Ted Talk Reflection

Preparing for this Ted Talk was pretty difficult. For one- I didn’t know where to begin. How do you give a speech without notes? How in the world do you memorize an entire speech? I had no clue.

I started with my topic for my paradigm shift essay, which was essentially a shift in the perception of geeks and geek culture. This covered a vast array of topics, such as the impact of Star Wars, comic books, and even fantasy football on nerd culture.

As one can see, there was a lot to talk about and a lot to remember. I ended up making a powerpoint and outline on it and tried to rehearse my talk. Everytime I tried, I kept stumbling, blanking on words, and going well over six minutes. I tried to cut down the talk, but I really couldn’t manage to do so.

I asked a friend to look over my outline to see if they saw something that could be cut out, and they gave me a brilliant idea. They reminded me that a ted talk was supposed to be a story. I didn’t have a story in mine, I had 3. So all I had to do was pick one and I would be good.

My story would be about comic books, and with a few tweaks here and there, I managed to bring that segment out to four minutes. Since it was a story, it was so much more easier to remember what I needed to say because it followed a linear progression. The worst part was creating an entirely new Ted Talk and outline. I wish that I had known that I didn’t have to give a Ted Talk on my paradigm shift paper and wished I’d focused on the story before preparing.

So, for the actual execution of the Ted Talk, things seemed to work out fine. The jokes really made everything easier for not just the audience, but really calmed me down as well. I hadn’t planned most of the jokes, they just kind of fell into place, and I’m pretty glad it did. I guess that means I can read the audience pretty well and get the timing right. I suppose that means that my Kairos is pretty good.

Now, for things I can improve on. I did not realize I say “um” as much as I did during the talk. After giving it I thought “Oh yeah that went well” but then I saw the video. And oh my god, the amount of “Um’s” made me want to curl up into a ball. I also had a slight mishap towards the end when switching slides, which threw me off so I temporarily forgot my lines. So yeah I need to work on slide switching. I also had a pretty weak conclusion in my opinion, it stopped kinda abruptly, like I was starting to make a point and then slowly gave up. So I want to work on that too.

Ted Talk

The topic for my Ted talk assignment will probably be the same as my paradigm shift paper. Hopefully it will translate well to the Ted talk as I did not have the presentation in mind while thinking about my topic. This can prove to be an issue if I feel that the topic will not resonate well.

Anyway, I digress, I had chosen the subject of the evolution of the geek. My thesis is the paradigm of the conventional geek changed through both the increasing prevalence and accessibility of historically geek media, as well as acceptance of the idea that pursuing nerd-like obsessive interests exists in any medium.

This analyzes the change into stigma and stereotype around what you would conventionally call a nerd. It goes from one being more of a classic bookworm with taped up glasses to an everyday kind of person (or at least a hipster). I can see this play really well into the visuals, which I can utilize to appeal to the audience’s logos by depicting the slow evolution of geeks from the 60s to 90s and then onwards to the 2000s, which would engage the audience in understanding how geeks have changed.

I can help audiences relate to this topic as a big part of my argument is how everyone has a niche interest that they themselves nerd out about but they probably don’t see themselves as a stereotypical nerd, this will play into the pathos.

Furthermore, in order to again appeal to the pathos of the audience I will pander to their nostalgia of the Star Wars movies, as in my essay, the nostalgia of those movies was a big contributing factor to their current prevalence.

My theme could be heavily 60s-80s sci Fi centric, (Back To The Future, Star Trek), which would make it eye catching and intriguing to the viewer, because honestly who doesn’t like Star Wars?

Short speech analysis

This video was absolutely fantastic. Not only was it hilarious, but it was well thought out and excellently executed. It may seem like a video about nothing, but there was clearly a lot of planning that went into performing it.

What I really love about the speaker is that he uses the concept of a second persona very well. In fact, it is one of the main facets of his speech. He uses the stereotypes of a Ted talk, or really any speech, to project reactions onto the audience. He will act out a certain stereotype, and announce it to the audience, and the audience, although knowing that his words don’t actually merit such a reaction will do it anyway. This because he formulates his speech i such a way to turn the people in his crowd into a compliant audience.

He also uses kairos extremely well, mostly in the form of his timing and jokes. Although he is goading his audience to react a certain way, his manner of being painfully truthful about speeches is timed so well that they laugh exactly when they are meant to and they do it genuinely, even if the other reactions are manufactured by him.

The speaker also skillfully masters logos. Essentially the argument he makes is that “Oh everyone reciting a speech will act in a certain way, and we will react in an appropriate manner, so you should do exactly that and follow my lead.” and the audience completely complies with that logic.

