is different than the original version. Two phrases in the song stand out in terms of the different tone displayed by the performer.
"How long can you last
In this frozen water burial?
Sewn together, joining heads..."

When Slayer plays this song, it's like the vocalist is speaking as an observing third party, commenting on the nature of the situation through his words.

When "Jaytromusic" performs this set of lines, his words make it seem like he is the perpetrator, taunting his victims with his evil sounding voice.

"Angel of Death
Monarch to the kingdom of the dead
Infamous butcher,
Angel of Death"

As the punchline of this song, both vocalists take more care with this phrase than the others.

Tom Araya opens up his voice and makes it seem like he is throwing his head back and yelling to the world. This gives the impression that he is addressing the disgrace of this story.

Here, "Jaytromusic" does nearly the same thing, but adding even more anger to his words, and sustaining the end of each line, emphasizing this phrase in relation to the others.

The message in this song is basically the same from both vocalists, they are simply bringing up this story and conveying their awe at the evil in the world. Both styles are successful to me, but in my opinion Tom Araya does a better job appealing to a large audience due to his more objective sounding voice.

College Education Argument

Pro (Loftus):

• Some people's financial situations do not allow them to afford a college education, so it does not make sense for them to spend the money on college
• It can make more sense for someone to join the workforce right away if their family requires it
• Not everyone who graduates with a college degree uses their degree in their field of study; in this case it is pointless to spend money on that degree
• highly-praised degrees sometimes have high rates of unemployment (i.e. architecture)
• the economy can make it difficult
• Loans on top of a bad economic situation are never a good idea for students
• work and obtain more money rather than spend money they don't have
• Going to college delays the time you could have been joining the workforce
• telling people they need to go to college is sometimes a disservice rather than encouragement
• You can break through socioeconomic limits
• if you work hard enough, and you have people skills, anything is possible

Con (Krupowicz):

• Everyone should go to college
• the investment is not terribly large if you are smart about where you go
• can get a Bachelor's degree for an inexpensive amount
• Much harder to make six figures without a degree
• Statistically people are stuck in the socioeconomic status in which they are born
• college education, although it is a risk, it can help someone break out of their poor socioeconomic condition and help the family
• Going to college teaches diligence, time management, and how to work
• College teaches essential skills to have before entering the workforce
• Certain degrees will not always work out
• needs to be more awareness of how the economy is working
• should not be educated for one specific career; get a more general degree, work hard, gain connections

Arguments

I feel like everyone in my life argues quite a bit. It seems that people will argue with anyone who will listen and is wiling to disagree with them on anything they say. Mainly, arguments that I hear going on focus around personal views, whether it's something serious like religion or race, or something trivial like whether football or baseball is a more quintessential American pass-time. The arguments that my peers have rarely accomplish anything because they don't actually want to debate and compare ideas, they just want to throw their "superior" ideas at other people and prove how right they are. These arguments help some people and hurt others. Overall, it helps to be surrounded by annoying arguments and foolish points of view because it helps develop maturity, much like caring for small children. However, sometimes it can hurt people because in informal arguments, not many people know how to respectfully disagree. I just returned from lunch, where my vegetarian friend got made fun of by an ignorant person because "meat is so delicious.. how can you just not ever eat any food that tastes good?", followed by that person holding their chicken nuggets in the vegetarians face and telling him to eat them. This same person argued that NASCAR is the best sport (an opinion) and was dumbfounded when people had the audacity to disagree. This particular person is not mentally mature enough to learn from arguments- he needs to learn how to compare ideas, like many others who argue incorrectly. This respect (or lack thereof) is the main factor in how formal environments like a classroom can nurture an argument. Professors in my experience are always happy to entertain a debate where both parties are genuinely interested in sharing view points and trying to better themselves, but professors rarely respond well (if at all) to students who disagree to simply prove that they know more than anyone else, instead of offering their knowledge to teach others while inviting others to do the same. Strangely, in my experience the less important the argument is (for example, coke vs pepsi), the more vicious the words are that are directed between the participants. Interestingly, some of the better arguers that I'm ever around don't ever bother getting into such trivial arguments, despite having their own personal views that disagree with others'.

Fight Club 9/24: Against Meat

Pro: He should be a vegetarian

- He should be a vegetarian because he thinks it is a ethical choice for him to make and that it is also the right choice. 

- The grandma has her ethical beliefs as well. For example when the Russian butcher offered her meat she didn't take it because it was pork and thats against her religion. 

- Although he has good memories eating meat with his family he can create just as many good memories with a different type of food group.

- He will still be able to attend the tradition of going out for chicken and soup on Shabbat without eating then chicken because soup is also a part of the tradition. 

- Although he has gone all his life eating meat that doesn't mean its to late to stop. As for getting protein in your diet there are many different ways to do so. 

Con: He should not be a vegetarian

- Although the grandma believes eating all food that is offered is important because of her past. She is able to limits herself to not eating pork due to her religion but limiting yourself to all types of meat is a large range of food you would have to deny. 

- He has a lot of good memories revolving around meat and his family.

- They have a tradition of going to get chicken on Shabbat if he became a vegetarian he would not be able to eat the chicken as he normally would.

- He has gone all his life eating meat and receiving protein and has been well off.

