Catherine found a great article on child soldiers through CQ Researcher, which has quotes from child soldiers, a timeline, and information about child soldiers in specific countries in Africa.  I feel like most of the information we’re going to include in our project will come from this site.  Some of the quotes are really powerful:

“We were told that our responsibilities as boys were to fight in this war or we would be killed.  I was 13 years old.”

“My squad had boys who were as young as seven… dragging guns that were taller than them as we walked to the frontlines.”

“They would force us to kill people to toughen us up.  Sometimes they brought us women and girls to rape… They would beat us if we refused.”

There were also some facts that I learned when the KONY video was huge, such as the fact that child soldiers were sometimes forced to kill their parents and cut off the hands and feet of civilians, but reading it again didn’t take away from the sense of horror I felt the first time.

Since this is such a serious and horrifying topic, we can appeal to the audience’s emotions to make our rhetoric more effective, which we’re definitely planning on doing – although I feel like even if this wasn’t something we planned on, the nature of our topic would cause it to happen anyway.  Our song choice, raising the volume of the song while some pictures and clips play instead of having voiceover, and special effects can help us evoke the emotions we want to, so we’re going to have to spend some time messing around on iMovie to see what works best.  I’m also really happy with the way we’ve decided to end our project, because I think it’s going to be extremely powerful – as I’ve been typing these blogs and thinking about it, I got the idea to maybe have a slideshow of close-ups of child soldiers’ faces after we ask the audience what they plan to do about this issue, with the slideshow increasing in speed until finally cutting off and going into the Swahili song, which I think would enhance the effect of this final clip even more.

I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no idea what to write about for my RCL blog this week (I know we had the option of using it to blog more about our history of a public controversy project, but we don’t have a lot to show for that yet – this is really making me realize that we need to get together and start working).  I decided I’d see what everyone else was blogging about to get some inspiration, and something Allison wrote really stood out to me: that our rhetoric changes based on who we’re addressing.

I actually witnessed a perfect example of this in my English 003 class on Tuesday.  It’s a course called “The West of Everything,” and we’ve basically been reading about Native Americans.  We’re currently reading All Our Relations, a narrative which talks about the ways of life of the different tribes and all of the injustices they’ve had to deal with.  A lot of what we talked about in class was that we didn’t realize a lot of this stuff was still going on – Native Americans are still fighting battles over land, and they’re also suffering because of exposure to radiation and pollution, among other things.  One of the guys in my class said that reading about these things surprised him a lot more than reading about the massacres of Native Americans did – he didn’t so much as blink when he read about a Native American chief being massacred under a flag of truce, since those are the kinds of stories we’re familiar with, and we all agreed with him.  At the end of class, my professor revealed that the professor who led one of our class discussions a few weeks ago was a Cherokee, and asked us if we thought our class discussion would have gone differently had he been there.  We all agreed that it would have – we would have been worried about offending him, especially by saying we weren’t surprised when we read about the massacres, a statement that seemed harsh when considered in that light.  It’s interesting to think about the way we alter what we say based on who we’re talking to, however, I think this is natural and okay to do.  It’s when you completely change your opinions based on who you’re around that it becomes a problem.

College Humor posted a video on the 12th which has gone viral – my roommate showed it to me that night, and since then I’ve seen it posted all over the Internet.  It’s a video encouraging men to support same-sex marriage, using the rationale that, if they don’t, gay men will marry their girlfriends.

In the video, gay men address the men who oppose same-sex marriage, talking about how it would be easy to do.  They have a running list of reasons why they would make better husbands: they dress better, will go to the gym with their girlfriends and take them to Pinkberry afterwards, they can cook, they’re the shoulder to cry on, etc., ending the video with, “So don’t make us marry your girlfriends – support gay marriage.” I have to admit, they have a pretty convincing argument – and a lot of what they’re saying rings true (sorry guys).

You can watch the video for yourself by clicking here – while I’ve given you the gist of what the video is about, it’s so much better if you actually watch it for yourself.  Not only did I find it hilarious, but I was able to use it as the topic of my RCL blog this week, as it’s a good example of rhetoric.  The video is clearly meant to persuade straight men to support same-sex marriage, providing them with a nontraditional (and comical) reason for doing so.  The humor is one of the reasons why I like the video so much and think it’s so effective – while it’s unfortunate, I don’t think a serious video about why men should support same-sex marriage would have circulated nearly as fast or spread to as many people (I can’t remember the last time I saw one of those videos pop up on my Facebook newsfeed).  Comedy can be an effective tool in rhetoric, and while this video might not be enough to win men over, hopefully it at least brings attention to the issue.

