Moroni

I know this is my eleventh post.. but I was reading the Book of Mormon and I totally saw a good use of rhetoric in Moroni. Moroni is writing for us in our day. He had a vision of the kind of world we would be living in. I just thought this was so perfect because we have talked a lot about how important it is to think about your audience when you are writing and that is exactly what Moroni did. When he was writing he was writing what he thought we (his audience) needed to hear. I thought this connection I made was really cool. It goes to show that even prophets know how to use good rhetoric!

What I Have Learned

I have learned so much in this class. For starters I learned that I am a better writer than I thought I was, but I know that through this course my writing has improved immensely. From doing the op ed I learned how I can argue about an issue and persuade others to agree with me. I learned how important it is to show the other side of the argument to persuade your audience. I also learned how important it is to brainstorm about your audience before you start writing. From the rhetorical analysis I learned how important it is to look at at rhetoric critically. This helped me learn how to analyze an argument and understand why the author said the things he said. I think this is very important because for the rest of my life I am going to be reading things and it will be important to understand these things for me to make a good judgement about what I should believe and what I shouldn't. From the issues paper I learned how to do good research. I learned that I can find reliable sources to find answers to my questions about certain topics. I also learned that all issues are complex and their is never one easy answer to anything. From the multimodal assignment I am learning how important visual rhetoric is. It is all around us and it is important to understand why designers choose to put certain things on their posters. Overall this class has been a great positive learning experience. Thanks Mrs. Radley!

Propaganda

A few class periods ago, we were supposed to choose a picture off of the Wikipedia page and rhetorically analyze it. This is the picture I chose. This picture came out during the time of World War 2. Most men were being drafted into the army, so factories needed to fill their spots to keep making war supplies. This poster was to encourage women to help the war effort by working in these factories. The phrase we can do it is very encouraging. It makes women want to prove that yes that can do it. Also the girl is flexing her muscles. I think this is included because she is showing that she is more than just a simple homemaker. She has muscle and can do hard things just like men can. Additionally the colors used are patriotic, which makes the reader feel a pride for their country, which makes them more willing to join the effort. I think that the simple phrase is really effective in bold white letters that pop out at you when you first look at it. Also this poster catches your eye because the background is yellow which catches the human eye. When I look at this poster I feel empowered as a woman and I think that women during that time also felt that empowerment, so I believe this poster was successful in achieving its goal.

General Conference

This general conference was different for me because after taking this writing class I started to notice things about both their actual rhetoric and visual rhetoric. Before the Sunday morning session the tabernacle choir was singing "Love at Home." While they were singing they were showing pictures and clips of families doing things together. This was a pathos appeal because it tugs on your heartstrings and it makes you want to have a family like that. Also embedded in that appeal is also a logos appeal. Because if you live the gospel you will have a happy family. It logically follows. Also during one of the talks about burdens the speaker talked about his grandson that was born with severe disabilities and they showed a picture of his grandson. This was also a pathos appeal because it makes it real for the listener and it pulls on their emotions. General conference is mostly full of pathos appeals because as a church we rely heavily on our emotions to feel the spirit. Usually a lot of pathos appeals are not appropriate, but for general conference it is appropriate.

What I learned from the Issues Paper

I learned a lot of things from doing the issues paper. For one I learned how to do effective and valuable research, rather than just searching through google. This should help me throughout the rest of my college career and beyond.  Another thing I learned that was really frustrating for me is that issues are always extremely complex. There is good in bad in each side, and there is never one right answer. It was really irritating to me that I couldn't pick a side and stick with it. This paper also helped me learn to view issues from different points of view. This paper helped me be more open-minded. I feel like before this class I was very close-minded and this class has helped me view things from a different point of view. Specifically this paper helped me learn how lucky I am to live where I do. I am so blessed to be where I am. There are so many people all over the world that are living in poor circumstances. I hope that through my education I can make just a small difference in this world, even if I don't solve some complex issue.

Audience

My issues paper is on micro finance and why it is better than other donation programs.The audience for my issues paper is: middle class Americans that have the desire to help the impoverished. I think that they value helping people out. They realize that they are very fortunate and that there are a lot of people around the world that do not have it as good as they do, so they want to help. Their counterclaim would be why is micro finance a better option than just donating straight to the people. My claim would be initially disagreeable to them because they might not understand exactly what micro finance is, and they might also think that it doesn't help poor people as much as a straight donation. I am assuming that they want to find the best option that will truly help the impoverished improve their standard of living.

