TOW #19 (TEXT): Alfred M. Green’s Speech (1861) Document found from 2003 APELC Exam

Writing Goals:

• Thoroughly explain the rhetorical devices/strategies
• Make sure ideas are fleshed out
• Spending adequate amount of time prewriting

Reading Goals:

• Reading article several times to fully understand purpose
• Close reading and annotating for devices as well as their effects
• Read something from past APELC essays to improve from essay writing

Alfred M. Green’s Speech (1861)

Document found from 2003 APELC Exam

Just one month into the Civil War, Alfred M. Green, an African-American, delivered a speech in Philadelphia in an attempt to persuade fellow African-Americans to join the war effort. At this time during the war, African-Americans were not allowed to fight for both the Union and Confederate armies. Although this was the case, Green preaches that fighting for the Union army would be beneficial to African-Americans as it would allow for them to combat the slave-owning South. In his speech, Green instills a sense of patriotism, acknowledges the plight of African-Americans, and reveals the benefits of intervening in order to make his fellow African-Americans realize that fighting in the war will be beneficial to them.

Green starts his speech by proclaiming that, “The time has arrived in the history of the great Republic when we may again give evidence to the world of the bravery and patriotism of a race in whose hearts burns the love of country, of freedom, and of civil and religious toleration” (par. 1). Green’s first sentence of the speech serves to appeal to the audience’s sense of patriotism as it portrays America as a beacon of freedom and toleration. By making America seem like a symbol of freedom and democracy, Green instills a sense of national pride which in turn gives African-Americans more of a reason to fight for a great nation.

His opening statement, however, seems quite controversial as for most African-Americans, the United States wasn’t a symbol of freedom, but rather one of discrimination and inequality. Green later mentions the plight of the African-American as he discusses how both Washington and Jackson never gave them their rights, as well as many laws such as the fugitive slave act and the Dred Scott decision which both limited African-American rights. Through discussing the plight of African-Americans, Green unifies his audience, and establishes his ethos because by acknowledging that he too has suffered through discrimination, Green is not seen as an outsider, but rather one of the people (African-Americans). Once Green acknowledges the plight of his audience, he then states that even though they have been oppressed, “Our duty, brethren, is not to cavil over past grievances. Let us not be derelict to duty in the time of need… Let us endeavor to hope for the future and improve the present auspicious moment for creating anew our claims upon the justice and honor of the Republic” (par. 4). Essentially, Green is saying that even though African-Americans have been oppressed, fighting in the war is a step in the right direction for a future of equality. In making this claim, Green implants the idea that if African-Americans fight in the war, they will be seen as equal citizens and make strides towards the abolition of slavery. Although this claim is farfetched, the idea is still etched into his audience, and with that belief, African-Americans are more inclined to fight in a war where their self interests are involved. 

As a last attempt to persuade African-Americans to join the Union army, Green delves into the fact that the Union will be fighting the Confederacy. Since many African-Americans have animosity towards the South because of their insistence on the institution of slavery, this information is crucial as it backs fighting with anger. Green portrays the South as those who say, “Let us drive back the advance guard of civil and religious freedom; let us have more slave territory; let us build stronger the tyrant system of slavery in the great American Republic” (par. 5). This last point appeals to the audience’s sense of pathos as the idea of stopping slavery, or fighting against those who believe in the institution is very convincing to the constantly oppressed African-American community. Green even states, “Remember, too, that your very presence among the troops of the North would inspire your oppressed brethren of the South with zeal for the overthrow of the tyrant system”(par. 5).  Again, Green attempts to show that joining the army will help all African-Americans, and move towards the abolition of slavery. By joining the army, Green argues, southern African-Americans will be moved to overthrow their slave owners and therefore joining the army will help enslaved blacks. In Green’s closing statement, he appeals to pathos in order to get African-Americans to want to fight to end slavery.

Although Green’s speech starts with much praise of America, towards the end of his speech, Green appeals more to the African-American plight and desire to end slavery rather than focusing on why America is great. It is the idea that discrimination and slavery can be removed through fighting that is most impactful for African-Americans as these arguments were directly related to them. Moreover, Alfred M. Green instills a sense of patriotism, acknowledges the plight of African-Americans, and reveals the benefits of intervening in the war in order to persuade African-Americans to join the army.

