First Text Selection: “Crap Detection 101.” City Brights, Howard Rheingold, SFGate.com

Boyd’s claim that “informed citizens needed to be able to critically evaluate the messages that surround them” intersects with this text. In order for individuals to get the most out of using the internet as an information base, people need to be able to check if sources, authors, and information is credible as Rheingold states in his article. I chose this text to compare with Boyd’s because I liked his writing style and the tips he used to find credibility in sources.

Claim: “Basic information literacy, widely distributed, is the best protection for the knowledge commons: A sufficient portion of critical consumers among the online population can become a strong defense against the noise-death of the Internet.” Basically Rheingold is stating that in order to keep legitimacy when using the internet, there must be digitally literate individuals who see what is real information and what is not. We do not need to censor information because all information is valid, but it is important for people to learn what to believe and what to dismiss.

Another sub claim is that people have a hard time thinking for themselves when using search engines.

Evidence: Some sites sneakily hide their own bias by saying they are someone else with different opinions or even a different well known organization.

Warrant: When using search engines, people are too lazy to think for themselves. Therefore, they just go along with whatever information pops up and do not do research into the source, the author, or the actual data being presented. Many people only use one source as information rather than using multiple sources to fact check.

Backing: When search engines emerged in the 90’s, the author sat his daughter down and taught her how to critically use the information on the internet to research information.

Qualifier: “I would add credibility points if a source is a verified professor at a known institution of higher learning, an authentic M.D. or Ph.D., but I wouldn’t subtract points from uncredentialed people whose expertise seems authentic.” This statement goes against believing exactly what is presented on search engine results. He says not to believe everything you read and to do extra research, but is saying sites like web.md are legitimate, even though most people will think they are going to die when they look up their current illness symptoms on webmd.

Rebuttal: Use scholarly publication analyzer to decide if a source is credible.

Second Text: Skills and Strategies | Fake News vs. Real News: Determining the Reliability of Sources by Katherine Schulten

The same claim from Boyd that I mentioned before intersects with this article for the same reason. I chose this text because I like New York Times articles and because the writer was a female. There were very few qualifiers to choose from so her argument was strong.

Claim: “Even though they know how easy it is to create and distribute information online, many young people believe — sometimes passionately — the most dubious rumors, tempting hoaxes (including convincingly staged encounters designed to look raw and unplanned) and implausible theories.” Schulten previously spoke about how teachers believe in the digital native and do not take enough time to teach students to look for credible sources on the internet. She claims that young adults will still believe whatever they read on the internet without the proper training to think critically.

Evidence: “The digital revolution is characterized by a flood of information and misinformation that news consumers can access from anywhere at any time.” From the Center for New Literacy.

Basically, because journalists and news reporters are competing for readers and viewers, information relayed to the public can get skewed in order to boost the competition. Because of this, a lot of the information being given is biased or untrue because they want to make their stories interesting.

Warrant: “’viral trumps verified … as long as the clicks keep coming.’” If a popular story or journal on the internet has a lot of views or readers, young adults will believe its credible even if it is not.

Backing: 48-hour news black out. After not tuning into social media or news sources for 2 days, students are asked to reflect on the impact of the media on their own lives. Students may hear about truthful current events through their own daily lives without the influence of misleading sources.

Qualifier: She mentions the acronym IMVAIN as a tool to find credible sources. In the acronym, “I” stands for Independent sources are preferable to self-interested sources. This goes against her statement that multiple sources should be used and fact checked.

Rebuttal: However, if you think about it, independent sources would most likely be biased and therefore have strong opinion supporting a self-interested source.

Formality/Tone

In the “We Won! PETA Supporter Prevails Against Trumped Up Charge at Texas A&M “article by Zachary Toliver, there is an opinionated tone. The author is passionate about animal’s rights. This is apparent when he references the muscular dystrophy dog laboratory as “sickening”. The adjective has a strong negative connotation, which also obviously states his opinion on the issue. He also says Texas A&M “unsuccessfully” tried to prosecute the protestor. This tells the audience that the author thought the charges were unjust from the beginning and knew the trial would be useless. The tone of opinionated certainty gives the author credibility.

 

Medium

The medium used in “Horse Pulling Carriage Collapses Amid Heavy NYC Traffic—When Will This Abuse End?” by Katherine Sullivan is visual evidence of her argument. The videos she provides is perfect proof that collapsing horses are real and are an actual problem. The video is taken by a civilian witness which gives the article an ethos appeal. The imagery in the video is disturbing and sad. It is a brutal truth that gets the audience’s attention and provides facts. The video is a unique statement that gives the article an appeal that only a video could provide.

