Rhetorical Analysis: "Where Sweatshops Are a Dream"

Blog Post #5

Would you rather find scrapes in landfill or work in a sweatshop for a living? Nicholas D. Kristof's article of, "Where Sweatshops are a Dream," defends sweatshops and their bad reputation, because he believes jobs in factories are what the people in poorer countries need. The purpose of Kristof's argument was to prove that sweatshops are not the worst workplaces in poor countries. I believe her article was overall confusing, due to the evidence to defend her topic. While her introduction and conclusions statements were strong, the paragraphs in-between displayed more opinions than evidence. The article itself did not organize information to wear a reader can understand the author's defense towards sweatshops. 

Nicholas D. Kristof introduces his article by describing a garbage dump in Phnom Penh. He states, "This is a Dante-like vision of hell. It's a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across, emitting clouds of smoke from subterranean fires," in hopes of the reader to create the imagery across their mind. After, the sentence quotes, "The miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn. Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy five cents a pound. Many families actually live in shacks on this smoking garage." His introduction is effective, because it allows readers to have imagery and sympathize for the struggling children and their families.

Source: Google Images

Children hoping to find treasures in a landfill

He writes as if the audience is unaware of the poverty and its causes towards many families. In some of the poorest areas of the world, working in a sweatshop is a dream job. His purpose in this essay is to bring awareness that in some of the poorest countries, sweatshops are a means to a better life even if people don't want to admit it. In order to accomplish this purpose, he appeals to the Pathos aspect of the rhetorical triangle by describing children digging through piles of trash to find plastic to sell or use in their daily living. In his essay, Kristof includes a refutation to his argument by saying sweatshops are not the best places to work and that he wouldn't work there himself. The author could've defended his refutation more for depth within the argument. Another flaw of the article was its lack of credibility, because Kristof mentions only once that he was in Asia for years, but all these facts could be theorized by him and many of his stories seem very generic or unbelievable. He concludes by pointing out if these countries grew their manufacturing business and offered real jobs, the problem and rage would occur less within these countries.

Overall, the author's argument is weak due to the lack of evidence and use of the three elements of the rhetoric triangle. If he added more factual evidence provided by credible sources, his argument would've been more persuasive. To make his article easier to understand, he would've needed to organize his points and information to progress to his main idea. His opinion was very unique and eye opening, but it could've been changed to convey a stronger appeal towards the readers.

The Power of Photo Essays and Convention

BLOG POST #4

Everywhere you read and look have one thing is common. Pictures and Convention convey document events and milestones. Writers use writing to create a vivid picture of a person, place, or thing, while pictures are visuals that enhance their message by the beauty of their surroundings.

Photo Source: Google Images

This image incorporates the visual and written aspect

To convey a purpose, one must be smart in choosing to represent it through texts or a picture. Essays, articles, etc. are seen to be more informative. It’s beneficial because it provides deep knowledge, logic, or an extra description of an image. It might be boring towards the audience due to their lack of interest towards the topic. An article may be expletory, but any reader can doze off.

Photo essays may be preferred over due to its visual aspect. This can draw in an audience’s attention. Pictures stands for a powerful attraction because as visual creatures, the large percentage of the brain dedicates itself to visual processing. If people process pictures easily, the message can be conveyed at a greater scale. The disadvantage of pictures are its interpretation of each individual. The meaning can be different upon others and the author’s meaning for what it was intended.   

The Influences of Violent Media

BLOG POST #3

The essay of, "Violent Media is Good for Kids," stands strong for its title. I agree to a certain extent with Jones' thesis of junk culture not completely being junk, and that violent media can empower creativity, power, and selfhood within some children. Jones has strong statements and personal experiences used as evidence throughout his article, but I believe that he could've added more of a Logos element such as numbers of statistics, graphs, etc. The justification of his essay would've been more persuasive. 

Overall, it is safe to say that violent media has an influence towards the new generation. While some children are inspired for the better, it is proven of many catastrophic events are caused by the influence of violent media. 

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An example of a violent act would be the case of Conrad Roy ||| suicide due to the text messages he had been receiving from Michelle Carter. She was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a case largely built on text messages she sent urging her 18-year-old boyfriend to commit suicide in July 2014 by inhaling carbon monoxide in his pickup truck.

Text Messages (left) between Conrad and Michelle (right)

This case surrounds media influence in multiple ways. Without the communication network through cell phones, she couldn't have easily messaged him all of those pressuring texts. Her intentions were to gain the attention as the "devastated girlfriend," media plays the role of being the start of her actions. While this case isn't physically violent, legally it is violent due to the fact it was involuntary manslaughter. 

