Category: RCL Posts

–What SPECIFIC action step(s) are you asking your audience to take?

1. Sign the Petition: Tell Congress to #DefundHate!
   1. https://defundhatenow.org/take-action/
2. Meet/Call Your Members of Congress
3. Share these graphics on social media using #DefundHate

 

–What will be your ATTENTION step (Monroe’s Motivated Sequence?

My attention step will be including images of detention centers in video format while sharing stories of those who have been detained in these disturbing conditions.

 

–WHO are your target audience(s)??

Young people will be the target audience. Since one step of that I will be asking of the audience will be to share graphics on social media to raise awareness on the issue and get more people who do not have access to information on the abuses of the CBP

 

–What OBSTACLES could deter your audience(s) from taking the action step(s)?

A possible obstacle that could deter my audience is thinking the steps to take action are too complicated, too difficult to carry through, or will take too much time.

 

–How can you make it as EASY as possible for your audience(s) to take the action step(s)?

Make the three steps very clear and easy to understand and show how simple the steps are. I think it 

will also make it more likely the audience takes these steps, if I enforce how much this campaign has 

already helped already and how taking these steps can really impact the funding of ICE and CBP.

 

–How can the action step(s) you propose make a DIFFERENCE (in as many ways as you can think of….)? And what evidence do you have to demonstrate any impact? Or how can you argue that small steps WILL add up to a cumulative impact – even symbolically??

The Defund Hate Campaign has blocked nearly $12 billion from ICE and CBP to date.  Hold Members of Congress Accountable

Congress is the ultimate decision-maker about how to spend our tax dollars — both in terms of how much money to spend and how to divide it up.

Members of Congress can and should defund ICE and CBP based on their records of abuse and fiscal mismanagement. We educate elected officials and demand they stop blindly approving ICE and CBP’s budgets and, instead, cut their funding.

The Constitution granted Congress control of our tax dollars. ICE and CBP are undermining this power and manipulating the process to write their own blank check, subverting American democracy at its core.

 

–How can you use creative and INTERACTIVE forms of rhetoric (visuals, audio, video, social media, PPT, etc.) to motivate your audience to take ACTION?? :

Using visual and social media engagement in the action part of the task for the audience.

 

When I heard about this project, a few issues came to my mind. I’m still not sure if these issues will really work as they are not personally related to me or Penn State so I am not sure how an advocacy campaign would work. However, I am very passionate about these issues so here goes….

I think cash bail should be abolished in all states. The cash bail system criminalizes poverty and keeps people in poverty in jail before they have even been convicted of any crime. Cash bail also intensifies inequities in the justice system that are disproportionately felt by minorities and those experiencing poverty. 

Another issue that came to mind is the decriminalization of drugs. The criminalization of drug use and possession is a major issue of mass incarceration. There is also an issue of institutionalized economic inequality with this mass criminalization.

My final idea for this project was the abolishment of ICE. I have gone to rallies and marches in Philadelphia that are support of the abolishment of ICE and have listened to many speeches on the issue. I would be very excited to look more into this issue and work towards the abolishment of ICE. 

I’m not quite sure where I am going yet with the issue brief, but I do have these ideas to get me started. Let me know what you think! Thanks again for reading!

For the past few days, I have been trying to think over ideas for the “This I Believe” podcast. I have been having difficulty already thinking of ideas, but I think I have settled on two ideas. My first idea is I believe in enjoying the little joys in life. Sometimes I get really caught up in what is going to happen in the future. For example, these past few weeks I have been really caught up in the excitement of moving to campus in February. However, I always find it really important to take a step back and realize that no matter where I am or what I am doing that I need to appreciate everything good in my life in the present. Although it is exciting to think of the future and all the wonderful things I am looking forward to, I find it very important to really appreciate the little joys in present day life. My second idea for the “This I Believe” podcast is that I believe in talking about politics at the dinner table. Now I know the original saying is “Don’t talk politics or religion” especially over dinner. However, I disagree. My family and I regularly discuss politics during dinner as long as the conversation remains positive and productive. I believe it is important to discuss difficult topics with your family, even if you do not always agree (my family does not usually agree). With our families, we already have trust and love built into our relationships. Therefore, by practicing having productive and positive discussions with our families, we can learn to be more open and more tolerant of other people’s beliefs.

