Essay Questions

1.  What are ways to open an introduction with a hook while also maintaining credibility?
2.  Can we use sources other than our video?
3.  How many times will we edit our papers?

Draft

The United States of America is the most powerful and influential countries in the world. The next president will affect the next upcoming generation: regarding jobs, social and economic lives, and with relationships around the world. Visual rhetoric is a persuasive technique that is used to emotionally move even the most hard-hearted of people. Many politicians know the power of visual rhetoric and utilize the technique throughout their campaign. In Mitt Romney's advertisement campaign, "We Need Mitt Romney", he uses a variety of ways to incite the audience. The different uses of African-American presence in his video is a prime example of visual rhetoric.


The visual elements that grab your attention in the beginning of the video is the picture of Mitt Romney showing an audience a piece of paper and explaining it. In the picture, he looks confident and knowledgeable. While he is shown, the text "The Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class" is also shown, appealing to the majority of Americans. He also shows him working with what looks like a trader company while the video talks about trade, which is something that America has put emphasis on improving. The video also shows pictures of money and small business owners as it shows text such as "cut the deficit", "reduce spending", "champion small business", all issues that hit home for most American people. The lighting, music and people in the video give us a positive, uplifting and hopeful feel.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyDsZ-OtaOI

http://guides.library.colostate-pueblo.edu/content.php?pid=88620&sid=659087http://guides.library.colostate-pueblo.edu/content.php?pid=88620&sid=659087

"Muslim Rage"

The "Muslim Rage" cover can interpreted in a variety of ways. Like I said in class, most of the political/religious/ethnic feuds are fought between a few radical group leaders that use visual rhetoric (as well as other emotion provoking methods) to incite their respective "side". The red and white background of the image also creates a angrier tone. As well as color, the people in the picture have a painful look of anguish on their face, grasping each other and seemingly "yelling to Allah", so to speak. I believe this image is creating a thought that all Muslims are angry with all Westerners, and that we need to be apologetic and be more accepting of everyone. However not everyone feels this way, on both sides. The twitter reaction is a perfect example. People of both sides are using the hash-tag "#muslimrage" with a irrelevant statement, demeaning the anger that is being portrayed on the news. I find it hilarious how most people react to something with this magnitude. Most people find it ridiculous that people are getting upset over something somebody said. With the world becoming more socially involved via the internet, people are becoming more and more sensitive to the littlest of things. Especially with the rising and continuous tension between the Middle East and the West, now is a time to be accepting and take things that happen with a grain of salt. People will act in a certain way, however how we react to it determines the outcome. I constantly think of a quote by Charles Swindoll, "Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it. So it is with you, we are in charge of our attitudes."

"The Romney Plan"

The visual elements that grab your attention in the beginning of the video is the picture of Mitt Romney showing an audience a piece of paper and explaining it. In the picture, he looks confident and knowledgeable. While he is shown, the text "The Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class" is also shown, appealing to the majority of Americans. He also shows him working with what looks like a trader company while the video talks about trade, which is something that America has put emphasis on improving. The video also shows pictures of money and small business owners as it shows text such as "cut the deficit", "reduce spending", "champion small business", all issues that hit home for most American people. The lighting, music and people in the video give us a positive, uplifting and hopeful feel.

"We Need Mitt Romney"

In chapter six of "Choices 2.0"  (2010), Joe Hardin argues that the media uses a strong dose of rhetoric to influence our lives. He gives plenty of examples and shows that media not only uses the most common methods (tv, radio, music, internet), but also uses methods such as billboards or books or magazines. His purpose in writing this chapter is to demonstrate how to write a correct media critique. His target audience is again young college students, which this whole book is intended for.

Plagiarism Precis

In his article "Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in the Digital Age" (2010), Trip Gabriel argues that plagiarism is becoming more commonplace with the continual expansion of the internet. He uses many studies and known professors' opinions to support his statement, while also giving different views about the subject. He argues this point in order to bring awareness to the subject of plagiarism and hopefully help people realize the situation. His intended audience is anyone who is writing and has grown up in the virtual age.

The first impression I get from looking at this picture is the world and it's future being passes from a pair of older, more experienced hands to younger, naive hands. I think the fact that the older hands are also black reinforces the experienced and accomplished feeling. Despite discrimination and struggle, African-Americans have fought and won battles of freedom and justice. This picture is insinuating the older generation is trusting the younger generation to uphold freedom and justice as they carry forth the future of the world. The colorful objects on top of a black background illuminate the hands and the earth. The lack of text also leaves the meaning of the image up to interpretation.

