TOW #17 - Snapchat

In the Wall Street Journal, Christopher Mims published an article called, “Why Snapchat Is the New TV.” In his article, he argues, surprisingly, that Snapchat is the new TV. His argument is supported by the ideas that Snapchat is a way to spread information quickly, it’s used as a leisurely activity, and has millions of users everyday. Although all of that information is true, I do not agree that it will replace TV.

Snapchat is a way to quickly spread information, however most people do not go to Snapchat as their main source of news. They tend to stick with the news on the TV or online websites like CNN. The news on Snapchat does not provide as much information as TV or online sources. Snapchat is also mainly used for contacting friends, not finding out what is happening around the world.

Mims also argues that Snapchat is a leisurely activity, like watching TV. However, dissimilar to watching TV, in my experience as an avid Snapchat user, most users spend about 5 minutes on Snapchat at a time. I would not sit on my couch for hours watching stories or contacting friends, but it’s a lot easier to spend hours watching movies or TV shows.

Finally, Mims uses the argument that Snapchat has a very wide audience so it is similar to TV. However, Snapchat mainly has teenagers who watch stories or read its news, and older adults tend to stray from Snapchat. However, almost every age feels comfortable using a TV. The TV has a much broader audience and larger audience as it reaches people through multiple companies, Netflix, Hulu, and many other ways to spread information.

Christopher Mims creates a strong argument for why Snapchat is the New TV, however I disagree with his argument. I do think that his message, that Snapchat is important and rapidly increasing its audience, is well supported through his argument.

TOW #16 - The Glass Castle

The second half of The Glass Castle describes Jeannette Walls’ life during middle school and beyond. She moves to New York City with her sister after she graduates. She sees her parents on occasion until her sister gets arrested for stabbing her mom. Her dad dies from a heart attack, and the book ends describing Thanksgiving dinner 5 years after her father’s death.

Jeannette Walls is a credible author, as her instant ethos was established through the story being about her life. The Glass Castle may be written for people who are struggling with their familial lives. The text was written after seeing her (homeless) mom in New York City, reminding her of her childhood.

Walls uses many rhetorical devices. Some of the ones that she uses includes symbolism and irony. Walls uses symbolism with her boyfriend and her family. Her first husband is, “a man who was exactly the opposite” of her dad (268). She later divorces her husband and marries someone who was “more right” for her. This divorce shows that she doesn’t need someone who is exactly the opposite of her dad, because there were some good aspects of her dad that she loved. Just as in every family there are good aspects that are loved. Walls uses irony with her mother’s land. For Walls’ entire life, her parents were poor. They moved around and barely survived. However, Walls later finds out that her mom owned about $1 million in land. The irony is that her mother had all of this money, but was unwilling to use it because getting the money would mean selling the land. If she sold the land, she would be giving up a familial tradition. However, if she used the money, she would be helping her family.

I think that the author wants to show that there is balance between “turbulence and order” (288). She loved her parents even though they were extremely free to the point of being dangerous, because her family found a balance between freedom and danger. She believes that her family, no matter how crazy, was good. She loves her family, and no matter what could not abandon them. Her purpose may be to try to reach out to other families and remind them that familial love is unbreakable. I think that she did accomplish her purpose because she uses her own life to explain how much she loved her family, even though she had a lot of reason to resent her parents.

TOW #15 - Or Drink And.

Ever since we were little students have been hearing about the negative effects of drinking and driving. Many programs are utilized to prevent alcohol-induced accidents. These programs tend to use a scare tactic, which shows the terrifying aspects of one bad decision, and hopes to scare people from performing such actions. Research suggests that shock tactics do work, but they need to be targeted and followed by strong enforcement of driving laws. This advertisement is a perfect example of the scare tactic that advertisers use.

This text was created by Abramet to prevent drunk driving. Abramet published the text, which is the Brazilian Association of Traffic Medicine. The text was composed for any kind of driver, hoping to remind them to not get behind the wheel after consuming alcohol or drugs. The text was written because there are many drug and alcohol related car accidents.

The text uses symbolism and tone to create a powerful image. The can symbolizes a car after the driver has been drinking. The can is crushed symbolizing it is empty, which means that the drinker was drinking. The car is also crushed to show that when one drinks and drives, they have a high chance of getting into an accident.

The text also uses tone in their picture. The colors are all dark and negative, which goes along with a gloomy tone. If the text had bright colors, the message would not be as powerful. But by having dark colors, the text effectively shows how drinking and driving is a bad decision that will not end well.

The author created this text to attempt to stop drivers from driving under the influence. The author uses a scare tactic to show the negative impacts that drinking and driving have. The caption is “You can drink and drive. Or drink and.” The incomplete sentence suggests that the driver would not drink and drive, but drink and crash and not be able to finish his drive.  I think this picture is extremely powerful in showing the effects of drinking and driving. It has a powerful and uses a scare tactic well to remind drivers to only drive sober.

TOW #14 - TrumpCare

There has been a lot of speculation over the successfulness of the new president elect’s presidency for the next four years. With a new president elect there comes a big promise of a revised health care plan for America. The text was written, in the Wall Street Journal, for Americans who are concerned with the president elect’s plan for our health care. The Wall Street Journal is an extremely credible journal as the editors stress having as little bias as possible. However this particular article is an opinion article, which seems to have liberal bias. This was written this week, as many texts are being published on the new president elect as his inauguration day gets closer.

The author uses sarcasm to show in an entertaining way the effects of Trump’s healthcare plan. He said that, “Mr. Trump campaigned on repeal but also left TrumpCare open to negotiation and, well, interpretation (‘something terrific’).” By including the “something terrific” quote, he is saying that having an open health care plan will backfire, and is not something terrific, but something that can harm many Americans.

