Little Brother

Little Brother brings up some issues very relevant to our time. One of the main issues in the book is the question of whether we should sacrifice our freedom for national security purposes. There is line that should not be crossed, but it is sometimes hard to decipher where that line starts. I believe that what has happened in the book is "crossing the line". In no way shape or form should the government ever torture American citizens under pure assumptions. The DHS has no actual proof that Marcus and his friends were terrorists. I think that keeping our country safe is one of the most important thing our government can do. I think that all precautions should be taken, even if it is inconvenient for the American people. This including airport security, going through suspicious packages, etc. BUT, I think that it is inappropriate and harmful to the people's relationship with the government if they are over cautious and start interrogating anyone who walks the wrong way. So basically, I think that there is a very fine line between being over-bearing and doing their job.

I-Search Paper

For my I-Search paper I decided to begin from the TED talk by Ken Robinson about reforming the education system and the way we teach children. Robinson makes some very good points that led me to research the topic further. What I already know is what Robinson talked about in his speech. He believes the the current way we teach children is inhibiting their creativity. We have reduced the number of arts and music classes to add more maths and sciences. Although there is practical information there, the arts inspire people. Creativity is expanded.

The next step in my research process will be to look up modern ideas of how the education reform could happen. Things such as the "No Child Left Behind" Act have made it so all children go to school and get some type of education. I will look through online journals and possibly more speeches about the topic to see what other people say about how children are taught and how they can be better educated.

TED Talk

This is the video that I think I am going to use for my I-Search paper. Ken Robinson talks about education and how he thinks we can revolutionalize it. He thinks that by reworking the education system, we can increase creativity and productivity in children. He makes a great argument and backs it up with solid facts and funny jokes.

Contextual Analysis

For my contextual analysis, I used this photo. Its a war propaganda poster from WWII. I think that it is effective for many reasons. It uses feelings of patriotism to get the audience excited. It also uses historical and cultural happenings of the time. It could've just been 2 white men working but instead it is a black man and a white man. This shows that the country must band together to win this war, and that there cannot be fighting at home between the two races.

So this was the political cartoon that I used for my rhetorical analysis. I am not sure if I am going to use this for the contextual analysis because I don't know if there is much left to say about it. I don't think that the audience has any effect on this cartoon. Globalization is such a broad concept and one single person cannot effect it in a significant way.

SEC Rivalry

The SEC has some of the longest and heated rivalries in all of college sports. There is Florida and Tennessee, Alabama and Auburn, Florida and Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. When its gameday and these teams are playing each other, the fans go crazy. This weekend was the first time I experienced this at the UT vs Florida football game. As you walk down the strip people are yelling and screaming. Its rather amusing just to sit and listen to people yelling at the enemy. And when you are an away team fan, you better get ready for some harassment. Especially when you come to Knoxville.

Funny Example of Rhetoric

This video is my favorite example of rhetoric. It informs the audience of its purpose while also being absolutely hilarious. It immediately draws the audience in with its humor while still getting the message across of what they are advertising- identity theft protection

Hazing

So hazing isn't something that I had ever thought about much until I got to college. I thought it was just harmless stuff that sororities and fraternitys did as part of the initiation process. I myself am not joining one of those institutions, but friends from home have decided to do that. So the other day as I was talking to a friend I heard about a kid from my school who goes to a big southern school. He joined a frat and was having alot of fun. Two days ago he went into the hospital with 30% of his body burned from some type of fire that caught onto his shirt. Rumor has it that it was part of a hazing activity. In my opinion, this is uterly ridiculous. Putting someones life in danger should not signify whether they are "cool" enough to be a part of a group or not. Having people do ridiculous stunts or they can't hang out with you isn't a tradition, its just stupid. There are other ways to have fun with the pledges where no one gets hurt.

Rhetorical Analysis Image

This is the image I have selected for analysis. The picture shows a train symbolizing the industrialized nations in front, with the 3rd world nations trailing them. It is a very clear example of how developed nations make the impression that they are all about helping the little guy, when really they still have the blinders on and are doing what is best for themselves.

Disney Characters Talk about Copyrighting

In the following video, blurps from various Disney movies are used to inform the public of copyrighting laws and infringement. This video makes the argument of what falls under copy right laws and what does not. It shows what limitations are put on people to use music, movies and art created by other people. It is a very thin line of what is legal and what is not. If you step over that line you have comitted a crime, usually unintentionally. This raises the question of what is fair and what is not. Is it unfair that you cannot use a popular song in a youtube video? But is it fair if you could take someone else's work to use it in your own? the line between what is fair and what is not is very blurry at times.