TOW #10: Written Text: Kennedy Conspiracy

With the Kennedy Assassination anniversary only a few days ago, there were definitely many documentaries on TV about the possible conspiracy theories about JFK, therefore I decided to analyze a written text regarding the assassination for this week’s TOW. This CBS article has no author, however after reading the text it is obvious that the persona of the speaker is somewhat of a reporter since they tie many reports of the conspiracy theories together into one essay about a possible conspiracy of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Also, the article consists of reports from the last 50 years; thus, the purpose of the essay is to discuss possible conspiracy theories of the assassination because the government report that was given decades ago of the assassination of JFK is believed to be a lie by a large population of America.

In order to appeal to the logical reasoning of the audience, or logos, the author of this text compiles many different theories of the assassination. With a variety of sources that consist of everything between a book on JFK’s life to a computer animator who recreated the scenery of the assassination, it is obvious that this text truly a plethora of different ideas merged into one text, where the audience now has the option to read every theory and then compare them to ultimately pick one in which they believe could have happened.  Also, the parallel structure of the article enhances the text because each paragraph is its own conspiracy theory, therefore at the end of the text not only will the audience be introduced to many different theories, but the idea that the report given by the government is most likely a cover up.

I believe that this article definitely achieves its purpose of making the reader at least acknowledge that there could possibly be a conspiracy because with the inclusion of other sources it definitely enhances the text. While there are many quotations fro other related sources, the text maintains its own analysis and also statistics that make it different from every JFK article.  

                           

                              

TOW #9: Visual Text: Gun Laws Political Cartoon

With the recent debates in response to our gun violence, there has definitely been questioning about the second amendment to our U.S. Constitution. I found this image online, and it is clear that the subject of this political cartoon is in regard to the debate over our second amendment which allows American citizens the right to bear arms. Through the use of juxtaposition, the left side of the image has a militiamen from the colonial era of America, and on the right side of the image there is a 21^st century citizen holding an enlarged machine gun. The use of juxtaposition clearly shows the differences in the two society’s that are centuries apart, and how the need for this amendment hundreds of years ago is not really applicable to our modern society.

During the context of the 1700s-1800s, Americans needed guns to protect themselves from the British presence still within America even after the American Revolution, in addition to just having guns for protection. Because a majority of citizens had their own weapons such as guns, it was added into our Bill of Rights to protect the Americans right of the ability to own a gun for their own safety. On the right side of the image the juxtaposition proves to be effective with the statement “hundreds of rounds per minute-man” that clearly expresses the idea that the second amendment is only creating issues because it is not a necessity in country to own a gun anymore. Finally, the question on the top of the image suggests logos, by saying “what side makes more sense?”. Thus, the audience of the image is anybody who still believes in the justification of the second amendment, in addition to those without an opinion because this is image is persuading that audience in believing that the second amendment is not needed in our modern society.

I believe this image is successful in reaching its purpose through the use of juxtaposition to showcase the belief that our society has outgrown this amendment and change is needed in order to keep up with our modernized society. 

This image can be found at

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/187225401.html

IRB Introduction Post #2: Eating Animals By: Jonathan Safran Foer

With my second IRB selection for this year, I have picked "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. This book caught my attention back in 8th grade, when my Language Arts teacher Mr. Towarnicki had introduced me to the author Foer. I never thought about reading it until it was recommended by me on Shelfari, but now I have a chance to read this highly credited investigation by Foer.  I read other books by Foer such as "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" however I have never read a nonfiction book by Foer. This text is about an investigation into the meat industry and factory foods, therefore it caught my eye because I am interested in learning about how we obtain the foods we eat. I remember Mr. Towarnicki old us that this book will change our perspectives on the foods we eat; thus, I am excited to learn about the meats we are eating that we are told are healthy, yet we may regret eating these foods after learning about how they are processed. The audience for this text are average citizens of America, particularly parents because Foer wrote the book after having children and realizing these processed meats are not as healthy as they are preached by others in our society. The purpose of this book is to inform the world about the “unknown” processes the foods we eat undergo while being transferred from grower to consumer, and if Foer is successful in achieving his purpose, I will think twice about the eating the foods Foer mentions in his book “Eating Animals”. 

TOW #8: IRB- Adrift 76 Days Lost At Sea

Since reading Adrift, which is Steven Callahan’s memoir of his survival story at sea, I have read the entire book which concludes with his rescue. Where I left off was just when his boat Solo had crashed, therefore I have now read his entire survival story and how he survived when all odds were against him. After finishing the book, I realized that the rhetorical devices Callahan used are the reason why he was able to retell his story his audience of all ages. 

Callahan uses various rhetorical devices such as metaphors and allusions in order to give his readers a visual of what it was like to survive in the middle of the ocean for over three months, and that allowed his audience to visualize what Callahan experienced on his three-month mission of survival. On page 76 Callahan compares all of his decisions to a “two-edged sword”, and every action he did could either help or harm him. This metaphor definitely describes the scenario Callahan is in because he may not be able to give the reader a visual image of what happened, however through these metaphors the audience can now somewhat picture in their mind every aspect of Callahan’s survival mission that ultimately lead to his rescue. Callahan also uses allusions such as the one on page 181 that mentions how Columbus (The Explorer) must have felt when he first saw land once traveling across the sea for weeks. 

While both rhetorical devices are different and are not the same device, they both ultimately allow Callahan to achieve his purpose of telling his survival story because they allow the reader to visualize what happened because Callahan cannot show them what he actually encountered on his survival mission. This allows Callahan to achieve his purpose because the purpose of his story was to explain to the world what happened during those 76 days and why of all people HE was the one that was able to break the record for most days surviving at sea and live to tell his story.

Steven Callahan's story Adrift is definitely an inspiring story of defying all odds and how self-determination is one of the strongest forces on the planet.