Issues Paper

I thought I would write a little post on how my work on the issues paper is going. It is definitely a lot harder than I anticipated. 10 resources didn't seem too difficult at first but... it is a lot! Especially when most of the sources should be scholarly. The scholarly articles are really long and often times a lot harder to understand. Obviously, the researching has been pretty difficult for me, but now that I have gotten a lot of research out of the way I decided to start writing. Something I have learned this semester is that free writing is a great pre-writing activity for me. So today I decided to take the plunge and just start rambling about my topic with things I already knew and my findings from my research. I found this to be really helpful. Now I have at least a starting place for my paper and I now have an idea of where I want to go.

"Buying into the Green Movement" (rhetorical analysis)

Basically I am going to write about my thoughts on this article and why I chose to do my rhetorical analysis on it. When I first read this article I automatically loved it. I love reading articles about environmentalism. It can really get me going. Another reason why I liked it was because it was a fresh perspective that I have never heard of or thought about. Most articles I have read have been telling me to buy green products, but this article showed me that the real solution is just buying/consuming less! Lastly, another reason why I chose this article was I feel like I fit perfectly into the audience, which could help me better analyze the effectiveness of his argument. Although overall I really enjoyed this article, it has some flaws that harmed the article, in my opinion. I felt like he started out saying that buying green products aren't saving the Earth, as you read on he says that it is a good thing that Walmart has given their customers the option to buy green products. Then he confuses his audience even more by telling them that they can't really make a difference on their own. To make a difference, there needs to be some type of political action. All in all I really liked the article, but the end really threw me off, feeling a little confused and not knowing what the next step to take should be.

Immigration

I really liked the article we read in our "Globalization" book called "Immigration is about us" by Mark H. Willes. I liked how he took more of a comprehensive stance. He wasn't trying to single anyone out, but he was trying to get Utahns on the same page with this issue. We have talked about in class that the point of rhetoric is to get people on the same page as you, and that is what he did. He said that we can all agree that we want to get rid of the illegal "thugs and drug dealers", but that we also want to give those who want to be "contributing members of society" a chance to do so. I full heartedly agree with this statement. I have never heard of it put that way. I have only ever heard the options: 1.Let them all stay or 2.deport them all. This article really opened my mind to different options when it comes to immigration. He addresses the fact that this solution easier said than done. He says that Utah should be bold and show the rest of the country how immigration should be dealt with.

Eating Locally

I have always been one who cares about the environment. I am not an environmentalist by any means, but I do what I can to "go green". That being said, I have always thought it was best to eat locally. That is until I read the article in our "Globalization" book. This article really opened my eyes. It made me realize that eating local isn't always best. Sometimes the farming practices of local farmers are more harmful to the environment than other farms. Also by not eating locally we help the economies of poorer countries that produce certain foods. Also by driving to buy locally grown food we are using more gas than we would just to drive to the nearest supermarket. On the other hand though, there are still some benefits to eating locally. More often than not local foods are safer. The majority of local farmers use less chemicals on their produce. Also eating local can help your local economy. With these tough economic times that sounds like a pretty good idea. So what's my point? I guess I don't really have one. I think this is a really sticky situation. How are we supposed to know which option is really the best choice? I guess its a personal decision. Which benefits are most important to you. For me, I am still undecided, but I am glad that we read this article, because it opened my eyes to another side of this issue that I haven't contemplated before.

US Foreign Policy

I think that the United States should limit the amount of involvement around the world. I am not saying to be completely uninvolved, but I also think that there should be limits. I think that ever since the victory of WW2 the United States has felt an obligation to become involved in everything that goes on in the world. I think that we always assume that countries want/need our help. We sometimes barge into countries and tell them that we are the best and that they need to adopt our way of doing things. I believe that rather than forcing our ways on other countries, we need to dig a little deeper. Learn about their culture, what they value. I believe that if we try to understand their background and where they are coming from before we impose our ideas, that there would be less conflict in this world. I believe that having discussions with other countries and keeping positive relationships is the best foreign policy. I also understand that this is easier said than done, and if the conflict is not workable through discussion that war would be acceptable in this situation. I also understand that the United States is very fortunate compared to many countries. Another way I think we can help is through personal outreach organizations. Donate to programs that help those in need in less fortunate countries. I went on a humanitarian trip to Thailand, and it really opened my eyes. They live off of so much less than we do and they are still happy. I think that personally as Americans we need to cut back on things that are unnecessary and reach out to others that are in need.