Overall, I’m just a fan of how the speaker takes all these tropes and uses it to make something original and refreshing. I found myself laughing very hard at this speech and the speaker’s use of rhetoric and comically truthful ideas makes for just an extremely a very funny and genius video.

When is a Geek not a Geek?

Can you picture a stereotypical nerd? It shouldn’t be too hard, most tv shows and movies in the 2000s ingrained that image of a skinny, bespectacled kid, tucked in pants, with a calculator in one hand and a pair of D20 dice in the other. They could probably rattle off a million quotes about Star Wars in a second while speaking in Klingon.

But whatever happened to that kid? You don’t see too much of that stereotype depicted anymore. A pretty big contributing factor to that would probably be the fact that being a geek has just become a more normalized thing.

Now, just about anyone can be a geek. Anyone can like Star Wars, hell, everyone loves it so much Disney decided to churn one out every year because it’s one of their highest grossing properties. The Avengers and the Justice League are household names now thanks to the movies and tv shows like The Flash and Arrow. If you want to be a fan of superheroes, you don’t really need to pour over comic books anymore. The accessibility of that type of pop culture is a huge reason as to why normally geeky things have been normalized.

People now are also much more liberal about calling themselves geeks. Before, geeks were depicted as these social pariah, who got put into a whole different social class if they ever got that label. However, now, you can hear a lot of people passing by things like “Haha, I’m such a Harry Potter nerd” or “Did you catch the new episode of Game of Thrones last night?”

Either that or that’s just me, in a constant state of denial:

“Yeah, Ahaan don’t worry, you’re totally cool,” I keep telling myself.

Anywho, some questions I could ask are:

  • Has the notion of being a geek become more normalized?
  • What led to this normalization?
  • When did the original stereotype die out?
  • How has the stereotype been absorbed by society?

Civic Artifact Speech Reflection

Gave my speech today, and I thought it went pretty well. The nervousness didn’t really set in till right before class, and then it got progressively worse. I’m sure that my leg was shaking as I was speaking. Really hope that no one noticed that.

But other than that, my intro and conclusion seemed to be pretty strong. I felt like the attention getter got enough attention. My voice got pretty deep when I started speaking and I have no idea where that even came from, but I think it worked. I used multiple slides instead of just one picture, which I hoped would help people understand the concepts I was driving forward. I noticed that I started to freeze up because of stage fright and would start talking really quickly at certain points during my speech, which I really need to work on. This issue came up especially when in the body of my speech where there were a lot of words to get through. Another issue that was caused by this is my mouth drying up, which would cause my lips to stick together, so I stumbled on way more words than I would’ve liked.

I wish that I had memorized my speech better, because looking at other people give their speeches without so much as a glance down seemed extremely effective. I looked down more than I should’ve whenever I needed to break I contact with the audience. It’s a pretty decent technique for nerves, but I should try to do less of that. I also hope that my message was clear enough, I don’t think there was too much exposition, and made it pretty clear at the end of each point what it is that everything means, and I think that the context really added to that meaning.

But yeah, as far as things I wanna change, I definitely should work on my stage fright, bring a water bottle with me, and enunciate better.

Speech Draft

Intro:

On 15th of August, 1947, while the World slept, India awoke to life and freedom*. It awoke from 200 years of enslavement and tyranny. It awoke from the manufactured famines, religious proxy wars, and from the massacres of innocent civilians caused by the callous and brutal regime of their British overlords. However, as India stirred, its people remained fractured. What would unify the Hindus, Muslims and every other caste and creed in India? At the forefront of the Indian Independence movement, was the Swaraj Flag, or the flag of self rule, which represented a United India striving to make itself a better place. (Thesis)The Swaraj flag became a civic artifact sacred and embedded in the hearts of Indians by engaging all Indians of all backgrounds to unite and take back their freedom.

Preview: In it’s role as a civic artifact, the flag evinced certain feelings in the people of India in order to accomplish its goal.

Transition: So, the the big question here is, how did a flag convince an entire country to do its civic duty?

Main Points:

How is this an artifact?/Symbolism:

Topic: The central emblem of the flag makes it a civic artifact as it invites Indians to shun British goods and become self reliant.

