Locate an article, news report, or social media post to respond to. You can also respond to any of the articles or topics discussed in the class.
First, summarize what the post is saying and what you understand them to be arguing.
Second, respond to the article with what we have been learning in class.
- Point out fallacies if you see them.
- Evaluate the argument they are making.
- Explain any bias you see in the post.
- Point out unsupported claims.
- If you agree, help them better support their argument. If you disagree, explain why.
- Notice the use of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
Make sure your journal response is at least 250 words long. Comment below with a link and your response.
Professor Ramos' Blog 
I chose to respond to the TED talk done by Chimamanda Adichie. I chose this because I feel it SO applicable to todays world, and especially America. Miss Adichie points out the danger of seeing situations and people from a single perspective or stereotype and how it leads to not only inaccurate views of others but that actions based on those views can be dangerous and hurtful to others. The more I think about it and watch the talk the more connections I make with my own life. I love how honest she was with her discovery of this information too. She admits openly that she has had it done to her, yet she has in turn done it to other people as well. This gives her enormous credibility and relatability in my eyes. It just goes to show that this is a human problem, not a white problem, not a gay problem, or a Mormon problem. We all do it and it is only until we can begin to assess each person for who they truly are and try our best to understand where they come from and why they are the way they are, that we can start to get along. This applies so well to the political climate in America today. We assume from the start that because a person is liberal or conservative that they are a certain way and can’t possibly differ from our preconceived notions. Instead of talking things out, we assume the worst and act on it. Only after we start truly listening to the other sides story can we begin to heal this political rift that has divided the nation.
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For this journal I’ve chosen to discuss a video of a confrontation between Steven Crowder, known for his “Change My Mind” booths where he discusses opinions and policies with passersby, and a woman who encouraged people do vandalize his van because of his opinions. Someone took issue with him and his team and posted emoji’s of a van and fire and doubled down by posting a picture of a van on fire with the words “That’s what take care of it means.” Clearly she was asking for someone to vandalize their van. In the video he discovers that the woman responsible for this was at the same convention as him so he decides to ask her a few questions. He begins respectfully, saying, “Hi, how are you today.” Then he asks, “Quick question for you, why would you encourage people to firebomb my Van?” She ignores the question and merely pulls out her phone and records him. “Do you think it’s appropriate to encourage people to firebomb my van and hurt my crew when we’re just expressing a difference of opinion?” he asks. She continued to deny and dodge his questions so he breaks out a Bristol board with her posts on them as proof. “Is that the way you deal with civil disagreements?” “I would never encourage acts of violence against you. I don’t want anyone to ever hurt you.” No response. Other people decide to chime in spouting baseless accusations toward “The Nazi Right” and the Presidency. “Trump literally said we need to kill innocent families…so.” Really? Really? He’s desperately trying to find just one single person who will condemn this woman’s violent reaction to his civil discourse and he cannot find one. They begin chanting unrelated topics about healthcare. Someone begins yelling that “a van is not a life” to which he responds “but what about the people in the van?” She responds with “a van is not a life.” Eventually people start trying to destroy the Bristol board and call him a Nazi. Someone asks him if he believes that all people regardless of gender and race should be given the same rights. He responds with “absolutely”. He is then ushered away with a resounding chant of “Nazi go away, Nazi go away.” The ignorance and inability for these people to be able to think critically and discuss things civilly is the primary reason why politics are breaking down in the United States.
