In our group for our Unit 4 project, we will be discussing the alleged “fanaticism” of the Penn State football fan base, the things they do, and how they compare to the fan bases of other schools. Do we go too far? Is Penn State football like a cult, like some outsiders say? Or are we just like the supporters of other big college football programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Florida, or Michigan? Regardless, how has the fandom of college football changed over the years, especially at Penn State?

For my paradigm shift paper and following TED talk, I will be focusing on the way the American childhood has become more and more mature over the years. Tentatively, I am planning on my TED talk being largely cued by images in my PowerPoint.

I intend to open with a picture of my siblings and I. I will begin by relating an incident that occurred a year or so ago, in which my then six-year-old sister Addison had been watching a music video on YouTube at the family computer when a rather inappropriate image appeared within the video. Being a six-year-old, she had no idea of what it represented and began giggling with glee as my mother, sitting nearby, reacted with significant fury. I will then begin talking about the way the media has begun to change the American childhood by what it exposes children to and how much time children are exposed to it for. What sorts of content are our children exposed to? (Talk about Cartoon Network series Regular Show, a favorite of my brother and sister).

I will then begin talking about my younger brother Christian, twelve years old. I’ll discuss the ways he’s become significantly “corrupted,” which, trust me, I am well aware of, considering the space between our rooms is not very sound-proof. I’ve heard him drop the f-bomb, talk about sexual topics with his friends, and watch extremely violent or explicit movies. Much of this is because he has his own computer and spends much of his time away from the family. I will use this to jump into the way parenting and family styles have changed. Children spend less time with family and spend more time on their own with a TV, computer, gaming device, or phone. Virtually all that Christian knows of these more mature topics has been learned from TV and the internet. How does this compare to times before, when the internet did not exist and TV programming was not quite as expansive?

I will segue into commercials and marketing and how significantly it impacts the lives of our children. What does it all make children do? It makes them think about what they want to be and who they are. It makes them want to be cool and with the times with the latest trends and fashions. Addison has recently been asking to go for a makeover at a spa because that’s evidently the new thing to do. With the way American marketing is, this makes me worry significantly for my siblings. New fashions include low-rider pants, bare midriffs, and other more mature fashions that are now trending on younger targets. This is helped along by marketing franchises like Bratz dolls and making idols out of celebrities like Miley Cyrus, etc. Segue into what teen and pre-teen idols mean for our children. What sort of examples are they setting?

Close with an introduction to my youngest brother, Quinn, one year old. What does all this change in the world of the American childhood mean for him? At this rate, what will his childhood be like? Note that my area is very old-fashioned and very family-based, but even so, Christian and Addison are quickly becoming part of this very mature American childhood. What do other members of Quinn’s age group, say in more suburban/urban and less old-fashioned areas have to look forward to as the American style of childhood continues at this rate?

Sure, we may just be doing rhetorical analysis for an assignment. Ok, yeah, that’s great. But rhetorical analysis is something we genuinely need to learn. As college-educated persons, we should have multiple degrees of advantage over the average person in our society. Naturally of course, we will have an advantage of knowledge in whatever field we decide to pursue, but furthermore, we should be capable of appraising the value of things around us. There’s a textbook that one of the freshman-level English classes uses. It’s called “Everything’s an Argument.” That title couldn’t be more correct. Everything around us is an argument, either to sway our opinions against something, or to persuade us to buy something, or to adopt a certain value, and so on and so forth. Something as complex as a treatise on the political sustainability of a republic or as mundane as a Mickey D’s advertisement is a rhetorical argument. As educated human beings, we cannot just sit idly by to be pawns to the rhetorical bids to our attention around us. We are the people who should be able to listen to a politician’s speech or a news broadcast and be able to point out what’s bull and what isn’t, what’s logically sound and what is lacking, what works and what doesn’t. Rhetorical analysis can take someone a long way. It can sway one’s views at the voting booths, in a shopping center, or in one’s workplace. Sure, we’re just appraising simple things for an assignment right now, but if you really look into it, the greater concept behind this goes much farther.

This speech will be following the causal form of organization. Each step from #2 on will involve a brief summary of that particular stage’s experiences and what it translates into today.

Interview subject – Nick Lyter of Thompsontown, Juniata County, PA

1. Brief summary of what the interviewee is now involved in (i.e. organic farming, community organization, running for mayor of Thompsontown, etc.).

2. Discussion of early part of life (growing up in Juniata County).

3. Involvement in military and coming to realize the importance of being involved in something greater than oneself.

4. Continuing commitment to the National Guard as life goes on.

5. Experience in culture and community building while spending time in St. Louis, MO.

6. Organic farming in Juniata County.

Ethos

1. My Dear Fellow Clergymen

2.  I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference…

3. I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. On sweltering summer days and crisp autumn mornings I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: “What kind of people worship here? Who is their God? Where were their voices when the lips of Governor Barnett dripped with words of interposition and nullification? Where were they when Governor Wallace gave a clarion call for defiance and hatred? Where were their voices of support when bruised and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?”

Pathos

1. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth…

2. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation.

3. We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights.

Logos

1. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

2. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

3. Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily.

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