TOW #28: TOW Reflection

         Well, here we are. The final TOW post. I haven't been here since the beginning, but over the last seventeen posts there was real improvement. Some of the development came through technical skill. Of course I became a writer over the year, and like all students my analytic abilities were honed. However, I think the biggest change isn't one that is immediately apparent by reading the TOWs themselves. The first few required maybe an hour and a half of pre-planning and analysis and then twenty to thirty minutes of writing. By the end, I was spending more time writing than working through the analysis. The TOWs really helped me to see the rhetoric and strategies quicker, a skill also developed during in-class test prep.
         While far from being a master, I think this course has really helped me to be familiarized with the different species in the zoo of rhetorical devices. Jargon, diction, and syntax were essentially synonymous to me in the beginning of the year, but now I wouldn't dream of equating them. Of course, there is always room for improvement. One area I think I should like to focus on further in my career of academic rhetorical analysis is deciding on an article. I still have trouble telling between the articles which are rich with very deliberate and important to analyze tactics and those which are actually fairly straight-forward but superficially fit criteria for certain strategies.
         Over all, I think that these TOWs have helped me. Perhaps they didn't hugely impact my abilities in the classroom (at least, not nearly as much as the class itself). However, they did help to open my eyes to rampart manipulation in the texts all around us, words or otherwise. I would like to think that the overall purpose of the TOWs is this primarily and scholastic benefit second. Should this turn out to be the case, than I would have to declare these TOWs a rousing success. If not, they were at least occasionally interesting.

TOW #27 - Child with Brain Tumor Article

Fox News had a very difficult task before them when they set out to write this article. Brain tumor patient Danny Nickerson, 6, went viral a short time ago with a video request for birthday letters, as he loved receiving mail. However, this article did not even get the chance to report on this bittersweet story. Fox did that a while ago. This article was a follow up. Nickerson died of his rare tumor after an 18 month battle. Fox had to bear this news in a light that would tug on heart strings, without tugging them out. A little sadness can be powerful in a news story, but no one reads Fox News to get depressed.

Reporting a story like this is easy to make sad. Through bluntness of language and intense candor, this article easily establishes its emotional punch. Calling it an "inoperable and chemotherapy resistant brain tumor" and stating that "less than 10 percent of patients live 18 months past the diagnosis" gives readers just enough emotional content to construct their own depressing images of young Nickerson. Still, this was the easy part. It would be difficult not to report on this story in a way that tells Nickerson's tale woefully. The hard part was not to overload readers.

Readers need closure in a story like this, and Fox News knows it. Two strategies used here were the reflection of the family's comfort into the audience and the arrangement of the facts. Infused throughout the article are references to God and Nickerson's place with him, in the form of quotes from his apparently religious family. These are used expertly to cushion the information, but not as effectively as the structure of the article itself. The depressing and clinical candor of the beginning of the article dissolves into sepia toned reports on the literal truckloads of birthday cards his video generated, along with general background that attempts to turn a death-report into a life-celebration.

Yes, the challenge was great. It is not easy to walk the line between emotional baggage and emotional fulfillment. However, Fox was up to it and without loading their article in distracting rhetorical devices or colorful language, they manage to solemnly and warmly report on the death of Danny Nickerson. They are effective in the most difficult to achieve way.

TOW #26 - Vacuum Advertisement

Dyson advertising executives rolled out this little beauty not too long ago. It prominently features the words-turned-image, "others clog / ours doesn't" against a plain background with additional information at the bottom. This incredibly creative advertisement finds an immediately catching way to present evidence and then effectively furthers its main point to make a compelling and clear argument for their product.

The first thing you will notice about the ad, and you are meant to, is that instead of an image captioned with a description, this ad features words captioned with more words. The color choice and most obviously, the filled in eyes of "others clog" immediately gets across the information in a way more tangible than the words alone and lends them more meaning. Contrast this with the color choice and cleanliness of the "ours doesn't" beneath, and you have an ad that could stand alone without more than the word Dyson scrawled across the bottom. However, this ad isn't done yet.

