Rhetoric and Civic Life | rcl blog Rhetoric and Civic Life | my official blog to all rhetoric and civic life

‘Rhetoric and Civic Life’ Category

RCL #10: Visual Rhetoric

November 29, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The piece of visual rhetoric I chose was this picture above of a person using a fork and a knife, but rather than using them as they are intended to they are flipped around and used as chopsticks. I think this picture would catch a lot of people’s attention because it is a strange thing to see, but also because of the meaning behind. Now that the world population is growing and China has become the largest country in the world, their culture could become the new normal. A study by Nation Geographic a few years ago even said the world’s most typical person is a 25 year old Han Chinese man. China also manufactures most of the things we sell here in the United States as well, so they have a lot power in that aspect. Chinese restaurants are becoming more and more popular today and I know for me anyway it’s one of my favorite kinds of food. I think the fact that this picture uses a fork and knife to demonstrate their point is interesting. Chopsticks could have easily been used to get the point across too, but I don’t think it would have the same effect as the fork and knife does. The fork and knife shows that our culture is changing and melting into theirs. Something that also caught my eye was the word integration on the left side of the picture. That word makes the point seem even stronger than just the picture and just in case anyone didn’t understand the picture at first, after reading integration now grasps what the illustration fully means. So this picture is definitely a good piece of visual rhetoric that could really get people to think and realize how big of an effect the Chinese culture has on us.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #9 – Analysis of a TED talk

November 1, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html

The TED talk I viewed was Patricia Kuhl speaking about “The Linguistic Genius of Babies.” Her talk was actually pretty interesting to me because some of what she said I didn’t know before. Some of her main points were that babies learned language and understanding words through statistics. So babies are actually pretty genius with understanding speech until something happens as they grow older and their brains don’t work that way anymore. Babies only a few months old, about 6-8 months, listen to humans talk and use statistics to gather the important words they need to know. This speech was actually pretty interesting for me. I learned a lot about babies and the way they learn to speak that I hadn’t known before. One thing that I think stuck with me the most is the results obtained from an actual human speaking to a infant and an infant listening to people talk on a TV. The babies in this experiment didn’t learn as much through the speaking on the TV as they did with an actual human being speaking to them. I thought this was a pretty fascinating point that was made. I think this speaker did a pretty good job with engaging her audience. She used visuals and examples of what she was talking about so it definitely helped people better understand what she meant by some ideas mentioned. I also liked how she showed the difference between an American mom talking to her baby and a Japanese mom and how the sound of each language was different. I never actually knew why the whole R and L pronunciation was so difficult, but after listening to the difference I could tell. She also wasn’t monotone the whole time and did use inflection in her voice. She made some jokes so it wasn’t just straight fact the whole time through and it made it more interesting. There is a difference between delivering a speech and giving a presentation. Delivering a speech is just a way of getting your word out there for people to hear and reciting something that had been memorized. Giving a presentation is a speech that also should engage the audience and keep them interested, using visual aids to enhance the speech. I think Patricia does a nice job with her speech/presentation. It was really effective and I feel like I learned a lot from it.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #8 – Rhetoric of Protest Signs

October 25, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The protest sign I chose is this one above clearly showing how in this day and age we’re still having a hard time accepting homosexuals. It shows how we’ve conquered the issues of women’s rights and African-American rights, but still the issue of gay rights hangs in suspension. It has gotten a lot better than it used to be, but nonetheless it is still a fight that shouldn’t have to be fought anymore. This sign definitely shows questions of conjecture and that there is a problem that needs to be discussed and resolved in some way. It also shows questions of definition since it states the issue of gay marriage in relation to the resolution women’s and African-American rights. Questions of quality come up in this image due to the fact that this is a debatable topic and there are different viewpoints on it, good and bad, fair and unfair. Lastly, I think it also brings up questions of policy because something does need to be done about this issue. Specific action should take place and sooner rather than later, so we are able to get past this issue as well. This sign is saying women and African-Americans had their time for movement and change and now it’s time for the gay community to have the same opportunities.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life, Uncategorized | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #7 – Kairos online