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The video I have come across and have chosen is exactly as the titles read. It explains the importance of speaking up on situations or issues that are not right. He emphasizes that each person’s own voice matters in their life and possibly the life of others. He goes on to talk about how people have ignored the right to speak up and would submit to authority and “appease ignorance”. I chose this source because I wanted to try analyzing this video rhetorically and how he used ethos, logos, and pathos. I feel the he is portraying ethos by giving us an example of him as a child. As a child, he mentions how he was raised in a catholic family and therefore was taught to listen and not speak up. He watched some of his friends beat up a gay male. He states that he has seen many things that he felt were wrong but just had to keep silent because that was what he was taught. As well as using ethos by portraying that he went through an experience that shows why being silent is dangerous, he’s showing us pathos as well. When you hear a story like this, you start to feel really bad. For me personally, it had gotten me thinking of the times where I was quiet on phenomena’s I should have spoken up. It made me think about situations where if I did speak up, I could change the situation completely. It gets you to see the importance of voicing your opinion and this video discusses on how authors use pathos and logs and ethos in order to convince their audience. I feel this definitely convinced me.
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The article I chose is titled; “A Brief History of Terrible Yogurt Commercials Targeted at Women.” It talks about various yogurt commercials as all the videos have women eating yogurt because its a ‘low-calorie, low sugar, and healthy snack’ (logos- fact that it helps you loose weight).The articles argument is stating that these commercials are generated marketing- a strategy used to sharpen in on a targeted audience (in this case its women) and push sales for that demographic.The commercials were as well ‘insulting’ to women for the fact that women need to lose weight and be thin. In order to do that, instead of eating a piece of cake, eating the ‘cake flavored’ yogurt will do. The first commercial is Yoplait and they use actress Leisha Hailey (pathos- using celebrities) and another women comparing the yogurt to various things women love. The article does not describe the commercial as degrading nor offending women, it just specifies what is happening. Throughout all the commercials, not one has a man eating/advertising the yogurt. My opinion on this article is its foolish. Yes, all those commercials may have the women as the role for the advertisment, and yes it is targeted at women but that doesn’t mean men are NEVER allowed to eat yogurt. I belive the reason why they use women instead of men for yogurt commercials is becuase they have good ‘gut bacteria’, its sweet, and they are low calorie which women adore (ethos- desire for women to eat it). The sales increase by showing other women what other women eat. Men on the other hand are more about beer, sports, and meat.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/thecut/a-brief-history-of-terrib_b_10777868.html
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http://www.vulture.com/2018/06/roseanne-barr-now-thinks-losing-her-show-is-penance.html
After many years the Roseanne show came back on TV. Growing up watching the show many were to excited to see how the show would be picked up. Where each of the family members were in the show. The show was said to cover topics that many face now in the 21th century. The season is yet to finish and already it will be cancel. Not due to low rating but the main character made a racial comment on her twitter account. Since making that racial comment Roseanne Barr has been seen on her phone making pleads for her show continuing on TV and not be cancel. Many believe she has financial needs and bring her show back was aiding her.
She stated she never meant to say her words and takes them back. Since her show been announce to the public of coming back and airing Roseanne received support from President Trump. She also is a Trump supporter. With that support it may have fueled Roseanne to speak what she thought of others. Yet when she understood the unwelcome comments of fans and the cancellation of her show then she understood the impact of her words. I do believe she would have stand by her word if she did not received such hate. She had time to think of those words and then type them onto her twitter account makes me believe it was truly how she feels. For someone to say their thoughts and not stand by it makes her an hypocrite. In class we spoke of hypocrisy and Rosanne Barr is an example of that. Since her mistake she has tried to fix it but now she believes the cancellation of the she is her penance after making many pleads. She has come to terms of the damage she has done. If someone will post anything on their social media they must know and understand the impact it will have on their life and others.
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HBO’s opening scene in the the T.V. series “Newsrooms” begins with two political advocates debating on the topic of socialism. As the debate continues, Will McAvoy, the main character of the series, seems to be disconnected from the debate. The camera pans around him making him look distraught. Later, when he and the other two guests are confronted with the question, “why is America the greatest country in the world”? McAvoy and his colleagues give simple and honest answer does not satisfy the crowd. McAvoy then rants on why America is not the greatest.
