Author: ajs9367

Link to google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VNqp7exXnFxlhvbwMSafbxAuyVNrYKfXBBLChCWqzN0/edit?usp=sharinghttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1rEnnALtAq8x7biA1ea5Lisa7hO9nsX2vt-pXb5RONcE/edit?usp=sharing

Link to Canva workspace: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFaq_L8xRo/f8LcXSVCNYQ4H0dD39JPug/view?utm_content=DAFaq_L8xRo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

 

From the year I was born until I was seventeen, my family, grandparents, and cousins would pack the car and head to Sandbridge, Virginia for our annual beach vacation. Just 15 miles from the bustling Virginia beach boardwalk, our beach was a hidden sanctuary where we could truly unwind and forget about the expectations waiting for us back home. When the white caps rolled in and the tide stretched out over the shore, the water gently unburdened us of our struggles and concerns. The hot sun radiated a warmth over our cold skin. And, embracing those tranquil rays was a vast, borderless sky of forgiveness and clarity. 

The beach was not merely a cure for the doubts and despair that restricted our hearts, but also an actual getaway from the rules that dictate our daily lives. As the architect of these magical vacations, my dad prescribed only one rule, and that is that “there were no rules in the beach house.” As a kid, he had effectively turned my wildest dreams into reality. I could sleep in until noon, eat ice cream for breakfast, and play lacrosse in the house. It was like Christmas but better because this holiday lasted for an entire week in the middle of July, and the frigid snow was replaced by refreshing waves and soft, white sand.

Nothing compares to the sheer joy and excitement that these beach vacations brought to my life. I anticipated this week every year, because I knew that whenever my toes finally met with the sand, that a playful spirit would ignite in my heart and I could break free from everything inside my mind. With the happy memories lingering from past vacations and an unconstrained anticipation for the next one, my childhood was painted in vivid colors of deep ocean blue, luminous sun orange, and soft sunset pink. These beach vacations unveiled how beautiful life and love could be, and I always thought that there was nothing that could take them away.

Yet, as I got older, I began to realize that these marvelous vacations had deceived me. At too young of an age, I was exposed to the horrors of suppressed hatred, bitterness, and resentment. Crouching from behind my bedroom door, I listened to vicious arguments between my parents and wondered if this was how my friends’ parents talked too. And when I realized that it wasn’t, I also realized that the promises of life, love, and family established at the beach were fraud. Sandbridge, Virginia was a temporary refuge from the intense rivalry blazing between my parents. And, as the years passed, the excitement attached to packing the car, walking along the coast, and building sand castles slowly dwindled; the once vibrant colors of my world faded into light pastels and soft-hues.

But you can’t slam doors, point fingers, and stab each other in the back forever. Eventually, someone gets tired. About a year ago, my mom’s fatigue got the best of her; one battle set her over the edge, and she decided to put an end to the war. She told my dad they were getting a divorce. 

Now, there is an awkward week in the middle of July where the sounds of contagious laughter and waves crashing down on the sand are replaced with a stillness – a serene peace that wasn’t there before, and it’s uncomfortable. There’s a forbidden silence surrounding the sense of betrayal and loss that pains our hearts, so instead we talk about lawyers and finances. We spend our time splitting everything into two, except family beach vacations because now there are zero. And, within this painful quiet, I could be sad that I didn’t live the nuclear family dream. Or, I could look in the mirror, and resent the DNA that I share with my dad. Or, I could carry bitterness, grief, and anger with me, but I have already done all of those things. 

So instead, I look at my life through an appreciative lens, a lens that recalls memories of digging holes with my uncle in the sand and sharing laughter with my cousins. Even though these memories are foggy, the feelings of happiness and warmth that they bring are crystal clear. That is why I believe that gratitude brings us happiness even at the darkest times. My parents’ fights might have taken the beach away from me, but I choose to look back on family vacations with thankfulness for the love and fulfillment my family has shared with me there. The hopefulness in each memory is why I am responsible for rekindling the same emotions that Sandbridge, Virginia once gave to me. So, I have replaced resentment with gratitude, and anger with patience. My family has taught me that love is hard work, but that doesn’t scare me. I want to work hard, so that when I smell the saltwater ocean breeze, it soothes and comforts me again.

