Reflection #3

This past semester has been a huge eye opener in terms of political terms such as freedom, independence and society. It reminded me a lot of the nationalism times during history when it was sorely needed.  We looked at the Declaration of Independence, as well as speeches from famous historical figures, Presidents like Abraham and Kennedy, and civil right activists like Stanton and MLK Jr. This unit has been all about how language is used to deliver obligations to the people to improve society from their view points. It is the duty of all those who spoke in front of an audience to convince them that the actions that they take are for the betterment of society. The big correlation in the readings that were chosen for the marking period is that they are all from times of need where something must be done to prevent a negative experience, or cause a positive one. The authors that were chosen may have had discrimination, such as King and Stanton, while others had the responsibility to improve the nation, which would be the presidents we covered. 

 I recall Kennedy's  inaugural address, and ask not what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Such a simple sentence, but a large impact. The rhetoric behind his speech was to ensure a time of peace and unification; he did not ever mention himself in the dialog. He merely goes on about what the citizens of America have as an obligation to fulfill, and passes on the responsibility of the success of his words to the people. And this last line expresses his entire speech; It inspires a nationalistic feeling. We can see that through his use of power and his charisma, he basically handed the torch onto the people. He provided these obligations based on the context of the period after war has ended. His speech on peace helped to fulfill his duty to protect our union.
However, not all speeches were made in peaceful times; King's I have a dream speech was aggressive and wanted to excite the people, not calm them down. He uses a strong sense of pauses and voice to make his speech dramatic and impactful. He was out to save ALL African American from discrimination, and by giving this inspirational speech using his sense of pathos, he had to convince a nation to remove all of this hate. This is not an easy task in any sense, and it helped to bring about freedom and equality of treatment of African Americans. 
The individual's obligation to government is the betterment of society. The government's obligation to the individual is the betterment of his or her life. In a sense, they take are of each other, in a symbiotic relationship. Stanton had to fight for Women's rights, while Abraham fought to preserve the Union. No matter what the issue was, the fact remains that they took up the responsibility and spread their message effectively using rhetoric as their key artillery, regardless of their position. 

A History of God: Last Post

"Human beings cannot endure emptiness and desolation; they will fill the vacuum by creating a new focus of meaning. The idols of fundamentalism are not good substitutes for God; if we are to create a vibrant new faith for the twenty-first century, we should, perhaps, ponder the history of God for some lessons and warnings."

This was the last passage of the book. The remainder of the book was about how religious differs and transcends all rational things, and it is impossible to use it within a religious argument.("Rationalism, they decided, had its uses, especially in such empirical studies as science, medicine and mathematics, but it was not entirely appropriate in the discussion of a God which lay beyond concepts." ) It wasn't written in a way that shows god to be absolute, but it does show that God, if he does exist, cannot be close to anything we can feel through the five senses you are given. The last passage is a great way of wrapping up the book by answering the why does it matter? question, stating that religious beliefs have been around because human beings must find a cause for everything; knowledge, feelings, just any question that we can think of. The book, though very lengthy in terms of history behind each religion, opened my eyes to just how long these beliefs go back to, how they were developed, and why it can be so prevalent even in the technologically advanced society we live in today. I have also grew a profound interest, though I won't put my viewpoint out there, in rationalism vs creationism. (rationalism would be scientific, creationism would be religous) Overall, it was a great book to read, answered many questions that I had about religious beliefs, as well as create new questions that I look for answers through more research. The author wrote clearly and built up to the ending by outlining the history and standards of each religion through the use of religious and historical sources.

A History of God: page 61 - 120

 This section goes into a very deep informational reading about the Koran and Muslims. It started out as a country stuck between two great empires, and was known for being sort of a backwater country, due to it's constant conflict between tribes. However, with Muhammad, the tribes came under one and grew to become a large empire as well. Another interesting fact was that the Koran was transmitted in a way, word by word, line by line, through visions, pictures, and sounds for a full 23 years. That is a ridiculous amount of time to spend, and the Koran is the interpretation of those visions. 

As for rhetoric devices, he uses rediculous amounts of religious figures, up to a points where reading a paragraph becomes difficult if one did not know what each meant. However, she does build up and takes time to give brief explanations right after the first time the word was used, and I try and highlight any that come up to go back if necessary. (It helps that I am reading on a computer) He does not state his own opinions and uses others to prove a thought or belief, though this part is mostly cut and dry information. He backs up his info using quotes and primary documents. As for his language, he does well using complex grammar and sentence structure, and also I believe he uses shorter sentence structure to state facts so the reader does not get too overwhelmed.

Paper mate ad

 This is an ad i saw over break in a magazine, and thought it was hilarious how they advertised this brand of writing utensil. Basically, in the advertisement, there is very small writing on a a person's nail, on top of a sheet full of math equations. The way this was portrayed, the only time one would have to write something on their body is when they need to remember the said information during a time when that info is crucial and external material is not allowed. Therefore, you can assume that the person is a student or test taker who is currently taking a math test, and he must show his work. The way they advertised this writing utensil is unique because it is kind of implying it is easier to cheat with this utensil, and therefore, students would like this more than other utensils. Cheating is not justified in any sense, but it is a common practice among students, and even adults as well. Therefore, though the number of audience this ad appeals to is hidden but very apparent. The direction the company, Papermate, chose is very different from conventional ads, but it is also very difficult to advertise a certain brand of utensils, and this definitely is a great method to do just that.
The company that published this ad, Papermate, is a well known brand of utensils, next to Pentel. The context they published this ad in was the utensil, and what advantages it has over other writing utensils. As for rhetorical devices and such, I guess imagery is a big one, because when someone looks at this ad, he or she would most likely create a simulation in their head where they put the utensil to actual use. Creating that scenario will prove its usefulness to the audience, which will prompt them to then purchase the item. Overall, the ad was very creative for a writing utensil, and also entertaining.