Although this is a fictional skit, it represents a problem in America today, a danger of single minded thinking. In today’s society, so many people genuinely believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world. If asked why, they state that America has an abundance freedom, opportunity and diversity. While it is true that America is the land of the free, these positive statements only represent a single story/viewpoint of the United States. There are other developed nations such as Japan, Spain, England, that have also developed freedom. McAvoy perfectly debunks the theory that America is the greatest country in the world by offering logos and ethos. He states that America is the leading country in only 3 things, number of incarcerated citizens, Christian belief, and national defense. McAvoy also seems to be a credible speaker, creating a sense of ethos, the way he is dressed and by the confidently speaks.
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My journal this week is in response to the TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that we viewed in class. Her talk is titled “The danger of a single story”, an issue especially relevant to today’s society. The single story is a story she references in different ways, to show how the idea of “a single story” does not affect just one group of people, but many. According to Adichie when we accept a single story of a group of people, although that story may be true, it is incomplete and in turn is socially unjust and unfair. I agree with that statement. Chimamanda also talks about growing up with the influence of Western Literature, and how it shaped her beliefs and dreams from a young age. I thought this part of her speech was especially intriguing because it was something I hadn’t thought of. We as Americans grew up with the influences of our own literature mainly, and in turn have grown to be uncultured and dismissive to other groups of people. I myself am guilty of accepting the single story, in more than one instance. I think that is partially due to the fact that for the larger part of my life, I was uninformed on other cultures and wasn’t receiving the proper information needed to form accurate opinions and beliefs. I liked how Chimamanda was able to share her perspective from both sides of the judgement. It was a well-spoken reminder to be mindful and accepting to people from all backgrounds, because you never know who they are or what they have gone through.
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The way the writer introduces the topic looks more like a speech, but a not so formal one to approach general public. The technology reporter, Brian Chen, makes an interesting question to ‘enter in the conversation;’ “Does anyone else feel that Amazon is slowly taking over the world?” Certainly, it is something that leaves you thinking. It’s amazing how this company acquired so much ground on commerce. The reporter points out the fact that this so-called company now provides coupons to Whole Foods, which works more like a cashback. In addition, Amazon is soon going to sell medicine and to speed up the delivery process, it is hiring people to use their own cars instead.
In my opinion, the food offers are a hook. Discounts are great; thus, more people might upgrade to prime to get more benefits. And while looking for the code, the person might have to browse in the website and possibly find something else to buy. What I didn’t imagine was Amazon selling prescribed medicines, with “Pill Pack.” For such expansions, other companies are going to bankruptcy, like Toys ‘R’ Us (one of the reasons at least) since online products sometimes are cheaper and easy to find at the comfort of your home. Even if some stores are starting to provide service online, Amazon has more variety of products. Plus, you can sell your products on their website. On the other hand, Amazon is providing jobs in the delivery field. Testing to use its own delivery service might give Amazon more competency. As the reporter said, “So can Amazon do a better job at delivering packages than services like FedEx, United Parcel Service or the United States Postal Service?” The service might be quicker, but I don’t think it can be as reliable, “I guess we’ll find out.”
https://nyti.ms/2IDQ6yj
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This week I chose to rhetorically analyze the music video called Narcos, by a popular group of rappers called the Migos. The music video is about the Migos working for a Narco, which is a drug dealer. Throughout the entire video, there are scenes of stacks of money, very skanky girls all over the rappers, drugs on top of all the tables, and guns in all the waistbands of the men. I can see the signs of ethos and pathos being portrayed in the Music video. The Migos are very popular and famous for their music and in this generation so therefore to the young people in the United States, they are credible and people look to them on more than one occasion. The video is mostly condensed with pathos because all the scenes I described like the girls, money, and drugs in the video are very wanted attributes and lifestyles in the eyes of young people. The Migos make the dangerous and unrealistic lifestyle of drug dealing and being successful a fantasy for people to believe they could actually acquire. I personally do not like the Migos and their music because I do not like the message their music sends to the youth. People shouldn’t hear a song and want to make bad decisions because of it. Nowadays people could care less about the well being of others. All people these days aspire to be successful and have immense amounts of money at whatever cost disregarding anyone else’s feelings. This being said I disagree with the Migos and they music.