This I Believe Draft

The TED Talk project was challenging and stressful, but in the end I learned some valuable lessons about public speaking. On a positive note, I loved researching a topic that related to my career goals. It was so much easier to stay motivated throughout the entire project because I was genuinely interested in the subject. I was also able to build upon fundamental biology knowledge from high school and challenge myself academically. Most of the articles I was reading were recently published and sophisticated; the authors had yet to come to a general consensus on how CRISPR babies will affect the world, so I was truly able to take my own spin on the topic. 

However, resulting from my genuine interest and curiosity was some bad time management. I spent countless hours researching and taking notes; most of the knowledge was completely new for me, and it took significant effort to sift through pages upon pages of peer-reviewed articles. Furthermore, when it came to creating the TED outline, I found it difficult to condense all of my research and knowledge into five minutes. As a result, my outline was constantly shifting, until I finally decided upon the main message or “theme” that I was attempting to present. 

Nevertheless, when compared to my rhetorical analysis speech from unit one, my public speaking skills have improved dramatically. This time, I cut out the perfect amount of information so that I did not need to stress about timing; this helped me to slow down and speak at a reasonable pace. Additionally, I did not memorize a script and draw everything from memory. While this may have caused some mistakes and uneasiness in my delivery, I gained confidence as I continued speaking. That being said, I still need to put more energy into the delivery of my speech. I need to learn how to talk about my school projects with the same enthusiasm that I have with friends and family.

Finally, I enjoyed listening to my classmates’ speeches and found it interesting to hear what everyone is passionate about. I really enjoyed those with passion and expertise in the subject.

TED Talk Outline 

Overview
Topic: Designer Babies  Purpose: To enlighten the audience on the future of human gene editing and warn them of its social and ethical implications. Thesis Statement: As a result of He Jiankui’s reckless experiment, it is clear that safe and ethical advances in biotechnology rely heavily on clear regulations and frameworks of the scientific procedure.
Oral Content	Visual Content
Introduction
Attention Strategy/Orienting Material: I will begin with a brief overview of key terminology: “CRISPR” and “designer babies.” Then, I will provide a brief synopsis of the CRISPR baby experiment.	Slide 1: CRISPR technology Slide 2: Designer baby
Body
Main Idea 1: It is important to consider how Dr. He pulled off such an irresponsible experiment that disregards all legal, social, and ethical values of biotechnology advancement. Strategically manipulating a family impacted by HIV diagnosis  Flawed informed consent procedures  Underdeveloped risk analysis of biological, social, and psychological outcomes	Slide 3: He Jiankui speaking at the 2018 International Summit on Human Genome Editing.
Main Idea 2: Furthermore, similar promises of “disease free” futures are conveyed through respected mass media outlets, therefore constructing a hopeful outlook on human gene editing. Popular genetic components  Risks of social discrimination  Parental Pressures	Slide 4: Front page of MIT Technology: “WE CAN NOW ENGINEER THE HUMAN RACE” Slide 5: Front page of The Economist: “Editing humanity: The prospect of human enhancement” Slide 6: Front page of Time Magazine: “The Future of Babies”
Main Idea 3: Moreover, public attitudes towards human genome editing are generally more excited than concerned about the idea of altering human capabilities.  “Two-thirds of U.S. adults say they would be at least somewhat excited about the possibility of changing human capabilities to prevent serious diseases or health conditions” (Rainie, et al.). Additional statistics shown on visual	Slide 7: Pew Research Study graph
Conclusion
Concluding Remark: Dr. He’s experiment blatantly disregarded the dominant scientific consensus at the time.	Slide 8: Editing a child’s phenotype on a tablet
Photos
https://news.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CasMINI.jpg  https://pixelrocketapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/crisprtranshuman.png  https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/181129095847-he-jiankui-genetic-summit.jpg?q=w_2688,h_1792,x_0,y_0,c_fill  https://wp.technologyreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cover.smallx282-7.jpg  https://ncreg-multimedia.sourcefabric.org/images/uploads/Economist.jpg  https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41M2eq2Xm7L._AC_SY780_.jpg  https://1712507217.rsc.cdn77.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/baby-design.jpg
References
Rainie, Lee, et al. “What Americans Think About Possibilities Ahead for Human Enhancement.” Pew Research Center, 17 Mar. 2022, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/03/17/what-americans-think-about-possibilities-ahead-for-human-enhancement/. Wahlberg, Ayo, et al. “The Platforming of Human Embryo Editing: Prospecting “Disease Free” Futures.” New Genetics and Society, vol. 40, no. 4, 2021, pp. 367-383.