For my passion blog, I am planning on continuing my passion blog by writing about places I have been to and places I cannot wait to visit. Looking back at my past experiences and looking forward to exciting new adventures has been helping me get through this pandemic where I can’t explore new places currently.

I am very excited for the civic issues blogs. I am very interested in politics and identities and rights category. I spent a lot of time on women’s rights last semester which I really enjoyed. I am going to need a little more time to think of ideas for a civic issues blog.

PBS: The First Measured Century: Working Women

I used this source for my original idea on the paradigm shift. This adds the focus of the amount of married women that entered the workforce. This source provides statistics and graphs detailing the quick change in the percentage of married women working outside their home. 

 

Brookings: The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all

This source provides the history of women’s work and wages. It gives context on what caused the paradigm shift and explains how the attitudes towards women in the workforce started to change. This source provides great context that breaks down my decades how women entered the workforce and why.

The Atlantic: Women in the Work Force

This article is very different. I’m not sure if I agree with it exactly. It gives several statistics that will prove useful. However, its thesis is that gender disparity in the workplace might have less to do with discrimination than with women making the choice to stay at home. I don’t really agree with this. I must read over this article more and really try to understand the point this article is trying to make. From my perspective, reading this article, gender disparity in the workplace caused by women choosing to stay home is because of pressure of traditional gender roles which is its own form of gender discrimination. This article was published in 1986. It is interesting and I’d like to look into it more. 

History.com: Why Many Married Women Were Banned From Working During the Great Depression

This article explores how women were banned from working during and after the great depression. This was directed mostly at married women. 

“Frances Perkins, New York state’s Commissioner of Labor, warned that New York faced a particular threat from a surprising group: Married women with jobs. “The woman ‘pin-money worker’ who competes with the necessity worker is a menace to society, a selfish, shortsighted creature, who ought to be ashamed of herself,” Perkins said.”

This is a very difficult Ted Talk to listen to. The guilt this woman feels can be felt throughout the talk. She has also lost her son and faces the loss her son has caused everyday.

This unbelievably courageous mother tells her story and advocates for brain health through her story. She combed through her memories and tried to figure out where “she failed as a parent”. She explains the three challenges she has when she walks into a room.

First, she explains, she must walk into a room and face that someone in that room could have been hurt or faced loss because of her son. She acknowledges the suffering caused by a member of her family who isn’t here to do it for himself. The second challenge she faces is that she must ask for understanding and even compassion when she talks about her son’s death as a suicide. She faced loss as well and to connect this talk to mental, or “brain health” as she refers to it, it is important to understand that her son was suicidal. The third challenge is to explain the importance of brain health and it’s relation to violence. She points out that she does not want to contribute to the misunderstanding that already exists around mental illness. “Only a very small percent of those who have a mental illness are violent toward other people, but of those who die by suicide, it’s estimated that about 75 to maybe more than 90 percent have a diagnosable mental health condition of some kind.”

Her talk is very important and powerful.

Presenting is not a strength for me. I have always had a very difficult time with presenting. Whenever I start a presentation or a speech, my mind usually goes blank, so if I don’t have a script with me I freeze. Many people have told me to just think of it as a conversation but that does not usually work for me.

During my speech presentation, I immediately froze and had to rely on a script. Although I had to glance at my script, I did look up and around at my audience to see reactions and to try to better engage. To improve my engagement, I used screenshots of the commercial to illustrate my points and to provide better structure for my arguments.

I need to improve on ease of speech and presentation skills. This includes working on my conversational tone, speed, and inflection. If I work on these skills, I think it will improve my engagement with my audience.

Although about 90 years apart, this year’s advertisements reminding audiences across the United States of their civic duty to vote and advertisements from the 1930s reminding audiences of their civic duty to buy victory bonds use similar rhetorical appeals. However, as time has passed, the targeted audience has very much changed. It was not before the 1960s that women could open their own bank account. Although these commercials still use rhetorical appeals such as pathos, logos and ethos, the audience has vastly changed.

(Not Finished Yet/Need to narrow down thesis)

During and after World War II, the US government was in a rush to finance military operations and other expenditures of the war. To meet these needs, the government sold victory bonds, which act as loans to the government. Advertisements to convince audiences to buy these bonds featured famous celebrities which acts as a commonplace among these ads. For example, a particular advertisement starred the then famous American actor, Edward Arnold. Edward Arnold explains why people should buy victory bonds as a duty to their country. This advertisement included appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos to convince the audience to buy victory bonds. Despite the war’s hardships, 134 million Americans were asked to purchase war bonds to help fund the war which relates interestingly to civic duty and what is thought of as citizenship engagement. 

