Source: DoteSports

This controversy has been around for many years, and this picture perfectly represents it. Is eSports really a sport?

First Point of Analysis

So what are the qualities that make an activity a sport? Oxford defines a sport as something that requires skill or physical prowess. Things like football, bowling, baseball, etc. are all great examples of this. But who would consider eSports to be something like this? Obviously, they would need to watch an event to truly understand the skill required to compete at this level of play. As anyone could see, people need to realize that the expertise needed to play at this level is very high, and it takes a lot of dedication to make it there. Here the players stand ready to compete for massive amounts of prize money.

Second Point of Analysis

eSports gives salaries to players just like in the NFL or the NBA, just not as high. This is mainly because of the field not being as publicly known as some of the other sports that have been around for much longer. The first eSports tournament was held in 1972, whereas the first collegiate football game was held int he 1800’s. Professional eSports are known as events that an audience attends and watches while rooting for someone or a particular team. It sounds a lot like what happens at a football game, doesn’t it? The similarities between the two are there, and this picture shows the relationship well.

Third Point of Analysis

What comprises a professional sports team? A coach, players, managers, and staff. All of these are included in an eSports team. That is everyone depicted in the picture above. Someone needs to keep track of the players by coaching them to do better, while managers need to recruit players and manage their salaries. This controversy seems to revolve around the sole fact that eSports players are not doing something that involves huge arenas, except it does. For one of the most popular events in the world, Worlds for League of Legends, over 330 million people were watching the game live. That is over three times as many people that watched the Super Bowl this past year.

Conclusion

This picture absolutely depicts eSports as a growing sport in the industry and argues that it hold the same qualities, if not more, as the leading sports that everyone watches today. The picture depicts the eSports community as something that is a serious business with sponsors and hundreds of millions of fans and should be recognized as such.

This Ted Talk, delivered by Sara-Jane Dunn, talks about reprogramming different types of cells. The main idea of this talk is programming biology with the idea of advancing software to create some sort of “living software” that could transform agriculture, medicine, and energy.

Ideas

Some of the most important ideas I took from the speech included people using this for the worse. This new technology could pave the way for more biological warfare. This could be the start of a new genetically engineered disease that can only be made through this new technology. But will the pros outweigh the cons? Obviously, there are some major benefits to using this new software including the efficiency of agriculture and medicine that could save lives in the future. Depending on who gets a hold of this technology, the outcome of these advances could be unknown.

What She Does Well

While she is clearly on the positive side of this topic, she does bring in the fact that if the technology falls into the wrong hands, it could be dangerous. I did not even know that we could reprogram cells until I had watched this talk. Now I know that we can turn specific types of cells into their naive state and use them for other purposes.

The Style

It is obvious that this woman has prepared this talk, but she really makes it seem different than a speech. She may not even have the lines in her head and may just talk about the topics as she goes. She asks the audience questions that will really change their perspective about the topic. In my opinion, the main difference between a speech and a talk is the ability of the speaker to talk about the topic from the heart. This woman has worked in the field for years and is really passionate about her topic and how it will affect the community in the future. The visuals were also great because there weren’t visuals the whole time, but when there were, they related to what she was talking about.

Some Improvements

I think that she could improve on her tone. I know that she is passionate about her topic, but she should really sound like it more. Sometimes her hand motions did not make sense. She should not just move her arms every time she has something to say, rather she should do it when she is trying to make a point. Overall, she was effective in getting her point across to the audience.

A common misconception is that the millennials and teenagers hold the same views about everything. Even their interests may only include only cell phones and electronics. Well, there is a significant difference between these two generations of people. We are going to discuss them to cause a paradigm shift in comparison with the help of an article by Jean M. Twenge.

Source: Here

Cell Phones

One vast difference between these two generations is the effects of cell phones on their lives. Millennials are a little bit older than the teenagers today, being born in the 1990s to the early 2000s. Cell phones were not apart of their lives until they were entering their teen years in 2007. That was when the first iPhone came out. Teenagers today are likely to have been with cell phones ever since they were in elementary school. The article calls the teenagers of today the “iGen.” This “iGen” likely does not remember a time when the internet was not readily available to everyone. Millennials could have been dealing with problems of the recession between 2007 and 2009 a lot more than Gen Z.

Psychological Effects

Source: UTSA

Being younger and having more availability to technology, the effects of “screen time” are more drastic on the mentally unstable adolescents. The article outlines that the suicide rates of teens have skyrocketed since 2011. Why is this? Could it be that the technology that is apart of their everyday lives, including networks like Snapchat, have tied themselves to their brains too tightly? Perhaps instead of conversating, the teens prefer to text people alternatively. Everyone older than these adolescents seemed to have gone out more in the past; for example, about eighty-five percent of Boomers and Gen X went out on dates. This number is only fifty-six percent for teenagers. The whole point of this paradigm shift is comparing the modernization of teenagers and millennials and clearly outlining the psychological causations.