Distanced far at the bottom of the page, so as not to detract from the main punch of the ad, are three captions and an image. The image shows a yellow Dyson vacuum to give color, cohesiveness, and connection in the ad. The three lines of text include one, a more full bodied elaboration of the elegant claim above, two, a connection between the minor claim and the consumption of Dyson products, and the third is a sanitized URL to gather more information. Stylish and simple, this text turns the pizzazz of the above into the ad that will get a Dyson into a customer's home.

It is fitting that so clean and clear an advertisement should come from a vacuum company. This ad is effective and clever, and is sure to catch the eye, heart, and wallet of any number of customers in web browsers and highway systems across this great land of ours. If you aren't convinced by this ad to buy a vacuum, then I will be shocked if you know what a vacuum is.

TOW #25 - Dark Knight Massacre Trial Article

A recent Fox News article details a piece of long awaited news. James Holmes, the infamous mass murderer involved in the Dark Knight massacre is finally ready to go to court and be tried for his crimes. In July of 2012 he opened fire on a crowded movie theater, killing 12 and wounding up to 70.  In order to indite without condemning, the Associative Press had to walk a thin line in this report, with incredibly careful language. In addition, they made out the killer to be larger than life, in order to make the story more readable.

Word choice is the weapon of choice for those with subtle emotional roles to play in writing. Eyes are not "soulless" or "pitiful" but they are "vacant". Selfies with guns are not "terrifying" or "depressing" but they are "haunting". Fox News like the majority of its readers have reasonably set up Holmes as a character to be feared for his crimes than pitied for his possible mental disorders, but as the jury is literally still out, they must be careful not to make too gross their shared perspective. They expertly practice a thing veil of restraint.

Additionally, regardless of whether or not the indirect glorification of a mass murderer is appropriate, Fox seems to be taking the Dark Knight connection and running with it, describing Holmes almost as a supervillain. They emphasize his neuroscientist background and play up his abnormal personality, going so far as to describe his hair dye as "comic book orange". This careful presentation of the facts in a manner than gives a sick criminal a larger-than-life status is effective however, as it does make for a more memorable and recommendable article.

Fox News reporters, through subtle word choice, emotional recognition, arrangement of information, and above all, presentation of the facts produced a high memorable and vindicating report on the long awaited trial of James Holmes. Investigations into his drug and alcohol use, possible psychosis, neuroscience background, and booby-trapped apartment have culminated in an emotionally charged trial being reported on eagerly by Fox News.

TOW #24 - Singapore Article

The Editorial Board of the New York Times chronicled the passing of Singapore founding-leader Lee Kuan Yew earlier this week. In their article, "Lee Kuan Yew's Mixed Legacy in Singapore", they focus on two conflicting aspects of how the leader will be remembered. While Yew was an economic genius who helped to make tiny and weak Singapore into a global economic model, he was also an authoritarian who controlled opposition and the media to favor himself, only "retiring" to still very influential position after political pressure. The article is trying to make a very careful and balanced point: This one wasn't so bad, but let's try to do even better with the next one.
Any New York Times readers who have heard the name Lee Kuan Yew probably knew him as a purely good force in Singapore. Obama went as far as to call him a "giant of history". The article's address of his positive legacy was therefore mostly reassuring, it included a few different effects and ways of phrasing the basic concept of economic prosperity and stability. This wasn't overtly effective, but that is a testament to its subtlety then its impact.
Alternatively, qualifying the economic claim by reminding an audience of his human rights violations and freedom infringements required a bit more skill. The text does this in a bomb shell method. Right in the middle of list of positive to neutral facts, it switches to a terrible event. For example, "His 'Singapore model', of economic development inspired other leaders, including Deng Xiaoping of China, toward free-market policies. He was also an autocrat who silenced critics and sent opposition leaders to jail, suppressing dissent and intimidating the press." There is no subtlety, but there is a lot of shock value, and for this piece of evidence, it is effective to get it out up front as much as possible.
In short, this is  not just another text article. The introduction full of subtlety and doubt. As the subtlety gives way to impactful-ness present at the end of a paper. Perhaps the strategies themselves were not effective, but  it did make the point more obvious and force the audience to reconsider widely help beliefs.

