Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)

Art throughout history has tended to romanticize war instead of portraying the true diplomatic, moral, and social consequences of war. Evolving immensely from the times of painting grand pictures of our European generals and leaders like Napoleon, art didn't have much of a voice against humanity's innate flaw of being unable to compromise effectively. Six months before the Spanish Civil War, surrealist artist Salvador Dali took a critical look at his country's state of civility, and created a critical piece against the human condition of selfishness, and how that innate human flaw leads to a fragile and tentative state of "peace," and ironically his critical evaluation of the human condition was proven right with the start of the Spanish Civil War.
Dali is able to create a sense of peril in the audience through the placement of figures in the painting. The placement of the terrorized at the top of the painting indicates that even in the top rungs of society and diplomatic success and power, humanity still seeks to destroy itself in its greed. The construction of a perilous structure through body parts emphasize the selfishness of humanity because many different lives are wasted in the pursuit of power.
Dali is able to further his argument with the use of colors. The bright colors modernize the painting  contrasting it to war paintings of the past. War paintings of the past usually consisted of dark, monochromatic and pale colors that were rustic in nature. Dali is able to distinguish his pieces to the audience because by contrasting it to the past, it makes the audience aware of the context of the message being in the present day. This furthers his criticism of his own society because it allows the audience to be aware of the magnitude of the importance of proper communication and compromise rather than war.
In being able to express his ideal society in which people can establish a stable foundation for civility without the destruction of desperate grabs for power. Art has taken a huge responsbility in contemporary times in being able to critique the world in a way that audiences can easily be able to understand the emotional depth of the innate flaws in society itself.

Continuing Resolution, Continuing Dysfunction

The founding fathers left the country with a warning against the formation of political parties. They felt that political parties would be the death of the country, because instead of working for the good of the public, they continue to work for factional self-interest and deepen the ideological divides between two separate parties. Despite that, political parties took a strong root in the way that our entire government works, separating the bodies of Congress, the Senate, and presidential campaigns into Republican and Democratic parties. In recent light of events and failures for economic and social reform that was the responsibility of the government, David Firestone, writer for the New York Times, informs readers on the current standstill in the fiscal year and how the divide between political parties have prevented any substantial change. Firestone develops an effectively impatient tone to emphasize the lack of progress that Congress and the Senate have made.
Firestone is able to solicit the feeling of impatience in the audience because of the diction that he employs. Firestone writes, "Lawmakers - mostly Republicans - are using the legislation as an opportunity to score ideological points rather than simply do their basic jobs...don't expect anything but more disappointing C.R.'s..." The use of the words "rather than" combined with "simply" and "basic" alarm the readers of the politicians ineptitude. This is further built on by the author engaging the audience through sarcasm not to expect any real economic development and reform. The sarcasm he uses against both the progress in the bodies of government and against the politicians himself help to develop the impatient tone because he seems that he is angry and bitter that he has been expecting and waiting for Congress to get over their own ideological interests and do their part in fixing the economic crises  from even 2010 that continue to haunt America's fiscal policies.
Firestone also successfully expresses his impatience through his effective arrangement. Firestone juxtaposes different controversies and congressional response to them. For example, he lists all of the economic reforms that need to be done and then ridicules Paul Ryan for trying to undo the spending on Health Care reform rather than helping out other avenues of government spending. This continuing contrast between the need that the audience becomes aware of for real change and the politicians inability to recognize that helps for Firestone to express his impatience because he exemplifies social progress going out of control while political reform is at a standstill.
Firestone has effectively expressed to the audience that politicians these days are too concerned with their own parties interests rather than the fiscal and social reform that we have so long required. Firestone's ability to show to the audience the needs for cuts and budgeting and fiscal strategy will properly inform the audience of what flaws in congress they need to fix in the upcoming congressional election.