RIP Conrad Roy ||| (September 12, 1995 – July 13, 2014)

This involuntary manslaughter was truly devastating, and while Michelle was perceived guilty, there are hidden media influences to cause both actions by both people. The pictures of the text messages that are now public has been a controversial topic of many people. This allows both sides (to prove Michelle guilty or not) to state and express their opinions. Overall, the media exposing the text messages prove enough to show the true evidence behind his suicide, but to assume her intentions is very biased. The media can state that she had committed the crime due to wanting attention, but there is always something deep to every story. In all, the media will never reveal and unfold the true display of events online.

The Effects of Technology and Human Population

BLOG POST #1 (W.O.V.E.N Videos)

HyperLink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odIUNbt3ev8

Title: Did you Know? -- These 2 minutes can change your life

What this video summarizes and argues about is the fact that poor posture links to lower life expectancy and potential due to the modern age of compact technology. Television, smartphones and handheld devices with bright screens help us with obtaining information and reliable communication at any given time or place. We spend hours per day watching entertainment, texting through phones, procrastinating through social media, playing video games, etc. Statistics and evidence were provided. Some stated that people spend about 9.6 hours per day just sitting. An argument against for why sitting is so harmful is the fact that humans were designed to walk and travel. During the industrial revolution and the time before that, humans spent most of their life on their feet. This is important and deserves public recognition, because as humans we never realize the time that passes and life wasted. For the ones that watch TV 6 hours a day, this will shorten their life expectancy by 5-10 years. There are many consequences to involve your majority of life and dedicate it to technology and sitting. Proper life experiences and realities will allow individuals to live life to their full potentials, but this can be given up by technology driven people. Health issues can be well affected by the rate of poor posture and technology. 

I believe this video expresses the consequences to technology very well through statistics and evidence. While I can relate to being one of the individuals to depend heavily on technology, I believe that everyone deserves to take breaks and live life to its fullest. We need to use our eyes to see our man-made experiences instead of seeing it through a screen. Technology has gone a long way, and I believe provides humans to live an easier life. It is an essential, and technology leads a great stepping stone to human advances. One major and obvious example is the technological advancements made in medicine and the scientific field. Daily living, health benefits, and business has improved by the factors of technology, but the present threatens our future as technology is taken for granted. Consequences threatens humanity, such as for health issues and inner self learned knowledge through life experiences. Life is out there, more from what there is within a screen. Electronics can get in the way of important events. We spend a lot of time with our eyes glued to a monitor, rather than looking at life and soaking in all of it. Technological advancements have made it almost impossible to live without a cellular device, some sort of social media platform, or any application at our fingertips. 

Source: Google Images

*This picture represents the large amount of people watching the concert through their phone screen instead of experiencing it through their own eyes. 

While technology is necessity, a large amount of people have taken it of granted. Effects and statistics prove that there are negative impacts towards the human population. Now is the time to change our lives around into something more beautiful than for what is on our screens. Technology is not worth the health issues and wasted life experiences. Our bodies are not meant to adapt to smaller technology. As we become further embedded in the age of technology, we owe it to our bodies to take precaution and prevent ourselves from bad posture and stress. We need encourage people to look up, because you can save your neck and back from pain as you notice the world on a broader scale!

Youtube Video that supports the argument: "Look up" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY

Arguments

BLOG POST #2

Arguments are not always arguments. To clear that statement up, arguments can be misinterpreted and instead it ends up being closed minded contradictions. An “argument” can lead to the abuse of words too. An example would be in the video; a receptionist leads Michael Palin to a room. When he walks in, Chapman yells and verbally abuses at him. Palin interrupts, saying he wants an argument, and Chapman apologizes, directing him to another room. Palin then enters Cleese's room. Cleese then starts an argument, claiming that Palin has already been served in that room. The argument is ongoing, and consists primarily of the two men contradicting each other.

An argument requires an intellectual process, and to have a valid argument, both sides must have a claim and back it up with factual evidence. Different people consist of different opinions due to psychological reasons, but if you argue, respect should be a given. A good argument consists of three important branches: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. To convince an audience, not only does your claim has to be backed up with facts but it should incorporate all three of the “branches.” A strong argument is also an argument that is valid containing plausible premises that are true and proven and are relevant to the conclusion. It also contains factual evidence that not only backs up one claims but to rebuttal against the other, stating for why it is invalid.

                                                          Source: Pinterest - Donald Trump Memes
*This image represents someone who has 

bad arguments especially against other 
political figures. (Ex., the Presidential Debate).

A weak/bad argument contains fallacies. Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will undermine the logic of your argument. Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points, and are often identified because they lack evidence that supports their claim. Bad arguments will abuse the use of contradictions and the lashing against another person’s claim.

This video and the overall lesson of arguments provides knowledge on how to distinguish between a good and bad argument, obtain points to have a strong argument, and proves why people argue over a particular issue.