  1. One of the most powerful aspects of the flag is the central emblem that serves as an open call to action

-it represents a spinning wheel, or a charkha

– For generations, Indians would handspin fabric, which had been a highly valued commodity

-At the onset of the Industrial Revolution Britain began exporting cotton out of india, manufacturing cloth in a textile factory, and importing it back to India at a price lower than any Indian Cloth Vendor

-Killed the Indian economy, caused crippling poverty*

-To protest the British Raj, Gandhi made the charkha famous as part of his non co-operation movement, Stimulated Indian economy by boycotting brit goods)

– Charkha added to the Swaraj flag to invite Indians to participate in the non cooperation movement.

-The charkha at the center of the flag implies that all indians are united under it

-An Indian would look to the flag and feel compelled to participate by only using Indian made clothes.

-The promise of freedom through unified protesting, which many saw in the swaraj flag, engaged Indians to do their part for the revolution.

Transition: But the Indian People themselves were not yet unified.

 

How does it make people feel?

Topic: The Swaraj Flag implored Indians to unify despite their differences in order to achieve their common goal of Independence.

  1. Since the beginnings of the British Raj, the Crown used the policy of Divide and Rule

-Split Hindus and Muslim

– and Generated animosity between the two groups

-led to bloody clashes

-Infighting: could never unite against the common enemy before

-hampered independence movement as the 2 groups had difficult time finding common ground

  1.  Most flags at the time were either hindu centric or muslim centric

-The Swaraj flag was colored

– Colors: – Orange “Saffron”= Hindus

              – Green = Muslims

              – White = Peace amongst all religions

-An Indian, no matter what religion, caste, or creed, could look onto the flag and call it their own

-The presence of the flag would compel Indians to forget differences

-Foster brotherhood

-Through its all encompassing motifs, the Swaraj flag promotes Unity amongst all Indians in on the grounds of defying their British masters

Transition: By uniting under the flag, India was able to march on the road toward freedom.

What Did it Accomplish?

  • The flag acted as a beacon to Indians to participate in the creation of a free India.
  • My grandmother used to tell me that at the time of the revolution every single person, even children no older than 2 would participate Independence Movement
  • The flag invited Indians to boycott British goods
  • The result was that over half the population wore garments made in India*
  • The Swaraj flag also appealed to all sides of India with a message of unity
  • In doing so all Indian groups, even wary muslim minorities like the khilafat movement accepted it
  • Transition: Thanks to this overwhelming reaction, on the 15th of August, 1947, India became an independent nation.

 

Conclusion:

After two centuries of colonial rule, India was free. Through the sheer will of the Indian People, a nation persevered in the face of tyranny. As the Swaraj flag rose from the ashes of massacres, protests, and exploitation, millions of Indians all over the subcontinent answered the call. They made their own clothes, they boycotted British goods, they hoisted the flag in full view of government buildings knowing full well that they’d be sent to prison for such an act. The cathartic response the Swaraj flag evinced in the people of India was powerful enough to engage its citizens to unite and fuel a Revolution  that would unshackle them from the bonds of a cruel regime.

The Comparison Artifact

For my comparison artifact, I chose the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru’s “A Tryst with Destiny” speech given on the eve of Indian Independence. I feel like this speech should compliment my first artifact, the original Indian revolutionary flag, nicely. They both share a similar goal, as well as a similar time and place in history.

However, the speech is spread via the medium of radio, and speaks to an audience that has changed over the course of the Indian Revolution. The flag speaks to the people of India who were frustrated with the rule of the British Raj. It invites them to shun their British garments and possessions as an act of defiance in order to rid themselves of their overlords.

The speech, however, speaks to a free India. One who has been through hell to acquire freedom, and is still burning from the journey. The cause of this is the bloody and vicious partition of India, which rages as Nehru speaks. The speech implores the people of India to not give in to the hateful violence that was a direct result of their former ruler’s policy of divide and rule. It sends out a message that the democracy that India fought so ferociously for must not be allowed to sputter in vain. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, all castes and creeds of India alike needed to unite. Instead of fighting to create a republic for themselves, they needed to fight again to preserve it.

Use the Force, (not) Nukes

I’ve got to have two ideas to potentially use as a topic in my passion blog. Easy enough. I’d have to choose between my two great loves:Star Wars or International Relations. You might think those are two vastly different topics, but hey, the economic sanctions on the Trade Federation in Episode I: The Phantom Menace made me giddy. Just kidding. No one likes The Phantom Menace.

Star Wars has been with me since I was six years old. I remember watching those movies every single night when I got them as a gift. From that day onward, all I could think was Star Wars. Whether it was battling my little brother with a lightsaber, arguing about who shot first, or figuring out that the prequels were bad, these movies were a huge part of my childhood. Hell, it’s still a huge part of my life today, (I have an ever-expanding lightsaber collection). Now, this is probably a good thing, with all the new movies coming out for the next few years. Some people love them, some hate them, but the news keeps pouring in, and I would love to cover it all.