Woman Is Burned Alive in an Elevator in Brooklyn

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/nyregion/woman-burned-alive-in-brooklyn-elevator.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB

Recently, on December 17, 2011, a woman was burned alive in an elevator in Brooklyn. According to the article, a man in his 40s sprayed a woman in her 60s in an elevator with a type of liquid, thought to be an accelerant. He first cornered his victim and then ignites a molotov cocktail, a wine bottle with accelerant and a rag stuffed in its neck and retreats, then comes back to spray more accelerant on the woman. The victim, Doris Gillespie, a postal worker, was pronounced dead at the scene. The man has serious burn wounds on his hand and face, so the police began to search nearby hospitals. He has yet to be found, and police are still on the investigation.
The author of this article are Sarah Maslin Nir and Al baker. Though Sarah was not referenced, Al Baker has written over 2000 articles for the NYT, which proves his credibility. The ethos of the article was also much improved due to the photo and the first hand accounts of neighbors and pictures and testimonies as well. The context of this argument is the event, and the article seeks to explain what the current situation is and how everything occurred. The structure of the article starts with the picture, and describing what is happening in the picture. Then, it delves into exactly what happened, what is occurring now, and then ends with testimonies who knew the victim. pathos was also addressed in a way due to the use of personal testimonials, and by describing their emotions and reactions, as well as their own depiction of the event, the reader may gain sympathy for the testimonial givers, or anger towards the one who did wrong to the old postal worker who was burned alive. Hopefully, the man will get arrested and justice be done to him.

Pick a Card, Any Card

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204826704577074501731476934.html

This article was about the Mathematics that plays into card magic. The author starts the article off by saying that any number of shuffles below 7 is inadequate and may still have an order to it, and only after 7 can the deck be truly mixed, though it may require more. The article covers many mathematical aspects and some suprising facts that relate to card shuffling, such as the connection between binary numbers and card shuffling, and the dealer can get the card they want by using the binary number of the position, and perform the number of binary with a series of in and out faro shuffles. He was even able to relate card shuffling to physics and juggling. Also the quick mention of the story of Mr. Diaconis was very interesting, being able to run away to study card magic for 10 years, then coming back at age 24 to major in Mathematics on a full ride at Harvard. He is one of the Authors of the book, Magical Mathematics, with Ron Graham. 

The entire article was written in sort of as a brief overview of the new book. The book itself must use the facts, and the writer of the article, Alex Stone, most likely used it for his article, by using the phrase, "Throughout the book..." Alex Stone has written 4 articles for the Wall Street Journal, where this article was found. As for rhetoric, he does a good job supporting each concept with an example, which he ultimately relates back to the authors of the book. Therefore, he is quoting the authors, while making use of his own understandings to enhance his ethos. He also says at points that one can try this with a deck of cards, further pushing his pathos and also logos in a sense. The audience for this article may be for interested card magicians, but also for ordinary people with an interest. There are also a lot of background information the author goes to explain, such as what a faro shuffle is, which means that the article is for all to read.

History of God: pages 1 - 60

      A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam was written by Karen Armstrong, who has written 12 books about religion. She was a nun before questioning, 'what is god?' and answering with memorized sentences. She had trouble visualizing what part god played in her life, and became very prominent after this book was written, which was the first book she wrote, and became an international best  seller.
      The first section holds how she was raised as a nun, but left as she couldn't really see how god affected her. Then she talks about the three big monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She starts way back to start her long explanation of the history behind religion, and how at first, the idea of god was so exulted that the idea could have disappeared due to the lack of temples or priests to remind the people. Then it goes into how religion evolves, covering civilizations such as the Babylonians as well as famous philosophers covered in class such as Platos and Aristotle.
     The piece at first was a history lesson, covering what happened and why it happened that way, using quotes from other books as well as religious works. The audience is people curious about the history of religion, or even what it is. However, as an atheist, I have trouble deciphering the text as I get deeper in, almost as if i should keep a journal of all the terms defined next to me as I read, which may signify that the book is meant for more religious eyes.
     The book uses a lot of punctuation and grammar to hold the book together. The book itself has many sentences that go for 3 lines, and the punctuation such as semicolons and hyphens helps the reader to understand the flow of the book and the sentence. It is much needed, and helps with my understanding (though I did a lot of research and only about 13 pages in do i really understand exactly what is going on, names of people and languages, etc.) very much. The author uses many religious sources to show her understanding of the unraveling of history to find and understand religion, and in some ways, this backs her argument, but she states most of the actions as fact or cause and effect.
     I think she did an effective job of describing how religion grew, but I need to understand all of her references to have a clear grasp at what she really is trying to convey by narrating the history of religion.