Preliminary Thoughts Blog Post

In my first paper assignment I thought I would tackle a controversial PETA ad, which is offensive to anyone who may consider themselves overweight or anyone is not a vegetarian. In this particular PETA ad, the back ground is a blue sky, sand, and water, which is of course the beach. To the right there is the back of a large white woman in a red polka dot bikini. In huge white letters the ad says "Save the Whales" and below that in red the ad states "Lose the Blubber: Go Vegetarian". I about fell off of my bed and onto the floor when I came upon this ad. Not only is it targeting overweight people, it is targeting people who aren't vegetarians and essentially saying "If you aren't vegetarian, you're fat and you need to lose weight by becoming a vegetarian". This, to me, is possibly the most ridiculous advertisement I've ever seen. In my head, I am wondering if PETA really thinks that this is going to work and I wonder if they realize it could potentially anger a large amount of people. In this advertisement, the rhetorical appeal represented in this piece of media is pathos. This ad appeals to one's emotions because self-image goes hand in hand with emotion. One's happiness is often determined by their positive or negative body image. One might think this ad would be very effective because if you are calling someone fat, and it hurts their feelings then ultimately they will change and become a vegetarian. But then again people use their own logic, and think "just because I'm not a vegetarian doesn't mean that I am fat". In a sense, this piece of media also appeals to logos but not intentionally. PETA didn't realize that this ad may rub people the wrong way, even offend them and push them away from being a vegetarian because PETA supports it. Accidentally, they appealed to the logic of the public and now have potentially ruined their own ad. Because this ad is so dramatic, so far fetched and flat out ridiculous it appeals to peoples logic by making them realize the ad is ridiculous and completely untrue. Yes, people may lose weight by being a vegetarian and vegetarians may be on average smaller or skinnier than people who aren't vegetarians, but that doesn't mean that if you aren't a vegetarian that you are automatically fat. Some of the roadblocks I must overcome between now and actually writing my first paper assignment are making a persuasive argument against PETA and their ridiculous ad, backing up my argument that PETA is wrong and hurtful in their ad, which is in the form of a HUGE billboard, and convincing the readers of my paper to feel the same way I do. In my opinion, no one could possibly agree with this ad but then again someone obviously agrees with it because the idea was thought up, drawn out, paid for, and put up for everyone to see. I guess this shows the many different people in this world but I plan to convince everyone to feel the same way I do.

Gender & Bathrooms Blog Post

While reading the article "Go where?: Sex, Gender and Toilets" I was amazed and even in shock by all of the crazy symbols used to describe a man or a woman for men and women restrooms and the underlying meanings of those symbols. I have yet to read something as interesting and intriguing as this article or post because of some of the crazy and flat out ridiculous symbols and generalizations made about men and women. My jaw literally dropped as I scrolled down the page with my eyes glued to the screen. As Americans, or really anyone in the world, people assume that if you are a man, you have male genitals and if you are a woman then you have female genitals. What is sometimes confused is gender and sexuality. Gender refers to someones body but sexuality refers to whom or what sex the person is attracted to. Whether you are heterosexual or homosexual, you may use the restroom that signifies your gender as male or female. What isn't fair about this is that some people are born with birth deformities, or may have had a sex change due to the fact that they felt they didn't fit in with the gender they were born as. Also, in these symbols women are shown as wearing dresses or skirts and in society today, many woman do not dress this way. Some women may look more like a man than they do a woman due to their dress and style choices. Some men also dress like women, even though it isn't seen very often, it does happen and it may offend those men that the symbols are dressed masculinely. A bathroom sign, something simple and used merely as direction for the general public says so much more than just which door to walk into. When you see a bathroom sign for a women's restroom, you could assume by the sign which displays a girl in a skirt, a sign with female features or a sign with a woman sitting down to use the restroom, that the people who enter that room must dress like a woman, act like a woman, have features like a woman, and even use the bathroom like a woman. Which in society, excludes many people who are actually women. Just as well in men's restrooms, where the sign on the door is a male figure tall and strong, a figure with male features, or a man standing to use the bathroom, you could assume that the people who enter this restroom must be tall and strong, have male features, or stand to use the bathroom. This also excludes many people in society. There are often problematic signs used to symbolize men and women restrooms and this may in fact be solved by just using the words "men" and "women" on the restroom doors instead of symbols of genders. Even though, separating the restrooms by gender may always be confusing or discriminating due to people not considering themselves either or considering themselves both, there is no better way to separate public restrooms in my opinion.

Rhetorical Triangle

In this PETA ad, the element that appeals to logos is the proof that making or wearing a fur coat kills animals like this one. The element that appeals to ethos is that a dead animal is a life lost and that animal was essentially innocent. The element that appeals to pathos is that PETA is a legitimate authority or organization that does a lot of work for animal's rights. The strongest appeal within this ad is ethos because its an innocent, skinned, dead animal. The message of this ad is that making or wearing fur coats equals the skinning and killing of innocent animals. This ad is very effective because the dead/skinned animal is so extreme that it catches attention.

Say Nothing Blog Post

In the essay How to Say Nothing in 500 Words by Paul Roberts, I learned many things about writing that I didn't realize until they were brought to my attention. In my own writing I recognized many errors that I make that were mentioned in the essay. One error I noticed in my writing is that I use obvious content when making an argument. If I were to write a paper about texting I would oppose texting and use obvious content for an argument like it distracts students from their studies, it decreases face to face interaction, it causes wrecks due to distraction and it worsens grammar because words are typed in short lingo. Because I am using obvious content, I am not being unique in my writing which causes me to blend in with my class mates. Another error I noticed in my own writing is that I do not use "colorful" words to create a picture or emotion in my writing. This tends to make my boring to read and grade. Roberts' essay brought many things to my attention that I do when I write that I didn't necessarily recognize earlier. One of the things I realized is that I "pad" what I want to say to make my paper or assignment longer. For example, instead of saying "I love my mother" I would say "I truly love my dear beautiful mother". It pads what I am' actually saying. Another point brought to my attention through reading this essay is that I use "pat expressions" or as most people call them cliches. In my writing, I tend to use expressions known by people in the United States or the world. One cliche I might use in my writing is "don't judge a book by its cover". While reading this essay by Roberts, I found many things extremely interesting and these were things that I hadn't really heard of before and that I am going to put to use in my writing. One interesting point in the essay was that you shouldn't choose what most other people would choose because that could actually hurt your grade. Another interesting thing is that it helps you if you "take the unusual side", being different sets you apart and gives you a "fresh" outlook on things. One last interesting point in the essay was that you should "call a fool a fool", meaning that if you feel a certain way about someone or something that you should say it and don't hold back. I really enjoyed reading this essay, I feel that my writing will improve by learning these things.