During my THON meeting the other week, I encountered an example of rhetoric that I hadn’t even realized was rhetoric at first.  A girl on my committee is part of a different organization whose THON child passed away over the summer.  His parents had given him the nickname “chemo warrior” during the early stages of his treatment, and recently the family printed stickers that say “Chemo Warrior” on them and have been putting them up over town.  The girls that made up his THON family have also taken some of the stickers and have been encouraging their friends to put them up in their hometowns, and on canning weekends they’ve even been putting them up in different states.  The girl on my committee said that she actually saw a car drive by the other day that had one of the stickers stuck to the back windshield.

Instead of focusing on the rhetoric involving the election that’s all over Facebook (have you seen the “I’m tired of Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney” video?  I can totally relate to that right now as it’s only gotten worse now that the results are in), I decided to focus on these stickers for my RCL blog this week.  I was absolutely in love with this idea – I thought it was a great way to commemorate the life of their son, and even though people in other states (and even this one) might not know who the “chemo warrior” is, I love thinking that they’ll see the sticker and wonder for a couple seconds about who he might have been.  I also love the idea of these stickers spreading – how amazing would it be for the family to be in a different state and see one of their son’s stickers on a stranger’s car, or on a telephone pole?  While this might not be a conventional form of rhetoric, I thought it was worth posting about – rhetoric really is everywhere, in ways you might not even realize.

I hadn’t been very familiar with TED talks when we first got this assignment, and having to do one of my own seemed intimidating.  To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to pull it off.  After seeing examples of TED talks in class and looking some up on my own, however, I feel a lot more comfortable.  I like the fact that they’re more conversational, and they actually seem less intimidating than a formal speech.  I also like the fact that the speakers seem so passionate about their subjects and really make them accessible to the audience – my favorite TED talks have been the ones in which the speaker tells a story to get his/her message across, like in the “save the shoes” talk we watched in class.  That one has been my absolute favorite so far – Mark Bezos was engaging and his story made me laugh, and I loved the message he conveyed with his talk: even the smallest acts of kindness leave an impact.  I also loved how he ended his talk by telling the audience to “save the shoes” – I thought it was clever and it went back to his story and brought the talk full circle for me.

After seeing various TED talks, I understand why they’re sometimes called “sticky talks” – the ideas really do stick with you.  Even the talks that don’t have a deeper message leave an impact because the ideas are so interesting, such as the talk about the Google Driverless Car and Amy Cuddy’s talk about body language.  The slogan for TED talks is “ideas worth spreading” and that really is what they are.  I feel like there’s something you can take away from every talk, and I hope that the same can be said about my own.

For my RCL blog this week, I wanted to talk about a video that was shown during my H.E.A.L. meeting on Monday – click here to watch the video yourself.  The video is about a six-year-old girl, Emily, who has cancer and has spent most of the past two years in the hospital undergoing various surgeries.  Meanwhile, her classmate, Peter, has been going around raising money to help with her treatment.  He drags a wagon around town filled with brownies and vegetables, selling them and telling people Emily’s story to get donations.  It’s absolutely adorable, and his reasons for doing it are so innocent – when asked why he’s doing this, he smiles and says, “Because I love her.”  His motive for selling butternut squash, however, isn’t quite as pure; his mother mentions that he hates squash, and there’s a clip of Peter suggesting that someone buy squash instead of a brownie, which made me laugh.

This is such a touching story, so I wanted to share it.  While we’ve moved away from discussing civic life, it’s still something that’s important and this video shows that it’s never too early to start getting involved.  When we had been assigned our speech project, I never would have thought of interviewing a six-year-old – six, to me, seemed like too young an age for a child to be involved in anything that would better the community.  Peter Zwart proved me wrong, and I think this is one of the cutest and most inspiring videos I’ve ever seen.  It also hits on a point that I had tried to make with my speech – if you find a cause you’re passionate about, being civic won’t be a chore.  Peter’s too young to realize it, but that’s exactly what he’s done – you can see how happy he is as he goes around the neighborhood raising money for his friend, and I think we can all take something away from this video.

For my RCL blog last week, I talked a little bit about the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.”  This week, I decided to explore another age-old expression: words can hurt.  Once again, I got the inspiration for this blog from posts that I saw on Facebook, which I found ironic – Facebook usually interferes with my homework, but for this class it seems to help.  I saw several posts dealing with cyberbullying that I, frankly, found alarming, and I wanted to share.

The topic of conversation on my news feed was a fifteen-year-old girl who had committed suicide after being cyberbullied.  However, instead of seeing statuses speaking out against bullying, it seemed like the posts were all against this young girl.  Many people made comments such as, “She flashed someone.  Pictures got sent around.  She was bullied, and she committed suicide.  This happens all the time.  Why should she be getting so much attention for it?”

It wasn’t just one person who posted something along these lines – quite a few people throughout my news feed seemed to share the sentiment, and while I can see where they’re coming from (it’s true that many people commit suicide and it never makes headlines), I was still disgusted with these posts.  It seemed like they had no respect for the girl who took her life – they just disregarded her story, and I thought these posts made them seem like bullies themselves.

