Big A argument

"Everything about Scopolamine has to do with hurting people" -  Jessica Maria (Prostitute)

    Scopolamine, otherwise known as the Devil's Breath, has been used for robberies and rapes. Although Scopolamine has a dark history of pain and murder, its applications in the 21th century is being used for the benefits of society because this substance has the potential to solve many problems that other drugs cannot. It is currently being used or tested to be used as a sea sickness cure, sleep inducer, and truth serum.

     Scopolamine allows someone to lose their sense of free will, and becomes almost like a zombie. A person heavily under the influence will have no choice but to do whatever they are told without exception. Making things even worse, the user will have no memory of any of the events that take place while he/she is under the influence. This is because Scopolamine is a drug that prevents the first stage of creating memories, which is called memory encoding. This prevents memories from being made and induces a state of consciousness where one cannot refuse to do anything. However, in smaller doses, many of these effects can be used for beneficial uses. Currently, there is a product that uses scopolamine to remove sea sickness for around three days.

     This product has Transdermal Scopolamine, and it is a circular flat patch designed for continuous release of scopolamine over the course of 3 days. This is called the travel patch and it is clinically proven to help prevent motion sickness. Due to the very low dosage amounts (approximately 1.0 mg over 3 days), many of the effects that are associated to being heavily under the influence of Scopolamine is not visible. Though it needs to be prescribed by a doctor, like most drugs, this is one of the many beneficial uses of scopolamine.

     Scopolamine has also been used to induce a twilight sleep, which is an amnesic condition that is characterized by the inability to feel pain without losing consciousness, during childbirth. By doing this, the mothers suffered less from labor pains. However, many experienced memory loss after giving birth, so it is not used at this time. Though this is not a usable drug currently, it could be used to develop a drug in which women can give birth painlessly.

     The last effect that can be used is the inability to tell a lie while under the influence. Many have sought for a truth serum throughout history, and here is a substance that can induce a state of consciousness where the person does not have the free will to deny the truth. The CIA have used and tested Scopolamine and has concluded that a patient under the influence of scopolamine cannot create a lie. Many problems that lack truth, such as Guantanamo bay, where they torture captives for informations, could potentially be solved with the usage of Scopolamine. Though it has been used for deadly applications through robberies and rapes in the past, scientists can potentially create a working truth serum to be used for the benefits of society. 

     Scopolamine has been used for the wrong reasons for far too long when it could be used for the good of the people. The three applications that are stated above are only obvious and beneficial usages for scopolamine. It's about time to see that Scopolamine can be used to benefit the world rather than hurt it. 

World’s Scariest Drug: The Devil’s Breath

Bibliography:
 World's Scariest Drug. Dir. Ryan Duffy. Perf. Ryan Duffy and Demencia Black. Vice, 2012. Documentary.


     This documentary was very different from other documentaries in the way that Ryan Duffy approaches a variety of people to understand more about Scopolamine, otherwise known as the Devil's Breath. He interviews many people who are not commonly caught on camera, such as a drug dealer and a prostitute, though he does interview many victims and users as well. This drug is found in Columbia, and the reason it is so scary is because anyone under the influence will do everything they are told without any restraint. Many in the documentary who are victims helped the people that drugged them do the things they want, such as bring out all valuables in the house, your checkbook, your savings, etc. People lose the ability to make choices, and lose their freedom under the influence. This documentary is real with scientific evidence as well as personal experiences taken from people that live in Columbia.
      He brings in people who have dealt with Scopolamine, such as a doctor, a drug dealer, as well as many victims and users. Using such direct sources gives credibility to his sources and argumentsr (Appealing to logos through expert testimony). He also utilizes past experiences such as how one of the victims got back at a pimp and two girls the same way they had done him in, through Scopolamine, and in the end they were all killed (Appealing to pathos through personal anecdote). This sends a very emotional and scary message, improving his argument of how dangerous this drug is. The worst part is how common it is to find; Ryan was able to look for and find the trees that give Scopolamine in the city, and the drug dealer demonstrated where and how Scopolamine is found. The worst part was when he was able to procure some of this deadly drug to examine it first hand. They did flush it down the toilet after however.The way that Ryan is able to establish the ethos of his documentary is through others who have experienced it firsthand.  The fact that they were able to procure it so easily goes to really demonstrate not only how scary the drug is, but also how scary it is to live in Columbia.

