Well Worth My Time

            When I registered for an online English class, I did not realize how much I would get out of it.  I have been pleasantly surprised by this class.  Despite not having met my teacher or classmates face to face, I feel that I have gained knowledge from both.  This knowledge has helped to improve my rather rusty writing skills.  I have also discovered some things about myself, and have grown as a person.

 The most valuable of my discoveries during these past few months would have to be the increase in my confidence as a writer.  I started the course feeling quite uncomfortable with posting blogs and having others read my thoughts.  As the course progressed, so did my comfort level.  I am at the point where I feel comfortable letting my thoughts be known.

Pandemic: My Country Is on Its Knees by Stephen Lewis was my favourite reading this term.  This piece really affected me.  Lewis inspired a renewed interest in me to sponsor a child from Africa.  His piece is an excellent example of how to use emotion to persuade your reader.

My least favourite reading was Yuki Tanaka’s piece on Kamikaze pilots.  Though it is well written it did not capture my interest.   I prefer reading works that inspire me and draw me in using the emotional appeal pathos.

I found this course to be well balanced and very informative.  I really cannot think of how it could be improved!  I enjoyed the variety of the readings and the thought provoking discussions.  The course was plenty of work but it was always interesting and taught me a great amount. 

Written With Style

“How to Write with Style” by Kurt Vonnegut is an enlightening article with excellent advice for writers of all types.  Vonnegut gives several pointers on developing one’s own writing style, while using his own amusing style of writing.  He takes what could be considered a dry subject and adds his own perspective and twist to pique the interest of his reader.  The article is clear and readable without insulting the intelligence of the audience.

By numbering each example, Vonnegut makes it easy to grasp his points.  There is no ambiguity about what his intentions are; the article is laid out in a digestible format.  One of the more clever examples he gives is the one of not rambling on.   Vonnegut (1980) plainly articulates:  “I won’t ramble on about that” (p. 66).   What more needs to be said?

Another reason that this article is so successful is Vonnegut’s use of well known people and books to paint his picture of how one should write with style.  He mentions Shakespeare, Picasso, Cleopatra, the Bible, and several others that most readers, if not all, will be somewhat knowledgeable at the very least.

What is especially convincing about this article is the fact that Vonnegut takes his own advice, using his ideas to give an example of a stylishly written piece.  It is easy to find Vonnegut’s use of every single suggestion he makes in this article.

Despite the fact that this article was published thirty years ago, it is not outdated in any way.  Vonnegut has successfully written a piece that will be just as useable for many years to come.  I found it an interesting and informative read, and will happily use what I have learned from Vonnegut in my future writings.

What is the most important element to consider as a writer developing their own style?

Vonnegut, K.  (1980).  How to write with style.  IEEE Transactions on

 Personal Communications, 24(2), 66-67.

Pretty Much the Same Thing

Yuki Tanaka’s (2008) piece titled “Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots and Contemporary Suicide Bombers: War and Terror” deals with the Japanese suicide pilots of World War II and “contemporary suicide bombers” (p. 298).  Tanaka enlightens the reader to the possible psychological reasoning behind these suicidal acts of terrorism and explores the similarities and differences between the two.  At the end of the piece Tanaka draws the conclusion that the bombing of civilians by the military are just as much acts of terrorism as the actions of the kamikaze pilots and suicide bombers.  

Tanaka starts off his article with several statistics which sets an informative tone and instils confidence in his audience.  He comes across as well studied and believable.  The tone changes as he moves through his writing to a more emotionally charged style.  Tanaka stops using statistical information; he gives a strong personal opinion which is not wholly based on facts. 

Different “psychological themes” are described for explanation of the kamikaze pilots’ motives for participating in these suicidal missions, such as: “praise and honor to their parents”, “strong solidarity with their flight-mates”, and “a lack of an image of the enemy” (p. 296-297).  This successfully demonstrates a different perspective of a Japanese suicide pilot; one in which we see the human rather than the monster. 

Tanaka’s comparisons of Kamikaze pilots with suicide bombers show several similarities, for example: “In both cases, concrete images of the victims may be lacking in the attackers’ mind, thus the actions of killing others becomes ritualised” (p. 298).  The two acts of terrorism are shown to be on a similar level.

In the last paragraph Tanaka gets his main point across to the reader.  These suicide missions are atrocious acts of terrorism, but so are the bombings of civilians that are considered “legitimate military operations” in countries such as Iraq (p. 300).

