PAB Entry #1

PAB Entry #1 In the article “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” written by Stephen Marche his argument is that despite the increasing number of ways to connect to each other the value of these interactions has become numerous but inherently less valuable and as a result people are more detached or lonelier. The article while focuses on Facebook actually takes an idea from google+ and it is very impactful to the article. The quote the author provides from google+ refers to adding “Your real friends” on its platform however the phrase itself opens a whole new thought process which can be utilized in answering my question “What are the mental health risks or benefits of users of Facebook?” because of all these added “friends” on Facebook are not real friends then what are they? The author supports his argument by referencing Yvette Vickers who reached out to fans for companionship when she had no social circle church or children this implied loneliness is driven home by the fact that no one knew when she died as she was mummified when found and was only visible due to the glow of a still powered computer screen. She personifies the fears that many people have and while she serves as an example statistics are provided that try to measure how many people are lonely and do a good job of it and are from reliable sources such as AARP and scholars. Also, I think this article is excellent because it provides a historical timeline of hoe technological advances have been building on this problem and because of this I could base my argument on past incarnations of technological based loneliness and build up to now.

 Works cited STEPHEN, MARCHE. “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” theatlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/. Accessed 28 March 2017.

Reflection #6

Through the multiple drafts of this second paper I underwent multiple changes in my thoughts about how I should approach its writing and learned how to embed code into blogger to improve the presentation of my post. Going in I poured quite a bit of effort into my rough draft, my thinking behind this is I wanted a strong platform on which to build the drafts. However, since I was satisfied with my rough draft I found it difficult to find places to improve and improve word flow because in my mind it sounded good. What broke that transfection was the proof readings I had done by other students whom I consider to be good writers and they smoothed out a few sections. In addition, I improved the thesis paragraph in the intro to kind of introduce what I was going to talk about while maintaining the philosophy of “Anyone can pick this up and learn/understand”. Also, I’m very grateful to have a working blog and comments because my partner’s suggestion on the inclusion of another literary technique was great. After that I found another and implemented It into the last paragraph and feel like it improved the wealth that my paper had to provide. So with my thesis improved and my body paragraphs buffed up I then learned to embed the actual quote into blogger and I’m proud to say it looks more professional.

Paper #2 (Final Draft)

Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

            Rhetoric by definition means “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques”. Inherent in the definition the goal of the author is to persuade. Ways to accomplish persuasion are to appeal to human values. While these very values are subject to individuals bias there are overarching approaches that are more or less effective based on the individual. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone that they can be trusted based on their character and reputation. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience through raising an emotional response while Logos is an appeal to logic. These tools are used in literary settings to argue a point and as evidenced by President Trump can be used to create strong arguments if utilized well.

            I have chosen a post from the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Based on his personal preferences Trump chooses to utilize the social media site “Twitter” for both personal and political posts. The platform Twitter has a character limit of 140 per post. The character limit effects the way the platform is used. Being limited to 140 characters means that this platform doesn’t have the utility that a book or a blog provides due to the limiting of space. This limit its safe to say forces the user to condense their posts and makes the focus on diction even greater if they are attempting to argue a point that would require more that the allotted space. This point is exceedingly valid by pointing out that a book or other non-character restricted platform allows the benefit of infinite space to the author in which they could use to construct an effective Ethos, Pathos or Logos oriented argument. Another effect of condensing arguments is that it allows and even encourages exaggeration, as evidenced by the multiple exclamation points and single word accusations that in any unrestricted platforms would be unacceptable. With these points in mind well see how Trump create strong arguments despite platform constraints.

The post is as follows ““One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest”. This post by President Donald Trump came in response to public and media testimonies that his speech on 17 Feb 2017 was for lack of a better term “bad”. There are multiple levels on which this particular post can be dissected and due to Trumps Emphasis on the “FAKE MEDIA” I will also have to provide context to this accusation, while the context is still on his twitter account it is however on a separate twitter post which I will also provide a link to. To begin Donald Trump Quotes Rush Limbaugh and his opinion on his speech in response to the accusations. In the sphere of politics Rush Limbaugh summarized is a conservative political commentator who works on Fox News (also known to be of conservative leaning) and who’s party alignment coincides with Trump’s own. This is telling in who the audience of this tweet. Rush Limbaugh is a very well-known and respected figure in republican media and as such his opinion would hold significant weight with those who agree with him and have developed a following so the target audience is republicans. This is a tactical move on Trumps part, by actively including Rush Limbaugh he is using his reputation to solidify his own while appealing to their Republican audience! This is a direct example of ethos use.

Donald Trump in the first half of his point defends his speech and himself as I’ve argued and for the second half he employs an Ad Hominem attack on the “FAKE MEDIA”. To build on that first we must look at what an Ad Hominem attacks is. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy in which an argument is diverted or ignored by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the “person” making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the meat of the argument itself. President Donald Trump employs this attack to discredit the news outlets involved in covering the negative response to his speech. By employing ad hominem, he discredits them by attempting to call into question their bias and truthfulness. By doing this he can if his argument is accepted invalidate the criticism towards him while turning the tables and being the attacker himself. This use of literary techniques allows him to ignore the attacks on himself while creating the narrative that he is correct and his position unshaken. This appeal to his readers falls outside the realm of just an appeal to ethos, it exemplifies Logos. This can be evidenced by the very last word “Dishonest”. Logos is an appeal to logic and by accusing the “fake media” to be dishonest it would imply that the logical conclusion would be to dismiss all criticisms of this “fake media”.  Thus, it is safe to say that by analyzing just a few of trumps tweets we can formulate that he has a firm grasp on rhetoric and employs it to suit his needs in his life and business.