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“Rich Kids Are Counting On Inheritance to Pay for Retirement” This article talks about how roughly 60% of young adults from the ages of 18 to 22 say that their financial stability during retirement depends on inheriting money. The article quickly tries to stop their reader from instantly getting enraged from the number stated by saying that this could actually be a call for help due to drastic increases in cost of living, student debt, and increased life expectancy. The article then continues to spew numbers and percentages talking about investable assets, where they will get their inheritance, and how they will go about getting it. This article was total click bait in my opinion. With the title “Rich Kids Are Counting on Inheritance to Pay for Retirement” I was expecting to see stuff talking about rich kids wanting their parent’s money. In reality this article throws out information and numbers with zero sources to tell us where it all came from. I am not too sure if this is an article to get older generations to get up an arm against the younger generations when it talks about how from this survey people from 18 to 4 years of age had assets from $50,000 to $250,000 worth of assets whatever that may be or stand for. Then following that more people in the most current generation, generation z, those who are in their early 20’s are betting on getting inheritance from their friends, parents, and grandparents. Lastly this article ends suddenly by telling us the average percentage people around the world take into consideration of inheritance when planning their retirement.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-01/mexico-heads-to-polls-with-leftist-on-brink-of-historic-victory
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I am responding to a video that was discussed in class called “If Men Were Women” by BuzzFeed Video. The video shows many skits that are all focused on things women experience, as well as, stereotypes in entertainment regarding gender. It shows this by switching the genders of the people involved in theses situations. For example, two women are shown walking past a man, who appears to pull his jacket together to “cover up”. The man is visibly uncomfortable as the women turn around and make inappropriate comments about his appearance. In another example, a couple is looking for a show to watch. All of the TV shows have the stereotypical, overweight and skinny couple on the cover. In real life, the overweight and unintelligent character is usually played by the husband and the smarter, skinny character is played by the wife. A good example if this couple is Homer and Marge Simpson. In the video, all of the men, on the covers, were muscular and handsome. The women were shown as overweight.
As a male, this video really opened my eyes to many of the gender stereotypes in our society. This video has helped me realize that these problems are real and very common. I agree with the message of the video and believe that the stereotypes are ridiculous and need to go.
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I chose to write about an article I found regarding Roseanne Barr allegedly blaming Ambien for her racists tweets that resulted in her show cancelation. Basically Rosanne was on a twitter rant this week in which she mentioned that she was on Ambien when she made that tweet. She also went on to respond to co-stars of the show speaking out publicly against her after the initial racist tweet. The issue I have with this entire situation is that accountability is somewhat of a new thing in todays day and age and it is not consistent. I don’t in any way agree with Rosanne for her racist tweet but I absolutely do see that it could have actually been brought on by Ambien and no one is really coming to her defense about this. There are countless videos of people on various medications saying things completely out of character and doing things they never would. Im not excusing the behavior or the tweet Im just saying that it is very possible that the side effects of Ambien were partially responsible. As far as her cast speaking out about her I call bull. These people worked with her for years and years. They know who she is both good and bad. I feel like if she is truly a racist these people had to have known or had some sort of an idea and I find it ironic that they only chose to speak out when it benefitted them. Why wasn’t anyone speaking out about her before? The woman has a history of lacking self control so I find it hard to believe this is her first racist outburst if thats who she really is. Seems like everyone in that circle had no issues when the checks were coming in.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/more-furious-tweets-roseanne-blames-ambien-racism-calls-out-her-n878501
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The video is the 2017 Mr Clean Super Bowl advertisement called “Cleaner of Your Dreams”. In the video, the women is depicted to be tired from cleaning and Mr Clean comes into play and takes over the cleaning chores while using Mr Clean products (it’s still a commercial so they much promote some product of choice). When Mr Clean cleaned, he did it more in an “attractive” effortless way, in which the women was impressed by his efforts to actually clean. At the end, the man isn’t actually Mr Clean but her husband himself and the man is awarded by love.
