TOW Post #11- Article: "The Real Humanities Crisis"

            Humanities is a term that not many people discuss or think about. The general definition that most people would refer to would be simple the human race. But in most cases humanities is discussed in the terms of  learning or literature concerned with human culture, esp. literature, history, art, music, and philosophy. Today the most top secure jobs are in the realm of business and medicine/science and the humanities realm in jobs are decreasing. In the article "The Real Humanities Crisis" author Gary Gutting, and opinion writing for the New York Times newspaper wrote about how humanities jobs are losing importance and losing peoples interests. Gutting makes a this statement a claim of fact and supports this up with statistics and a claim of policies in the end. These two rhetorical strategies together help the Gutting achieve his overall purpose which was to call attention to this "humanities crisis"
            Gutting first supports his claim in the beginning by state some basic statistics about humanities jobs vs business jobs. He make a clear point that more people are reaching for jobs in the business and medical area because that is where the better pay is. Although people who work in the humanities real of occupations get more satisfaction out of what the are doing, they are not getting good satisfactory economically because of the lower pay compared to business jobs, Gutting states that "Humanities majors on average start earning $31,000 per year and move to an average of $50,000 in their middle years. (The figures for writers and performing artists are much lower.) By contrast, business majors start with salaries 26 percent higher than humanities majors and move to salaries 51 percent higher" Stating this fact supports his claim of fact helping him achieve his overall purpose.
            Relating to his use of facts, he ends his article with claims of policies to announce solutions to these down grading facts. For example he states that humanities jobs should get paid more so more people can feel economically safe and doing what they love. By ending with claims of policy, Gutting wraps up his claim of fact, supporting his overall purpose.


Source:http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/30/the-real-humanities-crisis/?ref=opinion&_r=0

TOW Post #10- Visual Text: "Apple Technology Advertisement"

              Today, technology has become a huge part of our lives. One popular item from the technology field are the Apple products. These products have swept across the United States grabbing the attention of almost every American. Products such as the iPhone, Mac, iPad, iPod,etc. have been bought by thousands of people almost every year. Although these products are fascinating and advanced in the technology field many people, in the U.S. and around the world, have forgotten more important and serious situations around the world such as poverty, disease, and starvation. Advertisements like the one above help remind people about these problems through text and simple image juxtaposition.

               The first rhetorical device that the advertisement uses in order to achieve its purpose is text. Looking closely to the text, the text on the left under the Apply sign states that "One dies, millions cry." while the text under the Africa image states that "Millions die, no one cries." With such simply texts, the image appeals to audience in an emotional way, reminding them how we have lost the importances of a serious social problem. This helps the advertisement creators achiever their purpose.

               Another rhetorical device tat the advertisement uses is image juxtaposition. Setting up the two image of the Apple product sign and Africa really draws the attention of the audience. It shows how technology has really distracted our soil values. The fascination of technology has blinded us from problems such as poverty. With this rhetorical device it reminds the audience that we need to re-focus on social issues around the world, successfully achieving the adervtisement's purpose.


Image Source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/khmerican/6297818691/

TOW Post #9- Article: "You're So Self-Controlling"

           Many people might think that the greater reward requires the most patience, which is logically true. On the other hand people also believe that in general people will wait longer in order to achieve this goal. According to Maria Konnikova that statement is proven false.
           Newspaper and magazine opinion writer, Konnikova writes about the false general idea that people will wait longer in order to achieve the goal with the bigger reward in her article "You're So Self-Controllig" published in the New York Times October issue. She proves the general statement wrong through the rhetorical devices of supportive examples, accurate data, and referencing to psychologists's experiments.
            The first rhetorical device that Konnikova uses in order to achieve her purpose is supportive examples. In the beginning of the article she is able to provide a general example and or situation. The situation was that "WHAT do you do if, when you get to a subway platform, you see that it is already packed with people? Do you join the throngs to wait for the train, or do you shake your head and seek an alternative way to get where you’re going?" She later goes on to explain the result of each option if chosen to show which option would be the popular one; the one that doesn't include waiting longer to achieve a goal. Using this general and supportive example helps him achieve his purpose.
             Another rhetorical device that Konnikova uses is accurate data. Throughout her article she provides many facts and general proven statements that supports her claim. For example she notes that in "psychological terms, the difference is typically seen as a dual-system trade-off: On one hand, you have the deliberative, reflective, cool system; on the other, the intuitive, reflexive, hot system," when talking about decision making. She uses general proven statements like this throughout her article. This rhetorical device does not only help her achieve her purpose but it also  establishes ethos.
            Lastly, she refers to psychologists's experiments that have been done that help her achieve her purpose. She explains one of the psychologists experiment where the psychologists were giving people money but the longer they waited the more money they could possibly get. There experiment supported Konnikova's claim about how people don't always strive to wait longer to achiever= the goal with the greater reward. Overall I don't believe that Konnikova achieved her purpose because I still believe that some people do work/ wait for the goal with the bigger reward.


Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/opinion/sunday/youre-so-self-controlling.html

IRB Intro Post: Marking Period 2

            The non-fiction book that I chose to read for the second marking period is Me Talk Pretty One Day written by David.  This book consists of many essays that are separated into two parts. The first part is about his life in North Carolina before he moved to Normandy, France. The second section of essays is about his experience with moving to France and his humorous efforts to speak the romantic language of french. I chose this book because I take french and I believe that there will be some jokes or silly comments in french that I will enjoy and be able to understand. By reading this book I  hope that I will learn what it will be like if I one day go to France. 

