RCL Blog

this i believe

Going into the Ted Talk I knew I had to perform better than I did on the civil artifact speech. So hearing one of my members claiming my TED Talk was a big improvement upon that was fulfilling. In the previous speech I used shortcuts and it was still my not my best work. This time around I was confident I was well versed in my topic. I hope that reflects in the recording. I do wish voice thread had a feature to save takes and select from them. If that feature does exist, then I wish I knew the website better. The take I ended up using was not bad, but I know in other takes where I did not make it to the end, I was more lively and included more gestures and things of that nature. There were also takes were my wording was more eloquent at specific moment, but without a script every take was different and I found it difficult to remember to add in the best phrasing for every point. I also forgot to click to my works cited in the recording, which is something I did not realize till I was watching it with my group so I hope that does not come back to hurt me. Im happy with the work I did on the TED Talk and im ready to explore the topic even more though the research paper.

For the history of a public controversy, one possible idea is recreational drug use. Not only is it topical considering the recent turn out of votes in New Jersey and Oregon, of the seldom research done, a lot of it is very interesting. Examining countries like Portugal and the Netherlands were drug use is far less strict as it is here, could provide great sources of research and analysis.

https://pennstateoffice365-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/jmg7516_psu_edu/EYqI-K01EwtOp8stUjINLpMBjheDdRcmE05FsALGYUmvuQ?e=mQUurv

The Statistics of Censorship

This source provides do visualizes on the decrease on books on the banned list and the cases that have been made against them. With these I will argue the decline in the need for censorship, but also the shift in what is being censored

https://www.jstor.org/stable/369445?seq=8#metadata_info_tab_contents

In order to provide context and history of censorship in America I will incorporate this article. It will allow me to speak assertively on the topic with historical facts to rely on thereby enhancing my argument.

https://www.thoughtco.com/censorship-in-the-united-states-721221

Through this source I was able to find specific examples of censorship and the relating legislation. These are just some examples for my argument to help strengthen the paper as a whole.

The Dirty History of Parental Advisory Labels

This situation is an example of censorship most can identify and have encountered. This will help the reader relate my argument to their own lives and their over all understanding in general.

https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100

This will show the current state of what US culture deems as acceptable and the overall shift through out the years being the most current evidence.

https://www.aclu.org/other/brief-timeline-censored-music

One of my favorite TED Talks is by Jon Ronson, a journalist, that wrote The Psychopath Test a book that touches on the true threshold of sanity. He opens the talk by discussing his experience reading the DSM, which apparently labeled him with almost 12 different mental disorders. I like this because it immediately gets viewers to question the legitimacy of the book and field of psychology as a whole. At first glance he meets the criteria for what most consider a stable person so to hear that the book classifies 12 different illnesses that he can identify with is seems unlikely. Next, Ronson describes the meeting he had with a patient in a mental institute that had faked being insane so well, no one believes him and he is not released. He quotes the man with the statement. “It is easier to convince people you are crazy than sane.” This makes me wonder how those with actual mental illness must feel ostracized by society, since it is hard for others to see them as just another person. It is later revealed that the man was kept in the institution because he was found to be a psychopath. This leads to the my favorite part of the talk which involves the study of psychopaths being more common in groups of business man and CEOs. Ronson relates this the competitive nature of capitalism, and how those that are ruthless and able to make the less than morally favorable decisions, are able to excel. 1 in 100 people are psychopaths, but this rises 4% when looking at CEOs and moguls. I find it very interesting how they are able to express these traits in such a way that diverges from the violent nature most associate psychopaths with. At the end of the day it is abut doing what they believe it takes to achieve their goals. Some considered Kobe Bryant a psycho for his impregnable competitive drive. This leads me to one idea for my research paper which is the shift in what is seen as acceptable business practices and the regulations on things like monopolies and pollution. another idea is the shift in what society deems acceptable in popular music in terms of explicit content.

The only negatives about my speech my group members shared with me, or were willing to share with me, was that I could have used more gestures. Other than that, they said I kept a good tone and pace, was well organized, and had concise slides. I agree with what they said about my tone it is very serious, almost becoming commanding at certain points because of the heavy emphasis I place on some of the phrases. However my pace I feel is awkward at some points. It lacks a certain cadence I would’ve hoped to have, but only lack because of my inadequacy with memory. The organization is fairly straight forward so I also have to agree with them there although overall I think my invention could’ve used some more complexity and fortification. Even though it is simple, I can’t help but feel some will have trouble connecting the dots. With how I like to write, it is better for me to have a slightly more sophisticated argument to go along with the density of my writing. This brings me to another problem I have with my speech is which is that some sentences are simply overly wordy and that is because I made them up on the fly and was simply spitting out words. Not my best work, had I devoured more time to this it could have been executed much more to my liking.

rhetorical analysis essay rough draft

2,997 casualties, 6,000 more injured, and 1 day to forever remain in infamy within American history. The attacks on September 11, 2001. A flashbulb memory, the image of the smoking towers seared into the minds of spectators, for those in the nation that were old enough to remember in the same vain as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The story is known to all and the people of the United States continue to honor the memory of those that suffered every year on the anniversary. At the time, however for most it was the sheer feeling of disbelief that was most potent for those that were not actually involved and as when events of such magnitude occur on U.S soil citizens look to the leader of the nation. After something like this it is the presidents job to quell the fears of those he serves for, and George W. Bush used this tragedy as a rhetorical situation to promote the unification of the country and stop the out right panic from spreading. Of course the only promise of hope in situations such as this lies within the future and he assured his that those responsible would be brought to justice and this rhetoric was used to ignite the War on Terror and campaigns in the Middle East. And what became of that future? Well 10 years later Bush’s successor, Barack Obama was able to announce on May 1, 2011 that Osama bin Laden, a leader of Al-Queda, who planned the attack had been successfully taken down. So how does Obama’s rhetoric compare to Bush’s? Bush had to react to a situation that made his America seem weak and assure Americans that this would not go unanswered. Obama, however, was on the other side of this. He had made concrete progress on fading the scar that resides in our nation to this day. While still pulling from the sympathetic and patriotic commonplaces Bush used, Obama was able to use the Cairos of not only 9/11 but the death of Osama bin Laden along with the rhetorical devices to make this a landmark achievement of his presidency and pioneer into his next campaign.

For my essay topic I have chosen to analyze president Obama’s address to the public reporting the death of Osama Bin Laden. His words were recorded from the East Room in the White House and released on May 1, 2011. Within the first sentence he announces the mission was a success and is very direct. Then he delves in the horrors of 9/11 through a summary and saddening statistics, although I’m sure most Americans were already very aware of the details. After that, Obama speaks to the effects the event had on the individuals that lost loved ones and how communities across the country banded together. Then the Commander-in-Chief came out of him and he goes into shallow detail about the 10 year long search and heavy intelligence work that had to be done for this operation to be successful. Closing with assuring the American people this was not the end of their efforts to bring justice to the culprits of 9/11, the President inspires hope along with news of a win for not only his administration but also those that sacrificed themselves on that day.