General education is an important concept to bridge the gap between high school and college education.  It is required to facilitate learning in an array of different topics.  Also, general education courses are designed to induce interest in specific fields for students who are unsure of their future career path.  Having a theme for all general education courses is an option that requires consideration. I believe that it is important for students to have a say in what sort of topics that their general education focuses on.  However, if general education classes are too challenging, they will not offer as much of a positive and beneficial experience.

1.) Marijuana Legalization (The Daily Show)

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/fri-february-28-2014-

In this episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart uses satire to address the issue of marijuana legalization.  He starts off by analyzing a news report about Colorado legalizing recreational marijuana.  Stewart talks about the “new pot industry” of Colorado, implying that it is a fallacy that marijuana is new to Colorado.  He then sarcastically mentions the “strict purchasing qualifications”, including: purchasers must be at least 21, pot shops cannot open until 8:00 AM and must close by midnight.  The sarcasm in his voice indicates that it is actually quite simple to obtain marijuana.  He further compares Colorado sarcastically to the “wild west” to introduce the fallacy that marijuana can cause aggressive, criminal, and uncivil behavior.  Stewart then asks the rhetorical question “So what are the restrictions of how much marijuana one can possess?”,  then plays a clip from a government official stating that one can possess no more than one ounce.  The camera returns to Stewart with a smirk on his face.  He says, “So no restrictions”.   Stewart satirically attacks the conservative view by playing a clip of Bill O’Reilly (conservative ethos) saying that smoking marijuana is “literally like playing Russian Roulette”.  Stewart reiterates the false nature of this statement by repeating it in a mocking tone.

2.) Drones (The Daily Show)

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/fri-february-21-2014-

In this episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart uses satire to address the issue of drone usage.  He starts off the episode by sarcastically stating that the drones are greatly successful in assassinating leading members of Al Qaeda.  He then mentions that though sometimes the drone assassinations do not work out perfectly and they end up shooting innocent citizens.  Stewart then makes fun of the unclear logos followed by the government in determining when drones can be used.  He plays a clip of a government official stating, “drones are only to be used in cases of imminent threat”.  This outlines the fallacy that the justice department is entirely lawful and follows judicial procedures when conducting missions.  Stewart then attacks the ethos of Vice President Joe Biden by playing a clip of Biden saying, “…ain’t constitutional” in a foolish way.  Stewart later talks about the unconstitutionality of using drones for other purposes, such as spying on farmers for environmental purposes.

3.)  Malaysia Missing Airplane (The Onion)

http://www.theonion.com/articles/malaysian-airlines-expands-investigation-to-includ,35524/

This article, posted on The Onion, offers a satirical approach to the missing Malaysian airplane.  The main purpose of this article is to address the failure of the people searching for the plane to narrow down the realm of possibilities of what could have happened to it.  The article satirically states that not only has the range of possibilities expanded to a mechanical failure, pilot error, terrorist activity, hijacking, but also, “the overarching scope of space, time, and humankind’s place in the universe”.  The article also calls upon sarcastic logos, mentioning that the plane could be anywhere in the several hundred square miles of the Indian Ocean, or it could be in each of the 7 to 22 additional spatial dimensions of the universe.  This satirical approach renders the search efforts as pathetically inconclusive.  In fact, instead of narrowing the possibilities, as time goes on, search efforts are broadening the possibilities of what was the actual fate of Flight 370.  The article concludes with a satirical remark regarding the ethos of the Malaysia Airlines, “Our top people are  on it right now.”

Chrysler, unlike typical advertisers, does not use flamboyant and flashy attention grabbers in its advertising.  Instead, it appeals to widely accepted American socio-cultural values.  Chrysler utilizes four concepts that work on Americans:  the glorification of celebrities, the prevailing strength of patriotism, the desire to appear “cool”, and “rags to riches” stories.   These persuasive angles come together to seize viewers’ attention and convince them that Chrysler offers a superior vehicle.

Question 1:

Olympic Moms paper had a strong introduction regarding the usage of commonplaces as persuasion.  The first sentence is brief but effective.  The opening paragraph also has a strong thesis as a precursor to a  well-written paper.

Question 2:

Eminem and Chrysler did a great job at organizing the arguments and aspects of the advertisement in a logical way.  This is important to keep the reader engaged and on track.  The persuasive arguments are presented in order of prevalence, which contributed to its strong body.

Question 3:

Eminem and Chrysler  captured my interest.  It considered the elements of persuasion nicely and summed up the commercial in an effective way.   The paper’s organization was strong and I could connect with the ideas the best.

Question 4:

My opening paragraph will first state the background of McDonald’s and the way that most potential customers perceive them.  I will then write about what McDonald’s wants its potential customers to perceive their company as through their advertisements.  I will back this up through the ethos, pathos, and logos of the people portrayed throughout the McDonald’s website.

Question 5:

Through usages of logos, pathos, and ethos, the McDonald’s website convinces visitors that McDonald’s is a pleasant and healthful food chain.