October 17, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The example of Kairos that I found on the internet was this ad for the Joseph Kony campaign of 2012. This ad really characterizes the main idea of kairos in the sense that the best time is now to combat this issue. For those who don’t know about this campaign, it first came to light by a young man named Jason Russell who made a short film Kony 2012. The organization is called Invisible Children and their goal is to make Joseph Kony famous and have him arrested for his abuse towards children. He kidnaps children from their homes and makes them become a part of his army and if they don’t do what he says he kills them or their families.

The definition of Kairos is an oppurtune moment. An oppurtune moment to act on something. This ad is a perfect example of that. It even states, “nothing is more powerful than an idea who’s time is now”. It’s a campaign that’s saying we can’t wait any longer to get involved and make Kony known, this has gone on too long so let’s change it now. It also displays the republican elephant and the democratic donkey coming together to form a dove. The dove is a sign of peace and for everyone to come together and fight against this horrible man and the horrible things he’s doing to people in Uganda.

I think this ad is very effective for me. The first time I saw the promotional video for Kony 2012 I couldn’t believe what was happening over in Uganda. It’s been going on for so long too, it’s hard to imagine no one knows who this Joseph Kony actually is and how he hasn’t been caught yet. So, I am definitely motivated by this ad and the whole campaign in general. Something needs to be done about this and the ad clearly states the “time is now”.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #6 – Pathos online

October 11, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The example I found that evokes strong pathos is this ad for National Family Week in 2007. The ad says Life is Unpredictable. Make Time for Family. This message is particularly strong since family is probably the most important thing to all of us and it’s basically saying that you never know what life is going to throw at you, so spend time with your family now. Pathos is being strongly executed here since most everyone should feel some emotion towards what this ad is trying to get across to people. It does put life in perspective somewhat and maybe does make a person want to call their parents or spend more time at home with their family.

The big thing in this ad that stood out to me is the graveyard in the background. It’s funny I didn’t even see what it was until after I had read the message first and that’s when the ad hit me. I understood what the impact of the ad actually was after seeing the image with the message in front of it. When putting the two together, it actually is a very powerful ad and does evoke the right amount of pathos to be effective, at least for me. I think with this kind of ad people just have to take it for what is literally saying and that’s just to spend more time with family because you never know what could happen, rather than blow it out of proportion and worry everyday that something could happen and you haven’t spent enough time with your family. Overall, I do think this ad evokes the right amount of pathos to be effective.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments
RCL #5 – Response to Hazlitt Essay

October 4, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

Hazlitt’s main point in his writing is that a great speaker may grab and keep the attention of the audience, but when faced with a paper and a pen suddenly doesn’t know what to say. That as great as the person is at speaking, they become blank when challenged to pick up a pen and write an essay. I don’t know of I fully agree with this statement just because I think if you are a good speaker and you know to grab the attention of your audience, then you can definitely write an essay or a story and grab the reader’s attention effectively.

He also writes about is that speaking in general is easier for some people basically. He says “less is required of you” and with writing a person has their “own time and subject.” I think this means that some people are just better at speaking. It’s just more natural for them to get up in front of people and speak. Then there are those who are better at working on their own time, whenever they can spare it, and write for hours. To support this idea of some people just being made for either speaking or writing is when Hazlitt says, “mount them on a dinner table, and they have nothing to say; shut them up in a room, and they are inspired.” This just emphasizes the point that there are those that are just better at one or the other.

