Questions Concerning Beliefs
- Respond to the two articles directly. How do they make you feel about common beliefs held by others? Have they made you aware of any racially motivated thoughts or actions you have had yourself?
People have their own opinions and beliefs. These articles seem very strong on their beliefs. My feelings on these articles are just opinions on these people’s beliefs. The first article states that there is a book or several books on the “Jewish way” and states that in China people are pretty much looking up to the Jewish community on how to become more prosperous in life. Why don’t the people of China who read these books focus on their own traditions and beliefs. I am in no way trying to be offensive. I am just saying that there would make no difference in prosperity between the two different communities. If the people of China totally disregarded that there was such books they would still be prosperous in their own ways. The second article stated that the security guard was “eyeballing” her and a group of friends and that the security guard would’t let the group into a bar because a friend’s id was invalid. I believe that sure she has a point to that but the security guard was only doing their job. She probably was only thinking that guard was staring her down because that is what she wanted to think. There is no explanation as to why he was being rude to her. Where was she and how much was she drinking before she went to this particular bar?
2. What is the difference, as you see it now, between xenophobia and ethnocentrism?
The second article was using “ethnocentrism” while the was writing this article because she was only looking at the article from her friend’s point of view. She talked about how rude the security guard was, how he was staring her and her friends down, and thinking that the guard wouldn’t let her friend in the club because of her invalid id from another country. The first article states that “people in China have the wrong impressions of Jewish people”, and “the Chinese are very kind to them”, “them” being the Jewish community. This basically defines xenophobia because of the sense of dislike towards the Chinese community.
3. Do you know anybody who has any of these beliefs? What (speculate if you need) led them to these beliefs? Were they raised this way? Was there a life experience that changed their attitude?
I am really not sure if I have met anyone in particular with these same beliefs. I believe that we all have a tendency to have a little bit of these beliefs in us but not intentionally aware that we do have them. Sometimes everyone slips now and again on what they think is the wrong thing to say or do around another culture. The way that we are trying to resolve these issues today can be percieved in several different ways. For example, we now have bilingualists everywhere to help people learn Spanish or whatever language they prefer to learn so they can get along with another race. Kids are being raised to get along with all races with the different types of elementary schools and their teaching methods. Also, at the work place bosses are more interested in teaching people how to deal with the issues of racism and ways for co-workers to get along with each other. Those are just some minor examples of the life experiences in which we can change our attitudes. I don’t think anyone is perfect except for a higher power that I call God.
4. Have you ever had an encounter with somebody who shared these views? Are you comfortable sharing this encounter? If so please do. If not, we will not delve into the experience.
My beliefs are that there are too many people in the world that share these beliefs and to ask if I have had an encounter with anyone who shared these views with the authors of these articles and their stories is a good question. I have to say that yes I have met more than several people who have had the same views as the people in the articles. Can’t say that I remember any of their names or if I remember when I have met these people because there are so many. That is a very sad thing to have to say. People should have to sit and answer these questions themselves to see my point on these views. I feel a little disgusted at how many people that I could name with the same beliefs and opinions. That disgust quickly turns to sadness…
Cultural Understanding
- What (specifically) is a culture? Put this in your own words. I want to see how well you can define culture on your own.
A culture is a way of life in which people in different parts of the world live and thrive on doing different things. Some of these things include family tradition, people’s beliefs, and the way that people live. Traditions might include doing the same things year round and passing them down to their daughters, sons, grandchildren, great grandchildren and so forth. People’s beliefs can fall into the same category as traditions and can include things such as family reunions and holidays. Some beliefs might also include what people do from day to day such as how they dress, transportation, and what they eat. The way people live can also be included in those categories.
2. What cultures do you belong to? What specifically makes you a part of this culture?
I believe that I belong to the American culture because I was born here in America. My ancestry belongs to several other cultures but I have little understanding of those cultures. My family brought me up to know the American way of life but to tell the truth I believe that each individual family has their own culture and way of life in America because of how many different types of people are able to live here. In that sense, I could belong to a subculture inside of the American culture.
3. What cultures (list 5)would you like to know more about? (Note: these cannot be cultures that you classify yourself among. I want you to explore cultures outside your own.)
I would like to know more about the cultures of Spain, Korea, Australia, Jamaica, and the United Kingdom.