Now, I know this may seem like a 180-degree turn, but I’m sure hearing things about the Empire’s rise to power, dissolving the Galactic Senate, and Galactic Civil War must have fostered in me some of the love I have for International Relations. Back in middle school, when I started to think about what I wanted to do for a living, I realized that all I really wanted to do was help people. I thought the best way to do that would be through the UN. I assumed it would make the most impact around the world and help a lot more people than I could as an individual.

So I got to work. I joined my school’s Model UN club, and I fell in love with it. What drives a country? What kind of aid is best for a certain situation? How do Dictators rationalize a regime? How do you stop a war? I loved trying to answer these questions as a delegate in MUN and as a Youth Delegate at UNHQ in New York this past summer. I’m still trying to answer those questions today as an International Politics Major and would be pleased to share my thoughts on a passion blog.

 

Twenge Article Reflection: Smartphones are the Devil in Disguise

I’ve got to say, I found this article pretty amusing. I remember a time when parents thought TV’s and video games would corrode my mind, make me more rebellious, unruly, and violent. Funny to think that Socrates feared the same dangers from writing. It isn’t a surprise that when a new piece of technology becomes a worldwide sensation, the elders are weary of it, and the younger generation embraces it. The same rings true for smartphones. There’s the same distrustful rhetoric against this new-fangled doohickey. Only, Twenge argues that instead of making us more angsty, it actually “destroys” our generation by making us less rebellious. Funny. I didn’t realize that was a sin, too.

As a pretty introverted kid born in 1998, don’t get me wrong, I love the indoors. I like my bed, netflix, and my Playstation 4 as much as the next guy, but come on, I don’t abhor going out. I love hanging out with my friends, in fact, I prefer it to staying in most of the time. The only thing you see on Snapchat and Instagram is literally people going out.

Sure, Twenge has a plethora of evidence to back her up, but take a look at the graphs for a second, does correlation prove causation here? The trends kick off at 2007, which is apparently when kids stopped going out with friends or on dates. However, 2007 is when the Great Recession hit, so, maybe people just didn’t have the money to go out?

Ok, let’s give Twenge the benefit of the doubt and say her data checks out. Let’s say that smartphones are killing our rebellious tendencies, (although, you can find multiple acts of rebellion at literally any party this weekend over here), suppose our generation is hooking up less, drinking less, and smoking less. Is that really going to “destroy” us?  

Definitions of Rhetoric

Opinions on rhetoric changed greatly throughout the centuries since its conception. Inits long tenure, rhetoric has been used as a tool for politics, persuasion, debate, and even propaganda. Due to the wide berth of uses for rhetoric, many have varying opinions on what it is at its roots and how it should be used. In the early days of rhetoric, Socrates defined it as:

“a producer of persuasion for belief, not for instruction in matters of right or wrong.” (Greek Texts 1)

To Socrates, and other rhetors such as Plato, rhetoric is, in essence just a tool for convincing others. It does not matter if it is used for good or evil:

So long as rhetoric is used for “ruling the minds of men” (The Hellenic Journal), its purpose is served.

Perhaps it is this stigma of rhetoric being used in an amoral regard that has caused many to see it as a tool for manipulators who keep false promises.Today, many connect such manipulations to their politicians. Whether it be to garner votes for re-election, rally support for a distasteful piece of legislation, protect oneself, or to denounce one another; politicians, CEOs, and other leaders skillfully employ rhetoric to sway the masses. Now, that is not to say that rhetoric is not used for good, but as mentioned earlier, it is that amoral nature of rhetoric and the fact that it can be used for sinister pursuits-even alongside altruistic ones- that has left many jaded by the modern understanding of rhetoric.

A classic example of a weary take on rhetoric comes from former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, who states:

 “Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric…We must not merely talk; we must act big.”(The Nation)

To many Americans at the time, rhetoric was just another tool for politicians to denounce monopolies and trusts, while dealing with them behind closed doors. Roosevelt expressed the sentiment that persuading people was not enough, and that one had to back up the promises they made with action.

Roosevelt himself was known as a man of action, from breaking up monopolies to waving around a “Big Stick” (an armada of navy vessels) at any potential threat. It is through these sentiments that rhetoric’s definition evolved from just a tool for persuasion, to empty promises that needed actions in order to have any value.

A man of action