TOW #10 - Join or Die

Ben Franklin’s “Join or Die” is famous propaganda about uniting the colonies written for the British colonists. The French and Indian war was beginning at the same time that this political cartoon was released (1751). Ben Franklin thought that was very important that the colonies were unified during wartime. The cartoon includes a snake that has 8 British colonies, with the snake’s head being the north part and the snake’s tail being the south. The colonies are all separated, and the snake is dead. Ben Franklin, one of the founding fathers, created this political cartoon. He has instant credibility, he is one of the most influential historical figures of this time period and has a lot of ethos through his work during his lifetime. Ben Franklin uses rhetorical devices to establish his purpose. Ben Franklin uses symbolism. There was a myth that if a cut up snake was put back together by sunset it could come back to life. The snake symbolizes the colonial unity, and says that America need to put the pieces back together and become unified before it is too late. He also has an ominous tone. By saying “join or die” on the bottom, Franklin is showing the importance of unity at this dire time. If the colonies were not unified, then like the snake they would all die separately. This serves as a call to action, which is scaring the colonists into uniting, or else they will end up dead like the snake. Ben Franklin also juxtaposes all of the states together. What is interesting is that he does not seem to make one state seem bigger or more important than the other. Pennsylvania is a lot bigger than New Jersey, however in the text it doesn’t seem to be too much bigger. By keeping all of the parts relatively the same size, Franklin is showing that all of the states and their unification is important. Ben Franklin’s purpose was to ask for unity in the British colonists during the French and Indian war. This political cartoon was reprinted in many newspapers across the colonies, and it had a big effect on their unity. It almost scared colonists into unifying. I believe Franklin did achieve his purpose of asking for unity as it had a very big impact on America.

IRB Post #2 - The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle is a collection of memoirs written by Jeannette Walls that is about growing up with a deeply dysfunctional family.  I have decided to read it as my IRB because it received amazing reviews. Family has a deep meaning to me, so I wanted to read about the love of other families and see if it helps me gain a deeper understanding of my own family. 

TOW #9 - Not Our President

In “‘Not Our President’: Protests Spread After Donald Trump’s Election,” the authors explain how there were violent protests after Donald Trump was elected. The article was written by Annie Correal and Christopher Mele who are both credible as they are writers for the New York Times. The text was written for a general American audience the day after Donald Trump was elected president. Both those who support and do not support Donald Trump should understand the actions that are being made against him to fully understand what is happening in our country. By using interviews, the authors appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos. The authors appeals to ethos because they show that they are credible - they are getting primary sources to explain what is happening. They are appealing to logos through interviews to show the intentions behind the riots. Logos is also appealed to through the statistics they use, for example 15 people were arrested during one of the riots. They also use Rogerian Argument because they show both sides of the argument. They show how the riots are destructive and how they have negative consequences. However, the authors also show the intent behind the riots and give them justification. Through all of these rhetorical devices I think the authors wanted to show that the election of Donald Trump is causing a divide within the country. The American people who do not like Trump are very upset and starting riots. The authors are explaining the negative effects of Donald Trump’s election before he was even officially made president. I think that the authors achieved their purpose because it is very clear to see that there is a great problem caused by the people who dislike Donald Trump because Donald Trump was elected. The riots that followed the election showed that there is a divide between the people who support Trump and the people who do not.

TOW #8 - Thinking Without Thinking

In Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Gladwell explains how subconscious thinking affects everyday choices. Malcolm Gladwell is a renowned author who has written many psychology books. He cites many surveys and studies to establish his ethos. Gladwell writes Blink because everyday, people are making mistakes by letting their subconscious control their thoughts. He says, "if we can control the environment in which rapid cognition takes place, then we can control rapid cognition. We can prevent…mistakes" (253). This text can apply to everyone, and everyone is affected by not taking control of their subconscious. His audience however is mainly those interested in psychology or how the brain works because that is the context of most of his works, including Blink. Gladwell uses logos and narration to support his purpose. Logos is shown through the many studies that he uses to back up his claims. For example, he shows that "most police officers - well over 90 percent - go their whole career without firing at anyone" (222). By using logos, he shows that he is not making up the information that he is writing, but is giving his evidence and then coming to a conclusion. It helps the audience see why Gladwell thinks what he thinks and gives the audience the choice to agree or disagree with him. Gladwell also uses narration to describe stories of the instances he describes. By using stories, the audience can understand what the effect of subconscious has in a variety of situations. This also makes the audience more interested because it gives them a story to go along with what Gladwell is trying to prove, not just a list of facts. Gladwell effectively uses narration and logos to show that the subconscious can allow anyone to make instant choices that will have drastic effects. However, Gladwell shows that if one can think about their subconscious, and try to eliminate the way their subconscious affects them, they can be a lot more effective in their decision making. For example, when orchestras started to have blind auditions, they selected better musicians because they weren't affected by their first-impression of their look, only their impression of their music. I think that Gladwell effectively showed his purpose because his narration and logos lead the audience to reach the same conclusions as him. I agree that it is important to focus on subconscious and be aware of it, and hopefully it will change the way that I make decisions in the future.

TOW #7 - Dear Republicans...

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/25/opinion/dear-republican-voters.html?_r=0

As the presidential race is coming to a close and voting day is coming up, David Leonhardt, an editor for New York Times, writes to Republican voters in hopes that they will not vote for Donald Trump. Leonhardt uses narration in his letter to show his audience that he understands how they are feeling and to hopefully give them a solution through telling a story of a similar election and his grandparents that are republican. It does a nice job of explaining his argument to Republicans and establishing ethos. Leonhardt also uses Rogerian argument very well. He understands that some Republicans do not like Hillary and he says, “You believe President Obama has been a disappointment if not a failure. You think Hillary Clinton is wrong on most issues, and you worry about her judgment.” This helps establish his ethos with the Republicans. The author also uses an allusion to another election. He explains that Barry Goldwater was a Republican candidate that was similar to Trump. By using this allusion, he shows what happened in the past so that Republicans can use that knowledge to decide how to act now. Through his rhetorical devices one can see that Leonhardt is almost begging Republicans to not vote for Trump. He accomplished his purpose of explaining why Republicans shouldn’t vote for Trump. I think that he did do well in giving reasoning and backing up his claims. However he seems to assume that every Republican hates Trump. There are many Republicans who do want Trump to win, so they would not change their mind based off of the arguments that Leonhardt gives. However for the people on the fence, Leonhardt definitely could have impacted their decision.