TOW #23 - McDonald's Nightlight Ad

This advertisement for McDonald's has, as its main selling point, the 24 hour work day of McDonald's. It was created under art direction by Bart Batchelor but was photographed by Hans Sipma for the Cossette West advertising agency. The purpose of the piece is fairly straight forward: Convince the viewer to buy McDonald's. However, there is significantly more going on in this image than might first appear. The rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition and visual implication are exemplified here for instance.
Batchelor, if that is the correct person to credit with this text's strategies of rhetoric, has replaced a nightlight with a box for McDonald's fries to signify that, like a nightlight, McDonald's fries are available long after sundown. This is the basic core mechanic behind the ad. But by surrounding the product with a familiar scene associated with comfort and rest, Batchelor is also leeching off some of that association to make his product seem more familiar and comfortable. This strategy is effective, even if it is not very subtle. Obviously the image's context will influence how it is perceived and generally positive images can pass on generally positive interpretations to what is close to them.
Additionally, visual implication is also at play. The shafts of warm yellow light projecting up from the french fry container are obviously meant to look like french fries. When one views the picture as the creators intended and finally see the light as fries, it inspires an "Ah ha" moment of clarity. This moment is more likely to stay in someone's memory than a typical other advertisement or expected image. I can only be certain that strategy is effective for me, but there is evidence that it can be a lucrative decision. The main risk in visual implication (or any subtle indication attempting to inspire a Eureka moment) is that the audience will not understand it correctly and wish to buy the product.
This marketing campaign my McDonald's was very effective. The juxtaposition strategy exists in far more ways than detailed here, such as color and placement of the light on the top outlet. The visual implication strategy works to a degree and certainly forces one to think about a product for a far longer period of time, but without the associations that are presented to be connected with the product, a potential customer will only know about, and not want to buy, the product in question.

TOW #22 - Heart Attack Article

Laura Geggel, Staff Writer for Live Science News, explains in her most recent article how Daylight Saving Time can effect an increase in heart attack frequency. This article seeks to warn those at risk of heart attacks and to further the culture of fear that keeps people reading news articles like hers and her coworkers'. Her two main rhetorical strategies for this are grounding her unusual claim in scientific evidence, and stressing the variety of symptoms which may be signs of a heart attack. 
The first of her two strategies really only seeks to give teeth to her article. She explains the scientific context of the study that found the information and stresses numerical data saying, "The number of heart attacks increased 24 percent on the Monday following a daylight saving time, compared with the daily average for the weeks surrounding the start of daylight saving time". Geggel knows that her reading audience will be the scientifically minded people that read Live Science. Therefore it is logical to stress the data and meta-data of the study to her audience.
The second of her two strategies is the one that actually furthers her causes of safety and fear. Approximately one half of the entire article discusses exactly what symptoms might point toward a yet-to-come heart attack, who is at risk, and exactly what to do. Geggel writes, "With this in mind, people who are at risk of a heart attack — such as those who smoke, have a strong family history of heart attack or have high cholesterol or high blood pressure — shouldn't delay a trip to the emergency room if they feel chest pain". This both informs her audience as a safety briefing and begins to induce a mild hypochondria and self-evaluation of personal heart health. These can lead to seeking out similar articles on this and other websites in the readers. This tactic is common place and entirely effective.
Though this article is short and bluntly written, the content delivered reveals a certain degree of tactical creativity. There are no examples of colorful language or vivid imagery to be found, but it is in what Geggel has chosen to include and not include that allows her to effectively impact her audience and achieve her desired goals in this text.

TOW #21 - IRB Part 1

Nietzsche's Daybreak is a strange work. It does not read like a series of treatises or like an allegorical parable that one might expect from books written by philosophers. Instead this text is nearly entirely filled with stanzas ranging from a sentence to a paragraph, loosely grouped by subject and often titled with a phrase like, "On Popular Medicine", or "On Doubt as a Sin". These fortune-cookie-esque phrases are most likely meant to encourage questioning and attract youth to Nietzsche's ideas (but not without skepticism). The interpretation of a younger audience is presented in the preface, and is accomplished by challenging widely more than deeply held beliefs and through an easily digestible arrangement.