I forget which one I had to do

Visual:

http://buzz-videos.eu/video-film-visual-communication/

      I found this visual while sifting through random sites like StumbleUpon, and I was intrigued  by it, so I searched for it. It took a while but I found it near a video. The video was about visual communication, and the picture is a good representation of this. The picture shows a normal looking monitor with its screen colored blue, but the screen looks like the surface of water being broken, and a goldfish is floating in midair, to show that it made the ripple and burst from the screen of the monitor. Technology today has allowed the growth of visual technology such as TVs, monitors, even hand held devices. The ultimate purpose of a visual is to transfer realistic images, though it can be used to send other forms of aesthetics. The image shows a goldfish coming out of a blue screened monitor, and floating in the middle of nowhere. The fact that this goldfish was able to come out of a monitor represent how through the growth of technology, visuals are able to become more and more realistic, and like this fish, it may transcend the level that exists currently. The level of realism is on a different level of just experiencing not only from sight, but other senses as well, similar to being pulled into the image itself. Through it may be impossible to make a fish pop out of your own monitor, at the level that the world grows around us, who knows?
     I couldn't really find the person who made this visual; it could be for a message, could be a rhetorically designed piece, even an advertisement for the monitor. However, based on where the picture was found, it seems to have a relationship with the video. The author of the video is Peter Godkins, who showed a slideshow using visual graphics and typography, which is about visual communication.

Article:
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Barflies-Sex-deprived-male-flies-go-for-the-booze-3409506.php

Another science article. This article in a nutshell was about the relationship between the choice of alcohol laced food and non alcohol laced food with the sexual tension of flies which are deprived. Why flies you may ask? The article stated near the end, "Fruit flies are a favorite lab animal in part because scientists have exquisite control over their biology. "  I feel like this should have been mentioned near the beginning to explain the background information of using flies first before going into details about the experiment. The article describes some of the tests that were done. Male flies were put into a jar with a female that had just gone through the mating process, so they would not mate again. The went through this cycle for 4 days for 3 hours a day. Next they were to choose from alcohol laced food and non alcohol laced food. Results show that they prefer the alcoholic food. After they had their fill, their want for alcoholic food declined. This can be the start of a research to help treat alcohol abuse.
This article was found on chron.com, and the article was written by Malcom M. Ritter, and further research of his name show many entries of scientific articles. The pictures that were posted on the site also quoted the source, showing credibility. For his writing, I felt that explaining the background info would have improved his article, like I mentioned in the first paragraph. Leaving the readers who have no idea what relevance this may hold would inhibit the ability of the readers to comprehend the full scale of the research until they got to the end, at which point I re read the article. besides that, I did like the transition from the project to the explanation, " What's going on here?" as if he was asking a rhetorical question.

Book Report: Last section

The story goes into the actual games itself. The challenges, the battles and the strain of relationships was exactly the things I was expecting. I really enjoyed this section, I could not put the book down. However, there was one part that confused me a lot: The part where they try to die together. The reason this confused me was that the game creators announced that after they were down to Peeta and  Katniss, there could only be one winner. However, Katniss tried to die together with Peeta by eating the poisonous berries that they had. However, the game creators frantically called off this requirement and announced that the couple were the winner at the end,  as they were about to swallow the berries.  There was a lack of a background here because they never established the fact that it was such an important thing that there had to be a winner. Having both candidates that were left dying would even be an insult to the state. It may be that I missed it, but I felt that there was too vague a reference to base such an important event off of.  Other than that, I enjoyed the book.
Another thing about this book that was rhetorically well written is that the ending is a real terrible cliffhanger. Not terrible in a bad way, but just a very steep cliff. It does not end the story, but relates it with the next book in the series. Therefore, it really isn't a conclusion, but a really dangerous cliffhanger. It forces you to read the next book due to the growing level of curiosity. It really drew my attention, but I ended up reading the next book as well.

The Hunger Games Part 2

This section was about how the main characters, Katniss and Peeta, into their journey to the first district. They had skeptics about their trainer because he was a heavy alcoholic, but he seemed to become sober after the two became more and more accepting of the idea that they were to fight to the death. I think that the reason he is so alcoholic is seen through how many times their poor district had to suffer the loss of two children, being the only winner from that district. After they get there, the story transitions into more along the lines of a freaky type of game show, where the 2 from each district had to go through interviews, dress up in their districts main exports and sell themselves to their audience for sponsors. I was confused on what sponsors were, but it means that they were able to choose what and when they could drop a certain item for them, whether it be food, or etc.
When I first picked up this book, I thought it would be more chaotic, more forceful, and much more adrenaline type action, but it was nothing of the sort. It was more along the line of psychological warfare, where the author portrays every action and saying to have another hidden message behind it. The author usually goes and explains what it may be, but only in the mindset of Katniss. There are still many details that she doesn't catch but may have many implications. For example, Katniss believes that Peeta is going to go and kill her from the beginning. The actions that he takes, which in this case would be waving to the audience in the attempt to get a sponsor leads Katniss to believe this. However, later in the book, Peeta declares his love for her, which completely flips the story.
Overall, most of the story is found between the lines, and hidden in the actions of others. It is a great read so far even though it wasn't what I thought it was, actually it seems more enjoyable than just action because it goes into detail about the motive, consequences, and rewards of actions.