TOW #18 (TEXT): The Big Business of Global Warming By McKenzie Funk

While there is no debate about the science of global warming, according to "The Big Business of Global Warming" By McKenzie Funk, many wealthy people intend to benefit off of the world's climate change even though it is threatening the world. In this article, Funk argues that exploiting climate change for profit is immoral as it results in a lack of awareness amongst the people. Funk's argument is that since people nowadays are more interested in making a profit off of climate change than actually helping to stop it, there is a huge moral dilemma in the world today. In her article, Funk discusses how companies like Bayer, a pharmaceutical company, as well as other businesses are already making profit off of climate change. Although large companies like Bayer are profiting off the increase in allergies and the lack of produce, Funk points out that some companies are actually helping by making mosquito nets to protect people from the rise of malaria. Throughout the text, Funk battles the idea of helping and profiting as many companies seem to be doing both. Although this is the case, Funk makes her final claim in the last paragraph where she writes, "There’s nothing wrong with selling mosquito nets, and there’s nothing wrong with buying them. But there’s something wrong if we ignore the true ethical stakes as an ever more imbalanced world keeps lurching ahead" In this quote it is seen that Funk's problem/argument is that the profiting from global warming is resulting in an ignorance of the damage we are doing. In order to further her point, Funk appeals to logos by using rational, sequential examples. In this manner, Funk is able to make logical sense and make her point easy to understand. She writes, "It happens that those largely responsible for the historic emissions that got us here — wealthy North Americans and Europeans — are the most likely to stay relatively prosperous, because we have our northerly geographies and we have enough money in our wallets for, say, high-performance polycarbonate building materials." This quote shows how Funk logically uses reason to back up her argument. In this case, she is demonstrating how the countries that are contributing to global warming the most are the ones who are most likely to gain from the climate destruction. This logical reasoning allows for the reader to realize that there is currently a problem that needs to be resolved. In addition to using logical reasoning, Funk uses a plethora of statistics to support her claim that help establish her ethos as well as appeal to logos. These statistics make her argument more reliable and stronger. Overall I think that Funk's use of logical reasoning and statistics made her argument stronger, and ultimately made me question the morality of profiting off of global warming. 

IRB Intro #3- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking By Malcolm Gladwell

     For the next 4 weeks, I have chosen to read, "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" By Malcolm Gladwell. This book takes a scientific look at how we think without thinking, and how we constantly make split-second decisions. I have been recommended this book by many people including teachers, peers, as well as my parents, and since I don't often read scientific books, I thought reading one for my TOW would be a great way to expose myself to a new genre of reading. I think that reading about human intuition, and how our brains really work in different situations is very interesting and connectable. Since I am coming to the point in my life where I will have to make a lot of important decisions (college, jobs, etc.) I think understanding how to master the process of decision making will be a great tool in my life. In the book, Gladwell sheds light on the fact that the best decision makers aren't those who spend the most time thinking about something, but rather those who have mastered the art of "thin-slicing". Gladwell describes thin-slicing as the process of filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables. Moreover, I hope to expose myself to a new genre, learn about decision-making, and gain new information about the brain from reading this book. 

TOW #17: (Visual Text) T-Mobile Super Bowl Ad Tim Tebow By T-Mobile

Since today is the night of the Super Bowl, I thought I would rhetorically analyze a Super Bowl advertisement from T-Mobile. In this advertisement, T-Mobile satirically uses the fact that Tim Tebow doesn't have a contract to promote T-Mobile's no contract feature. Tim Tebow, a previous NFL quarterback who has failed to get a job in recent years, is used in this commercial to show what someone can do without a contract. T-Mobile uses not having a contract in a dual manner. Meaning that not having a contract references Tebow's lack of an NFL contract, as well as the fact that T-Mobile doesn't make its customers sign contracts. Although one would think that Tebow doesn't enjoy not having a contract, T-Mobile hyperbolizes the situation by showing Tebow delivering babies, throwing footballs on the moon, and even discovering Bigfoot. These hyperboles  are used to satirically demonstrate that not having a contract leads to positive things. What T-Mobile does well in this advertisement is that they cater to the average NFL fan. This is very important because in order to understand the joke, you have to understand football. In order to guarantee that the audience understands the joke, T-Mobile made sure to make this a Super Bowl commercial. Since the commercial is catered towards NFL fans who are watching the game, T-Mobile appeals to their audience, thus making the advertisement more effective. In addition to being cognizant of their audience, T-Mobile uses a celebrity to promote their brand. This celebrity endorsement of the product will make some people want to buy T-Mobile products more because they see it's sponsored by a well-known celebrity. T-Mobile also uses a variety of examples in order to appeal to all types of customers. For example, Tebow delivers a baby in one scene, thus appealing to the medical profession, but then also captures bigfoot, which appeals to more Southern US. T-Mobile uses a variety of examples to appeal to all audiences watching the Super Bowl. Since Super Bowl commercials cost so much, it is imperative that T-Mobile makes the most of the time given, and in this commercial through humor, endorsement, understanding its audience, and appealing to a variety of people, T-Mobile creates a great and interesting commercial for all to view.