TOW Post #8- IRB: Outliers Part 2

            

            When discussing success no one really considers other factors, such as other people or aspects, that contributed to making someone successful. In the story about someone's success it's always about what "he/she did" to be successful. The story should contain more of what "what/who helped he/she do" to be successful. Really without other aspects and the small things that they did to contribute, that successful person would most likely not have become as successful as they are now. Malcolm Gladwell brings this truth out to everyone who reads his book Outliers.

            In his #1 National Bestseller book, Outliers, Gladwell tries to clear up some misconceptions and reasoning for success. He wants people to understand that those who are successful did not do it on their own, and that it is certainly not just luck. Throughout his book Gladwell specific and sometimes personal examples and historical research.

            One personal example that he uses in order to make people to understand that those who are successful did not do it on their own is his mom. His mom had become successful, not billionaire successful, but enough to have a family and a well paying job. Gladwell explains that she didn't become successful  only because of her hard studying and work but because of her twin sister and her mother. Her twin sister had gotten a scholarship to a good school allowing her self to get in, and her mother was educated enough to send her and her sister to college. Because of her sister and her mom was she able to get a quality education and be successful later on. This example that Gladwell uses helps him achieve his purpose.

           Besides his personal examples he uses historical research in order to achieve his purpose. In his book he mentions why Asians seem to be smarter in math than most races. He explains through his historical research how the Asians had a legacy of hard work, do to their history of growing rice patties. Because they mainly lived off of rice rather then wheat, the daily care is more difficult and involved mathematical techniques. Through this example, that is supported with historical research, Gladwell shows his readers that the cultural aspect of growing rice patties have allowed Asians to become more successful in math. Because Gladwell used the rhetorical devices of personal examples and historical research he is able to successfully achieve his purpose.

TOW Post #7- Article: "All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines"

         Technology has become a huge part of everyone's everyday life. We rely on it for hundreds on things: directions, to answer our questions, as reminders, to hold important information, etc. But when does this all become too much? Graduating from Harvard and author of books and articles about technology, business, and culture, Nicholas Carr brings up this concern and more if this concern can become a risk for humans. In his article "All Can Be Lost: The Risk of Putting Our Knowledge in the Hands of Machines" Carr reveals his purpose in writing his article is to explain to people that relying on technology too much can be a risk by including data and examples that supports his claim, and using negative diction.

            Throughout his article Carr establishes his credibility by including data and examples to explain the negative effects of relying too much on technology. He opens up with a story about a deadly airplane crash, which was ultimately caused by technology. Carr then explains how "human pilot holds the controls for a grand total of just three minutes." Because most pilots are operating under autopilot, when it turns off and goes to manual operation unexpectedly, the pilots don't properly respond to the situation, most of the time causing the plane to crash. Carr then gives another example of the same situation, making readers think, Maybe relying too much on technology is a risk, yet a deadly risk at times.

In addition to examples he also quotes many psychologists such as Lisanne Bainbridge; “and a person’s skills ‘deteriorate when they are not used’ even experienced operators...” This quote does not only explain why we must not rely on technology to a point where we lose our skills, but it also establishes credibility for Carr; showing he knows what he is talking about.

           Carr also uses negative diction throughout his article which hints at how too much technology can be bad. He uses words such as “unreliable”, “insufficient”, “risk”, “sacrificing” and many other words that convey a negative tone. This helps Carr achieve his purpose because it makes readers lean more toward the negative effects of technology. Carr does achieve his purpose of explaining to people that relying on technology too much can be a risk by using rhetorical devices such as examples and quotes, and negative diction. 

       

Source:http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-great-forgetting/309516/

TOW Post #6- Visual Text: "World Wildlife Fund Advertisement"

             Global warming has always seemed to be a big concern for Earth. Scientists have been warning people that it is going to get worse each year if we don't do something about it; such as more environment safe cars, factories, and disposal techniques. Yet the way we do things seems to not have changed at all, more people need to take action on this issue. People may not listen to these scientists but they might be convinced to make a change if they see an effective ad: like the one above. The WWF (World Wildlife Fund)  is a great organization that promotes the taking a stand to stop global warming because it doesn't only affect humans but it mainly affects the animals of wildlife.
            In the ad above Earth is depicted as a melting ice cream scoop in a waffle cone. When we were children this would often happen to us; the melting ice cream cone, because we couldn't eat it fast enough on a hot summer day. We would then try to lick all of the drips of the melting ice cream that was coming down the cone, before it would reach our clean hands that were holding the cone. The WWF appeals to pathos by tapping into our childhood memories. When seeing this image we want to "lick" and or save the melting Earth before it's too late; really achieving the WWF's purpose of this ad.
            Not only does the WWF do well with appealing to pathos to their audience to promote the stopping of global warming, but the way they present the ad: regarding colors, lighting, and positioning. The background really brings focus to the ice cream cone because the black contrasts with the bright blue color of the earth and the light tan color of the cone. The color contrast will catch people's eyes quickly and bringing them to the focus and message of the ad. Not only do the color choices grab the attention of more people but also the extra lighting created on the ice cream cone Earth. The positioning of the ice cream cone also helps the WWF promote the stopping of global warming. Because it is positioned in the center it communicates that this problem is very important and should get a lot of attention, which is what the "center" position usually represents. With these smart choice strategies the WWF uses in their ad they are most likely getting more people to hop on board on doing something to stop global warming.



Image Source:http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/environmental-ads-44102408#slide-2