Violence in wake of Koran Incident fuels U.S. doubts about Afghan partners

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/violence-in-wake-of-koran-incident-fuels-us-doubts-about-afghan-partners/2012/02/26/gIQAgc3qcR_story.html

I picked this article this week because I was looking through the news section on google and when I was reading through this, it felt like it was only showing once side of the story. It was about how the recent violence of Afghan has created a lot of tension between the U.S., as well as NATO.  two high-ranking NATO officers were killed by an Afghan security official, which destroyed the relations that were built up.  The article describes existing tension and the overlap of insults causing this event. Protests began and threw a grenade inside a U.S. base, wounding seven american troops and the protests were very violent, claiming 25 Afghan lives. The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, initially reacted in outrage, but became more peaceful to try and calm down the situation.
George Jaffe has been writing for 17 years, 12 of those writing about military news for the Wall Street Journal since 2000. However by reading this article, I feel that he does not go into the actual burning of the Koran, which is what caused the initial burning. It was linked to another article explaining it though. The religious ferver of the people is very difficult to describe. However, it is similar to how America does not permit the burning of the flag. There was never an explanation to why U.S. Officials went and burned the copies of the Koran for.
It firsts talks about some of the reactions of the event, describing little effect that it could have, and then it  goes into how future events will turn out and just how much it will change because of the event that has passed in this one week by a few individuals. Just because of this events, the relations between international organizations and countries came toppling down due to this incident. He also describes just how difficult it will be to recreate the trust that had existed before.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger games was written by Suzanne Collins, author of many fiction books. She has another Series call Gregor the Overlander, which is a series I have read in middle school and fiercely enjoyed. Looking up her profile was amazing because it had an impact on the way I read the book. It raised the expectation levels that i had for this book much higher, and in all honesty I did finish the book in one day. The Hunger Games has two more books in its series which i will most likely read due to the cliffhanging ending at the end.
The first section is setting the story, explaining how the United States became what it is, and why the Hunger Games are held. It also brings into perspective who the characters are and why they are significant. The main character, Katniss, would usually encounter someone, and go off on a tangent in a new direction by describing what the character is, and how he or she is significant to the author. It shows that Katniss is working to put food on the table, and a friend helps her with this.  There are 12 sections (13 before it got annihilated) and due to a conflict, the other Sections must serve the Capitol. The Hunger games was created to display the power of the Capitol. Katniss was actually not picked, but Primrose, her sibling, was chosen. The chances of this happening were slim to none, but Katniss, in panic, decided to volunteer to go in her place, because the games are for 12 - 18 years of age, and Primrose was 12. Because 2 are chosen, one boy and one girl, another was picked, and it just so happens to be the baker's son. Katniss feels in debt to him because he has given her a 2 loaves a bread when it seemed her family was going to starve to death.
It is told in a first person perspective of Katniss, and she describes many by going on tangents and describing past experiences. The perspective the author chose helps develop the story farther down because of what happens between Katniss and Peeta, the baker's son. It offers only her perspective and it keeps certain elements hidden until later. Also, it helps the readers sort of sympathize and understand Katniss by putting themselves into her shoes.

Which is the Gay One?

http://blogs.trb.com/news/opinion/chanlowe/blog/2009/04/military_gays_gay.html

This is a political cartoon  done by Chan Lowe, who has been the editorial cartoonist for the Sun Sentinel for over twenty six years. He has created many political cartoons. This political cartoon was drawn because of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Act, which was a very controversial topic when it was created.  There are three box like shapes that is covered with the american flag, and because it was drawn in the context of the military, I made the assumption that the boxes are used to symbolize coffins. Lowe makes the point that there is no distinction between any other soldier. All soldiers, regardless of whether they are gay or not, it should not make a difference whether one may or may not be in the military.
The cartoonist decided to explain with a short excerpt. He says that it does not matter whether or not they try to pass this because they try to expose and remove the gay soldiers anyway. He also puts the argument that Alexander the Great was also gay, and he was one of the best commanders in the world. Therefore there is nothing that changes the fact that a soldier is a soldier, and that gay and normal people does not differentiate if one is a good soldier.
The boxes are used to show coffins, and the cover is used to reference America, and the final context at the bottom shows that it is referring to the don't ask don't tell act. The combination together explains the purpose of the political cartoon. He made every single box the same in order to get the point, which is that there really is no distinction between boxes, across clearly.  It is a bit outdated because the Don't Ask, Don't Tell, is from around 2009, not 2012. However, it is still a great example of visual rhetoric