Another Malcolm Gladwell Book

It's interesting that I would be introduced to an entirely new definition of the word "epidemic" after first learning in health class this week. An epidemic was first defined to me as the spread of a disease throughout a population on a huge scale, but Malcolm Gladwell takes that definition to a whole new level. An epidemic is defined by Gladwell as a trend that could be fashion, crime trends, and general widespread human behavior. "The Tipping Point" is an interesting and thorough social commentary and statistical analysis of human behavior where Malcolm Gladwell uses parallelism to portray his statistics to his audience in an interesting and understandable manner to get them to understand the magnitude of certain factors that affect how epidemics spread.
Malcolm Gladwell first uses parallelism to compare the social situations he intends to thoroughly examine and the way that actual disease spreads. He first talked about the way that syphilis spread through a population, talked about the social behaviors that contributed to that, and then explained how similar behaviors constitute an amazing and rapid trend in cellphone usage or fashion trends.  This is effective because this addresses the canon of memory in the audience, and harnesses their understanding of how the way infection spreads through a populations and draws parallels in factors that most people don't recognize in social behaviors.
Gladwell also paralleled contrasting ideas in which he explains how most sociologists would explain a trend and then contrasts it with how he would explain the trend. Most sociologists would look at different factors such as environment, the people, and the transmission factor, but Gladwell looks at different things, like a small group of people that he calls the Extraordinary. This minority of people is what makes a big difference in a huge population based on their personability, influence on others and normal behaviors. He also looks at the stickiness factor and the importance of context rather than just location. Gladwell achieves his purpose of making the audience realize the magnitude of the small things because he shows that sociologists don't observe on a small enough scale. The parallelism furthers the accomplishment of this purpose by adding more of a sense of ethos because it makes it seem like Gladwell understands social behaviors more than most sociologists.
The book gives a whole new idea of how people behave in groups and basically gives an effective outline of how to create a trend. I find that this book is effective and easy to read because of the way that Gladwell breaks down the information and statistics.

Sheetz and Wawa Divide

These last few weeks, I've been spending day and night at Wawa to survive my robotics build season. Since we are spending up to 40 hours a week stuck at the high school, my friends and I make multiple trips to Wawa a day to buy heaps and heaps of sandwiches, Monster energy drinks, coffee, and junk food. An article that definitely hit close to home this week was a NY Times article that explored the cultural divide between Sheetz and Wawa fanatics throughout the state of Pennsylvania. I didn't even know what Sheetz was, but the article implicitly explained why I didn't know what Sheetz was. It's because I lived smack dab in the middle of a Wawa fanatic region. The article explained things so well and in such an entertaining manner that I was able to actually get through an article and enjoy it.
This article was really fun to read and very different from many other NY Times I've read so far. NY Times is usually my source of news and informational editorials that usually have a very serious overall tone, but this article had such a lighthearted purpose. Its purpose seemed to parody the "religiousness" of chain convenience store fandoms and have a whimsical mockery of how serious people take the "cultural divide." The first thing I noticed was that the article used a lot of irony in their diction, and that they made it ironically serious and used a lot of sweeping and general words that made the convenience store followings seem really grand. Just the fact that they called it a "cultural divide" was amusing because they made it seem like the "convenience store culture" is such a serious thing.
Another effective strategy they used to parody the convenience store fandoms is the interviews of the Sheetz and Wawa customers. It was laugh-out-loud hilarious because the article presented it like they were serious in giving these customer testimonials, and it seemed like the customer didn't even know the writer was making fun of them for being so "die-hard" about "the Wawa sandwich-ordering touch screens."
It was also really entertaining because of the way they organized the different opinions on Sheetz and then Wawa. The author alternated the Wawa and Sheetz testimonials and gave the article a flow that made it seem like a live debate between passionately fat Americans.
The author's persona is one I really enjoyed and would like to achieve in my writing. It was really effective in the way they built up the controversy and how he implicitly teared it down as a trivial issue. I thought his purpose of parodying the controversy was achieved because he was able to entertain the audience with his diction, use of testimonials and organization. I would definitely like to read more articles by this author.

Hotels.com Advertisement

I am glad that I get the chance to look at why the recent Hotels.com advertisement had so effectively captured my attention and emotional appeal. I love to watch the hotel service employee give his customers exactly what they want, no matter how detailed and tailored or outrageous it had to be.
 It's easy to say that I've never had an advertisement effectively persuade me to do something or purchase their product, but the Hotels.com advertisement made me really want to book a superfluous trip on their website just for the sake of good customer service and being pampered in such a luxurious way.
The first thing I noticed was the lofty 40's music titled "Make Someone Happy," by Jimmy Durante. The music was an effective choice, not only because of the happy lyrics that encourage selfless action, but the tone of the music also gives the audience a relaxed feeling. It makes the viewer feel like they are watching a perfect world on the television, where people are given exactly what they want when they want it. I find that the choice to use a song in a major key naturally makes the entire commercial a whole lot brighter.
The second thing that was very effective was the style of the animation. The style of the animation was very rounded, giving the cartoon a happy and bubbly tone. I find that the rounder the art style, the less harsh the piece is overall. The art style emphasized the kindness of the service man, who never faltered in how happy he was to make people of all kinds happy.
The choice was also bright and magnificent. It was pinkish and orange overall, emphasizing the aura of a sunset on the beach. It gave the viewer an emotional feeling of being truly relaxed and on vacation. It was much more effective than other vacation planner commercials because other vacation planner commercials tend to use bright blues and whites that seem a little fake and stereotypical of what you would expect from going to the beach. The pink gave the vacations planned on the commercial a homey feeling, and made it much more personal.
All of these elements were very effective in getting viewers to book vacations on Hotels.com. The visuals were very unique and evoked a feeling of serious care and customer satisfaction instead of guaranteeing fun on a vacation, it promises you to fit you perfectly. Their purpose in evoking that intimate feeling with its users was very effective because it set them apart from all other vacation-booking websites.

