Chrummboew

My one problem with Trumbo's assertion in that soldiers can only fight for a cause that is their own and not an ideal is the lack of unity within an army if all the things the soldiers are fighting for are separate. The purpose of fighting for an ideal, or at least to the higher-ups in an army, is to unite all the soldiers behind this idea. This makes these soldiers a much more cohesive unit with more drive to fight, eventually making the whole army more powerful. However, where Trumbo is right is that some people will not believe in the ideal in the first place, and this is where the situation gets tricky. Creating a draft, although sometimes necessary, causes problems in the way of camaraderie and the inner drive of soldiers, so such a practice should be avoided until circumstances call for its definite necessity.

I can't think of a good phonetic scramble for this one. I'm all worn out.

This is just a personal observation, and it relates to my personality as a reader and probably nobody else's, but I find the organization of the book to be a major pain. Once I understood that Joe was in bandages from head to foot, or lack thereof, I wanted to find out more about Joe's condition! Would he be all right? What permanent damage will he suffer? (I now know the answer to that question is a bunch) But instead, I read a bunch of flashbacks to Joe's past. His friends, his family, his enemies, and even people he barely knew intertwine in his thoughts throughout the novel, and it really bothers me because I find this part irrelevant to the knowledge I want to obtain. I don't care what message is trying to be made through these memories, but the only message I wanted to receive from the book is what happened to Joe. I know Dalton Trumbo is a greater writer than I could ever hope to be yadda yadda yadda but that aspect of the book, at least for me, was a major nuisance.

Jhahknee gaht hihss Ghuhnn

The general themes of "The March of the Flags" by Albert Beveridge and "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo are not entirely related, but there is one idea from both pieces of fighting on foreign soil for "liberty and civilization." The main goal behind America's entry into the First World War was to preserve said liberty in Europe, and the entries into both wars came about as the result of attacks on American ships, thus creating a threat to American civilization. However, Beveridge's speech takes a more positive optimistic approach to such action, while Joe Bonham takes a cynical approach to such ideals, which is perfectly reasonable seeing as he no longer had a face, arms, or legs due to the preservation of "liberty and civilization."

Uhmehrrikuh Da Byootiphull

The main connection between "America the Beautiful" and "Johnny Got His Gun" is the emphasis on a lack of understanding of Americans about why they fight in the wars each writing is related to: The former for the Iraq war and the latter for World War I. As he lies deaf, blind, dumb, and limbless in his hospital bed, Joe Bonham wonders why what happened to him was needed; why did he have to go fight. "America the Beautiful" Also questions the level of understanding of Americans of the current American war and discusses how important this is to a secure, safe and united population. Both pieces are clearly antiwar in that they question whether or not there really is any way to understand why wars are being though almost no matter what the situation is.

Reezistinss n Duhmahkruhsee

Of all the pieces of this country that keep the federal government in check, the resistance of the people is the most important, because without the resistance of individuals and groups against the government, then the government has no limits to what it can do. The main part of resistance in democracy is the voting process itself. Every citizen over 18 can resist a tyrannical maniacal leader by voting them out of office in an election and their is nothing said leader can do about this. This forces the congressmen and individuals with executive power to "act appropriately" and conduct themselves in a manner representative of the people, or at least most of the time. Without this voting privilege, the only other form of resistance is protest, and this is something the government could control with violent repression if there is no chance to vote out anyone. That is obviously an extreme case, but my point is that without the vote, America would be a dictatorial monarchy whose well-being totally depends on the competency of one permanent ruler.

