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This I believe 2

Whenever I’m facing a tough situation I always make sure to never give up. Even if I end up failing, the passion to never give up will allow me to pick myself up and try again, or keep practicing until I get it right. But many people become lazy and just give up whenever they face a tough situation. I used to be like this until I finally learned my lesson through high school wrestling. It was my freshman year and I decided I wanted to try out wrestling since I wasn’t part of any other sports team. The first couple weeks of practice were really tough for me. All of the intense cardio and live wrestling was really making me frustrated. But luckily I had a coach who always managed to inspire me. During one practice he noticed that everyone was being lethargic during drilling and instead of yelling at us he made us all sit down and read a long story about a wrestler who lost his legs and instead of giving up he continued wrestling and became a state champion. After being surprised by the story everyone on the team felt the motivation to give it their all for the rest of practice. After this I continued to give it my all for every practice. All of the practices were worth it for me. There were countless matches where I was behind in points but I managed to not give up and ended up winning instead.  I even ended up being captain of the team my senior year because I never gave up.  I was able to translate my strategy of not giving up to other things such as my education and surprised my family by getting accepted to Penn State. I do believe that anyone can do whatever he or she wants by not giving up. It might take some inspiration like my situation but there is a way for everyone. I believe in not giving up.

I really do believe that the environment is an issue that is not focused on enough, especially in politics. Every decision the government makes won’t matter if we can’t survive on Earth in the future because we treated the environment so poorly.

The issue of fracking often comes up in debates. People should worry about the long-term affects, it would be selfish not to. With gas prices so high and oil making so much controversy in the middle-east, I do believe that we should focus strongly on alternative energy sources. Our main goal should be to set up a plan to replace fossil fuels as an energy source. As most people know, we do not have an unlimited source of fossil fuels. So eventually we are going to need a new source anyway, so why not start now before the problem gets out of hand.

Rhetoric plays an important part in ways of helping the environment. To be convincing you need to be able to appeal to certain audiences and choose the right words to make yourself seem more convincing. There many ways of rhetoric that I can discuss that people use when talking about the environment.

Workaholics is a comedy show starring three friends that all work in the same cubicle and is featured on comedy central. While I was watching an episode I realized the cubicle that they work in is a very good visual story because of the way each character decorates their section of the cubicle. For example, if you look at Adam’s side of the cubicle you would be able to tell that he is very conceited and selfish.  On every episode he has pictures of himself flexing on his wall and he even brought a dumbbell and protein powder into his cubicle. You can tell that he is into sports because he also has a basketball on his desk. The next character, Blake, is also defined by his section of the cubicle. The toys scattered around his section show how he is childish. The funny posters and drawings define him as someone who would act as a child and not take work as serious as other people. Even the way he is dressed defines his personality. Unlike the other characters his shirt is un-tucked and he is wearing a silly tie. The last character, Anders, has a very organized workstation. He is the only one that doesn’t have posters or pictures hung up on his wall. His tie is tied tightly and he looks like he is ready for work. By looking at his section it is easy to tell that he is the only one that actually takes work seriously and is the responsible character. All of these visuals help define the characters personalities and develop the story. I have learned that even the subliminal images in the background of a scene can influence the story telling.

Going into my TED talk I was quite nervous because I didn’t have my introduction as solid as I wanted it to be. Next time I will make sure to know what I am going to say for my introduction so I can start off with my confidence high. I feel like my introduction might have been one of my weakest points. My strongest point was probably the information and content of my presentation. I was able to find really interesting statistics that made my presentation more interesting. I could have worked on the way I presented the statistics but overall I was able to get my point out. The way I organized my slides was also okay, while making the powerpoint I wasn’t too sure which slides should go where. I enjoyed listening to other people’s presentations, there were so many interesting points that people made me think of.

I have always enjoyed watching TED talks. I feel like it is a very interesting way to learn about new ideas in society. Since we have a society that isn’t very prone to change the new ideas are creatively presented, with graphs and all sorts of ideas.  I’ve never read any criticism on TED talks because I don’t really want other people’s opinions to interfere with my liking for TED talks. I hope to keep following TED talks and hopefully learn more about the upcoming elections from TED talks.

John Manfredonia

Cas 137H

Rhetorical Analysis

On August 28^th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr presented one of the most rhetorically inspiring speeches ever delivered. Titled the “I Have a Dream Speech,” Dr. King presented this speech to the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” (1) group. As a civil rights activist he gave this speech to not only black Americans but to all Americans so that he could promote the idea of equality.  Because of his audience, Dr. King made sure to make his speech appealing to all Americans. Martin Luther King’s speech successfully conveyed civil rights issues, involving many rhetorical strategies such as ethos, logos, and pathos, to a racially mixed audience whom he viewed as equal, not different.

One key quality of Martin Luther King was his bravery, which was reflected in his speech and actions. At the time of his speech there was a major separation between Blacks and Whites that Dr. King fought against. He was even arrested a few months before his speech during one of his anti-segregation protests, but he continued to fight for civil rights. Ever since slavery ended, Black Americans did not have the rights they deserved, prompting Martin Luther King to create his inspirational speech. Dr. King’s main goal was to end all problems between the different races of Americans, especially Black versus White. In his speech he says: “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.” Dr. King directly states the exigency that inspired his speech. Dr. King gave his speech in a setting occupied with controversy, but still managed to make it effective.