Like many of the philosophers before him, Nietzsche seems to realize that deep philosophical ideals are easier to transfer to other minds in short bursts. It is difficult to sit down and plow through a few chapters of Diogenes or Machiavelli. Therefore, Nietzsche presents his ideas in short bite-sized chunks. Repeatable and slightly ambiguous phrases like, "He who is punished is never he who performed the deed. He is always the scapegoat" are just begging to be mulled over in one's head. This is an effective manner to prevent readers from being scared off.

The other rhetorical strategy Nietzsche uses in this text is perhaps a bit more tactical. Nietzsche is a bit of a contrarian. This is to be expected as it comes hand-in-hand with deeply skeptical philosophies. However, while Nietzsche does attack deep seated beliefs about morality and the role of gods in modern society, the majority of his attacks are small, half-hearted attacks on widely, but not deeply held beliefs which make his work seem edgier but maintains inoffensiveness. For instance, one stanza reads, "The great wars of the present age are the result of the study of history." While most people believe in the old adage about studying history to learn from previous mistakes, a quote like this is unlikely to seriously ruffle any feathers (with the exceptions of history teachers and war buffs). This strategy is also effective. While it may not actually present new information or practical ideas, it does further Nietzsche's cause of total re-examination of modern society in the reader.

While Nietzsche has so far been unusual and at times superficial (transgressing into down right ignorance when discussing women), I believe I am beginning to grow used to the writing format and his tactics remain effective. The next quarter of the book is titled, 'Beyond Good and Evil', a text which I own and have previously read years ago. I wonder how time and context will effect the impact of this new section.

TOW #20 - Star Article (Starticle?)

Ron Cowen of Nature Magazine writes this article on stellar motion for Scientific American. It details how, 70,000 years ago, when humans were spreading from Africa to Eurasia, a stray wandering star briefly entered our outer solar system and then left soon after. The star is called Sholz's star and would have been just bright enough to see from Earth by early humans. The article is non-political and so it really only has two goals. One, convince the reader that this theory is accurate, and two, convince the reader that this theory is very important. An important and accurate new theory is all it takes to write a successful science article.
As there are two goals for this article, accuracy and importance, there are two strategies employed to meet those goals. The first is the arrangement of the article. The information is arranged starting with the smaller inarguable impacts on our scientific understanding of the early solar system, "has a mass about 8% that of the Sun and is orbited by a 'brown dwarf' companion", (para 2). It then moves on to perhaps more arguable but, if true, revolutionary effects on our world, like initiating mass extinction events by smashing through the Oort Cloud.
The secondary strategy of this article is meant to make the article's theory seem more accurate. Where the previous strategy was in subtle arrangement, this strategy is direct content. Through statements of observations and facts about our ability to map stellar paths and the interruptions in the consistency of the dust at the edge of our solar system, it implies the absolutism of the theory. It also directly claims, "The result is almost certainly correct, as predicting the nearly straight-line motion of nearby stars is a well-understood calculation," in a quote from a relevant astronomical resource.
This is a straight-forward article with straight-forward tactics. For once, the more direct of the article's strategies is more effective and the more subtle actually fails more in its task. This may be a hasty judgement, however, as the importance of the theory is easier to doubt than its apparently incontestable accuracy.