Mohr Jenndurr

I don't know how incredibly recent this is, but one issue regarding sexuality this topic reminded me of was the American Idol season in which Adam Lambert was defeated by Kris Allen in the season finale. I am in no way shape or form a dedicated "Idol" fan, but I do remember there being a particular uproar over the fact that Lambert was supposedly not chosen as American Idol because he was gay. I know very little beyond this about the situation, but I think it can be taken two ways. The first would be that it's pretty sad how our society has sunk quite low in judging a person not by the quality of their singing and performing abilities, but by their sexuality. The second would be that it's pretty sad how our society has sunk quite low in creating the "sexuality card" to go along with the race card. The boy who cried racism can now also be the boy who cried sexualityism (help on that word anybody?) and this becomes incredibly problematic, as it becomes harder and harder to fire certain segments of the population because of accusations of bigotry. Do I have any idea which is true? Absolutely not. I'm no judge of singing ability, so whether or not Lambert was more talented than Allen is a question I can't answer. But the real question coming out of this is what direction has our society gone from this and what can we do about it.

Mehrridge #5

Wolfson uses the Turner v. Safley case to tie to the idea that banning same sex marriage is ridiculous because they cannot get married while the hardest of murderers in our federal justice system are allowed to be married. This is a great strategy because it calls out the same sex marriage proponents as demonizing homosexuals as a lower class of citizen than mass murderers. With homosexuals being the last segment of the population to be denied the right to marry, Wolfson's point makes perfect sense in the context with the rest of his piece. Without Wolfson's connections being made in this piece, there would be no crystal clear connection from Turner v. Safley, but after reading the piece the connection is very clear.

Iht taykz Uh Phammlee

In his piece entitled "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good", Rick Santorum references an analogy made by a Dr. Horn to explain his views on single-parent families. Dr. Horn compares child-raising to two planes. The first plane (family with a mother and father) almost always gets you where you need to go successfully. The second plane (single-parent family) gets you where you need to go, but less often than the first plane. When reading the passage, I did not find this metaphor to be incredibly earth-shattering. Dr. Horn is only stating what Santorum already had through his use of the results of studies in a much less effective manner. In fact, I found it to be a very silly example to put in the middle of a piece so heavily relying on concrete facts and human reasoning. However, in a very shallow and useless way, I guess the point is still made that mothers and fathers as a parenting team are more effective than single parents.

Jenndurr

My grandpa makes brownies. Absolutely fantastic brownies. I would vouch for the fact that these brownies are the best brownies in all of Delaware County (I don't know how much that means). However, much of society would find it quite odd that a man would be a brownie maker, let alone a good one. However, my grandpa is very proud of his brownies and would gladly share them with anyone. What I find interesting about gender stereotypes is that in this particular case, my grandpa is totally unashamed of his actions. But I could never imagine my grandpa wearing a dress, and I am sure he would never wear one in public. I think it's funny not only to picture my grandpa in a dress, but to also view the differences between the subcategories of gender stereotypes.

Vasskezz

The purpose of Vasquez's style of writing in this piece is to enlighten the reader on the stereotypes they are making. Brian and Mickey's stories were both told in the style they were to try to lead the reader into believing that they were gay in both situations. Vasquez then told you their actual sexual orientation, creating a sense of guilt in the reader for the judgement they have just made. This then also magnifies to the readers the injustices done against the two men, which were done because of false assumptions made about the two. And finally, the most important purpose behind Vasquez's writing was showing how both homosexuals AND heterosexuals are negatively affected by the stereotypes, making a connection to ALL of the possible readers.

Duh Toekevil

In his piece, Alexis de Tocqueville states his view that Americans look at women in a totally different manner than Europeans do. He believes that in the eyes of Americans, women are on a completely different plane almost totally unrelated to the plane upon which men operate. Whether or not this could create a position of superiority de Tocqueville did not know. But he was sure that this system did not compare to Europe, where women in the society were seen as equals. The main difference, de Tocqueville believed, was in the rights of women in the different countries. In Europe, not only were women treated equally, but they also had equal rights, where as in America, women were both treated differently and given different laws. de Tocqueville then finished the piece by predicting that because of their current inferiority, women would eventually attempt to rise up and achieve equality, something that proved to be true.