After Dr. King refers to America’s past, he transitions into current America and dramatically tells Americans to take action immediately. Dr. King says, “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.”  Martin Luther King has such a strong ethos to his audience that he can easily convince them to follow his ideas. His ethos comes from his heavy involvement in the black communities of America. From his protesting to his preaching, many people knew who he was. Many times he refers to how America was supposed to be created on these ideals, so with his ethos he motivates people to reform America into a true democracy.

From the start of his speech, Martin Luther King brings his audience back to the beginning of America when the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, which freed all slaves and gave hope to the former slaves of America. But immediately after Dr. King points out how after 100 years Blacks still do not have the freedom that they deserve. Through this he points out the irony of America because Black Americans were still not truly free.  Immediately after, he alludes to another American document, the Declaration of Independence. He points out how it stated that all men were created equal, meaning black Americans should be equal to white Americans. Once again this shows the irony of the beliefs during Dr. Kings time and the ideals on which the country was founded upon. By alluding to both documents, Dr. King is appealing to logos. He brings the examples up to show how it would be logical for Blacks to have the same rights as whites. Dr. King also tells everyone that the most logical way to protest is peacefully, not violently.  He expresses how being evil will never lead to justice, which is why they need to continue with nonviolent protests. Through his uses of logos, Dr. King was able to open the eyes of his audience to allow them to fight for their rights logically.

The strongest way Martin Luther King Jr. uses anaphora is by repeating the title of the speech: “I have a dream.”  Dr. King expresses his dreams numerous times so people will remember that he wants Americans to live by the idea that people are created equal. He clearly states in his dreams that he wants everyone to get along even if it’s a former slave owner and slave. Dr. King knew the repetition of  “I have a dream” would be so emotionally convincing was that in American society you are told to follow your dreams. And Dr. King’s dream that he presents to his audience is very powerful and inspiring because it reveals his passion. The repetition makes people think about their own dreams and allow them to be inspired by Dr. Kings dreams. Through this Martin Luther King Jr can spread his idea of equality everywhere in America.

Dr. King utilizes pathos be relating his speech to his dreams and beloved family.  Martin Luther King says, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” This famous quote is so emotionally inspiring that it brought tears to so many members of his audience. Dr. King gets very personal in his speech to relate to every American with a family. He knew this would most likely make his ideas more credible. Another reason is it is emotionally appealing is that he makes his own audience think about their own children. The parents in the audience do not want their children to go through the experience of segregation in America.  The only possibility to fix this problem would be to follow Dr. King’s advice. Through becoming personal with his audience, Dr. King is able to convince and inspire people.

In conclusion, Martin Luther King Jr. was strategically able to inspire his audience by using ethos, logos, and pathos.  Due to his prominent background in the civil rights scene, he is capable of using ethos to capture the attention of his audience.  Also, he successfully points out how logically flawed America was because it did not follow the principles it was founded upon. Finally, he uses pathos to emotionally inspire people to take action for the sake of their family and future.  His speech ended up being so rhetorically convincing that it motivated the government to take action on civil rights. It also helped Dr. King achieve a Nobel Peace Award. (1) The results of his speech assure that Dr. King was successful in creating a speech to fix the racial problems in America.

Bibliography

(1)       “About Dr. King.” The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. JP Morgan Chase, n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.thekingcenter.org/about-dr-king>.

There are so many civically engaging things around Penn State.  I am practically overwhelmed by all of the civic engagement opportunities at this university. Everywhere I go there is some kind of flyer advertising either a club or even a blood drive. All of the advertisements are rhetorically designed to appeal to all of my inner feeling such as ethos, pathos, and logos. All of the clubs/activities do an excellent job of advertising their reasons to join because I have become so interested in joining so many clubs. Never before have I been presented so many opportunities to become civically engaged in my community.  I was encouraged to join a THON community and raise money for the kids and the appeal to emotion encouraged me to join Atlas so that I can participate in the civic engagement in the community of Penn State.  Even in the classrooms there are always signs posted to inform us about clubs to join and many other activities to participate. I always see posters varying from joining the judo club to attending bartending lessons. To be honest these rhetorical messages are very engaging because of the pictures and descriptions the creators put on the posters. Overall I can definitely say that Penn State has made me more civically engaged then I have ever been.

I feel like I could have done much better on my speech.  When I first got up to start my presentation I became nervous because I was afraid I would not be able to get the power point on the screen.  So during my speech I ended up forgetting to mention all the rhetoric devices I had in my mind for the lyrics, instead of just interpreting them. I feel like if I had my original plan more stuck in my head I would have been able to provide a good rhetorical analysis of each line that I presented. It has been a while since I last gave a speech and I was definitely not ready for this. If we were able to make a practice speech, which was not graded before this, then I feel like I would have understood what I actually had to do.  Also, after hearing other peoples speeches I began to understand more of what I should have focused on. I could have used examples from the textbook to make my speech more impactful. I feel like my introduction was successful by playing the song and having pictures.  The power point was also very helpful for me because I was able to save time by having the lyrics on the screen.  I also felt comfortable standing in front of the group of people it was just the incident with the technology that threw me off.