For me, writing and speaking are different in many ways. I am a lot more comfortable with writing than getting up in front of people and speaking. I do a better job on my own time, by myself writing than when I have to prepare a speech and speak in front of people. I think with writing, a person can just get so into it and write from the heart and with speaking a person does pretty much the same, the audience just recognizes it in a different way, if that makes any sense. I do like what Hazlitt had to say and I agree with him on many points he had. This reading also made me reflect me on my own speaking and writing and got me thinking on what I can do to make each one better.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #4 – Logic, reduced

September 28, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The first slogan that came to my mind when we were told about this assignment was the Penn State t-shirt recently made about the NCAA sanctions against the football team and the school. The first day these shirts came out I remember seeing everyone already wearing one. They were a huge hit among the students here on campus. Signs went up in stores and restaurants everywhere downtown. You couldn’t walk two steps without seeing this slogan. It is a clever way to use Penn State’s WE ARE slogan and make it more effective in relation to the football chaos and everything that’s gone on in the past year.

Although this t-shirt slogan WE ARE… PISSED OFF is very clever and catches people’s attention, what people are missing is the other side of the situation and why the team was punished in the first place. For most of the students, the sanctions against the team were an outrage, and I’ll admit I initially felt that way too. But after I thought about it more, I realized there was another side to this. The side of the kids that were hurt in the midst of the scandal. To them it may have felt like the university and the surrounding State College area were more concerned with the punishments to the Penn State football team than with what happened in order for these sanctions to take place.

This shirt definitely got to the point and was a clever way to catch people’s attention. I see people wearing them all over campus everyday. I’m not saying I completely disagree with it, honestly I wanted one when I first heard about them, but I just think we sometimes need to take a step back and think about the bigger picture.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #3 Response to Civic Engagement Speeches

September 21, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

Over the past two days of listening to speeches on civic engagement, I think my perception on getting involved in the community has definitely widened. I feel that I have gained a greater sense of knowledge for all the different organizations and ways of giving back to the community in just a short amount of time. Before this assignment, I honestly really had never thought about civic engagement, but more about just getting involved. Now I have learned that while civic engagement does mean getting involved, it also means taking advantage of being a true citizen in our country today. I have heard about so many different organizations and ways to get involved, some as simple as clicking a link and applying online. I think the class so far has done a really good job of informing the rest off the class about the artifact they chose and how it benefits the community in some way. Some of the artifacts I am hearing about for the first time through these speeches and they all seem really interesting. These speeches have made me realize that civic engagement can mean a lot of things. It can mean applying to get involved in a specific organization or it can simply mean donating money for a specific cause. It can mean buying and wearing a support the troops ribbon around or choosing to not buy the ribbon but still support the troops. After listening to these speeches over the past two class days, I can honestly say I have gained a better understanding of what civic engagement actually means and look forward to the last day of speeches to hear even more.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments
Do the Right Thing Response

September 6, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

This movie really emphasizes rhetoric in many ways between many different people. The two brothers that work at Sal’s argue all the time, the older brother usually taking the win while the younger sits there and takes it. The older brother persuades his younger brother to do whatever he wants and think the same way he thinks about the community they work in. Another example is with Radio Raheem. I think he represents the rest of the African American community’s civil rights by just standing up for what he wants, which is his music, and his freedom to listen to it as loud as he wants. When he encounters the Latino group on the stairs listening to their boombox, the boys just end up turning their music off and giving in to Radio Raheem. That’s how persuasive he is throughout this movie. By the end, he has everyone supporting him to the very end when he meets his death by one of the officers at the scene. This scene shows how even a couple decades after the civil rights movement, some ideas towards people of different races has not changed. Mookie’s friend Buggin Out also knows how to use rhetoric to get people behind him to boycott Sal’s pizza. He persuades Smiley and Radio Raheem to follow him in his boycott, which ultimately gets Radio Raheem killed. Some commonplaces in this movie is the beliefs the elder brother at Sal’s has about the black community around him and tells his father he wants to get out. He judges them based on the way he thinks they are and how they are portrayed by others like him. His father has to set him down and try to make him realize this is where they have made their business and the community, although they may be different, are people too and deserve to be treated as such. This commonplace can go vice versa too, with the African American community bickering with the Italians, Latinos and Koreans in the area. Overall, this movie emphasized the power of persuasion, or rhetoric, and how much of an effect it can actually have on people of any race or ethnicity.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments