TOW #13: "‘Black Lives Matter’—but Reality, Not So Much"

http://www.wsj.com/articles/black-lives-matterbut-reality-not-so-much-1441755075

This article was written by Jason L. Riley, an acclaimed African-American journalist who writes for The Wall Street Journal, the most trusted news outlet by both liberal and conservatives according to Business Insider. This article, titled “‘Black Lives Matter’—but Reality, Not So Much”, describes the flaws in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that has surged in popularity recently. The author, being black, has automatic credibility in being able to openly criticize the movement without public backlash. He goes on to explain why the movement is counterproductive by creating more problems for the people it supposedly helps as well as explain the dishonesty behind the movement’s motives.

              In 2014, Michael Brown of Fergusson, Missouri was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson. This event caused the BLM movement’s popularity to increase exponentially. All around the country protestors chanted the “Hands up, don’t shoot!” slogan that Michael Brown shouted before he was killed. The thing is, Michael Brown did not say this. As Riley explains in his article, “The reality is that Michael Brown is dead because he robbed a convenience store, assaulted a uniformed officer and then made a move for the officer’s gun.” Despite this story being a known lie, BLM continues to protest around the country two years later about rampant racism in America’s law enforcement. Riley writes this article to the protestors to show that their anger is unjustified.

              Some of Riley’s strongest rhetoric comes in his rapid-stating of facts. He says, “The reality is that a cop is six times more likely to be killed by someone black than the reverse. The reality is that the Michael Browns are a much bigger threat to black lives than are the police. Every year, the casualty count of black-on-black crime is twice that of the death toll of 9/11,” He then goes on to explain how the spread of BLM’s falsehoods has a negative impact on Black Americans. He says “New Orleans to Baltimore to St. Louis and Chicago. The Washington, D.C., homicide rate is 43% higher than it was a year ago.” He is overwhelmingly effective in his argument simply because he is able to eliminate his opponent’s (BLM’s) credibility, but also their support, which he does by explaining their falsehoods and their negative impact.

TOW #12: "Maus" Part 1

              Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” describes Art’s sessions with his father, Vladek Spiegelman, who tells him the story of his experiences as a Jew during the Nazis’ invasion of Poland in WW2. As someone who experienced the war himself, Vladek has the greatest Credibility possible, a first-person account. Art shares Vladek’s story of his engagement before the war, his call to action following the 1939 invasion of Warsaw, his capture by the Nazi soldiers, his time in the POW camp, and his liberation from the camp, all in the first half of this novel. Vladek’s incredible story, combined with Art’s artistic talent, got “Maus” the first ever Pulitzer Prize awarded to a graphic novel.

              “Maus” was written for a post-Holocaust world. The purpose, as is the case with most accounts of war, is to bear witness. Vladek’s story aims to give the average civilian an idea of how traumatic war truly is. “Maus” was published in 1991, 52 years after the German invasion. Expectedly, memories of the event had been slipping away ever since it happened, and Art aimed to use his father’s story to remind society of the dangers that it holds.

              This being a graphic novel, the rhetorical devices appear, for the most part, in picture form. The main use of rhetoric is the extended metaphor of Jews being depicted as mice (hence the title, “Maus”). The imagery used shows the Jews as a helpless minority at the mercy of not only the Nazi soldiers, but eventually their neighbors. This imagery is also used to depict the Nazi soldiers as pigs and cats. The lack of any human pictures conveys the dehumanizing nature of war. The imagery is so effective because of how well it utilizes our tendencies to associate the assigned animals with certain characteristics. This is aided by Art’s ability to depict emotion through facial expression on the creatures.

TOW #11: Thomas Paine's "The American Crisis"

              “The American Crisis” by Thomas Paine is written as an argument to why America should want independence from Great Britain. The majority of the first chapter consists of anecdotes from Paine’s experience in fighting battles and how the soldiers who were currently fighting in the revolutionary war should learn from them. Paine establishes his credibility early on by stating that he served as a soldier. He shares his stories from the battle of Fort Lee, in which the Americans were forced to retreat by the British in 1776.Thomas Paine is most widely known for his book “common sense” which outlines why it was logical for America to be independent from Britain.

              The audience of Paine’s book is quite clearly the American citizens, specifically soldiers, fighting for independence against the British. This becomes evident no later than the first sentence, “These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” It is clear that this book was meant to be read during the miseries of war, times when the soldiers were freezing and hungry during the winter at Valley Forge.

              Paine motivates the soldiers with powerful diction that appeals to the readers’ pathos while also managing to connect with the soldiers reading it. He says “I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories.” This reassures the miserable soldiers that there is an end to their sufferings and that there is a purpose meant to their misery. This motivates the soldiers to push through and be victorious. One can only imagine the effect that such strong words would have had on someone shivering in their hut in Valley Forge. Paine’s writings are certainly a partial reason for America’s victory.

TOW #10: Jeff Sessions Could Reverse Years Of Progress On Marijuana Policy

Jeff Sessions Could Reverse Years Of Progress On Marijuana Policy

              This article discusses Jeff Sessions, President Elect Donald Trump’s choice for Attorney General, and his position on the legalization of Cannabis. Generally, the article criticizes Trump’s choice as Sessions has expressed very anti-cannabis ideas that contradict ideas set forth by Trump himself. This editorial was written by Matt Ferner, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles who specializes in writing about drug law. He has written four pieces on the subject of cannabis so far this November.

              This article was written for the American People in a time of great turmoil. Protest regarding Donald Trump’s victory have taken place around the country. The author of this editorial criticizes one of Trump’s actions (appointing Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General) and speaks to Trump’s critics.

              Although the editorial criticized Trump, the author uses rhetorical devices to maintain credibility and eliminate the sense of bias. This is seen when the author quotes Representative Earl Blumenauer, who believes “Trump likely picked Sessions because of the senator’s views on immigration, not weed.” However, the author compares Trump’s decision to step back on Drug policy. He says “Donald Trump’s decision heralds a return to the worst days of the drug war.” He also criticizes Sessions himself with an anecdote that claims Sessions was accused of believing that “the Ku Klux Klan was acceptable until he found out members smoked marijuana.”

              The author’s point in writing this text is clear, to encourage people to take a stand against politicians who are fighting for what so many people (and a rapidly increasing number of people) don’t want. The author is successful in doing so by emphasizing Trump’s hypocrisy in appointing someone he doesn’t agree with, Sessions’ highly questionable opinion that smoking cannabis is the worst thing the KKK does, but also by recognizing another side of the issue and appealing to the opposition of the argument by explaining that Trump may not be that hypocritical after all.

IRB Intro #2

I have chosen to read Art Spiegelman's Maus for my second IRB. This award-winning novel tells a second-hand story of the holocaust. The story comes from the author's father, who survived the Holocaust as a Polish Jew. As a Jew, the holocaust has always been s subject of fascination. However, as a human, the horrific acts that were committed fascinate me even more.

TOW #9: Donald Trump’s win will make Brexit more painful

Donald Trump’s win will make Brexit more painful

             This article discusses the recent presidential election that saw Donald Trump elected president of the United States, and how his victory will affect international business for the both the United States and United Kingdom. The publisher of this editorial was Britain’s The Economist, who has been ranked the most trusted news outlet in the world by Business Insider. Being an outlet based in the UK, their bias in the United States’ politics is minimal compared to America’s counterparts.

              In late June, 2016, the residents of the United Kingdom woke up to alarming news, they had seceded from the European Union in an event soon to be known as “Brexit.” To many, this was a sign of impending doom. Britain would need to find new trading partners, the Pound would lose value, and investments would slow. The reality turned out to not be as dramatic as predicted, at least not yet. However, on the morning of Wednesday, November 9^th, Americans woke up to a similar feeling. Donald Trump, who has called himself “Mr. Brexit”, was elected president. Now the terror that flowed through Britain in June is back. This article appeals to the residents of Britain and explains the likely impact Trump will have on trade between the US and the UK. In the concluding paragraphs, the article speaks directly to Theresa May, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, about how to handle the situation with Britain’s interests in mind.

              The most obvious rhetorical device is the extended metaphor between Trump’s election and Britain leaving the EU, and how the aftermath affected their countries. Other comparisons are seen when the author compares relatively inexperienced Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, who they describe as n “instinctive Anglophile”, implying that a victory for Clinton would have been better for Britain. This idea is further backed up with logic when the author references Trump’s expressed loathing of foreign trade to show how Britain is likely to lose business with the United States. The rhetoric in this article is effective because it follows such a logical path.

TOW #8 Freakonomics" Part Two

            In the second half of Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, they slowly transition from one complex ides to another. It begins by continuing to explore the mindset of dug-dealers. It then uses the information presented to explore the causes of the unpredicted fall in crime during the 1990s. From there, the authors discuss parents. Specifically, who makes the best parents and what is under parents’ control. They finish by discussing the effect that a person’s name has on their success and opportunities in life.

            The most important idea presented in the second half of the book is that preconceptions can be not only inaccurate, but they also drive people, even experts, away from the true answers. This is best shown in chapter four. When crack cocaine began to take over entire cities, and crime began to rapidly increase in the 1980s and early 1990s, experts predicted that crimes would reach a level that would make the country dangerous to live in. Instead, crime rate abruptly, and drastically fell. Many causes were cited. These included the increased reliance on prisons (which had a significant role to play but was not the main reason), and more rigorous police tactics (which was the most cited cause but later proved to not have any effect on crime. The real main cause was the sudden nationwide legalization of abortion following the Roe v. Wade case. This idea is supported by showing similar situations in Romania after abortion was legalized.

            In the first half of the book, each chapter was a series of anecdotes used to support a thesis regarding a central anecdote. In the second half. The chapters are continually referenced throughout, making them a sort of extended metaphor. The story of the drug-dealers here used to explain how legal abortions stopped crime. The facts about abortion were used to explain why nature is different from nurture (which explains why many aborted children would be destined to life of crime), and the analysis of naming concludes the comparison.