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. 

TOW #16 (IRB): Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America by Yossef Bodansky

Through the second half of "Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America" author Yossef Bodansky discusses Bin Laden's plans for attack, and his motivations for them. In comparison to the first half of the book, the second half is much more about the terrorism Bin Laden has caused and the events leading up to these acts. Again, like the first half of the book, Bodansky writes in chronological order of Bin Laden's life story, which makes it very easy to follow. One of the strategies that Bodansky uses to make complicated terrorism easy to understand, is he uses cause and effect to explain things. Since in the real world, we know that there is always multiple causation, Bodansky makes sure that he makes the reader aware that Bin Laden doesn't just do things for one reason, but rather a plethora of influences. I found the whole recruitment process interesting, as people volunteered their lives to become a terrorist. When Bodansky explains this process, he includes all of the reasons as to why someone would join Al-Qaeda. This makes the text very easy to understand, and that much more interesting. In the second half of the book, Bodansky's purpose is to try and tie Bin Laden's early life to his terrorism, and by doing so he tries to shed light on why this man did what he did. One way Bodansky is effective at achieving this purpose is by writing the book as a narrative. Instead of boring the reader with a list of facts about Bin Laden, Bodansky takes the reader through the events as though they are actually happening. This effect makes the reader more engaged in the book and provides for a much deeper understanding than just raw fact. As opposed to being a boring non-fiction book, Bodanksy's rhetorical devices engage the reader and make them feel like they are in the time period instead of reading a list of facts. Overall I thought the book was really interesting as it gave a different perspective on why Bin Laden did what he did.

TOW #15 (TEXT): Are e-cigarettes dangerous? by Harold P. Wimmer

In this article, author Harold P. Wimmer discusses the implications of a new phenomenon, e-cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes are such a new product, Wimmer says that there needs to be regulations on them. Since there is currently no regulation on the e-cigarette, people believe that it is a healthier alternative to the cigarette. Although this is the case, Wimmer argues that the lack of regulation actually makes the e-cigarette more dangerous. In his article Wimmer lists all of the possible effects and dangers of e-cigarettes. What his purpose in writing this article is that Wimmer wants to make people aware of the e-cigarette's health implications and also propose that there be regulations on them. In order to get his point across, Wimmer appeals to the reader's pathos by discussing how e-cigarettes are affecting children. What makes readers' cringe is the fact that a new wave of nicotine addicts are being born from the e-cigarette. Since there is no actual smoke, e-cigarettes create a falsified sense of safety and thus 1 out of 10 high school students have tried an e-cigarette. By using these statistics, the reader's ethical code comes into play as they feel bad that kids are smoking. Wimmer also tries to get readers to feel shocked by using statistics. These eye-opening lab studies make the reader feel, again, more inclined to feel skeptical about the e-cigarette. Wimmer even compares the e-cigarette to the way the original cigarette was first advertised: with attractive women, etc. This parallelism shows that history is going to repeat itself in that e-cigarettes are now going to generate a new wave pool of nicotine addicts. Wimmer's article makes a great point that e-cigarettes are not safer, not regulated, and is just another way for our generation to get hooked onto nicotine. I personally think this article resonated with me because being a high school student, I see many kids getting hooked onto things like e-cigarettes just because they seem safe, when in reality they aren't. 

TOW #14 (Visual Text) Old Spice Momsong Commercial

In this commercial, Old Spice, a deodorant manufacturer, takes a comical route in advertising their product. The commercial is essentially a bunch of mothers singing about how Old Spice turned their sons into men. The mothers sing and complain about how their "little boys" turn into men and during the commercial they list all of the "bad" things their sons are doing like attracting women and being "naughty" with them. What Old Spice is effectively doing is making the mother's problem a selling point to customers, who are mostly teenage boys. These boys that are being targeted are usually the ones who haven't yet chosen their brand of deodorant that they are going to use for the rest of their lives. Since most people stick with one deodorant brand for the entirety of their life, Old Spice is targeting people who have not yet made up their mind. In this commercial, Old Spice uses comical rhetoric in order to get their point across. Scenes like having moms hold on to the bumper of a car, and turn into a janitor to spy on their sons is comical and makes the viewer laugh. However the comical scenes are just the support for the main claim, or purpose of the commercial. The main selling point is how Old Spice essentially gives boys the ability to turn into manly men who attract women. I think that Old spice does a great job in slipping in this selling point without being as obvious as they usually are in their other commercials. Overall I think Old Spice made a hilarious commercial which got its point across by using comical rhetoric and slipping in the main purpose. I personally use Old Spice, and I changed over from Axe to Old Spice much because of their advertising.