 

Creators and Distributors

PETA plays a big role in the rhetoric within the article “Victory! Companies Ban Badger-Hair Brushes After Shocking PETA Exposé”, Written by Zachary Toliver. In the article the author references an expose that PETA did on the badger hair industry. This expose caused companies to ban badger hair brush production. This chain of events is evidence that PETA’s work is making change in the world through their investigations. Their success gives the movement credibility because it shows the audience that advancement in animal protection is possible. At the bottom of the article is a link to a petition to ask more companies to ban badger hair brushes. The credibility of PETA gives the audience more incentive to sign the petition, gaining the movement more support.

 

This Instagram post is aesthetically pleasing for many reasons. There is balance in the positioning of the two subjects in the photo. They are wearing similar clothes and both have crosses straps on their bodies. The overall composition of the photo is balanced by their similar poses, both strongly holding up their picket signs. The size of the letters on the posters are eye catching and clearly state the message of the photo. The color of the berets that the subjects are wearing are eye-popping and send a message of power. The artistic aspects of this photo show the importance of PETA’s message to stop eating cows.

The composition of this photo has a similar message as the first Instagram post. The pose of the subjects is tall and lengthy which is a parallel to the Eiffel tower in the background. The Eiffel Tower was designed to celebrate the French Revolution. This historical context gives power to the protestors’ message. The fact that the subjects are in their underwear establishes their vulnerability that they put up for the cause of banning fur use during fashion week. The vulnerability gives the campaign an ethos appeal because they are proving they will go to the extreme to fight for their cause.

We Won! PETA Supporter Prevails Against Trumped Up Charge at Texas A&M Zachary Toliver

https://www.peta.org/blog/trumped-up-charge-texas-am-university/

 

VIDEO: Horse Pulling Carriage Collapses Amid Heavy NYC Traffic—When Will This Abuse End? Katherine Sullivan

 

https://www.peta.org/blog/video-horse-pulling-carriage-collapses-amid-heavy-nyc-traffic/

 

 

Victory! Companies Ban Badger-Hair Brushes After Shocking PETA Exposé Written by Zachary Toliver

 

https://www.peta.org/blog/companies-ban-badger-hair/

 

I chose to do an analysis on PETA related articles and tweets because I find the controversy of animal cruelty to be very intriguing on both ends. While I am definitely not vegan and love me a good steak, I do not believe that animals should be killed in scientific experiments and product testing. I believe all animals have the right to live, but the animals who are meant to be eaten should be eaten. A large food chain exists and most of the animals would be eaten in it anyway in a chain. However, I do not condone torturing animals. In the meat industry they usually just breed the animals then give them a quick death. Although killing animals is unjust, I do believe the world needs to eat meat.

I chose three articles I found on the PETA website. I just scrolled through the “blog posts” tab and picked out headlines that I thought were eye catching. I chose the “We Won” article because I thought it would be nice to analyze something with more positive connotation. It is about how charges against a Texas A&M protestor were dropped and they are close to banning animal testing there as well. The second article made me very sad. I wanted to investigate more about carriage-horse abuse so I chose to possibly analyze it. The third article is about banning Badger-Hair brushes. I chose this one because I had never heard of a Badger-hair brush and thought it was interesting.

I then went to twitter and found a tweet and that goes against PETA. It is funny because they are calling out PETA. The next two are from Instagram and I chose them because I thought the photos were fun and creative. I enjoy the costumes for the protestors and thing it is louder than voices in projecting their beliefs.

I apologize for my last blog post, I repeated an assignment and unknowingly made it better.

Here is the real blog post for 10/3/18

When reading my paper, I would like my peers to keep help me address the analysis of rhetoric rather than literary analysis. When I shared my paper with our professor, she pointed out that there was a lot more analysis of literary elements rather than addressing the rhetorical tools used in the piece. It was hard for me to pick out rhetorical devices in Will Ferrell’s speech because it is very untraditional because he uses a lot of comedy. Little did I know that comedy could also be used as a rhetorical device. I hope my peers can review my paper and have horse blinds on to spot my unnecessary analysis.

It would be helpful if the peers editing my paper could find other rhetorical devices that I could have skipped over. I was very lost as I was analyzing the speech. I was not sure what I was looking for and had very little understanding of the rhetorical work going on in his speech. It was only somewhat more understood after I spoke with our professor. However, I have a feeling that a lot of rhetorical analysis was lost in translation when writing my paper. I would be very grateful if my peers had any different creative opinions on the rhetorical devices being used in the speech. I feel as though effective rhetoric is defined differently by everyone, so it would be beneficial to hear different views on how Ferrell is being convincing.

I would also want my peers to check if I use similar words too often in my paper. As I was editing my paper I was using a thesaurus to find different words to describe the same thing. I would appreciate it if my peers could think of more fancy words to include throughout my paper.