 Is it possible that Canada and the U.S.A. commit acts of terrorism?           

Tanaka, Y. (2008). Japan’s kamikaze pilots and contemporary suicide bombers.  

In Ackley, K., Blank, G., & Hume, S. (Eds). Perspectives on contemporary

 issues. (pp. 294-300). Toronto: Nelson. 

A More Prosperous World

Thomas Friedman discusses outsourcing in his 2004 article “30 Little Turtles.”  The article is short and to the point yet gives a fairly convincing argument for the outsourcing of work to other countries.  Friedman uses language and personal stories effectively, pathos being his rhetorical appeal.  As successful as his use of pathos is, the article would perhaps benefit from the use of added factual information.

Friedman (2008) sets a positive tone with his language choices; for example, when he writes about “these incredibly enthusiastic young Indians preparing for their call center jobs” (p. 176).  This promotes the reader to feel that maybe outsourcing is a good thing seeing as these people are so eager.  Friedman uses other words like “pride”, “liberated”, “happy”, “self-confidence, dignity and optimism” to reinstate these feelings of sympathy in the reader (p. 176-177).

Friedman shares several stories of individuals who have been strongly affected by their jobs gained through outsourcing.  He introduces these individuals by name and writes a quote from each of them that captures the feelings of hope and positivity that these jobs have provided.  The personal glimpses into the lives of these young Indians help to convey Friedman’s purpose.  A couple of paragraphs later Friedman discloses a conversation he had with several young Palestinians.  These men have no jobs and are in agreement that they are “suicide bombers in waiting” (p. 177).  Their lack of hope is frightening and such a stark contrast to the optimism of the Indians.

While Friedman makes a good case for outsourcing of work to less fortunate countries, he does not support his own claim that outsourcing will make “a safer world for our own 20-year-olds” (p. 177).  To justify this claim he requires strong statistical information that indicates a correlation between lack of jobs and terrorism affecting American youths.  There is no example of this in his otherwise convincing article.

What kind of negative impacts affect the countries that outsource work to developing countries?


Friedman, T. (2008). 30 Little Turtles.  In Ackley, K., Blank, G., & Hume, S. (Eds).  

    Perspectives on contemporary issues. (pp. 176-177). Toronto: Nelson. 

A Sad End to an Amazing Life

             Jim Holt’s article “Code-breaker” was published in the February 2006 issue of The New Yorker.  The article takes a look at the mysterious life and death of research scientist Alan Turing.  Holt attempts to convince his reader of the possibility that Turing’s death could have been a murder rather than a suicide.  There are instances of both pathos and ethos in Holt’s piece but neither of these is actually persuasive.

While there may be a question of murder, no strong examples or clues are fully convincing.  Turing was supposedly killed by ingesting an apple laced with cyanide.   Two examples in Holt’s (2008) article refer to Turing’s fascination with apples being used as an instrument of death (p.339 & 346).  By pointing this out Holt is likely convincing his audience that Turing did kill himself.   Holt also points out that “the only person who seems to have had doubts was Turing’s mother”.  Turing’s mother may not be the most credible source as any mother would have a hard time believing that their child would purposefully kill himself. 

The use of the emotional appeal is apparent in the idea of Turing as “a gay martyr”. Holt relies on David Leavitt’s biography of Turing a fair amount in this article.  Leavitt is known to use gay protagonists in his writing and is obviously sensitive towards Turing’s struggles as a homosexual man living in a period of non-acceptance. 

Near the end of the article Holt asks if Turing’s death was a form of martyrdom (p.346).   “Was it the perfect suicide....or, more improbably, the perfect murder?”(p.346)  At this point it is hard for the reader to form an opinion one way or another.  Holt’s article brings up more questions than it does answers.

Whether Turing’s death was a suicide, murder, or even an accident, his life was adversely affected by the homophobic mentality of society.  There has obviously been progression in this area, but has this mentality changed completely to acceptance of a person’s choice of sexuality?

Holt, J. (2008). Code-breaker.  In Ackley, K., Blank, G., & Hume, S. (Eds).  

Perspectives on contemporary issues. (pp. 337-346). Toronto: Nelson. 

