Main Claim

The net neutrality ad and the Occupy Wall Street poster share similarities in their criticism towards big and powerful companies and the way they simplify the issue into a “us vs. them” battle. They use similar rhetorical techniques in order to encourage the average citizen to engage directly in civic discussion with the American government.

First Artifact – Net Neutrality – Civic

• summary of the concept of the net neutrality with transition into next paragraph, lead into why it’s civic because of the 60 day comment period
• the Battle for the Net advertisement is civic because it becomes a structure of attention as their message was posted on many internet sites such as Reddit and Google
• The Internet is a commonplace that most people in America share, so the advertisement is important
• The kairos of the advertisement is crucial, as it calls citizens to call their representatives and to join together on July 12th for the Day of Action

Second Artifact – Occupy Wall Street – Civic

• The Occupy Wall Street poster is civic because it’s a call to action in a crucial kairotic moment when the country is in turmoil over economic inequality
• It encourages citizens to come out and protest over the commonplace of economic inequality

Rhetoric of Net Neutrality and Occupy Wall Street

• The battle of the net ads use red colors and bold lettering in order to grab the attention of
• The poster uses yellow and black to stick out
• the Net neutrality ad depicts a world where the absence of net neutrality is hurting everyone
• The wall street poster uses vivid imagery of a crowd tearing down the monopoly man in a parody of the statue of Saddam Hussein being torn down
• Both advertisements pit the 99% versus the big companies
  • discredit the ethos of the big companies
• Both advertisements simplify the topics of protest
  • Occupy Wall Street was ridiculously convoluted, with different protesters wanting different things. There was very little unity in the message of the protests, so it was not exactly the 99% vs 1%
  • Net neutrality is simplified into a fast lane vs. slow lane argument even though companies such as google already have a fast lane. The real problem is more complex but advertisements cannot convey that to the viewer effectively in such a short ad.

Conclusion

• summarize similarities
• overall both ads were effective in bringing the population together, even if the end result wasn’t what they wanted

Opener

• start with very simplified and clickbait statement to get the audience attention

Main Thesis

• explain the clickbait statement as your thesis, that net neutrality supporters have to simplify the topic and shorten the reading so that ordinary people care

Visual aids

• show a few ads that are very clickbaity

Explain

• kairos
  • extreme recency of FCC comment period
  • many calls for action
  • Slowdown Day
• ideas of class warfare
  • we are the 99%
  • against big corporations
  • against FCC
• Simplification of issue
  • Title II
  • historical events
  • Explanation of why this is necessary
• Conclusion

There’s been a lot of rhetoric about piracy ever since the internet came to fruition, and a lot of it can get very hyperbolic.

But this 90’s era commercial probably takes the cake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLBY4qzUMNw

It starts off with an evil man in a cave putting a hot metal stick in a fire. Ominous music plays in the background as the narrator says: “Pirates are out to get you. Don’t let them brand you with their mark. Piracy funds organized crime, and will destroy our film and video industry. Piracy costs jobs, and will destroy our music and publishing industry. Piracy funds terrorism, and will destroy our development, and your future enjoyment.”

This absolutely insane rhetoric is accompanied by a man thrusting a heated rod into a pile of DVDs and somehow causing cheesy mushroom cloud explosions. With each pan to his face you see flames in his eyes ignited.

I’m going to ignore the blatantly stupid imagery in this video as it only serves to try and scare little kids into thinking pirates are some cavemen that destroy our entertainment and just focus on the words that are being said.

“Pirates are out to get you”

This statement is just dumb considering what pirates actually do – they download things for free that companies sell, but even the act of pirating isn’t that bad as it helps to circulate the product and acts as advertising. For example, the Game of Thrones producers have said that they don’t mind people pirating. Either way, this is a blanket statement that uses no evidence and just doesn’t make sense.

“Don’t let them brand you with their mark.”

This is literally a scare tactic that makes pirates sound like Nazis putting out stars on every other consumer. Literally what.

“Piracy funds organized crime, and will destroy our film and video industry.” ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

This is where the ad gets even dumber, if that was possible. There is no evidence that piracy funds organized crime, and its dumb to think that piracy can even fund anything at all. Also, even in courts companies aren’t able to quantify what kind of damages piracy causes, if it causes any damage at all. Again, a statement without anything backing it up.

“Piracy costs jobs, and will destroy our music and publishing industry.” Pretty much the same as before, another statement without any evidence to point to it. Piracy has been well and alive for decades now, without any destruction of any of these industries. Nobody can really tell if piracy is actually that big of a deal.

“Piracy funds terrorism”

Yeah ok.

So I did pick the most ridiculous ad possible in order to rail on it (and laugh at it), but the base issue I have with this ad and many others condemning piracy is that they completely oversimplify the issue and don’t talk about the nuances of the topic. Also it’s just absolute shit.

Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers must treat all content on the Internet the same, without discriminating or charging differently for different services. It has become a major issue these past few months in the United States with President Trump’s nomination of Ajit Pai to FCC chairman. Ajit Pai wants to repeal Title II regulations and there has been a comment period for people to send in their opinions to the FCC. Over 98% of comments have supported the principles of net neutrality. However, corporations such as AT&T and Comcast have successfully lobbied the FCC to repeal the regulations, and repeatedly claim that net neutrality will still be intact even after corporations lose any incentive to providing fair internet and even after documented cases of telecoms throttling their customers.

A lot of the rhetoric that comes from supporters net neutrality is similar to the rhetoric used for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street was a movement that started in September of 2011 near New York City’s financial district. Protestors called for action against big corporations and their influence over the federal government. The main slogan was “We are the 99%”, referring to the economic inequality between the wealthiest 1% of the population and the rest of America. It was a large show of civil disobedience. Ultimately it was unsuccessful.

Similarities

There are many similarities between the rhetoric for Occupy Wall Street and Net Neutrality. They both share the dichotomy of the 99% of Americans vs. big corporations, and both condemn the influence of corporations on America’s policymaking. One might even say that the battle over net neutrality could eventually mirror the protests seen at Zuccotti Park. So far, net neutrality seems far more popular in the public eye, even though many consumers have never heard of the concept or don’t understand what it could mean.

Games Done Quick

A poster for AGDQ 2017

Games Done Quick is a charity organization that runs biannual video game speedrunning marathons for several charities such as Doctors without Borders and the Prevent Cancer Foundation. They have raised over 12 million dollars over seven years, and are the biggest fundraising event for both organizations internationally.

The Games Done Quick marathons are seven day long celebrations of games both old and new where “runners” try to complete their respective video game as quickly as possible. There are 20 minute speedruns of modern games such as Superhot and there are 8 hour speedruns of classics such as Final Fantasy VII.

They encourage people to donate to charity by giving incentives and holding raffles and promote the idea of civic responsibility and helping out the world. Both people watching at home on their computers and those who go to the event to help raise money are all supporting the cause and it becomes a communal project to help others. Currently they are planning to hold an impromptu marathon for the victims of Hurricane Harvey this weekend.

The Battle for Net Neutrality

A picture at battleforthenet.com

Net neutrality is a huge issue of contention right now in the United States, with many condemning the FCC and big telecommunications companies for trying to create a monopoly on our internet connections. This poster is a call to action for all the people seeing it to pay attention to net neutrality, and thus serves as a way of eliciting civic responsibility from citizens. The huge letters and red and white contrast make it stand out as an red alert.

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