4. Now that you have chosen your cultures, rank them by preference (i.e. your top choice should be #1 and the one you wish to consider a last choice should be #5)
- Spain
- Australia
- Jamaica
- Korea
- United Kingdom
5. Finally, for each of the cultures you have listed, make a quick list of what you already know about that culture.
- Spain- I know some of the languages spoken there, some of the sports played such as bullfighting, and a little about their religion
- Australia- some of the music is the same as in America, rugby is the most played sport, have watched some television shows such as the BBC and the Crocodile Hunter
- Jamaica- so I have learned that music is pretty much world wide, but not much more is known in this culture on my part
- Korea- some of the holiday activities, some of the foods eaten, transportation, and a little on the economy
- United Kingdom- languages are known, art and television, some religions, and some food
Questions for the Article Essay
What is the argument the author makes in the essay?
There really isnt an argument in the Wu article. He is just clarifying the question “Why isn’t YouTube in the same trouble that Napster and Grokster are in with the copyright law?” Wu states the facts of the copyright law in this article and lets the readers know that YouTube is covered by the “safe-harbor law” and Napster isn’t. Wu is basically letting the readers know what is happening in the situation and what could happen in the situation.
Is this argument clear? Does it make the point?
If you would call Wu’s explanations arguments then yes they would be clear considering he used less legal jargon. He pretty much makes the sum of his article a point and I am sure that whoever reads it will understand what is happening. At or near the end of the article Wu pretty much explains the situation of Napster and YouTube very clearly with his “If Napster and YouTube were hotels…” paragraph.
Which side of the issue does the author take? Does he enforce his opinion?
When I first read the article I thought that Wu really didn’t have a side and was explaining nothing but factual information, in which case he does, but at the end of the article it seems that he is very much enforcing his opinions and letting Napster know not to be a “copyright pimp”. He doesn’t seem to be mad or anything, he just seems like he’s sort of acting like a father figure telling his children that if they are going to stick their hand in hot water than it will get burned so I really don’t think that he is choosing to be on one side of the issue or the other.
What facts does the author use to support the argument? What references does the author use to support their argument? How does this factor into the author’s ethos? Do these facts support the author’s logos? How? If not, what should be done to aid in supporting the author’s logos and, therefore, improving his own ethos?
Wu uses legal jargon to support the article. He speaks of the Net Neutrality debates and section 512 of the copyright code. he also speaks about Mark Cuban and his copyright argument a lot. Wu speaks about section 512 of the copyright code and the Net Netrality debates as references and as facts combined. These things spoke of factor into the author’s ethos in one way that I can think of right now…Wu’s ethos is probably making readers think that he actually knows what he is talking about but also making them think “Who is Tim Wu and where did he come from?…He does sound pretty smart.” These facts do support Wu’s logos in the way that all legal codes and laws do provide logic and reasoning. In this case I don’t think that he needs to back anything he says up because the laws and legal codes are all in the article for the reader to look up and see for themselves. He might need to state where the reader can look these codes up and possibly state how he knows this information or what his background is.
How does the author use pathos to aid in his persuasion? If the author has not used pathos, what could be done to improve upon this appeal?
Wu uses pathos probably the most in the end of the article to aid in any persuasion that he might have. He pretty much implies upon me that Napster is composed of all the stupid people and YouTube is composed of all the smart people. If Napster had done “this” than they wouldn’t be in the situation. Other than those couple of paragraphs in the article I can’t really see much more pathos in the article.
For your personal response:
Does the article evoke an emotion in you as a reader? What, specifically, in the article evokes this response? How could the author have done a better job at making you believe the issue was important and/or in need of immediate action?
The end of the article actually makes me offended not that I am involved in any of what Wu is talking about. Just to say that “…But Napster, everyone more or less now admits, was cast as the pimp….”, how do i know its where to get illegal things? Maybe not everyone knows what happened with Napster…maybe people thought that it was just like YouTube. I am not too offended but it irks me a little.
Did you have an opinion on the topic before reading this article? Has that opinion been changed or reinforced through reading the article? If you were ambivalent to the topic before, how has this changed? If your opinion has not changed, what could the author have done to change your mind?
I absolutely had an opinion on the article before I read it. I really wanted to know who this guy was and where he came from. I really didn’t understand what he was talking about when he was speaking in the legal sense. After reading the article and looking Tim Wu up on the internet I learned that Wu has been involved in internet issues and that he has done some other things as well. I read the article a second time and started to get an understanding of what he was trying to explain.
If you were writing this article, what would you have done differently in order to persuade the audience?