Appealing to logos helps create a strong argument because it gives a lot of basis to back up one’s argument. The author says, “given the law’s large and ongoing failures on almost every measure: premium trends, enrollment, limited doctor and hospital networks, insurer participation. Affordability, choice and competition are due for another tumble next year under the status quo.” By including all of these different measures that need to be factored into health care, he uses facts to show the importance of the next few months.

The author also uses rhetorical questions. He says, “Does the President-elect have any better ideas on legislative strategy, or is he merely going to toss around the sayings of Chairman Donald from Trump Tower?” By asking this question, he shows that he doubts that Trump actually has an idea of what he is doing, but he will simply toss some sayings around to seem like he does.

Ultimately, this article shows the fear that many Americans have with Trump’s ability to follow through with his promises. He creates a case for the importance of having a proper health care plan and how it needs to be taken very seriously as it could create “creating chaos in our entire economy.” I think the author strongly established his purpose as he effectively used sarcasm, appeals to logos, and rhetorical questions to show the importance of Donald Trump’s health care plan. He ended his text with, “If [Republicans] muff this one, they’ll deserve to be run out of town,” showing how disastrous he feels the TrumpCare plan could be if it fails.

TOW #13 - Media Screening on Presidential Candidates

With the recent election of Donald Trump, there is a wide range of political cartoons on the subject of his presidential campaign. Many people are very pro-Trump, and believe that the media portrays him more negatively than he actually is. However, many people also dislike Trump and believe that the media accurately portrays him as a monster. In the Indianapolis Star, they published a political cartoon that captures their interpretation of the media’s views on Trump and Clinton.

The text, created by Gary Varvel, is showing how the media is attacking Trump, but barely touching Hillary’s topics. Gary Varvel is a cartoonist for the Indianapolis Star. The audience is those who read the Indianapolis Star. The majority of those in Indiana voted for Donald Trump. That shows that the majority of the audience is pro-Trump, or at least anti-Hillary. The text was written during the election.

The visual text uses symbolism. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are obviously not in an actual airport together, but the airport security is symbolizing the way that the media researches the candidates. The visual text also juxtaposes Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It has Donald Trump stripped down and going through a serious screening process by the media. This is what many Donald Trump fans feels happened to Trump because they feel that he was unfairly judged by the media. However, Clinton is freely walking in a prison uniform, suggesting that she is a criminal who the media is not attacking. The media is believed to have not focused on Hillary’s criminal actions, but instead focused on the, what Trump-supporters believed were, minuscule actions of Donald Trump.

I think that the author wanted to show what he felt was the unfair screening process that the candidates went through. He wants to show how he feels Trump was poorly portrayed through the media, but Hillary Clinton could do whatever she wanted without the media making it seem negative. I think that he did accomplish his purpose because he does show his opinions on the screening process of the two presidential candidates.

TOW #12 - The Glass Castle

Children have an innocent view on the world that is almost impossible to imagine. How can one child love their parents even after they have, from almost anyone’s perspective, ruined their childhood? Jeannette Walls explains how familial love is unconditional, and even in the worst of times parents and children find love.

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls who has instant credibility as she writes all of the events from her point of view. She grew up in a dysfunctional family, constantly moving around with a father who was a dangerous drunk and a mother who doesn’t always act as responsible as a mother should. She wrote this book after growing up to show the unwavering love of family. The audience she writes to is pretty general because it was published so that anyone could read it. It probably appeals most to those who need inspiration or have a loving family because it shows the strength of love.

Walls utilizes narration and point of view very well. Through narration she shows how her father makes extremely harmful decisions to the family, but he makes the decisions as an attempt to maintain his pride. For example, when his daughter was in the hospital he took her out of the hospital and drove her to another town because he didn’t trust the “heads-up-their-assess med-school quacks.” However, without these doctors Jeannette would most likely have died from her burns.

The narration is aided by first person point of view. It is very important that the story is told through first person because it shows the innocence of Walls. She thought that her dad was perfect and that everything that he did was just. However, as a reader it is very easy to tell that her dad was not perfect, and that he acted differently around his children than he actually was to keep up an image of a perfect father. The point of view shows how easy it is to convince children to trust their parents, and how one can love their dad unendingly even though their dad caused their homelessness growing up. This is important with her purpose, because both the narration and point of view show how the author can love her parents unconditionally. The book shows the true strength of love, and that love trumps all, even homelessness and near-death experiences. I think that purpose was achieved and that I could understand how the daughter of an unstable man like Rex Walls could love him.

TOW #11 - Ain't I a Woman?

In the 1800’s, equality was not achieved. The fights for equality that occurred in the 1800’s are important in shaping the status of women and minorities today. Sojourner Truth was very influential and inspirational to women of that time period and even today. The author, Sojourner Truth, was an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist. She is very credible because she was born into slavery and understands the hardships that came with being a slave and the need for equality between all people. In her text, Truth is explaining to a crowd that women are strong enough to stand together and demand equal rights. The speech was given at a Women’s Convention in Ohio in 1851 because women were not treated equally in the 1800’s. The audience was women and some men who supported women’s rights.

The author employs repetition and allusions to make her message effective. She utilizes repetition with the phrase “ain’t I a woman” to show that she has the same strength as a man, but is a woman. That has a powerful effect on the speech because she shows that women aren’t weak, she is an example of a very strong woman. Another rhetorical device that the author uses is allusions. She alludes to the story of Adam and Eve in the bible when she says, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again!” She uses Eve’s story to show that women have the power to make a big change in the world, and although Eve’s was negative it still shows the power that women have. The allusion empowers women to get their rights back. The author wants to show women that they can team up and fight for their rights because women are strong.  I think the author did an excellent job of accomplishing her purpose because she made me feel empowered as a woman and think about my personal strength.