Quote Analyzed

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832730328108134402

Context to “FAKE NEWS”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065

"One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree.Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017

Reflection #5

So, I’ve made arrangements to go to the writing labs so they can help me organize my paper. It’s been a pain because I can’t see where my sentences or ideas are choppy. In my mind my arguments are solid but I do agree that the order or “flow” of the paper seems off. Also, I’d like to reassess how my conclusion works. Since I haven’t implemented the changes that were suggested in the last class session I’ll probably prioritize reformatting. One addition im working on is to have a pic of the tweet in my paper so that the reader wouldn’t have to leave my blog to see what I’m discussing. Also, I’ve kind of agonized on whether my introduction is as good as my peers. The examples of good introductions actually have a intro that addresses what the paper is going to be about while mine is more roundabout and kind of sets the stage with literary background info before addressing the use of those elements in the tweet I analyzed. This is because I’ve written around the whole “Can anyone who picks up your paper follow the info”. If possible id like some feedback as to whether this is a good literary technique or if I should abandon it.

(Draft #2) Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

Paper #2 Rhetorical Analysis

            Rhetoric by definition means “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques”. Inherent in the definition the goal of the author is to persuade. Ways to accomplish persuasion are to appeal to human values. While these very values are subject to individuals bias there are overarching approaches that are more or less effective based on the individual. Ethos is an appeal to ethics, and it is a means of convincing someone that they can be trusted based on their character and reputation. Pathos is an appeal to emotion, and is a way of convincing an audience through raising an emotional response while Logos is an appeal to logic. These tools are used in literary settings to argue a point.

            I have chosen a post from the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Based on his personal preferences Trump chooses to utilize the social media site “Twitter” for both personal and political posts. The platform Twitter has a character limit of 140 per post. The character limit effects the way the platform is used. Being limited to 140 characters means that this platform doesn’t have the utility that a book or a blog provides due to the limiting of space. This limit its safe to say forces the user to condense their posts and makes the focus on diction even greater if they are attempting to argue a point that would require more that the allotted space. This point is exceedingly valid by pointing out that while a book or other non-character restricted platform allows the benefit of infinite space to the author in which they could use to construct an effective Ethos, Pathos or Logos oriented argument.

The post is as follows ““One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen!" says Rush Limbaugh. Many agree. Yet FAKE MEDIA calls it differently! Dishonest”. This post by President Donald Trump came in response to public and media testimonies that his speech on 17 Feb 2017 was for lack of a better term “bad”. There are multiple levels on which this particular post can be dissected and due to Trumps Emphasis on the “FAKE MEDIA” I will also have to provide context to this accusation, while the context is still on his twitter account it is however on a separate twitter post which I will also provide a link to. To begin Donald Trump Quotes Rush Limbaugh and his opinion on his speech in response to the accusations. In the sphere of politics Rush Limbaugh summarized is a conservative political commentator who works on Fox News (also known to be of conservative leaning) and who’s party alignment coincides with Trump’s own. This is telling in who the audience of this tweet. Rush Limbaugh is a very well-known and respected figure in republican media and as such his opinion would hold significant weight with those who agree with him and have developed a following so the target audience is republicans. This is a tactical move on Trumps part, by actively including Rush Limbaugh he is using his reputation to solidify his own while appealing to their Republican audience! This is a direct example of ethos use.

Donald Trump in the first half of his point defends his speech and himself as I’ve argued and for the second half he employs an Ad Hominem attack on the “FAKE MEDIA”. To build on that first we must look at what an Ad Hominem attacks is. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy in which an argument is diverted or ignored by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the “person” making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the meat of the argument itself. President Donald Trump employs this attack to discredit the news outlets involved in covering the negative response to his speech. By employing ad hominem, he discredits them by attempting to call into question their bias and truthfulness. By doing this he can if his argument is accepted invalidate the criticism towards him while turning the tables and being the attacker himself. This use of literary techniques allows him to ignore the attacks on himself while creating the narrative that he is correct and his position unshaken. Thus it is safe to say that by analyzing just a few of trumps tweets we can formulate that he has a firm grasp on rhetoric and employs it to suit his needs in his life and business

Quote Analyzed

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832730328108134402

Context to “FAKE NEWS”

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065

Reflection #4

I have recently learned more about literary fallacies through the readings. While I had already encountered these kind of literary devices before I really didn’t have a firm grasp as to the total amount there were and how they are used. Honestly there are way more than I expected and actually have had a fun time putting a label on the information I had already thought to be odd. So after the reading I noticed the comments on my first draft. Fernando is a great partner and suggested that I need to strengthen my conclusion and I agree. Maybe if I prioritize the “so what?” approach to my conclusion I can provide a real wrap up. It seems that I also need to work on combining my choppy sentences and restructuring them into a single cohesive free flowing paragraph. I think my issue is I’m trying to get across my point and multiple messages to quickly and in the process actually diluting the strength of the messages I’m trying to convey. I’ll work on it and I’m looking forward to Friday where we will cover the outline. I tend to make mistakes but I try my hardest not to let them happen again and improve myself, whether in writing or life in general. Also I feel like I could improve my diction in some ways and if you have any suggestions I’d love to hear it. Thanks for helping me become a better writer.