This Has to Change

Jennifer Turpin enlightens the readers of “Women Confronting War” to the brutal roles that women play in war.  Turpin unveils the truth about women as the casualty, the refugee, the sexually exploited and violated, and the victim of domestic violence.  In this piece Turpin aims to make it clear that women are hugely impacted by war and that gender inequality still exists and could even be a cause of war (Turpin, p.324).  The intention of “Women Confronting War” is to blow away the assumptions that a number of people have in regards to women and their function in war.

Turpin effectively uses ethos in this piece of writing.  The introductory head note indicates that Turpin is highly credible considering her position at the University of San Francisco as well as her associated faculty position at the European University Center for Peace Studies.  She is an educated woman with a clear, concise writing style.  In each section Turpin brings up pertinent aspects of the effects of war on woman and uses credible sources to support her cause. 

The first aspect of her argument is the issue of wartime casualties.  Turpin states that women as civilians have a higher chance of being killed in war than soldiers do.  At first it seems a ridiculous statement, but the statistics that she uses to support this claim generate a compelling argument.  “While 50 percent of World War II’s casualties were civilians..... by 1990 it was a staggering 90 percent” (Turpin, p.325).

Another significant point that Turpin brings up is the fact that woman and girls make up four-fifths of the refugees displaced by war (Turpin, p.325).  This certainly puts the relationship between women and war in to perspective.  How could a person reasonably suggest that women are being “protected by “their” men” through war when they read this overwhelming statistic (Turpin, p.324)?

The example that I find the most powerful and disturbing is fact that numerous acts of sexual violence are committed during war.  At this point in the piece, Turpin makes use of the rhetorical appeal pathos.  She uses stories and situations to prove her argument that gender inequality is still in existence.  We are told of mass rapes for the purpose of ethnic cleansing, female political activists being “raped repeatedly by multiple rapists”, and even a twelve year old girl being raped by several United States Marines (Turpin, p.326).  The response of military personnel could easily be mistaken for acceptance of this brutal treatment of women, and even more so of wartime prostitution.

Turpin successfully impresses upon her reader the impact of war on women and the great need for gender equality.

War impacts women in astounding ways.  What can be done to achieve gender equality in the context of war?

Reference:
Turpin, J. (n.d.) Women confronting war.  In Ackley, K., Blank, G., & Hume, S. (Eds).    
             Perspectives on contemporary issues. (pp. 324-329). Toronto: Nelson

Media Coverage: Eye Opening or Misleading?

Gary Kleck brings up some very well thought out points regarding violence and the media in his essay “There Are No Lessons to Be Learned from Littleton”.  Kleck states that regulations and solutions cannot be based on freak occurrences of violence akin to Littleton as they are generally immaterial and could possibly produce difficulties.  Throughout the essay Kleck maintains that it is inaccurate to try to find a reason for violent crime by using out of the ordinary acts of violence, as each occurrence is quite different in detail.  Kleck also points out that one of the repercussions of mass shootings in schools is a surge of emotion and fear in our society; the media plays on these feelings of horror and a media whirlwind ensues.

Kleck brings up the fact that recent trends do not support the media’s reports that gun violence is growing.  This is an effective example as people who read or watch the media coverage may easily get the impression that this is an emergent issue.  By giving six different examples that indicate a decline in gun violence and mass murders, Kleck does not leave much room for disagreement. 

It is also difficult to disagree with Kleck’s point that finding a solution for these bizarre occurrences of gun violence is not necessarily helpful as each occurrence differs in aspect.  For example: in each mass shooting that Kleck writes about, all of the gunmen acquired their guns in different ways.  How is it possible to solve this problem by adding more gun control if there is no obvious flaw in the current gun control regulations? 

Kleck’s use of the appeal to reason is very successful.  He uses relevant facts and does not rely on the use of emotion to persuade his reader.  Using pathos in his essay would not be all that effective considering one of the points he makes is in regards to the emotion that is played upon by the media in the aftermath of these tragedies.  By choosing to use a logical argument he increases the validity of this point.

Kleck uses a clear and informative writing technique in this essay.  His use of language proves that he is both intelligent and well-informed.  I found his argument convincing and his ideas thought-provoking.

 How important is it to question the portrayal of events in the media and the motives behind those portrayals?