I don’t think that Wu needed much to persuade the audience. I don’t think that he wastrying to persuade his audience but that he was really just teaching the audience of the news on the internet copyright laws and what would and could happen if other internet organizations were to disobey the laws of the internet. I would probably not change anything myself except maybe take pathos out of the article all together. There is just something about pathos that I dislike.
My opinions on the Homosexual Marriage videos
Which directors use which appeals? Be specific in your analysis of the appeals–tell me which appeals the director uses and how these appeals are presented.
Video #1, by Omgwtfitsfaith, in my opinion, uses ethos and pathos. This director uses pathos by showing all of their emotions in this video. He shows that he is really mad about people hating “homos” and making them feel like they are nothing and that needs to stop. He uses curse words to show how mad he really is. He also uses ethos in which he explains that he has been there and he knows how it feels to be made fun of and ridiculed.
Video #2, by Me uses logos and ethos. This director uses logos by showing pictures to back up the individual stories of his and/or someone else’s lives. He also uses ethos as well to show that he/she has been in a relationship with the same sex before and to show what he is talking about.
Video#3, not sure of the director, maybe by Channel 7 News, uses logos. The anchor goes and asks random people questions as if they were statisticly surveying to get the answers they need. They also show the president and his statements on the issue as well to again show legal situations on the matter.
Video #4, unknown director, uses logos and pathos. This director uses pathos by asking people questions and getting their emotionally charged opinions about the subject of same sex marriages. By doing this I think that there is a little logos involved as well because some of the people’s opinions are factual statements as well as emotional.
How well do these appeals work?
I think that as a viewer to these videos, Video #1 won’t work that well because I just wanted to turn that video off when he started to ask “What’s wrong with you?” and starting to curse a lot. Video #2 will work because it shows pictures and stories of real life people and that is what the audience likes to see the majority of the time. Videos #3 and #4 will both work and not work because things that some people say, others may not agree but some will agree.
Is there another appeal that the director could have included to make the video more persuasive? What could they have done with that video?
Video #1 could stand to take the negative talk out of the video and it may be a little more persuasive. They could have added what the other videos had in them. I just didn’t care for all of the harsh words. Video #2 could have shown some statistics and it would have made the video more of the knowledgeable type of video. Then people would be taught a little more of what the homosexual world is about so that they can understand more of that culture. Video #3 looked just fine to me. It contained people’s opinions on homosexuality and it also included the legal side of the issue. Video #4 looked okay to me as well. It gave a little understanding of the culture from everyday people and it also included understanding from the religious side of the matter.
How did the videos make you feel overall? Individually?
Video #1 made me feel like a really small person does standing next to a giant. It literally felt like I was being yelled at for doing something really wrong. It did not make me feel good. Video#2 made me feel sad for the people who had lost their family member to something as stupid as being “gay”. It made me want to take that stand and fight against discrimination. Video #3 didn’t really make me feel anything. It was overall just information for my brain, like i was watching the new. Video #4 informed me of things that I had not known before. It made me want to learn more on what the Bible states and what different religions believe in on the subject.
Most Difficult Writing Assignment
My most difficult writing assignment would have to have been writing about a play novel titled There Shall Be No Night, by Robert E. Sherwood. I wrote about this novel last semester in English 1013. It seemed not to be so difficult in the beginning. I was expecting to write about what was going on in the play novel and about the different characters in the play. The teacher surprised the class with introducing “illusions” and talking about which characters represented which country and why they were even in the novel to begin with. As a class we discussed comma splices, parallelism of a sentence, subordinate and insubordinate clauses, sentence fractures, and so much more. One way that I handled all of these challenges was that I made an assignment folder. I took extensive notes on everything the teacher discussed and notes on things that I had never heard of before. I then took every graded paper that the teacher handed back and highlighted every note that the teacher wrote in the margins of the paper as well as highlighted each mistake that I had made. After I read over what I had needed to fix, I rewrote the full paper and fixed all my grammatical errors by reading my notes and correcting myself. This experience has not helped me to improve my skills as a writer and call myself a pro, but it has none the less improved my skills slowly and is still helping me to improve my skills today. Just knowing everything from commas to knowing about parallelism has helped me to improve my skills as a writer. I am what you call a “comma addict” and it is sometimes overwhelming if I can’t put at least one comma in every sentence. Even though the teacher was very difficult on us as students, I have grown to appreciate her teaching the class what we needed to know and to still to have fun along the way with reading a great play novel.
