Friday, February 25, 2011

My Thoughts on the Rhetorical Analysis

Coming into the rhetorical analysis essay, I had no idea what to expect. I had never ever heard of a rhetorical analysis before, and had never written one. I hoped that in class we would have a workshop to learn how to write these essays, but I was disappointed when it never happened. I realize that many people wrote rhetorical analysis essays in high school, but for someone like me who had no experience with this style of writing, it was confusing to find a place to start. I ended up teaching myself how to write a rhetorical analysis be reading several examples and reading the book, but I was still unsure whether I was doing the paper correctly. That is why I think one of the things that could be improved upon for the rhetorical analysis project is to teach how a proper rhetorical analysis should be written and what it should include.

Other than the rocky start I had, I eventually found what I needed to do and I think I wrote a fairly good paper. It may have been different, but I enjoyed learning a new style of writing.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Diction in "The Environmental Benefits of Globalization"

One tool used by John A. Charles in his article, "The Environmental Benefits of Globalization," is diction that cunningly influences the way the reader thinks. In the introduction of the article he addresses the opposing side’s arguments as “legitimate concerns” with little evidence to support those concerns. By using the word “concerns” instead of a bigger word such as “issues” or “problems” he subtly makes the reader view the oppositions arguments as petty, and not based in fact. Just by using the synonym of a word, he is already beginning to win over his audience.

Another example of Charles’s clever word choice is in the second paragraph when he uses economic terms such as “open, dynamic economy,” “producers and consumers,” and “self-interest.” Using these basic economic terms leads a reader inexperienced in the use of these words to believe that Charles is an experienced and intelligent economist. By using these terms, the author establishes his credibility on the subject of the economy, which makes his argument more influential to the American people.

Sorry about the short blog post fellow students, I am really sick right now though. I hope you all have a better day than I am having. :)

Friday, February 4, 2011

Rhetorical Analysis Thesis

"The Environmental Benefits of Globalization" is an effective argument to convince the American people that the globalization of the American way of life is sustainable, and that our environmental performance is getting much better because it uses logical statements, flowing organization, and shocking statistics.

Quotations

I love funny and cynical quotes. Here are some of my favorites! Enjoy.

"I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself." -Marlene Dietrich

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put." -Sir Winston Churchill

"Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe." -Jackie Mason

"In a country as big as the United States, you can find fifty examples of anything." -Jeffery F. Chamberlain

"Humor is everywhere, in that there's irony in just about anything a human does." -Bill Nye

"If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything." -Bill Lyon

"There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it." -Mary Wilson Little

"Reality continues to ruin my life." -Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes

"There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses." -George Bernard Shaw

"Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it." -Jane Wagner

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." -Mark Twain

"Mediocrity is forgiven more easily than talent." -Emil Krotky

"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles." -Frank Lloyd Wright

"A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking." -Jerry Seinfeld

"Traditions are group efforts to keep the unexpected from happening." -Barbara Tober

"I don't like composers who think. It gets in the way of their plagiarism." -Howard Dietz

"I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe, and someone said I was a snake, I'd think, no, actually I'm a giraffe." -Richard Gere

"Laws are like sausages. It's better not to see them being made." -Otto von Bismarck

"You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public." -Scott Adams

"Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother before his sister does." -Evan Esar

"The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away." -Ronald Reagan

"If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." -Marcus Bridgstocke

"Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too." -Richard M. Nixon

"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them." -P. J. O'Rourke

"Do you realize if it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight?" -Al Boliska

"No matter how rich you become, how famous or powerful, when you die the size of your funeral will still pretty much depend on the weather." -Michael Pritchard

"Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty." -Leo Rosten

"When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion." -Abraham Lincoln

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die." -Mel Brooks

"If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" -Abraham Lincoln

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." -Benjamin Franklin

"The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived." -Oscar Wilde

"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be." -William Hazlitt

"A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled." -Sir Barnett Cocks

"The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth." -Edith Sitwell

"I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one, for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed." -James Thurber

"Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done." -Andy Rooney

"There's an old saying about those who forget history. I don't remember it, but it's good." -Stephen Colbert

"Oppression is the legitimate mother of liberation. There's no hiding from alimony." -Mikhail Turovsky

"The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." -William Gibson

"The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself." -John Ciardi

"We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex"--but Congress can." -Cullen Hightower

"I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours. I tried to find out what sort of allergy I had but finally came to the conclusion that it must be an allergy to consciousness." -James Thurber

"Computer dating is fine, if you’re a computer." -Rita Mae Brown

"We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people." -Arthur Schopenhauer

"I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died." -Richard Diran

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Environmental Benefits of Globalization

My article is called "The Environmental Benefits of Globalization." The audience of my article is Americans, specifically Americans who believe the American way of life is unsustainable on the global scale. The current events of importance that influenced this article are the movement to capitalism and development throughout many less developed countries. The writer of this article believes that the government should not limit the market to keep the environment safe, because the corporations take care of the environment on their own to maintain a good image. He also believes that other countries adopting our way of life and capitalism is not a bad thing, because he believes the American consumer lifestyle is sustainable. This article is written to show people through statistics and logic that the American way of life is sustainable and even beneficial to the environment, and attempts by government to limit trade for the sake of the environment will not work. Opponents to this article are people who argue that the U.S. needs to change it's economy to be healthier for the environment as well as not encourage other countries to use our economic policies. Major fears and worries of the author are that the government will restrict trade for the environments sake without fully understanding that the environment in the U.S. is in good shape, and that these restrictions will stop growth in our country.