Victory Bond Video Advertisement

This advertisement begins with visual and audio presentation of a parade celebrating the victory of World War II. Edward Arnold begins his logical argument for why people need to buy bonds as he describes “the clean-up” of the war will be expensive. He explains that there are still soldiers in Europe and Japan, which he refers to as “our sons”. This is an important language choice as he is relating to the audience through familial bonds to those with family in the military. Throughout my speech, I will explain the use of language and the rhetorical power of language choice in this particular advertisement

Another rhetorical component of this advertisement is the use of pathos. Pathos can be seen throughout the advertisement including in the reference to soldiers in the military as “our sons” as this reference appeals to the emotions of the audience. Pathos is also used through visual representation of soldiers using prosthetics due to war injuries as Edward Arnold explains the need for money in order for soldiers to receive proper care.

Logos is also utilized as Edward Arnold forms a logical argument as to why people should buy victory bonds. He explains “think of the mustering out pay, hundreds of dollars per man so he can get a new start and an education. Figure too, the cost of providing the maximum number of jobs for both the veterans and the production line soldier”. Arnold appeals to this logical argument to convince the audience to buy bonds. Ethos is also used as the spokesperson, Edward Arnold, was a well known actor at the time.

Finally, the last rhetorical element that I will analyze kairos and the rhetorical situation. As Arnold explains, as the war has just concluded, he is advertising for the people’s last chance to buy bonds. Timing is very important as they use the victory in the war to also appeal to the audience.

Kairos, or the propitious moment for decision or action, is very important when it comes to advertising. As we move from season to season, I have noticed advertisement changes based on which holiday we are approaching. This can be well presented through the changes in Target advertisements throughout the year. Target sells a wide variety of products from grocery items to household appliances to clothing. However, depending on the time of the year, they will aim different products through advertisements. 

The first example of this aimed advertisementing can be seen in the following Valentine’s Day ad:

This ad focuses on products such as chocolates, wine, roses, and cards due to the time of the year. If this ad was released in November, it would not be the right time for this advertisement to be effective. Therefore when releasing ads aimed at specific products, “the perfect timing” is very important.

The next example of aimed advertising can be seen in the following Summertime ad:

This ad focuses on products such as sunscreen, goggles, towels, and water-guns due to the time of the year. During the summer, costumers need sunscreen and other summer products. If this ad was released in December, it would not be the right time for this advertisement to be effective.

Other examples of Target advertisements released at “the opportune time”:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Releasing certain advertisements at the right time is very important when it comes to marketing. Although some of these products are sold year-round at Target, at these times of the year, costumers are more inclined to buy these products. Therefore, marketing based on the time of the year is very important for corporations like Target.

While watching television and browsing online, I have noticed a “commonplace” that I see in many video advertisements. Video advertisements are often narrated by men with deep voices. This is an example of a “commonplace” used in advertisements to persuade audiences. This is a conscious choice made by marketing teams due to the effect deep voices have on the audience.

An example of deep voices being used in advertisements can be seen in the following Allstate Insurance commercial:

http://youtu.be/gO6wHlWyJ2E

Dennis Haysbert is an American actor and is a spokesperson for Allstate insurance. Dennis Haysbert has a very deep voice. Since Allstate is an insurance company, they may have chosen to have a spokesperson with a deep voice as it represents stability and strength.

 

Another example of deep voices in advertisements can be seen in the following commercial for Ram pickup trucks:

Sam Elliott is also an American actor with a very deep voice. He may have been chosen to narrate this advertisement as his deep voice persuades the audience of the masculinity of pickup trucks. As both of these advertisements use the voices of credible actors, the companies are also using ethos to persuade their audiences.

 

Another example can be seen in the VISA, Olympics commercial:

Morgan Freeman narrates this 2008 Olympic Games VISA commercial. Morgan Freeman also has a very deep voice. A deep voice can grab the viewers attention and make the audience more likely to absorb the advertisers intended message.

Deep voices also represent authority and may persuade an audience through that particular narrative style.

Overall, the use of deep voices can be seen throughout a variety of different advertisements in order to persuade audiences. The voice of the commercial has more of an effect on audiences than one might think.