Social Activity

How active are teenagers compared to millennials? For starters, today’s iGen is not connected with their parents as much as their predecessors. All they would do is sit in their rooms by themselves with no one around to worry about them. Millennials would go to parties and get together with their friends every single day. Teens are even shown not to be happy when they are on the web and gong on social media. If they spend more time on electronics, they are more likely the kids are to say that they are unhappy. Also, there is a question of whether the teens are feeling left out of things. The article says that teens often think that they “wish they had more good friends.” The homicide rates in teens have decreased, but suicide rates have increased. If they are not around anyone, then how can they ever be angry enough with anyone but themselves to harm?

Takeaway

These two groups of people have different histories and deserve some careful examinations. People who are Boomers or Gen X cannot merely group these people into one massive “youngster” group. It is hard to say what the generation after this one will look like and how they will act. Considering that toddlers are using iPads, it is safe to say that the digital age will continue.

Without the cooperation of the United States and the USSR, the Germans would have almost certainly conquered Europe and eventually the world. Luckily, these two nations brought their citizens together and fought back. Propaganda and drafts were utilized to gain support and forces to fight back. The U.S. government produced the advertisement below have the immediate purpose of bringing the people together from different countries to create one large force against evil.

U.S. propaganda provided by the government.

Source: Pinterest

The idea behind this poster is to have all Americans drop their hatred for the USSR. It is their duty to protect their country and to do so they must work together with other countries. Before the war had started, the United States had laws put in place to prevent them from getting involved in future conflicts. This policy was called isolationism, which many Americans were behind after the great depression had taken place. When Germany started to take over more and more of Europe, however, bits and pieces of these laws were repealed. Eventually, in December of 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, killing thousands of people. The entry into the war was inevitable at this point, and the USSR was already pressuring the United States into entering the battle beforehand. They already had a superpower as an ally. The United States immediately started having drafts and getting every civilian involved to aid in the effort. The main idea behind the poster is that if you are not a Nazi, then you are against them. That was the shared opinion of most of the world at the time.

The United States and USSR soldiers joining forces in an operation.

Source: History.com

The USSR could have also used this propaganda. When the Germans launched a surprise attack, that broke the peace agreements that they had before. Enraged, the USSR started to execute prisoners of war from Germany. The poster could argue that the Soviet citizens should side with the Americans even though they share different political views. If they want to avenge their people, then it is necessary to side with a lesser enemy to take down this universal evil. Even more so, there are countries like Britain in the picture, countries that also share different views than the Soviets. Infrastructure was immediately created to start forming a more massive army to aid them and to make weapons at a much faster rate than usual. Scorched Earth took place, which took millions of people changing their way of life to adjust for these plans. Engineers trained, people evacuated, and manufacturers moved their factories to the center of the country, all while the Nazis were actively invading.

Not to mention the combined efforts of the U.S. and the USSR together. Operation Frantic was one of many operations that involved the combined bombing of critical targets in Germany and Poland. The U.S. was allowed to use the air space in the USSR to plan their attacks. Imagine letting a sworn enemy into your household to do whatever they please. That takes an immense level of trust on the USSR’s part. The bonds of shared hatred for the killing and expansion of the Nazis had set aside the differences between the two superpowers.

The reason I am drawn to this propaganda is that it reaches more profound than just joining forces with other countries. It says that we are strong if we stick together. It might seem like two separate battles were being fought in Europe, with the U.S. attacking the western front and the USSR taking the eastern front, but this was all one coordinated attack. One attack from different sides to corner the Germans in their own country. I am intrigued that the lights coming out of every pipe is clearing up some of the dust in the air, with more light clearing more darkness. The symbolism of the artifact is there, and that could be a whole essay on its own. When it comes down to gathering people, propaganda is the way to go.

A massive problem in the United States is obesity and being at an unhealthy weight in general. Some people would like to be able to eat more but not gain as much weight. This ad right here would grab the attention of people quickly from the sheer numbers.

Source: PathosEthosLogos.com

Different Methods of Cooking

Let’s discuss how a potato chip can be made first before we dive into this logos ad. As implied in the name, potato chips come from a particular type of potato that is easy to slice. The starch in the vegetable must be at a specific temperature, or else it will turn into sugar. The starch gets taken out, so the potato is ready for cutting. Then, there are three methods above of making the chips. If they undergo frying, they sit in oil at about 190 degrees Celcius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) which makes them have the most taste. If they experience baking, some of the taste suffers, but the fat content is less. Popchips is advertising that they use pressure cooking to keep the flavor and reduce the fat content. More of this process is right here.

How This Ad Presents Logos

There are a couple of things to talk about here. Firstly, the large number saying that in each of the potato chip stacks, there are one hundred calories. The argument explained here is that you can eat more and feel less guilty. The appeal of logos effectively makes a clean name for the Popchips company because they are saying that they make healthier chips than the other competing brands. A typical American eats four pounds of potato chips every year, as noted by the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association. Their statement of more potato chips consumed is better than less is appealing; however, it may not be valid.