The commercial shows sexism and gender roles for depicting that women only clean and men should be awarded for one effort. The man is basically a sex object that is shown to be awarded at the end of the commercial by the woman throwing herself at the man. The commercial correlates to the earlier video shown this week in class of the “If Men Were Women”. It demonstrates the stereotypes and or common beliefs of what roles are in terms of cleaning. The commercial even ends with “you gotta love a man that cleans”, depicting that it is extremely uncommon to find a man that cleans, belittling men and women alike. The rarity of the man cleaning allows him to be rewarded by sexual tension. Now the man is moreso a sex object, totally exaggerating the whole message of cleaning. The roles may be perceived as reverse but it is a total exaggeration upon the reality of what would happen if this scene came to life.
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https://www.cnbc.com/…/us-addresses-internet-addiction-with-funded-research.html
Internet addiction is sweeping America, affecting millions
Internet addiction people usually have introverted personalities, fewer friends, narrow social circles, and little extracurricular activities. Young people who have grown up in a family atmosphere and have poor parent-child relationship often use online games to escape stress. In the new country, no like-minded playmates can be found, and it is difficult for new immigrant students to enter the circle of friends. This is another high-risk group of Internet addiction.
The so-called Internet addiction cannot be controlled or stopped, and it affects the Internet behavior of normal life. I think parents’ involvement is important, but they must learn to communicate before they can be effectively relieved.
I suggest that, for those who are less serious, children can be encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities; social activities of the same age for younger children can be arranged, or a big brother or a big sister can be used as a role model or confessor for children. Parents should set reasonable standards for their children to surf the Internet and watch TV at home. If it cannot be implemented or the conflict deepens, the family therapist should be invited to intervene.
For the Internet addiction family who is in a particularly serious situation, they can participate in summer camps for young people with psychological problems. Activities such as various outdoor activities, outdoor life, encouraging positive attitudes, and learning and controlling emotions all help to improve the symptoms of Internet addiction. In addition to summer camps, the United States also has full-time schools for youths with special problems. Such projects are expensive. The summer camp for three weeks is about 8,000 yuan. However, insurance companies do not pay for special schools.
Parents should clearly understand that online games are not part of life, but are part of life. Many social topics of young people cannot be completely restricted, but it is necessary to establish family rules; for example, after finishing homework, completing extracurricular activities, and communicating with friends, You can access the Internet for 30 minutes to an hour. It is not only effective in prevention, but also develops awareness and habits of responsibility first. We must pay attention to the children’s social status, encourage them to go out to play with friends, participate in sports activities, cultivate interest in hobbies, and find satisfaction in real life. Parents, do not forget that the most basic and important thing is good parent-child relationship and communication.
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I chose to do my journal entry on the topic of emergency medical bill prices. In 2016, a couple from San Francisco had to run their baby to the emergency room because he fell off the bed and hit his head. After arriving at the hospital, it was determined that the baby was okay. A bottle of formula and a nap was prescribed by the doctor and they were on their way. All seemed okay, until they received the hospital bill, two years later, for $18,900. The fee is insane for the services that the hospital provided. The bulk of the medical bill was $15,000, labeled “trauma activation 911.” The spokesperson that is defending these ridiculous hospital rates claims that everyone that comes in needs to contribute to the expensive costs of administering trauma related incidents. The problem with this situation is that according to the Medicare guidelines, the trauma activation fee can only be applied if and only if the patient receives at least 30 minutes of critical care provided by the trauma team at the hospital. Several hospitals were surveyed and they were not applying this rule to all of their patients. Since no one had spoken up about it before, it was never an issue and people have been being overcharged for their hospital visits. I felt this needed to be addressed because sometimes one hospital visit can drown people in so much debt that it can ruin their plans and their life. This can also prevent people from wanting to go to the hospital when they need help. I believe proper monitoring of medical bills should be implemented to help people get the best medical care they can, at a price they can afford.