TOW #19 - ISIS Article

This article on the  growing ISIS terror threat in the middle eastern part of the world details its development in the area and its movement to a global level. It was written by FOX News, and it has two distinct goals in its presentation of the news development to its audience of mostly adult American conservatives. These two distinct goals are the encouragement of American cooperation and trust in the nation of Israel, a close nation geographically to the countries ISIS is leading., and the perhaps justified fear of the American people towards ISIS.
Israel has long been an ally of the United States, and we them. In order to defend our mutually beneficial geopolitical relationship. The writer of the article goes out of their way to defend Israel. To much of the world, the dominating conflict in the middle east is the turf and philosophical war between Palestine and Israel. It is difficult to hear tell of Muslim aggression in the middle east without that conflict being brought to mind. Even though the two are unrelated and those in Israel have nothing to do with this event, the writer mentions them just to secure this fact and even edifies it with expert quotes.
It is not difficult for the American media to breed fear of ISIS. It is not difficult for the American media to breed fear of anything, and ISIS is inherently scary. It is a terror group, after all. With word choice like, "tectonic" and notoriously, this FOX article attempts to inspire fear in its readers. Scared readers are reliable readers because they will seek out knowledge not out of curiosity or interest but out of fear that ignorance means danger. This isn't to say that fear is an unreasonable response, or that FOX has to do much to the information it presents in order to guarantee fear, only that that is the tactic it is using, and that it is wildly effective.
Through both choice of the content discussed in the debriefing of this latest development in ISIS terrorist affairs and word choice when describing individual aspects of the content, this FOX News article is highly effective in its ability to inspire fear and trust in the same event. Fear and trust may seen contradictory, but they are pulled off well.

TOW #18 - Book Cover

Clive Barker, perhaps best known for his works of horror and gore, is also the surprising author of a number of children and young adult books. One such young adult book is a surreal fantasy with themes of adventure and the conflict between good and evil. The book's cover, like its author, is a surprise. While most covers are not designed by the authors of their books, each of the nine paintings on this cover, in addition to the hundreds inside the book, were hand painted by Clive Barker. Even the title graphic, "Abarat" was designed by Barker. Both the paintings and the title are meant to entice readers and hint at the book's content.
There is a lot to digest in the paintings on the cover of this text. Nine paintings make up the small art gallery that is the front jacket. Four of the paintings show strange locations, a skeletal lighthouse and a crystal island for example, and the other five of the paintings show main characters of the text, a woman wrestling with a white dragon and an amphibian with a bouquet of skulls for example. Much like a visual blurb, the paintings help the reader to understand a few central points of the novel, without spoiling its telling. The tactic is effective, as all it takes is for one of the images to intrigue a potential reader.
There is seemingly less to digest in the title graphic. However, closer inspection reveals that the image of the title graphic is an ambigram. Rotating the image 180 degrees reveals an identical image. It is a small and subtle tactic, which is significantly less effective than the paintings. This is due mostly to the unlikelihood of anyone actually noticing this. Yet, a potential reader who does notice this would almost certainly be drawn to read on about the kind of creative mind that would produce such a strangle title graphic.
A surprising book cover jackets a surprising book with a surprising author. Despite the conventional wisdom against judging a book by its cover, perhaps in this situation the paintings and the title graphic give an accurate if cryptic look into what the book holds. All in all the cover of this book is highly effective in its attempts to entice readers with just enough information regarding the content of the book.

IRB 2 - Introduction - Daybreak

I will not lie. I am nervous about this text. This is the first book I will ever have read on philosophy, and Nietzsche is studied often enough that it can be assumed his work is not simple. The book is called Daybreak, and has the subtitle: Thoughts on the prejudices of morality. While I know that Nietzsche is known for controversial opinions, the only idea I can attribute to him is that morality is totally subjective. I hope there are at least some ideas that I can appreciate in this text. Fingers crossed.

TOW #17 Stinging Insects IRB Part 2

In the second half of Edward Saunders's Stinging Insects, a scientific introduction to the subjects of etymology and toxicology, his curriculum-tactic discussed in the first post on this text has developed a few additional rhetorical strategies to further his goal of educating interested laymen. The first strategy attempts to deal with the frightening vocabulary and scientific content of the text through informal, almost casual language. His second strategy attempts to help the reader retain the information through repetition.

Most forms of scientific writing are simple. In almost all situations, the text is either directed toward casual science fans or well-educated scientists. The casual texts like Popular Science and similar science magazines can sacrifice technicality for entertainment. The educational texts like the American Journal Science and Arts can use highly technical language. However, texts like this one, which attempt to form a bridge and speak to only partially knowledgeable audiences must deal with introducing highly technical language to a new audience. Saunders handles this well by using informal language. For instance, Saunders explains, "I think it is only right to add some remarks on the structure...of insects, so that any one who wishes to follow up the subject may...get fuller and more exact data," (124). This language, while surprisingly personal, does help to get across the more obtuse concepts.