Elastic Heart

After watching this music video for the first time, it's difficult to "put this 'sensation' of understanding into words"(p 316) as one must in a rhetorical analysis. However, I think that the main point of the video is showing that she was trapped (hence the cage, 0:02) in an unhealthy relationship, hence the fighting/ dancing, symbolizing both their closeness in the relationship and how they cause each other pain (1:10). The general feeling communicated by the video is that she tried to leave before (2:53), but that she came back because she caved in to her desires for intimacy, even though it was an unhealthy relationship (3:16). CDA says that in critiquing something for a rhetorical analysis, "certain aspects will stand out: a funky voice, a scary scene in the background, some strange words, or an example that makes you blink." To me, this video had all of these features. everything from the dirty, plain clothes they wear (0:07), their strange fight-dancing (1:10), and the cage (0:02) all give this video a very confusing vibe, but that could be because Sia was confused about her past relationship: she couldn't tell what was really going on because her feelings got in the way of her rationale, just like our feelings towards fighting, cages, and dirty clothes probably block part of our critical thinking skills. These choices paired with certain lyrical points of emphasis like "And another one bites the dust", "You did not break me", "Cos I've got an elastic heart" give the audience the feeling that the music video is intended to have a combative, slightly resentful and defiant tone in which she shows that she is shrinking her loss down to a simple cycle of nature (Another one bites the dust), and she refuses to admit that her partner had the power over her to "Break" her. The title of the song, used in the line "Cos I've got an elastic heart" seems to communicate the fact that her heart may be stretched and bent out of shape by losses and troubles, but it will never break and she will continue fighting to live her life. This mood is different than my original hypothesis, as I couldn't initially tell how exactly she was trying to communicate her thoughts and feelings on the subject. Reading the lyrics and watching the video separately, the audience can get the general mood and tone of what she is saying, but having them together really gives the viewer insight into how she really feels, as the combination of the imagery and the music inspires them to feel similarly. She appealed to the emotions of her audience with the mood of the music as well as the subject matter of the lyrics and the story told by the video of a couple in an unhealthy relationship, one that she struggled to get out of but when she finally did she felt liberated and independent. This is something that many people have gone through, so it has mass appeal on the emotional level.

Sources:
"Lyrics." Sia —. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.

"Sia - Elastic Heart Feat. Shia LaBeouf & Maddie Ziegler (Official Video)."YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2015.

Wysocki, Anne Frances, and Dennis A. Lynch. Compose, Design, Advocate: A Rhetoric for Integrating Written, Visual, and Oral Communication. New York: Longman, 2007. Print.

Fight Club: Campaign to Get Rid of Single-Sex Classrooms (9/17/15)

Pros:

• It takes out the gender stereotype
• Women head towards math and analytical paths, and vice versa with men towards literature
• Men and women learn better in different environments
• "Girls cannot leave it to boys to dissect the frog, and boys can't leave it to girls to edit the newspaper."
• Men go to a male only school to learn be gentlemen better
• Statistically, girls who go to co-ed schools don't lean towards analytical career paths, which is exactly the opposite for women how attend female only schools.

Cons:

• If you separate by gender, men and women can't learn from each other
• Isolating by gender will give people a different insight on the world
• "Girls cannot leave it to boys to dissect the frog, and boys can't leave it to girls to edit the newspaper." 
• If you separate them, then you're avoiding the problem instead of facing it hands on
• Prepares them for the future
• It may not seem like the best thing for them at the time, but in reality, nothing is better
• High school is the foundation for the real world, so high school should be consistent with reality
• Better test scores-- why are they relevant?
• Is it proven that better test scores will set men and women up better in reality?
• There aren't any well-designed research that proves that single-sex education improves academic achievement
• There is good evidence that sex segregation increases gender stereotyping and "legitimizes institutional sexism"

Moderator:

• What do you guys think about the comparison of the gender organization and race organization?
• Pro and Con: The segregation issue is separate from gender organization
• Both sides agree that men and women are created equal, the gender organization isn't part of a race issue.
• Do you think co-ed education affects society and how people conduct themselves professionally?
• Pro: It takes out the whole "popularity" feel
• Con: Co-ed kind of tames men and women from acting out
• There isn't necessarily anyone you want impress in an all men/all women school

Fight Club: New Romantics in the Computer Age

Pro-article (Loftus):

• We see computers taking over jobs
• The romantics are becoming fewer, but they are very dedicated in their work
• "People eventually want their souls stirred"
• A computer can diagnose a sick child, but the doctor is the one who actually helps the patient
• There is no emotion in lines of code
• nothing is quite like the nurturing care of a human being
• IT'S NOT THE SAME!
• computers do not have soft arms; they cannot hug you
• Emphasis on computer interaction: children will not interact with humans emotionally or personally
• elimination of empathy/sympathy; computers cannot self-express like humans
• Computers eventually take away love from the world
• Computers cannot have or express feelings

Opposition (Krupowicz):

• Computers can take over what humans do because programs are modeled after human thought
• programmed BY a human, FOR a human
• Computers will need to become more and more comparable to the way that humans work/think
• There are still artistic occupations, but eventually computers will be able to take over every job humans can do as long as humans are able to program them
• Computers can start to see connections
• Computers are programmed by people with emotions; they can represent those emotions
• Singularity: computers become completely self-aware and can function independently; they become more intelligent than humans
• at this point, computers will be able to act at a higher level than people