Donald Trump vs. Greta Thunberg: A Rivalry Built on Shared Rhetoric

Over the past decade, scientists have observed climate destruction and the resulting biological change reactions that threaten Earth’s biodiversity and the sustainability of human life. Hence, climate policy is at the forefront of international debate and many politicians and climate activists aim to relieve the fear of uncertainty by presenting simple, interpretive narratives on the issue. In 2019, Greta Thunberg established herself as a spokesperson for younger generations at the UN Climate Summit, when she urged world politicians to take immediate action on climate change, claiming that they had stolen her childhood with empty words. She left a powerful impression on the world that challenged people to reevaluate their understanding of climate destruction and their role in mitigating its effects. In stark contrast, Donald Trump employed his Twitter account to dispute the science supporting global warming and unveil the threat that climate policy poses to United States economic development. Despite their opposing views on climate change, Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump are masters of building pathos, manipulating ethos, and exploiting kairotic moments to gain international attention and instigate debate.

Through two opposing narratives, Greta Thungberg and Donald Trump aim to rationalize climate change, while subsequently generating intense feelings of guilt and fear, respectively.  In Thunberg’s case, climate change is the most urgent issue facing the world in the 21st century. She begins her speech indignantly blaming older generations for their inaction on climate change, asserting that “I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean” (NPR).  Her voice is emotionally-charged, and her face is taught. Onlookers instantly sense Greta’s distraught as she explains that she must forgo critical education to address the failures of her predecessors and protect the environment for younger generations. Her argument builds upon the commonplace belief that older generations are responsible for the world they leave behind, thus forcing her audience to consider the moral obligation they have to protect the environment. Thunberg continues by holding her audience liable for the human suffering and death, collapsing ecosystems, and “beginning of a mass extinction” resulting from their fixation on economic growth (NPR). Therefore, Greta presents a narrative where world policymakers are the antagonists preventing younger generations from a healthy, sustainable world. She promotes herself and other climate activities to the position of all-knowing and truthful hero. Nevertheless, the story remains unfinished, granting policymakers the opportunity to join the heroic side by taking swift actions to pass climate change policy. Emerging from her emotional language and narrative building techniques, Greta instills a feeling of guilt in her audience, as they begin to realize their failure to provide a profitable world for future generations. 

Comparably, Donald Trump views climate change as a large-scale attempt to restrict capitalist growth and decelerate the productivity of the United States. On November 6th, 2012, Trump released his uncensored opinion to the American public in a twitter post that reads, “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” (Brown). Though his perspective rejects the general scientific consensus that the world’s climate is changing as well as the dominant ideology that humanity needs to take more responsibility for their implications on the environment, the tweet went viral, gaining over 104,000 retweets and nearly 66,000 likes (Wong). At the time, there was an emerging sentiment towards government establishment and political discourse in the United States (Kayam); building on these insecurities, Trump appeals to the general public and inculpates China for its apparent attempts to limit United States growth and level the global economic playing field. Therefore, Trump enlists China as a villain for threatening the United States economy, and he subsequently generates a fear of climate change. Much like Thunberg, Trump also appeals to his audience as a trustworthy hero, yet he plans to save American economics instead of the global climate crisis. Still, he presents two plausible resolutions which help his audience to conceptualize the problem; if the United States pursues climate policy, economic growth will decrease and therefore lessen the power that the United States holds over the global economy. Otherwise, America can neglect ‘faulty climate change concerns’ and continue with economic growth to become a world superpower. Building on the overwhelming insecurity with government establishment and presenting a formidable story of climate change, Trump successfully invokes fear in his audience that climate legislation is a threat to the United States economic growth and power. 

When presenting these narratives, Thunberg and Trump play on shared ideologies and beliefs to build strong relationships with their audiences. However, there is a noticeable age gap between sixteen year old Greta and the older generation of politicians in her audience. To fight the ideological and scientific background discrepancies, Greta pulls extrinsic evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2018 to prove her environmental expertise: “To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5°C global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [IPCC] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on January 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons” (NPR). The short array of numbers and statistics appeals to the economic and mathematical minds of her audience, as politicians are focused on the growth, profitability, and long-term implications of their legislation. Additionally, Greta and her audience share the dominant ideology that humanity is destroying the environment. While politicians are reluctant to implement climate policy and sustainability initiatives, there was some motivating factor that triggered such a large, captivated assemblage behind the podium. By sharing the dominant ideology and raising concerns with up-to-date research, the politicians can reasonably conclude that Greta is a reputable speaker on the subject and a sufficient representative of younger generations.