Visual Rhetoric

The campaign videos broadcast by Mitt Romney and Barack Obama gave great examples of persuasive visual rhetoric. In Obama's video, it opened with videos panning across homes and communities, thriving businesses, people going to work, all symbolic representations of America and its citizens. By beginning with this, they give the audience a way to relate and engages them from the very beginning. It next switches to pictures of the depression, a Vietnam memorial, 9/11 footage and Katrina damage as the narrator says we've been through tough times together. Following the tough times, it shows us examples of us rebuilding and enduring. This is important for Obama's campaign especially because we have been through an economic crisis with him; he emphasizes perseverance and trust that we will come out of this, just like we always have. Throughout the video, Obama shows he is a caring, devoted and determined leader. From shaking veterans hands to holding infants to remembering those we lost at ground zero to reading personal letters from the American people, he constantly emphasizes his caring devotion to America's success. Romney had many of the same examples throughout his video emphasizing the same points, however his opening was a bit different. The very first picture was him speaking to the camera with his wife beside him looking at him, showing the support she gives him and immediately opening with strong family values. The video then goes to show pictures of Olympic athletes and the Olympic games in Salt Lake in 2002. This is important because those Olympic games came after the 9/11 tragedy and was an extremely important test of America's resiliency, which he successfully coordinated. One other major difference between his and Obama's was the importance of family that Romney continually stressed. I think this is an important example of visual rhetoric because it relates the American people in the sense that Romney will care for us and our country in the same aspect.

Obama, Romney Speeches

The speeches we watched in class were quite interesting. Both Michelle Obama and Ann Romney appealed greatly to the audience's pathos. They constantly referenced topics which related to most Americans: single mothers trying to feed their children, hard working middle class parents trying to send their kids to school, single dad working extra hours so his kids can feel like other kids, or a couple who wants to have a child but don't know if they can afford it. Ann Romney used the line "Tonight, I want to talk to you from my heart" to captivate the audience. Michelle Obama used her personal experience to essentially put herself on the same level as most Americans. Neither speaker used much logos though, besides the personal experience of seeing people and their struggles throughout America. I think both women have credibility just because they are the wives to presidential candidates, however Michelle has a bit more because her husband is our current president and she has already been down this path. Although both speeches were captivating and well written, I don't really believe that this came from their "heart". Most political parties and their candidates have speech writers for their campaign. Both women probably had some input, however I felt a fake tone throughout both speeches that left me unable to really engage in the speeches, just like most campaign speeches.

Ch 3

In this chapter of "Choices 2.0" (2010), Joe Hardin explains the different methods of skilled writing in order to further solidify our knowledge of how to write well. He explains to us the three types of structures that will give our writing more pathos, logos and ethos appeal: narrative, analytical and argumentative structures. He also gives plenty examples of how to use different representations to support our writing. His general audience is most likely college students or beginning writers.

The End of Forgetting

In his article, "The End of Forgetting", Jeffrey Rosen brings up many solid points about how the internet has destroyed personal privacy. However I can't help but wonder who is really at fault here. The majority of people blindly post drunk pictures to facebook or ridicule teachers or friends with blatant disrespect or post their entire personal lives on facebook (we all have some of those friends... "Holy s@#$ I've got the munchies bad!!" or "Ommmggg gettin shhhwasstyy tonite with da BFFFSSSSSS!! <3" or even better "I hate that wh@#$ how is she gonna make me work on my birthday!!") and then complain and find it unjust when an employer sees these things and decides to fire them or not hire them. My parents raised me differently though, I believe in the right way. Our personal business is just that, personal business. If we are not mature enough to handle the responsibility of maintaining our own personal image and reputation, I believe we don't have the right to complain if someone discriminates because of stupidity. Now the arguement arises: well we all make mistakes, and should be able to take things off the internet (like the software Vanish). In my personal opinion, using the internet requires common sense, just as much as talking to people in person. Say you attend a family reunion. Would you be embarrassed if you showed up drunk wearing a pirate costume? I would be too, therefore that's not something to post to facebook. I'm not saying that isn't something we should do ever, but we just need to be smarter about who we share it with. I guess my whole point is the internet isn't the one who is to blame in these situations. If we were responsible with using the internet and realize the consequences that come with it, we would have a lot less problems with personal and business lives crossing. Social networking sites should be used as a way to communicate with friends or colleagues, not to tell ones personal secrets. If you do want to share your life story, say through a blog, then I think that is our responsibility to determine whether or not the risk is worth it and deal with the consequences accordingly.