Byebye Black Boy

The main realization of Richard Wright at the end of the novel is that through his writing, he has an incredible power that he can share with others. That does not necessarily mean that the audience will be receptive, but he can nonetheless express himself in a unique and powerful way. By the end of the novel Wright has gone through life noticing how the majority of people have lost hope and are pessimistic about their own lives and their future. Wright feels that this is a problem because without hope in one's life, there is no real life. This makes sense to me because a large portion of life is about striving towards your goals with confidence, and if there is no hope for the future, then there really is no future.

Layngstun Hyooz

The poem "I too" by Langston Hughes and the beginning of Chapter 17 in black Boy are very similar in that the main focus of both pieces is unity as a result of white oppression. Hughes' poem spoke frequently about how even though at the current moment there was nothing he could do about his situation, he and his black brothers and sisters would eventually be able to overcome their obstacles and eat with everyone else, no longer held back in the kitchen. Richard feels his sense of unity at a relief station while he is trying to get food. He finds that he can relate to the situations of the people in this place and that even though they are all suffering, they are at least suffering together.

Ahhpoessitt Poules?

Richard's statement that artists and politicians stand on opposite poles is a reasonable one from his position, because he is in a way an artist and he has had poor experiences throughout his life with politicians. However, both politicians and artists have the roots of their professions in attempting to convey some sort of message. Politicians communicate this message through speech. Artists communicate through their work. In both cases, the more each profession's message is accepted and supported, the more successful a career the artist or politician will have. Also, as in every profession, there are those that make artists and politicians look good, and those that make them look very very bad. Once again, Wright's argument makes complete sense within the context of his life, but with a broader and less biased view of, the relationship between artists and politicians comes across very differently.

Mahlkum EX

Malcolm X took up reading while in prison because he was mightily struggling with finding a way to better express himself. However, Malcolm gained much more from the experience. He learned all about the history of America, and because he saw slanted bias in the passages he read, he realized the oppression of history the white race was pushing. Thus he developed his radical views about race relations which led him to be the incredible reformer he was with such a great impact on the American Civil Rights movement, and to eventually be a martyr for the cause. Richard Wright learned to read under similarly poor circumstances but found it important for a different reason; the escape from the terrible reality around him and a hope for something more.

The Wright Choice?

Richard Wright made the correct decision at the end of Part 1 to move without question when you look at the abundance or lack-thereof of opportunity up North compared to his current location. Richard's talents in communication and his aspirations to become a writer fall upon deaf ears everywhere around him in the Jim Crow south, and even if he had received support from his family, in such a racially segregated area, there was really no hope for Richard's success. Richard really needed a fresh start, and the only way for this to come about was for him to move North again. Had he not, he very well could have become like his father and his friends: complacent with their below average lives and both unwilling and unable to work their way up to a higher class level. By moving, Richard once and for all removed himself from those shadows and became his own man.

Iz Suhbsurrvyanse Nessecairy Four Lihveeng?

Like just about everything else on Planet Earth, subservience can be a good thing to grow up with at a moderate level. Every individual needs to be taught to a certain degree that it is important to have respect for people in a position more prominent than one's own, no matter how terrible that person may be. If one is taught to be subservient to a greater degree than necessary, that can be very dangerous, because it teaches the child to stay in said subservient role and not to have aspirations for an improved social or economic position. However, if there is no subservience taught at all from a young age, the benefits of living without it are really a flip of the coin. Some of the most powerful people in the world are where they are today because they refused to be subservient and do what they were told. They fought against establishment and won. But there are of course those who do not fare so well in fighting this establishment, such as many African Americans in the Jim Crow south. The system was so slanted against them that there was really no hope of success, and many of the people who refused to be subservient blacks to dominant whites lost their lives for it.