My text was very enjoyable to analyze. It is the commencement speech delivered by Will Ferrell at the USC commencement in 2017. I chose this text because I thought it would be unconventional and entertaining. While I was correct that it is entertaining, I was wrong that it is unconventional. Although the speech did its job of being inspirational, the rhetoric embedded in the speech was unlike usual rhetoric. The fact that Ferrell was able to be convincing and influential through comedy made it very persuasive. Also, because he is so famous in the eyes of millennials, it was very moving because the audience was filled with college graduates, people in the millennial era.

This speech invokes hope in myself. It makes me optimistic that even if I think I might fail, I can still do great things if I work on my passions. I have constantly failed in my life. I used to dance, play soccer, and do musical for many years, going back and forth between each activity. I quit dance and musical theater in 7^th grade to focus on soccer. A year later in high school, I gave up soccer because I did not make the freshman soccer team. After giving up my passions I missed performing very often. However, throughout high school I developed a passion for music. My new “dream” is to start my own record label. I know that if I work hard then I will achieve my dream of being a big CEO.

I also have experienced failure and followed it with success. I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was a child and used to take medication for it. During my freshman year of high school, I got off of meds because I believed it dulled my personality. I struggled with school both semesters and received bad grades. My parents were concerned and tried to get me extra help, but I was determined to prove that I could manage life without the aid of medication. I believed that sacrifice and dedication was the only way I would be able to do this. It was a struggle, but I was able to achieve a spot on honor roll every semester for the rest of high school. I made myself and my parents proud. This will always be a rewarding experience for me because I was told I could not function normally and proved the doctors wrong. I was able to be a self-sufficient human and I feel extreme pride because of it.

I consider myself to be a very light hearted person. I am not serious and try to avoid being business like when I converse with people. When I was researching for a piece to analyze, I was looking for a speech because I wanted to learn about something that had more meaning than just words on a paper. I chose Will Ferrell’s commencement speech at USC in 2017 because I remember watching it that year on YouTube. It was legendary on the internet because he wrapped up his speech by singing Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”, which was obviously a big crowd pleaser. The playfulness and delight which Ferrell delivered the speech with was entertaining and uplifting. His deliverance matched his personality well and gave the audience a chance to get to know the real him.

I agree with many of the sub-claims made in his speech. The main argument of the essay is for the graduates to be successful by being themselves. I have had many revelations in trying to find myself. In college I have been feeling the most myself, more than I ever have, and I have been loving life more every day. I completely agree with him that being yourself is being happy, and being happy is a signal of success. He talks about not feeding off of other people’s bad energy as well. In high school I struggled with not listening to the negative opinions of others. However, when I finally realized that those opinions did not matter, I became a lot more content with myself and my peers as well.

His stories of failure are very heartwarming. Throughout my life I tried different hobbies like dance, soccer, singing and acting and never truly knew what I wanted to do with my life. In high school and the summer following my senior year, I realized that all I want to do is help people. But, like Will Ferrell, I want to be passionate in the work I am doing, which means not sitting at a cubicle all day. I decided I wanted to be in the music industry and help other people put out music and share their art with the world. In taking Ferrell’s advice, I am being myself and helping others along the way.

 

http://time.com/4778112/will-ferrell-usc-university-of-southern-california-commencement-graduation-read-transcript/

 

I chose to analyze Will Ferrell’s commencement speech that was given at USC on May 12, 2017. Ferrell is a USC alumni and a very well-known comedian and actor who has starred in many films and shows, including one of my favorites, Saturday Night Live, which he mentions in his speech. As he mentions in his speech, he has performed many degrading acts for the movies he has been in, but he is able to laugh at himself which I appreciate. While at USC he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He also received an honorary doctorate for presenting the speech. Other recipients of honorary doctorates include Helen Mirren, Mark Ridley-Thomas, and Gary Michelson. The speech puts an emphasis on facing fears and being true to oneself. Ferrell uses his humor and personal experiences to get his point across. Most of his speech is full of jokes which I find very intriguing. His approach to rhetoric is unlike other commencement speeches due to his witty humor throughout his speech, making him appealing, which in return, gets the audience’s trust and attention. I find his speech entertaining and engaging. Toward the end of his speech, he says that it is okay if some of the graduates do not have their futures figured out. He relates his struggle with starting his acting career to the uncertainty that the graduates are probably feeling. His empathetic rhetoric style is heartwarming and sweet. Will Ferrell is completely humble about his fame and shares real stories of struggle which reels the audience’s trust in. I want to write my paper on this speech because I think it will be a challenge to dissect comedic rhetoric. The speech is very light hearted which is different from the texts we have been reading in class. I am looking forward to exploring the tactics of comedic rhetoric.

I love learning.