https://apple.news/AEzi_PjAsQgKq6TD72j8uIA
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Trump has been working hard to wipe clean the MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) since he came to office. MS-13 is an international criminal gang that is originally from Los Angeles, California but has spread throughout the United States. Trump is supporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is the law enforcement that is responsible for enforcing the immigration laws of the U.S. Trump defense ICE by posting on Twitter after some administration said the agency should be shut down. Trump believes that ICE is doing a wondering job protecting the U.S. and they should continue to keep us safe. ICE had arrested 796 members of MS-13 one fiscal year, and another 405 this first quarter. I support Trump in believing ICE is doing a great job keeping the U.S. safe from MS-13. I do not want criminal running around raping and murdering people out there. I want to feel safe when I am out of my house. I feel the president should not be tweeting on Twitter. Trump can be childish when he tweets on Twitter on some things out of emotion and not really thinking of his action. Trump is the president and is a public figure that everyone takes into consideration/respect. The president gives credibility to the source but can make himself looks stupid at times. Why did I say that? His attitude and emotion get in the way sometimes, which make his argument non-reliable. There’s no credibility what so ever when he acts like a child. This relates to our lesson in class because all three, ethos, pathos, and logos were used in this article.
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http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html
Garrett Hardin’s, Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor, by no means is a read for the faint of heart, for the article discusses an approach to world problems that centralizes around a survival of the fittest mentality. Hardin suggests that to fix world problems such as hunger and disease, we as a species must let the hungry starve and the sick die. The article was published in 1974, and it is interesting to see that a global problem such as hunger has not been solved yet; however, attempts to fix the problem have been made as long as the problem of hunger has existed. Hardin uses the example of a lifeboat in the sea that can only carry a certain amount of people that is a fraction of those who need help. Hardin uses examples of efforts being made to aid nations and people with issues such as hunger and poverty, in which the help actually ended up causing the problem to worsen or not improve at all. Hardin’s states that the effort to help a group of people must be an effort to not make an effort, in many cases do nothing to help and let those who are starving die in order to control the population to result in the absence of a global issue of starvation. I don’t necessarily agree with Hardin’s solution of being hands off because previous attempts have not solved a global problem. Instead, the problem should be readdressed and solved in a different way, such a way that shows that the mistakes from the first attempt have been taken into consideration for better future efforts.
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I chose to analyze the Ted Talk we watched in class by Chimamanda Adichie, “The Danger of a Single Story.” I chose this because this video interested me so much, and how she talked was amazing. Chimamanda explains how a single story develops stereotypes and that she was even guilty of stereotyping others. Chimamanda came to America to go to a university and her roommate had a single story about her being African. Her roommate was surprised she could speak English so well or even know how to use a stove. Chimamanda explains that back in Nigeria she had a house boy who’s family was very poor, and when her and her family went to visit them, she was also surprised to find out they could work. She couldn’t think of them as anything else but poor. She explains how she is very guilty of giving into single stories, but that there is so many more stories but when we listen to the single story we only see people as one thing. The argument she is making is that people become very narrow minded when they only listen to the single story. We must listen to all stories on a topic to not make assumptions, or stereotypes of people. Chimamanda uses pathos a lot in her speech by interpreting her personal experiences into her speech, such as her cousin dying from lack of funds for healthcare, or people dying in Nigeria because their firetrucks did not have water. She uses logos by establishing her credibility by saying she is also guilty of listening to single stories. Chimamanda argues that we should listen to more than just the single stories and stop assuming.
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