Koapeeng width the Wight Wurld

In Chapters 10 and 11, Richard realizes that throughout the majority of his early life, he not only did not "cope" with the white world around him in rural Mississippi. This was mostly because of his lack of exposure to much of the white world in his family and friends and the area surrounding his various homes. All he can see is a number of related blacks struggling to find their place in society and to remove themselves from poverty. Richard is unable to understand why these people are unable to succeed because he does not yet understand the situation he is in due to his race. As he grows older, he comes to then realize the prejudices against him and the discrimination he is going to face in his future. This has a special effect upon Richard, who is attempting to acheive something farther than most black people in his region ever imagined, to become a writer.

Haytread uhv jooz

Throughout the early part of his life, Richard had the idea of hating the Jewish people engrained into his mind, and stated that it was his "cultural heritage" to do so. The primary reason for the harboring of this disdain is the hardcore Christianity of all of his relatives. In the Bible, Jesus was killed on the cross by Jews, and so Richard's Christian relatives view Jews as the killers of Christ. Richard mentions that this belief was bread from childhood, which an interesting parallel to the prejudices held against him. Most white southern Americans at the time had been taught since birth about black people being inferior and lesser, and so the society as a whole continued to hold that belief for quite some time. This only further proves that prejudice is a cyclical belief of a whole society that gets passed down by generation, no matter how little substance there is to the beliefs.

Juhstickifayshun of Rehsitayshun

Being a conformist who tends to not ruffle feathers, I would definitely not behaved in the manner that Richard did. However, his actions were totally justified. Richard realized that it wasn't fair to him and all his fellow African-Americans to be forced to act in a different manner when white people were in the area, or in this case, the audience. The principal has every right to behave in the manner that he did as well, because being the principal of a high school means identifying potential problems and trying to prevent them from happening. This was just an unfortunate circumstance where no outcome was going to please everyone. Had I been in the position, I would have decided that it was important to pick and choose my battles, and that my valedictorian speech was a secondary issue that didn't speak to me.

Uhnkul Tahm

To Richard at this point in his life, Uncle Tom represents all of the societal barriers that he faces every day. Uncle Tom believes that Richard needs to adapt to the world around him, or really the white societal standards. He thinks the most important thing for Richard to learn is to respect others around him and not to talk back, because sass is something that white people would not appreciate coming from a black boy like Richard. Richard on the other hand believes that if he conforms to this society the way his uncle wants him to, there would be almost no chance of him escaping his current situation and finding a new and better life for himself. As a result, Richard lashes out against his uncle both physically and verbally and refuses to abide by his rules and wishes.

Grrrrahtifieyng Righteeng

Richard Wright was able to find gratification in his writing when he first shared his writing with his neighbor. At first, he had been very scared to share his writings with others because he knew how his family would feel about his topic of writing: the death of a young Indian girl. He felt that his family would find this sort of writing "unholy." However, Richard really liked the piece and felt a sort of attachment to the writing. Presenting his piece to his neighbor made him feel even better at the piece, as she was barely able to comprehend any of it. Richard felt as if he had written something very educated, and it made him feel very proud as a result. He felt like a rebel because of the separation his writing created between him and his family, and not only was it different, but it was very high level quality.

Blahk Boi

Richard Wright's younger self has an intense hunger because of his lack of knowledge and desire to learn. Wright continuously expresses himself in negative ways, but not because he is trying to be a bad person. It is because Wright is trying to learn about things and he has no other way to discover the world around him but to "set the curtains on fire just to see what would happen." Richard is obviously a very intellectual individual, and it is very sad that such an early age, he has no other way to represent his thirst for knowledge, and one can hardly blame him for the circumstances he is.

Uhgehnst Skewel

In his writing, Mr Gatto has put his trust in American parents to raise their children out of childhood faster than "the man", aka the public schools of America, want the children to. However, in making this point, Mr Gatto has missed one important fact. One of the biggest flaws of public schooling is not the schools themselves, but the parents of the children that attend the schools. There are a plethora of parents in the United States that are very poor parents. They don't care about their child's schooling. They don't care about advancing the child academically or emotionally in any way. In general they just don't care. If the mandatory chunk of the weekday set out for "school" for these children was taken away, where would THEIR development and education come from? Who would be there to make the children "grow up", like Mr Gatto repeatedly says the school system fails to do. I am not questioning the fact that there are flaws in the current school system, but what other options do we really have at this point?

