"Onward and Outward" Rhetoric and Civic Life

If you are a a member of a country club, a politician, or simply a fan of a fine cigar, then you should probably consider joining the grassroots organization ‘CRA- Cigar Rights of America. CRA immediately brings you into the American cigar culture; upon reaching their homepage you are greeted with rolling tickers of those who endorse the movement and the petitions sent to Congress to remove cigars from FDA regulation. Right away you are exposed to the strong rhetoric of the site. In fact the movement’s logo is a colonial man holding up a cigar with a sunburst in the background.

Pretty powerful American imagery of freedom and cigar celebration. The issues with this movement begin precisely at the point where the movement begins. In the first sentence of the “About Us” page, the CRA tries to fault the FDA for increased tobacco restrictions, apparently violating the people’s right to cigars. Also, they are against increased cigar taxes. For $35 a year, you can take part in this organization fighting to keep cigars free of FDA regulation. Membership options are specifically tailored to individual cigar enthusiasts, tobacconists and lounge owners, or business owners. Although you can join or donate via credit card or fax, it is not clear anywhere on the website where these donations go. This is concerning, as the website designers have clearly taken enough time to keep up with recent cigar happenings in the state-individualized ‘News’ tab. Although an interesting argument, Cigar Rights of America falls short on some important aspects of their advocacy.

http://www.cigarrights.org/main.php

My topic of choice for the advocacy project is the struggle that Orcas are facing against the human influence. Through major American corporations like Seaworld, as well as many zoos and aquariums across the country, these beautiful creatures are being treated with  horrid unfairness. As cliche as ‘save the whales’ sounds, this topic is one that focuses entirely on Orcas, and is powerful to get behind, once you are aware of the facts. Orcas are taken at very young ages from their mothers in a manipulative, violent way. This is especially cruel due to the scientific research that marine biologists have done on the study of orcas, for they posses remarkably human-like chemicals in their brain which enable them to feel empathy. After being cruely taken away from their mothers, the orcas are then trained in small, cramped facilities and negatively reinforced to perform the ‘tricks’ that people flock to venues like Seaworld to see.
The specific action I am seeking to take with this advocacy project is to create awareness on the topic, and possibly dissuade people from endorsing places like Seaworld, who harvest and treat these Orcas so poorly, leading to tragic trainer-related accidents that are so often put in the news. As for the medium of advocacy I am taking, I am currently torn between a video or a photo essay. I know that photos are a crucial part in understanding this issue, and it is important to pair the facts with visual evidence for readers/viewers to get the full effect.

The topic I will be pursuing for my persuasive essay is a particularly hot button topic in society today: healthcare. As of right now, the approach I plan on using for my essay is to persuade my audience that government-run healthcare is not such a fantastic idea, and that the level of reliance that many Americans have on the government in their day to day lives can be dangerous. Generally speaking, Obamacare is a plan to provide quality healthcare to all uninsured Americans and reduce the monopoly of large private healthcare companies. Through research, I would like to delve into this topic deeper and find good, strong points to support my argument. Government policies are something that interest me and the question of government involvement in everyday life is a cool topic as well.

Some basic research questions that I have begun thinking about include the following:

-Where and when did the question of government-issued healthcare begin?

-What are the economic benefits and drawbacks to government-issued healthcare?

-How much should the government be involved in American’s everyday lives?

The book I have chosen for the beginning of my research is Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee.

Brownlee, Shannon. Overtreated: why too much medicine is making us sicker and poorer. New York, NY: Bloomsbury, 2007. Print.

It is the annual question that plagues the Penn State community: ‘what is more important; academics or football?’. The answer to this question seems simple, but it is not in fact simple at all. Although ‘academics’ is the preferred answer, how much does any handful of students really know about Eric Barron? We could tell you where James Franklin is from, his top five tweets, and that he’s the guy behind the ‘dominate the state’ fervor sweeping the t-shirts downtown. But who is Eric Barron? Yes he has Penn State ties, but doesn’t seem nearly as connected to the Penn State community as Franklin does, despite his authoritative position. This could be an issue that all Presidents face due to the lack of connection that students feel towards them. James Franklin shows up at hockey games and is eager to get in a selfie and shake hands, whereas the president of the university… where woul one go to find the president in his ‘natural habitat’? As much as some people are hesitant to admit it, the football program is the glue that holds the Penn State community together, where the academics though important are a bit of a given. An extraordinary school, yes Penn State is. But where the spirit and the passion of the student body culminates is in Beaver Stadium on football saturdays in October. Students can rely on seeing Franklin down on the sideline pumping up the team and acknowledging the crowd. But does the president go to the football games? Have we ever heard Rodney Erickson start a ‘we are’ chant or appear at a game in the student section of Pegula? I believe that Franklin is the more important hire for the Penn State community because the football program is one that goes out of its way to makes itself known around campus and around the world. The office of the president seems far-off and out of touch to most Penn State students, as no one really ever sees or hears from the President unless it’s most likely negative. James Franklin wins this battle because of his charm and down to earth approach to his position that Eric Barron seems to lack. Read: Eric Barron make a Twitter for starters!