In books like this one, which feature constant new information and without the benefit of a story line to solidify the points made, it is often difficult for readers to retain the barrage of data and concepts with which they are presented. In order to combat this, Saunders continually references old information in his work. For instance, the concept of constant physical growth in some insects is reexplained several times in the text in order to drive this principal mechanism of etymology home. This strategy is highly effective, if a little tiring, but the unique writing style of the author helps to distract from a practice which does become occasionally annoying.

On the whole, despite minor flaws in the tone of Saunders work, its claimed goal of informing and inspiring potential etymologists can definitely be said to be achieved. Having a scientifically-inclined audience certainly helps, but Saunders still had a difficult task. Insect classification and behavior, even stinging insect classification and behavior is not the most glamorous branch of biology. However, through clever techniques and inexhaustible style, this text manages to do anything but bug its readers.

TOW #16 - Pope Article

This article by Daniel Burke, who is the Religion Editor for Cable News Network, was given the grabbing title, "The Pope Said What?!? More Stunners From Francis". The article is actually a series of comments made by Pope Francis in his past few press conferences, along with interpretations and analyses as given by Burke and other quotable religious experts. The intent of the analyses seem be to lessen the blow of the papal quotations, if not negate them completely.
Some of Burke's interpretations attempt to clarify the Pope's points in order to sanitize his message for the general public. Take, for example, the pope's thought that, "Catholic parents shouldn't be 'rabbits'", because, "God gives you methods to be responsible" (para 2). Burke quickly adds that this is probably in reference to natural pregnancy prevention tactics, and should not be considered papal support of artificial birth control.
Other, perhaps more open, response strategies were meant to comment on the lack of complete information in an effort to keep readers from jumping to conclusions without understanding the events completely. In his reply to the possibility of a 'gay lobby' in the Vatican, one comment from Francis was an oracular, "We need to see what we can do" (para 5). Burke jumped on this, declaring that only Francis knows what he means due to silence from the Vatican.
Though simple, Burke's attempts to strip any controversy away from the Pope's comments was for the most part effective. Additionally, the title is apparently designed to attract those who have been shocked by similar earlier comments. Burke may have done this purposely in order to combat the emotional stirs and return the public image of Pope Francis to a healthy medium. Alternatively, it may be just a way to get more people to read his article. In either case both the title and the article were highly effective at their task.

TOW #15 - 2011 Political Cartoon

This political cartoon by seasoned American political critic Jimmy Margulies was published in 2011. Jimmy Margulies is known for his cartoons that poke fun at trends both in the United States government and in the reactions garnered from the American public. His drawings are published, and this one is no exception, in the Hackensack Paper of New Jersey.
In 2011 IBM's Watson, an artificially intelligent natural speech computer capable of parsing abstract prompts and responding in the same vein, competed on the popular trivia show Jeopardy. It won first prize and was rewarded with one million dollars. Despite this impressive technological achievement, the nation was (and still is) facing the sociopolitical issues of social security, medicare, and medicaid.Margulies is attempting to demonstrate what he believes is the frivolity and unimportance of the technological achievement when the nation has yet to conquer the sociopolitical issues. Margulies starkly contrasts the two by depicting Watson struggling to respond to the latter issues despite its former feats.
On either side of Watson are complacent, happy individuals competing against it. If Margulies had wanted their smiles to imply their satisfaction at Watson's inability to think about complex social systems (and therefore lose the trivia game) their faces should have been more excited than relaxed. This cartoon would have had a moral focused more on the technology aspect, saying that humans still have a lot to offer in critical thinking fields. It is more likely however, considered their relaxed faces that Margulies is arguing that the American public is happy and contented with the technology despite more important political issues. Whether or not the figures are effective depends on exactly what their purpose was.
Overall, between the question (as opposed to an expectant answer as is customary on Jeopardy) the distracting understatement of the importance of Watson in technological advancement, and the ambiguous figures that frame the cartoon, the image is ineffective. The rhetorical strategies of juxtaposition and perhaps metaphor are present, but so too are the straw man argument and a lack of clarity.