Nahnakidehmik Ehjookayshun

In all honesty, I find the nonacademic portion of my education to be much more important than the academic portion purely because of my personal goals in life. I'm not incredibly ambitious as far as money or real estate go; I could live with a 1 room apartment with a Directv HD hookup and Tivo, so receiving a prestigious degree is not a necesity (although getting one sure wouldn't hurt). However, I value both my social skills and general life skills to a great degree, and these are greatly affected by my nonacademic education. I do believe though that the two are somewhat intertwined, because social skills and peer relations are very important in the classroom. I think AP English is an excellent example of a class where if you don't know how to interact with peers or teachers, the experience of the class will be less powerful and meaningful. I for one would enjoy the class much less if I was unable to effectively speak my mind and ask questions. Because of my nonacademic education, my experience in academic education has improved, and this is why I value the nonacademic portion so highly.

Pyksher Prehzehntayshuns

Two particular advertisement segments presented while I was in class on Wednesday were ads that Marcus presented from his favorite magazines. I thought this was a very unique and cool way to look at advertising, as nobody else in the class (to my knowledge at least) used magazines to find examples of rhetoric within advertising. I especially found Marcus' work impressive due to the subject matter. I know nothing about "Not Your Daughter's Jeans" or what they stand for in American culture, but Marcus seemed to know his material very well, almost as if he were a consumer of such jeans. Once again I was very impressed with his work on the magazine articles and hope to see more fantastic work from him in the future.

Ingeighgyng the Tekst

I find the term mass media to be very interesting in that I don't believe that there should be a media for an entire mass of people. What I like about our society is that there are so many different media outlets that an individual can pick and choose what he or she wants to believe or listen to. Therefore I really don't like the use of the blanket word "media" to describe all forms of sources of information and entertainment. Are there parts of media that distort our "perceptions of social inequality"? Of course. However, there are parts of media that enhance our perceptions and help shape our opinions positively. There are extremes on both ends of everything, and generalizations of "the media" don't do anybody any good. As far as credit card debt, "the media" encourages consumers to spend money. Period. Of course there are specific ads that require a credit card for purchase. But nobody, implicitly or explicitly, sits around thinking "Today, I want to put lots of people into massive credit card debt." That's absolutely ludicrous. The general public needs to grow up and realize that "the media" isn't out to get them, it just doesn't care.

I hart Dyzknee

Gitlin makes the point that the real responsibility of the exporting of American culture lies not on American imperialism, which he believes is the easy scapegoat, but in the demand for flash good times from other countries. He believes that the melting pot of cultures that is America has a strong multicultural appeal as well, with flashy action that at some points doesn't even require fluent English to understand. I agree with Gitlin in that there is a major demand across the globe for American merchandise, movies, and celebrity news more than any other country and that it is the main driving force behind culture change throughout the world. But one thing I noticed about Gitlin's writing is that he seemed to be attempting to diagnose a problem with his writing, as if dying world cultures were his patients and American culture was a kind of infectious disease. I find the expansion of American culture to be a positive. I think it proves there is common ground between all nations and that the people of planet Earth really aren't all that different from each other. Maybe this is at the expense of sectional individuality throughout the world, but I am not in any way upset by the global culture trend of the age.