Common Thinking

Next, let’s talk about the commonplace that most Americans hold. More is better in this case because of the enjoyment of eating them. Potato chips are a snack that is widely known as unhealthy, but everyone still eats them. Popchips knows this. If they list the facts about other styles of potato chips compared to theirs, it will make them seem like they are promoting healthier living. The reality is potato chips are unhealthy any way you make them, but the statistics are correct here. They have less than half of the fat and calories than the fried chips but notice how there are more carbs per serving because of the number of chips the person is eating.

Would People Eat These?

Lastly, how appealing is this argument to people who want to indulge themselves while staying healthy? No matter how hard someone attempts to get someone on a diet to eat potato chips, the idea will not get a good response. Statements like these will still attract the same types of audiences and keep the dieters away. Someone would choose fruit because they are sweet and do not have all of the repercussions that the carb-heavy chips have. This statement would, however, through the concrete numbers pull more people away from the fried and baked potato chips. The logos appeal is strong and implies that more chips from the Popchips company are better than fewer chips from other brands. Overall, this advertisement is an excellent example of how numbers and statistics are used to persuade people one way or the other.

Kairos is, by definition, a call to timely action targetted at a broad audience. In my opinion, the most effective use of Kairos is in wartime. The United States is a country that is considered a professional when it comes to propaganda and encouraging its citizens to take action. Below is an excellent example of this during World War II.

WW2 advertisement published in 1945 by the United States government.

Now there are a couple of points that stick out here. The most obvious one is the wounded soldier looking helpless. No American wants to see his/her people hurt or killed in the war, and this soldier looks like he could use immediate help. A question of credibility never arises because this is the U.S. government asking their people to help themselves. This message grabs the viewer because it sends them a proposition: “If I do not do something promptly, then these wounded soldiers will keep suffering.” At least, this grabbed my attention right away because wartime is all about having your country behind you when everything goes south. Any period, whether it be the 1900’s or the 2000’s, with rhetoric like this would draw the attention of any audience, no matter how modern-day or ancient they are in their thinking.

The second point considered here is the text above the soldier. It almost seems as if the soldier cannot afford care himself and needs support from others to make sure he makes it out alright. It makes the viewer see this situation as if when they buy the bonds and stamps, the money gets sent directly to the soldier and immediately helps him out. Huge drafts were taking place to get as many soldiers as possible for the U.S. Army to ensure the defeat of the Nazis. Who would not want to keep their own families safe by giving money to do so?

Something that is lacking is an addition that tells people where to buy these bonds and stamps. There could have been a phone number to call so that the citizens could set it up immediately. Even an address could be useful for this call to action. These suggestions are not to downplay the genius of the government during the war effort. They are just some pointers to make it easier for the citizens to give to their soldiers.

The U.S. government successfully received funds from the people because of the ongoing war across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They needed funds to get their troops over there and back safely, not to mention to provide the transportation. The Kairos used to encourage the citizens was taken advantage of because the whole idea behind World War II was “everyone versus the axis powers.” A view of donating more money to give more power to the allied forces spread throughout the four years of war, and ultimately ended up greatly aiding in the war effort.

While my television watching has been bleak over the past few years, I see billboards every day. If I saw this ad for LifeLock while driving, I think that my car would be in a ditch a few seconds later.

Source: Workzone 

How did no one stop this?

The most apparent and bizarre issue here is the fact that the CEO of LifeLock is posting his ACTUAL social security number on a billboard in 2007. Any sane person or parent would tell anyone to keep phone numbers, addresses, and ESPECIALLY social security numbers safe. Todd Davis is very confident in his company, but his identity was stolen within a short time frame by multiple people.

Sure, this might give people confidence in their purchase of this product within the first few hours of the billboard going up. However, when the CEO of a security company gets HIS identity stolen, that might be a catastrophe for the newcomers, let alone the customers who already bought this service. This theft would also be an indicator of flaws in the service since dark web users could still steal identities if they get the customer’s social security number. Remember, Todd Davis had LifeLock at the time.

He didn’t just post it: He dared you to steal it!

Having confidence is great for a company, but when someone says that no one can use his/her information, it’s a challenge. Hackers online are continually searching for unprotected details, and when they get spoonfed a social security number, everyone is going to bite. Todd Davis is practically encouraging people to use his information.

A helpful tip for advertising is being prepared to handle anyone who is actively trying to destroy you. A perfect opportunity arises and, suddenly, you aren’t as safe as you thought. “Guaranteed” protection might be a stretch in this case, and this attempt at a plug was a colossal failure that should never have left the PR table.

How could this LifeLock ad have been above pitiful?

Instead of posting his social security number, asterisks should have made their way in, encrypting the actual numbers. This technique would humorously show the protection of LifeLock. Also, another person could have very well been on the billboard. The CEO didn’t have to be in the advertisement, throwing his information out for everyone to see. Even putting a fake number on the ad would have been better than this train wreck.

Here’s some advice for keeping an identity safe.

There’s no doubt that LifeLock is still thriving in 2019, with them stating that they had over 4.4 million members at one point. Online security providers are thriving, but some issues can disappear without them. Don’t ever use credit cards or private information on shady websites and, ironically, get a trusted online security network to filter those sites out. The internet is full of criminals looking for their next uninformed subject, so don’t forget your lifejacket when you surf the web.