Donald Trump differs from Thunberg because he already possesses presidential ethos, and his posts are a rhetorical mechanism for strengthening the relationship with his Twitter followers. Much like his pathetic appeal, Trump plays on the anti-establishment sentiment rising in the United States to develop a shared belief system that connects his audience. He uses his Twitter “to directly criticize the mass media,” (Kayam) and in January 2019 posted the following tweet: Be careful and try staying in your house. Large parts of the Country are suffering from tremendous amounts of snow and near record setting cold. Amazing how big this system is. Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!” (Brown). At first glance, the tweet is an upright mockery of science and mass media portrayals of the current climate crisis. It urges viewers to reevaluate the reliability of their new sources by questioning how science can claim that global temperatures are rising, if parts of the country are reaching record setting lows. Furthermore, Trump builds a rallying support system upon the notions that America is a great place to live and mass media establishments are failing humanity. Hence, he capitalizes terms like ‘Large,’ ‘Country,’ and ‘Global Warming’ to emphasize the values that align with his followers. The rudimentary logic, emotions, and general sentiments that Trump reveals in his tweets are the driving force behind his Twitter success, and the methods from which he builds such a strong following. 

At the height of the climate change debate in 2019, Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump successfully earned international spotlight for their opposing views on climate change. While they employed differing logics, both used storytelling as a means to conceptualize the large-scale, complex threat that climate change poses on the global economy. Greta portrayed her young age as a strength, using it as a means to drive guilt into her audience, and Donald Trump enlisted the fear of economic failure into his followers as he presented his perspective. Despite utilizing different mediums of communication, Thunberg and Trump took on surprisingly similar rhetorical techniques, hence both climate change narratives rose to news headlines and instigated debates. The similarities of appeal brought about an international rivalry, which further enhanced the civic initiatives on both sides of the controversy. 

 

Works Cited

Brown, Brendan. Trump Twitter Archive, https://www.thetrumparchive.com/. 

Kayam, Orly. “Straight to the People: Donald Trump’s Rhetorical Style on Twitter in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.” Language and Dialogue, vol. 10, no. 2, 2020, pp. 149-170.

Nordensvard, Johan, and Markus Ketola. “Populism as an Act of Storytelling: Analyzing the Climate Change Narratives of Donald Trump and Greta Thunberg as Populist Truth-Tellers.” Environmental Politics, vol. 31, no. 5, 2022;2021;, pp. 861-882.

Staff, NPR. “Transcript: Greta Thunberg’s Speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit.” NPR, NPR, 23 Sept. 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/transcript-greta-thunbergs-speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit. 

Wong, Edward. “Trump Has Called Climate Change a Chinese Hoax. Beijing Says It Is Anything But.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Nov. 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/asia/china-trump-climate-change.html.

Donald Trump vs. Greta Thunberg: The Rhetoric Behind Media Rivalry

Thesis: Despite their opposing views on climate change, Greta Thunberg and Donald Trump are masters of manipulating ethos, building pathos, and exploiting kairotic moments to gain international attention and instigate debates; under this spotlight, the two develop an intense rivalry, which further enhances their respective civic initiatives.

1. Pathos 
   1. Donald Trump & Fear 
      1. China v. US Economic Growth
   2. Greta Thunberg & Guilt 
      1. Policymakers v. Public 
2. Ethos 
   1. Donald Trump
      1. Presidency 
      2. Tailored Audience (shares core beliefs)
         1. Anti-Establishment
   2. Greta Thunberg 
      1. Extrinsic Evidence 
      2. Dominant Ideology (shares core beliefs)
3. Kairos 
   1. Greta & 2019 UN Climate Summit 
   2. Donald Trump & 2019 UN Climate Summit

In my rhetorical analysis essay comparing Donald Trump’s twitter posts about global warming and Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2019 UN Climate Summit, I hope to capture the rhetorical techniques which support the internet rivalry between both individuals. Despite holding completely opposite views on the subject, both Trump and Thunberg successfully employ ethos, kairos, and scare tactics that have effectively gained international attention. Here is my working thesis statement:

While both Donald Trump and Greta Thunberg work to address pressing international concerns of climate change, they implement ethos and scare tactics in contrasting manners, resulting in an intense rivalry between the two.

This is a very rough draft of my speech outline. I will be making many changes between now and the first draft.

Topic: Donald Trump’s Twitter Posts on Climate Change (2012)

Trump’s Claim:  Climate change is a threat to the productivity of the United States government, so you (the American public) should support me in my political career.

