CT shooting

Although I agree with some of the points that Helena makes, the way his argument is made lacks credibility.  It was quite obvious that this article wasn’t peer reviewed, or even spell checked. There were numerous logical fallacies combined with his bold bias that overall made his writing entertaining at best.

One point that I found to be very eye catching was Helena’s assumption that everybody that has a mental illness and is taking some type of medication is a danger to society. Helena says, “Are we going to continue to allow those on these meds to drive and vote given their mental instability?” The title of the article is
“CT School Shooting” but one of the conclusions which he reaches is that those individuals who are being treated for a mental illness should be stripped of their rights. Throughout Helena’s article he creates conclusions for various situations which he believes are all contributing factors towards shootings. His logic however is not very sound and doesn’t give the reader anything to grasp on as he or she attempts to read this article. 

Helena, Kurtis. “CT School Shooting.” Examiner. 18 Dec. 2012. Web.

Is Google making us Stupid

I agree with many of the points Carr presents, many of which I wasn’t fully aware of until reading the article. One of Carr’s main ideas is how we use the internet as a tool to become for efficient and in turn we have enhanced our skimming, page bouncing, and hotlink following. The information provided by the UK library of people skimming through their data bases and bouncing to a new page after reading only 1 or 2 pages is very compelling and many people are able to relate to that. We have become focused on merely being efficient and through that, reading as an art has decayed. There aren’t many people who read for leisure nowadays, similar to Carr’s example of the factory workers. Before, the crafting of their items may have been considered an art however after the more efficient way had been discovered, the process become very automated and systematic. I think the problem that Carr is addressing extends beyond just internet; it goes to society actually deterring people from reading as leisure. What happens all throughout middle school and high school: Mandatory summer readings and even more in class readings in school. This correlates with Carr’s idea of how our brains are programmed. As we grow up, we are mandated these readings, which for the most part receive negative reactions from the students. Similar to the workers, students had to use efficient, systematic approaches to read, causing them to “grumble about the strict new regime.”

Possible Research topics

Should the U.S. have mandatory military conscription? For whom?

Will copyright infringement related legal issues be effective against 3D printing?

Will arming airline pilots prove to be a beneficial investment?

Advertisement: Consumerism

These advertisements from Cordaid, were very aggressive I thought. The contents of each picture are basically the same: an impoverished African holding a very materialistic item. The advertisements first grab your attention because to the general public this is ‘unnatural’. The size and placement of the text lead you to look at it second. It is a comparison of two items. The common item that many of us have access to vs the items we take for granted that are unavailable to the African in the picture (according to how the ad presents itself.) Although these ads only state two facts (prices of the two items) they basically jab at the reader accusing them of denying a person access to water or challenging them to provide a person a home for 6.50 euros. I would categorize this as ethos because of the moral approach the designers took trying to take everyone on a guilt trip. I believe its also directed towards the middle class and above because the items the people are holding are all items that are usually common. Moving away from the contents of the ads, the filter on the pictures affects the overall mood of the advertisement. The subtle grey tone gives a very depressing, cold mood, 1. to make the audience serious about the matter presented and I believe 2. it also suggests the corruption brought about by consumerism. Usually african savannas that you see in pictures are very warm and Lion King-ish but once the new element of this commercial product is introduced into the nature, everything becomes cold and lifeless. Although I do admit these advertisements did prick my conscience a bit, I can’t say I felt compelled to donate. The picture seems too surreal to move me any further beyond a prick. The unnatural color as well as the clash of cultures within the picture just threw me off. One of the first thoughts that came to was actually not “Oh maybe I should donate a euro or two” but “Did he or she get to keep that after the photoshoot?”

My writing process

When I sit down to write, I usually set up shop with a drink some snacks and less than 12 hours before the assignment is due. I’m a habitual procrastinator. This usually takes a toll on the potential of my paper, letting what could’ve been the next exemplary paper that the teacher uses as a reference for the rest of his or her career, become another half baked “you got the job done” paper. But anyways, onto the rest of my process. I don’t make drafts. I make a very crude outline of what I try to address. I write a sentence and focus on rewriting that sentence until it is just right, and then when I am finished with the paragraph I make some tweaks so that it flows nicely throughout. The tone that usually comes from my papers are a conversational,semi-witty, seriousness. I have trouble with going off an tangents that I think relate to the topic, but my teachers never seemed to agree. This isn’t part of my process, but having awkward syntax embedded though out my paper is one of my specialties. I think it is partly due to how I think of dialogue and try to match written text to it but I haven’t gotten down the flow quite yet. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a paper come back with bright red “awk syn!” written atleast 5 times per page. I have alot I need to improve, and I look forward to trying to work those out this semester.