Mahrfa Stooourt

In looking for a present day comparison to what Martha Stewart was at the time the article by Margaret Talbot was written, Oprah Winfrey would be an obvious choice because of her wide and powerful influence of her audience with her book club, radio station, and all of the other amenities that come with Oprah. However, Paula Deen comes to mind as another excellent example of televisoin power, and she also directly relates to Martha Stewart through her work in revolutionizing the culinary industry. Deen's story of overcoming her agoraphobia and panic attacks is inspirational, and although her work and audience are on a slightly smaller scale than Martha's, Paula still has a great deal of sway with her food-loving audience members. Her Southern charm and easygoing nature make her very attractive to viewers and give her a somewhat trustworthy aura, something that anyone wishing to gain power needs to have. Not only is she my favorite chef, she's also the one celebrity I feel like if I ever had a problem, she would listen to me and help me through the tough times. XOXO Paula

Kihlborn

Kilbourne's hypothesis is that portraying men and women as sex objects in advertising is dangerous because it both consciously and subconsiously degrades members of our society. She also believes that the degrading of the women in society is more concerning than men because woman are already treated as a lesser class than men in that their role in society is stereotyped even outside of the media as a lowly housewife working at menial tasks as the man goes out into the world to bring home the bacon. Although I agree that to a certain extent these commercials have a degrading effect on people, especially those who struggle with self-esteem issues and are not confident in their appearance or actions, I find Kilbourne's point about the status of women clearly shows the bias she has on the subject. Kilbourne was recognized one of the greatest Feminists who Changed America from 1963 to 1975 by the Veteran Feminists of America, and I believe her feminist values led to her alleging a more painful situation for women.

Commercial Targets of Cheap Seats

The 30 minute show I watched was Cheap Seats, a 9pm sports comedy show on ESPN Classic which takes a comedic look at old sporting events shown on ESPN in the past. As I expected from a show on a Sports network, the commercials were fairly simplistic and centered upon the audience the show was intended to attract, men who are fans of sports. The vast majority of commercials were centered upon food, whether it was A1 steak sauce or Hardees, and there were also a great deal of commercials for hardware stores and different tools, which supports the idea that the advertisers believe sports-loving males are more likely to enjoy a nice building project in the garage than on another less sporty channel such as Lifetime. I only saw one commercial on any real hard-hitting material, the famous reused catheter commercial. After paying attention to the commercials of the show, it is much more obvious to me how centralized the focus of commercials are on the specific type of audience they expect to attract.

Byis in da meadea

The main point I took from the article "The Bias of Language, the Bias of Pictures" was to never let my guard down when it comes to bias in the media because there is truly no information that we can receive from television or newspapers that has no bias whatsoever. I realize now how many outside factors contribute to the creation of a news story. A person has to observe the event and relate it to another person who then writes a story about it and presents it to a newscaster who then relates the story to the consumer. There are so many spots on this chain where some sort of bias or creative interpretation of the story can be put in place of the real facts, and it would be almost impossible for the average listener to notice this. I find it astounding how hard it would be to get genuine straight facts from any source of information.

Byis in da meadea

The main point I took from the article "The Bias of Language, the Bias of Pictures" was to never let my guard down when it comes to bias in the media because there is truly no information that we can receive from television or newspapers that has no bias whatsoever. I realize now how many outside factors contribute to the creation of a news story. A person has to observe the event and relate it to another person who then writes a story about it and presents it to a newscaster who then relates the story to the consumer. There are so many spots on this chain where some sort of bias or creative interpretation of the story can be put in place of the real facts, and it would be almost impossible for the average listener to notice this.

Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld

On Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, a 3am talk show on Fox News, I noticed a strong amount of bias in both the content of the show and the humor of the show, but I think that the show itself was fairly open and honest about its bias and was not attempting to be a legitimate news broadcast. The general theme of the show is the show's host, Greg, presents news topics both prominent in todays world, such as President Obama's State of the Union, to totally irrelevant and comical topics such as a study showing that women are more likely to have sex with men after a heavy night of drinking. The content of the show provides an opportunity for individuals with trouble sitting down and watching a regular newscast enjoy themselves while getting informed about prevalent issues, as long as they don't mind a little biased information.