Unconvinced

Sissela Bok’s excerpt titled “Aggression:  The Impact of Media Violence” is not very convincing.  Bok uses the Logos appeal, however, not effectively.  After reading the title I expected to read solid evidence regarding the issue of media violence and its contribution to aggression.  I found that Bok’s thesis was somewhat convoluted and more of a discussion as opposed to a statement.  Bok attempts to convince the reader of the correlation between aggression and media violence, but her sources do not come across as credible or factual. 

The first instance of this is Bok’s use of John Grisham as an example.  Grisham’s friend was murdered by a young woman and her boyfriend after the couple repeatedly watched Oliver Stone’s film Natural Born Killers.  Grisham reacts by writing “in protest against the film” and proposing legal action by relating films to breast implants as being “products.”  Bok goes on to write about the fact that Grisham himself has written many books that have been converted to films and contain violence.  This gives the impression that Grisham’s protest is based purely on emotions which does not help Bok’s cause. 

Bok chooses to use psychiatrist Brandon S. Centerwall’s studies of “white homicide” in this piece.  These studies show that violence has risen with the launch of television.  This also is a weak example as “his conclusions have been criticized for not taking into account other factors, such as population changes during the time period studied, that might also play a role in changing crime rates.”

While this piece made me think about the issue of aggression and how it relates to the portrayal of violence in the media, I am not convinced one way or another. 

Can television be properly viewed as increasing aggression when you consider the numerous historical examples of violence and aggression?  Consider Ghengis Khan and many others.

Africa is Beseeching Our Help

Stephen Lewis’ “Pandemic: My Country is on its Knees” is gut wrenching.  In this piece, Lewis tells us about the transformation of Africa, a continent that he is madly in love with.  This land that was so full of promise and hope when Lewis first happened upon it is currently being demolished by AIDS.  Africa is being ripped apart by this pandemic and the rest of the world is not doing near enough to help. 

I believe that Lewis’ goal in writing this is to open people’s eyes to what is really happening throughout a large part of Africa.  He is trying to impart passion and fire into his readers. Lewis does this in a variety of ways.

Firstly, Lewis’ descriptions convey so much horror.  Some of what he writes sounds downright sinister, for example when he is describing the adult medical wards in a hospital in Malawi.  He refers to it as a scene from “Dante’s Inferno” which is an allegorical journey through hell.  This is an extremely effective course of action; it is shocking and thought provoking.

Lewis then brings to his reader’s attention the fact that some countries are actually contributing to this massive catastrophe.  He explains that there is an overwhelming shortage of medical professionals in many parts of Africa.  Many African doctors are being “poached” by nations that have more money and better working conditions, leaving the HIV infected people in Africa with poor care, if any. 

Though Africa is facing a medical crisis of epic proportions, Lewis reminds us that all is not lost.  He writes about several programs, including PMTCT and MSF, that are making a difference. Africa is in desperate need of the whole world’s help and Lewis is very successful in persuading me of that point.  I imagine that each person who reads this lecture of Lewis’ will realize the magnitude of Africa’s dilemma and will want to do something about it.   

What can our country do to help countries in dire need like Africa?

I’m not sure I know what’s really going on

Margaret Atwood’s “Letter to America” is written to a country that has lost their identity.  Reading this letter I felt sad.  It is as if she is speaking to a close friend who has become someone else, someone completely different from the person she once believed them to be.  America has impacted her in so many ways and shared countless memories.   Atwood is urging self reflection because the countries choices are destructive to themselves and also to the rest of the world.  

In the first part of her letter, Atwood reminisces about what America used to be.  This larger than life nation produced so many musical, literary, and big screen heroes.  This country, birthplace of the sought after American dream, “stood up for freedom, honesty, and justice.”

Though Atwood is hesitant and feels embarrassed she goes on to let America know exactly what she thinks about the degradation of a country that was once supreme.  She does not mince words when she writes “You’re gutting the constitution.”  Freedom has turned into your private property being searched without permission.  Honesty is becoming unrecognizable.  When a nation has to wonder if what they are told by their leaders is actually true, something is wrong.  It’s hard to see the justice in people being jailed or worse without any basis.  America is drowning itself in debt and “torching” their economy. 

To me, the best example that Atwood brings up is her suggestion that America could end up going the root of the USSR.  It seems like a slap in the face to say that America could become the very thing they once hated and stood against. 

In the last paragraph Atwood offers this forlorn country hope for redemption.   She encourages America to remember what it used to stand for and to invoke the spirits of the heroes that shaped this country in such a positive way.

Has Canada lost its identity in any way?