While it’s true that suicide due to bullying is common, I actually find it more disturbing to hear this girl’s story and know that this happens all the time, and I think it’s important that this is brought to our attention.  That was my intent in choosing this topic for my RCL blog this week: I wanted to take the time to draw attention to the fact that words truly can hurt, and that this isn’t something that should be taken lightly or brushed off.  I think that instead of condemning the fact that this girl is getting so much attention, we should be condemning the people who drove her to suicide – the bullies are the issue here, and I think it’s sad that people have lost sight of that.

Although I usually try to refrain from talking about politics, I thought it was an appropriate topic for my rhetoric blog this week.  The other day, I happened to stumble across the photoset above, and I have to admit, it made me laugh.  I thought it was interesting that whoever put the photographs together was able to clearly get their point across without saying anything at all – the pictures speak for themselves.  This is clearly a pro-Obama advertisement, as all of the babies with Obama seem happy and content, and all of the babies with Mitt Romney are crying.  I thought this was amusing and effective, without a word having to be said – I actually think that including words would have taken away from the effect in this instance.  While the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” may hold true in this case, the power of words isn’t to be overlooked, especially if you consider the recent presidential debate.

After the presidential debate, social networking sites became cluttered as everyone felt the need to voice their opinion (another example of how sites like Facebook and Twitter tie in to rhetoric).  While a majority of the posts just bashed either Obama or Romney, I was surprised by the fact that some posts were relatively unbiased.  One of my extremely liberal friends actually Tweeted, “I’d say tonight’s debate goes to Romney.  His presence was greater.”  Earlier this week, another friend posted a link on Facebook to an article from the Huffington Post which went into detail about how Romney’s performance during the debate narrowed the gap between him and Obama in the presidential polls.  While Romney may not be popular with babies, his performance during the debate seems to be gaining him popularity among the voters.  While a picture may be worth a thousand words, it’s clear that words can also be just as powerful.

I know I’m a little late, but I’ve finally seen the Google Chrome commercial.  My mom asked me if I had seen it a week or two ago; one of my friends tweeted about it; and then, in class on Tuesday, someone talked about how they were going to use it for their rhetorical analysis essay.  I decided it was about time I saw the commercial for myself, so instead of waiting to stumble across it while watching TV, I looked it up on YouTube.

This commercial definitely employs pathos.  In the commercial, a father and daughter use Google Chrome to keep in touch while she’s off at college.  This in itself would be enough to get emotion to resonate in viewers – parents who have had to see their children off to college (or know that that milestone is approaching) and college students alike will be able to relate.  There’s also a clip in the commercial where the daughter introduces her father to her boyfriend, and it’s endearing and comical to see the expression on his face, another thing parents will be able to relate to.  However, there’s also another element to the commercial – the girl lost her mother.  She had been struggling with being on her own when her father wrote to her, “If she could do it, so can you.”  This actually brought tears to my eyes.

After watching the commercial, I happened to scroll through some of the comments.  One person wrote, “After watching this video for the umpteenth time… I have to download Google Chrome! I love this commercial (: <3”  Another wrote, “I watched this commercial and water came out of my eyes… The best commercial I’ve ever seen. I swear I don’t work for Google. But I am typing this on Google Chrome.”  And yet another wrote, “As a Dad of a 10 year old girl (fortunately who still has her mother) this commercial really got to me.”  It’s clear that Google Chrome effectively used pathos in this commercial, and was able to appeal to people of all different age groups while at the same time showcasing all of its features.  What more can you ask for in a commercial?

I think that everyone did a really good job with this assignment – I felt that I was able to take something away from each speech, and there wasn’t one that I didn’t like.  My favorite speeches were the ones that offered me a different view of civic life – a hairdresser instead of a firefighter, the homeless instead of the people helping them, etc.  A lot of people also came up with really creative and original ideas, choosing topics that had never even crossed my mind when I was brainstorming ideas for this assignment, such as Facebook friending, money, and marriage.  It was interesting to see the way different people approached this assignment, and I genuinely enjoyed listening to all of the speeches.

As for my own speech, I’m a little upset about the way it turned out.  I had practiced it multiple times and was feeling confident, but when it actually came time to give the speech, something I hadn’t been able to anticipate happened – I lost my voice.  I had woken up that morning with a sore throat, but I hadn’t thought much of it – I didn’t think it would affect my speech until my voice seemed to dry up in the middle of it.  I know that that wasn’t really something I could control, but I still got down on myself about it because I felt that my speech would have been so much better if I had been able to project my voice and if it wasn’t constantly interrupted by coughing fits.  However, I think that I did a good job with the speech itself, and I believe that I effectively described my Poppop’s civic life and used it to convey the idea that if we can all find something we’re equally as passionate about doing, being civic won’t be a chore.