Purpose: Analyze how Trump used Twitter to perpetuate a general fear of climate change, and in turn, gain political support.

Thesis Statement: Through his Twitter posts, Donald Trump accentuates climate change fears and misinformation; he successfully employs rhetorical vernacular, Kairos, and scare tactics to gain political support, ultimately helping him win the 2016 presidential election.

Introduction

Attention Strategy : 

→ In 2019, just two years before being permanently suspended from Twitter, the Pew Research Center estimated that approximately 1 in 5 adult twitter users followed Trump. 

→ Without a doubt, the thousands of Twitter comments that Trump posted leading up to the 2016 presidential election helped him gain a rallying support system. Through his unique word choice, incredible response to exigence, and overarching nationalist themes, Trump enlisted a general misunderstanding of global warming among his followers.

Orienting Material:

→ In 2016, Trump pioneered a unique presidential campaign by using Twitter as his primary means of reaching millions of people across the country. 

→ Leading up to the election, Trump posted his “raw” opinions without censorship or review. 

→ Through climate change and other pressing issues of the 2016 election and beyond, Trump revolutionized the usage of social media for all presidencies to follow; despite having a comparably unique campaign to his previous successors, Trump built a strong political persona on Twitter, which ultimately attributed to his victory in the 2016 election.

Preview: Undoubtedly, ex-president Donald Trump’s political speech and persuasion techniques are unique when compared to any other presidential candidate in history. This speech will analyze how Donald Trump took one pressing issue of the time period, and used his contradictory opinion to gain a rallying support system. Starting in 2012 up until the peak of the election, Climate Change was a major debate topic for both parties. Trump took his stand on social media and backed it up in the press. His confidence showed through in the rhetorical vernacular, urgent response to exigence, and scare tactics which he employed on Twitter.

Body

1. Main Idea – At the most basic level, we can analyze Donald Trump’s word choice when addressing the public; despite speaking on formal topics, Trump’s vernacular is unprofessional and mimics the speech of the average American. Hence, he takes on a unique appeal to the American public. 
   1. Hyperboles
      1. 1. “Windmills are the greatest threat …”
         2. “It’s really cold outside … we could use a big fat dose of global warming”
   2. Climate Change vs. Global  Warming
      1. Global Warming refers specifically to rising global temperatures due to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
         1. Trump tends to reference global warming as a general increase in the earth’s temperature.
      2. Climate Change is a more broad term used to describe the changes in ecosystems and climate over long periods of time.
         1. Climate Change proves that weather patterns are becoming less predictable and climates are reaches both ends of the extremes (hot and cold)
2.  Main Idea – Donald Trump posts his tweets with exigence, making them have a stronger appeal to the pressing concerns of the public.
   1. Trump posted his viral tweet on Climate Change directly following Obama’s presidential victory on November 6th, 2012.
      1. Obama is re-elected to the presidency, defeating his opponent, Mitt Romney.
3. Main Idea – Donald Trump uses Climate Change as a threat.
   1. Them vs. Us Construct – his comments appeal to an audience that supports his claim.
      1. “Global warming was created by and for the Chinese” (Chinese vs. Trump’s agenda)
      2. “Media Claims fictional ‘global warming’ is getting worse.” (Media vs. Trump’s agenda)
      3. “They are calling it a major freeze” (Meteorologist vs. Trump’s agenda)
   2. Scare Tactics – Trump plays into the nationalist hearts of his followers, to make them fearful of how climate change could disrupt their political agendas.
      1. “Windmills are the greatest threat to both bald and golden eagles”
      2. “Makes U.S manufacturing non-competitive”

Conclusion

Not only in the press, but also on social media, Donald Trump is a master of rhetoric. As shown through this selection of his most viral Global Warming tweets, he can transform any political debate into a rallying political concept. 

Summary Statement 

The undeniable fear that climate change might disrupt Trump’s political agenda coupled with informal word choice and Kairos propelled Donald Trump’s tweets to top charts and ultimately success in the 2016 presidential election.

Concluding Remark – Regardless of whether his views are politically correct or not, Donald Trump was successful in gaining significant political support through Twitter, which was instrumental to his victory in the 2016 presidential campaign. All 57,000 tweets over the time period of his active twitter account must have been worth it for him.

Resources

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/15/about-one-in-five-adult-twitter-users-in-the-u-s-follow-trump/ 

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/how-twitter-affected-2016-presidential-election