Tow Rewrite

I find it incredibly hard to hear that some feminists today still find that there are not enough women’s rights. Women today have adopted feminism as the norm, and find that they have to constantly be establishing their equality by competing with men or “fighting for their rights.” Women have been fighting for their rights for more than 150 years in America, and equality has been well established and it is easy to say that a woman can find power and success through meritocracy. In previous times, women wouldn't even have the right to work or vote. Their job would be to bear children.

Sure, I mean, I guess some women are victim to sexual harassment in the workplace, but to hear that as the main complaint of many feminists today is a little unnerving. Sure, its a terrible thing, but to even have a place to work for women in the first place is something that many societies even today can’t guarantee, and the horrors of the objectifying women is at a minimum in America.

I want to point the attention of these feminists to the gender-role situation in India. Gardiner Harris, a writer for the NY Times, writes a lot about different conflicts and events in India. His recent article highlighted the social changes between the genders in India, and how it has somehow led to an increase in rape and sexual violence from men towards women. Women are now finding a new sense of social mobility and economic success, and now, women are able to compete with men in the workplace. Women are matching men in education, and are participating as leaders in politics. This newfound success is met with a huge increase of gang rapes and domestic violence.

This article really caught my attention because it wasn’t just a bunch of statistics about how many incidents of sexual violence there was in India. The article was arranged in such a way that you could really sense the situational irony regarding the changing role of women in India. The increasing role of women in the industry, economy, and politics, caused for many men to feel challenged by this change, and fight their success with sexual dominance. Instead of allowing for social progress to occur in India as women fight for more power, men are making sure that women will still be able to fall to the whim of men in anyway possible.

The writer also uses imagery to appeal to pathos, the emotions of the audience. He really builds a picture of the developing society in India, while also contrasting it with the horrors of violent crimes against women. He uses both to emphasize his purpose, which is that there is an inherent hatred of women by men, and that social mobility will not be easy for these women, even though they have new and sudden success. This emphasis on the emotional aspect of the story really takes away from the writer’s persona. There isn’t really much emphasis on the writer’s persona, he makes observations and implications as if they are truth.

All of these devices are extremely effective in delivering the social implications of the article. I found that it was very hard to disagree with the purpose of the article and it left a very profound emotional impact. I really appreciate living in American society, and the rights I am guaranteed despite being a female. If American women today are feeling stunted because of the way American society is, they should really take a look at the situation in India.

Women in America today are being stunted by nothing but their attitudes. Stress, depression, and divorce are at an all time high, and it is due to the blurred gender roles and high expectations women have for how much respect their being female should demand. I think that these women who are unappreciative of their rights in America are expecting special rights as women, and I feel like America has done well to have actually fair roles and expectations from both genders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/world/asia/in-rapes-aftermath-india-debates-violence-against-women.html?_r=0
http://voices.yahoo.com/feminism-sucks-masculinity-out-men-4231471.html

More Guns = More Killings

This week's article is an article called, "More Guns = More Killings", and it is an NYTimes article written about the different opinions on gun control. The context of the article is a widespread interest in finding ways to reduce gun violence, and since the Elementary School shooting of Sandy Hook, it has been a struggle to find out where Americans really stand on the issue of gun control. Many Americans strive for legislative action to create stricter gun policies, but The National Rifle Association suggested that the way to deal with gun violence and deaths caused by it is to give more guns to the "good guys" to act as a way of protecting citizens. The purpose of this article is to show that this idea is completely wrong and would lead to more violence. The author, Elizabeth Rosenthal, is a physical and science reporter for the NYTimes, and though her qualifications for making a stance on this article seem to be a little out of place, she justifies her strong opinion well with the use of the exemplification rhetorical strategy. She used the Latin American country Columbia to show that more guns and guards means that there are more gun related deaths.  She used these countries that are currently unstable in terms of politics and that using guns to stop violence shows that institutions are completely broken down. She also talked about Australia and their new stricter laws on gun control, and how that resulted in no mass shootings since. It was very effective for her to point these countries' gun policies to the intended audience, which is the general public who has a general knowledge of the gun incidents in the recent decades.