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Week #9 Response/Week #9 Response

QianXing’s Weekly Response #9

Posted by QianXing Ou on

After reading Backpacks vs.Briefcases, I feel like rhetoric is amazing.  Before reading this, I thought rhetoric are only exists in our English assignments, but right now I notice that rhetoric can be anywhere in our life. For example, speeches, youtube videos , medias, articles and newspaper. Also, when you start analyzing people for the first time, this is also rhetoric. I also feel surprise after I read this article, because I am not a type of person who is really good at using rhetoric while I am doing my homework assignments, but I am really good at analyzing people which is also a type of rhetoric. When I first meet a new friend, I will always observe them.  I will observe the way they dress, the way they speak, and the way they behave, and by doing that I will have some sense about this person. I will avoid people who are wearing improper clothes. I will avoid people who talk really loud because I think those people are very offensive in a way which is taught by my parents. Usually my predictions are very close to their personalities because just like what is mentioned in the article, I have enough data to prove it inside my mind. Sometimes I don’t want to do this kind of predictions because I don’t want to judge people based on how they dress,look,or speak. I want to spend time with them and know who they are, but I can’t stop doing it. I just do it without me knowing it.  Additionally, one thing I really hate about myself is that if I meet a person that I have never met before, I will judge their character based on how they look. If they are good looking, then I will think they are good people. If they are not, then I will try to avoid them. I feel like a lot of people do the same thing. They judge people based on how they look. Something with Ad. If I see an Ad with colorful pictures, bigger texts, I would likely to be attracted by it because I like colorful pictures with bigger words. I judge the Ad base on their looks. If they look bad, I wouldn’t bother to read it . Other than observing people, I have also practice rhetoric by taking speech class last semester. I feel like this entire course is about rhetoric. I have to use elements like pathos, ethos, and logos in my speeches in order to persuade my classmate. Also, my professor made me talk at the beginning of the class about what we saw and what we experienced. I feel like this is one of the element included in the rhetoric. Overall, I have been practicing rhetoric without myself knowing it.

Week #9 Response/Week #9 Response

Week 9

Posted by Carlton Yuan on

Backpacks by Laura Bolton Carroll is a essay about the history of rhetoric and how it is used in everyday life. Through multiple examples, Carroll explains how rhetoric is used everyday without you realizing it. One example that Carroll talked about that I felt was relatable is when students analyze the professor the first time they see them. Students often analyze their professor to see what kind of person they are which could determine how the class is going to be like. I remember the first day of college I was in my pre calc class. The professor came in dress professionally, with a nice purse and a lot of papers. Based on my observations, I thought that my professor was going to be a very strict teacher that was going to give out a lot of homework and grade test harshly. I was proven wrong throughout the semester. She turned out to be a very flexible professor that gave a lot of partial credit on test and gave homework occasionally. This was before I learned about rhetoric in my English 101 class. One thing that is mentioned in the essay is the importance of learning to analyze rhetoric. I agree with this because learning to effectively make judgement and decisions based analyzing situations is a really useful skill. Another way to use rhetoric was in my English 101 class. I made a political cartoon and advertisement to bring awareness on deforestation in the Amazon Rain forest. In order to make the cartoon and advertisement, I had to consider my audience and purpose. I decided I wanted to reach teens and adults which is why I decided to make a political cartoon and advertisement. They usually appear on social media, newspapers and public transportation which many teens and adults use. I also used logos in my advertisement by putting some statistics. I also used ethos in order to make the audience feel bad and want to protect the Amazon.

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Week #7 Jaspreet Jaswal

Posted by Jaspreet Jaswal on

what was your experience watching this episode like? how did you connect your personal experience with social media and community both in-person and online? what are your emotional responses to the narrative in the episode

 

While watching this episode of ‘ Black Mirror’ I started to develop goosebumps as I was fearing what might occur in the future. Technology is taking control of everything and how we come to perceive our peers and this can cause a lot of obstruction since we carry social media with us nowadays. On social media platforms, we depict a rather ‘ happy’ version of ourselves to the public while hiding our true identity and self. In this episode of Black Mirror, we can see how the protagonist carries herself based on her reputation and she heavily values other peoples ratings and opinions on every task she performs. I can connect to the protagonist in this scenario because when I first got Instagram, I also wanted to flex publicly and follow the persona of always being that sort of person. Its scary because this was altering my identity and the principles embedded in my since childhood. I also liked receiving comments and opinions of others based on my style of clothing or the actions I conduct. As a result, I made a resolution to limit myself on social media platforms like Instagram so I can connect with the real world.

Week #8 Response/Week #8 Response

Kayla’s Week 8 Response

Posted by Kayla Ye on

These two episodes of Black Mirror really shows us how society may become one day. A society where we can relive our lives in a different way like in San Junipero and one where we have devices that record everything we do. I think that if a place like San Junipero were to really exist, humans would lose most of their drive to live. Why would you spend so much time and work on a life that could be relived in a better world? While it may be a chance for people who had their lives taken from them, like Yorkie who was disabled for a majority of her life, San Junipero was a place where she lived to be the person she couldn’t be in real life. For someone like me, if I had a chance at life again, I wouldn’t take it, in all honesty. Haven’t I suffered enough in this one life time with dealing with people I don’t want to ever see again but in this second life time, I’m stuck with them forever. Theres also no guarantee that in relaity, this San Junipero would be like “heaven”, meaning whose to say that everyone there is actually a “normal” person.

While in the episode, a somewhat similar idea but in a different fashion, the Grain. The ability for a small piece of technology to be implanted in ones brain and record their lives until the end of time seems to create more problems than it benefits. On one hand, you can see the breakdown of relationships because the idea of trust is brought into play, but with evidence now. When Fi cheated on Liam, there was proof of that. It also breaks the relationship between friends because of the same issue, trust. In my opinion, technology like this has yet to be needed to this extent. Maybe there are some benefits like how the Grain and warn one against driving while intoxicated, as seen in the episode, but are there really times in life that one has to re-watch the events they experienced before? To me, the answer is no and in relaity kind of scary as well.

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