Rhetorical Activity 3 pg.263

A situation in which an appeal to anger would be appropriate would be a speaker fighting for change in his community or country. First the speaker would have to get everyone on his side. He could do this by talking about issues such as state or government neglect, or any public issues that would rouse their anger. Then he would talk about how those circumstances have consequences that affect everyone, personally and communally. After that he would discuss changes that would ensure better community care which would rouse the anger of the people even more, and help them to see the speakers side of the issue.

An appeal to shame would be effective in a situation where a speaker is trying to get a person to help with a volunteer project, such as helping the homeless. The speaker would begin by telling the person everything he has that he takes for granted such as food or a bathroom. Then the speaker would explain the living conditions that homeless people have to endure, through winters and rainstorms, to try and make the person see that he's got many things that he doesn't even need, which would begin to make him feel ashamed. Finally the speaker would talk about how little effort this person would have to put forth in order to help a homeless person immensely. All of these arguments would help the speaker to make the person feel ashamed for not helping more which would make him want to help.

Rhetorical Activity 1 pg.63

I read three articles concerning President Obama and the direction that our country is headed in. These three articles were from Time Magazine, Black Enterprise, and National Review and they were all from the month of March.

The article from Time Magazine was written by Barack Obama himself and the issue that he was discussing was a national expansion of community service. Little had to be said to explain the purpose behind his article; it was clear throughout that he was speaking to the American people about lending a hand in their country. He created his kairos mainly through epideictic rhetoric; by stating how people could change their own communities through their own work. There was a little deliberative rhetoric in which he discussed his own plans for change. This was when he tactfully changed the subject to the greater issue of how he plans to lead the country.

The article from Black Enterprise was written by Derek T. Dingle and it addressed the changes that the country has already gone through, and what to expect from the new administration. Dingle created kairos by talking about how the people were affected and moved by the inauguration of our first black president, and his promises of growth and change. Very little had to be done in this article to explain the articles relevance because it was more based on opinions about the new president than political facts. You either agree with this writer or you don't, on this particular issue.

The article from National Review, written by Mark Steyn, was about President Obama and the horrible consequences of his election. Steyn used deliberative and forensic rhetorics to create his kairos. He brought up other countries and the terrible state that they are in due to their choice of politics, and he voiced his opinion about the President and his changes in policy. There had to be alot of explanation in his article because he went back and forth between American policy and European policy, comparing the two and listing differences, but other than that, the point and relevance of the article was very clear.

Activity3 p.303, WWD

The website that I went to was the American Association of People with Disabilities or AAPD, at http://www,aapd.com/.

I found that this site does a very good job of reaching its audiences and achieving its goals. It's audience is anyone who wants to help their cause, and their goal is to use that help to help Americans with disabilities.

First of all the site uses epideictic rhetoric to appeal to people's sympathetic and understanding sides. In this site there are articles concerning all manner of issues from hate crimes to convincing people to stop using the word retard. All of these writings are meant to influence people to help their cause. The site also tries to influence the public by offering rewards for donations, and assuring the public that those donations will be put to good use.

Overall the site is very well suited to its aims and its audience. It mentions its goals, and has many writings to influence people to help attain those goals.

Pg. 230 Rhetorical Activity #1

For this blog I decided to use two straightforward news columns, two movie reviews, and two opinion editorials from different sources. While reading these different articles it became clear to me that all of the writers of the articles had one method in common; the use of reliable information to help their "case". Other than that, for each specific area of writing different methods were used:
1-3rd person for distance in fact based news stories and reviews
2-1st Person for opinion articles
3-Qualifiers
4-Knowledge of culture

The authors convinced me that they were well informed in all the different styles of writing because there were references to cultural facts that helped me understand, and to know that they are well-informed of the facts. The authors also convinced me of their good will in the news stories by stating the facts without outside opinion, in the movie reviews by stating what was thought of the movie and why, and in the opinion editorials by stating their opinions frankly while at the same time making the reader understand they are only opinions, even if they are well-informed opinions.

Ethnographic Research Questions

Three questions that I feel will bring depth to my research project are:

1-How and where do you come up with your characters?
This question will be add depth and be important to the project because in order to understand my subject's writing process I must understand where that process begins, and discovering the history of the characters seems to be a logical starting place.

2-When beginning a story how much and what sort of research is undertaken?
This question will help me to understand how my subject comes up with her stories, how much is meant to be based in reality for a moral or lesson, and how much is meant to be simple entertainment.

3-What are some of the restrictions that you find, or place, yourself in in order to remain "appropriate" for your audience?
This question will add depth because it will bring into light just what sort of guidelines from the audience, editors, and personal moral code my subject must deal with in order to actually get her work pubished.

Rhetorical Activity 1 Pg. 186

For this activity I chose an article from the DA discussing Facebook and it's lack of necessity and misuse of information. In this article the writer discusses how unimportant the information is, and yet how it can be used for a profit because it reveals so much about our lives. Examples and maxims are used very effectively in this article to illustrate just how ridiculous the entire Facebook community is. Enthymemes are also used very effectively. The writer leads the reader through a series of postings put up by different users, how unnecessary the information is, and how everyone on Facebook indulges in writing such information. He makes the reader understand that Facebook is just fragments of lives thrown up on the spur of the moment without any real purpose or desired effect. The use of entymemes, examples and maxims are used quite effectively in this article because by the end of it you find yourself agreeing with the writer about Facebook.

Rhetoric Activity

One place where I notice rhetoric used on a regular basis is at my home with my mother and stepfather. They are constantly using rhetoric to resolve arguments with my younger brother, to make plans for the week and weekend, and to deal with issues as they arise. I've noticed that with my mother there is alot of opinion. She likes to think about how she feels on a subject, make a decision based on that feeling and then try to convince my stepfather or brother. With my stepfather it is very different. He prefers to to focus on the facts of an issue; how much will something cost, how long will something take, are there more positive consequences in doing something one way as opposed to another. He will usually have as many facts as possible before entering into a discussion.