In Class: Ethical Appeal

I brought in a pack of cigarettes for my ethical appeal, because I figured it goes against some peoples ethics of tobacco use. It can show what type of character that somebody is. For example, someone may judge somebody else based on their tobacco use and say that they are unhealthy or don't care about other peoples health. Advertisements for anti smoking appeal to ethics because alot of times in their advertisements they make the tobacco industry come out as liars. Those truth commercials always have some fact that they say tobacco companies lied about, which is pretty much true so they have a good point, but it appeals to peoples ethics because most people know that smoking is wrong but they still do it, whether its because they can't quit or they just don't care. Even on the box itself, cigarettes have a surgeon's general warning which claims that cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide and that women who are pregnant should not smoke. The point is cigarettes are bad for you and tobacco companies lie about their products so many people choose not to smoke because it goes against their ethics.

People watching at the mall

For my Unit 1 project I've decided to do my analysis at the Hulen Mall.  This seems appealing to me because at this mall there are all sorts of people from different social classes, backgrounds, and of course different races.  They all come together to this one place to get their shopping done.  I chose the mall because I think it will be interesting to see how all these different types of people interact with eachother.  I pretty much just plan on sitting in the middle of the mall and watch and see what people do when they must interact with people that arn't similar to them.  I expect there to be people who change the way they act when they address different types of people.  For example, when a younger person interacts with an elderly person, I think the younger person with start treating the elder with respect and courtesy.  But when they start talking with their friends again I expect them to ease up and start acting goofy or be funny.  I'm a part of some of the target audience, which would be that of college students.  I expect there to be some college students there but we are just a small percentage.  I have pre-conceived ideas that maybe the younger, lower class people will act more disruptive or treat people with less respect (gang member looking people).  However, I will treat all people without bias and just write down everything everyone does so I don't take sides with the people more similar with me.  

In Class: Public Place

I think it would be interesting to go to some public place where people are bargaining alot with eachother. This would show how people have to use different appeals because they have to convince someone to get what they want. An example of a place like this might be somewhere like a flea market or maybe even like a street market. Another place that I think would be interesting, although I wouldn't be able to go there would be the stock exchange floor in like New York. People have to make tough decisions about whether to buy or sell as well as making deals with others, so that would definitly be interesting to see how the traders would interact. Maybe even going to like one of those speed dating things and watching how guys try and convince girls to date them would be pretty humorous and interesting. I really don't know what place I'm going to do, but I'm leaning towards sitting in the mall and watching people. Everyone goes to the mall so its a great place to peoplewatch, and theres always interesting people at the Ft. Worth malls, because there are people there from all sorts of different groups and income classes. The malls in my home town are full of mostly rich people, so it would be interesting to watch how people from completely different backgrounds differ from others.

In class: Deep random thoughts... maybe not so deep

Well today I woke up and ate a bananna. It was kinda nasty because my girlfriend left it sitting in my room for a few days but it was still better then nothing. I'm going to practice this afternoon and reeaally not looking forward to it. But before I have that I have to meet with some lady because I had my internet disabled for some reason that the school decided not to tell me about. I know its about the music downloading I have been doing but I plead the fifth right? This weekend I saw the movie Notorious which was really good, and speaking of which it makes me want to download some of Biggie's songs right now. But probably not a good idea. Almost Friday, thank god this week feels like it has lasted forever. Oh last night I went to the basketball game which was a lot of fun we beat Wyoming by 1 point in overtime which was nuts. For the most part of the second half I was pissed though because we were basically handing them the game. But we pulled through so its all good. I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do this weekend I think I want to go to the zoo. Havent been there since I was little and my gf wants to go. My stomach is growllling right now because that bananna did little to fill me up. I want one of those omelets in the main and some of those really good danish things they always have. The ones with like the apple inside and the cinnamon on top. Mmm. I hope I don't have homework this weekend that would suck, but somehow I have a feeling I'm going to be writing on this page for hw this weekend. I wonder if it's going to be hot this weekend I just had the urge to go play some volleyball or something. I hope so.

Obama in the house

As I was watching Obama's inaugeral speech, I found that he is quite the convincing politician. Throughout his speech he argues his many different points in which he tries to persuade his audience (the whole nation) to join his side of the issues. Of course he uses the three different types of appeal with ease and makes good points to get his arguments across. The first argument that I noticed he used was an argument about the present. He talks about how America is at war with the terrorists in the middle east. He operates this by saying, "a war against a far reaching network of violence and hate. This appeals to the emotions I would say, because many American families have children or husbands and wives in Iraq, which many of them would like to come home. The next argument he uses is an argument to make decisions. He uses this argument when he is talking about the weakened economy. He says that we have a weak economy because of the failure of some, but the real reason is because of the inability to make hard decisions (which I think he is blaming Bush). This means that he is arguing that he will make these hard decisions over the economy. The third is the argument to convince, which he uses when he is talking about all the problems of that America is facing right now. He lists how all of these problems in the past have not been met, but that they will now be met, now that he is in office. He is arguing to convince that he will fix all these problems. The fourth argument Obama uses is an argument about the past. He claims that the past Americans have worked so hard to establish a country where everyone has a chance to be free and live prosperiously. He also argues that 60 years ago a man of his color would not even be given a thought about the position he is in. He moves on to his fifth type of argument, which is an argument about the future. He says we need to "pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and make America again." He is arguing that America needs to pick up the pace again and put us back on top in the global marketplace. I feel like he uses these arguments very effective and he is a powerful speaker. After watching his speech I felt pretty motivated about him being president (I wasn't too fond of him I, I leaned more towards McCain.) He seems like he knows what he is doing and he is quite the effective arguer. Overall, I felt that his speech was very moving and I think he has a great oppurtunity to turn this country around from where it's going.

In Class: Arguing over Argumenting

After reading the assigned reading for the weekend about what arguments, my perspective of arguments has changed a little bit. I found out that pretty much everything really is an argument and basically even a street sign is arguing something. The fact is even when you introduct yourself by saying "Hello, how are you?" that is even arguing that your hello deserves to have a response. Arguments are either convictive or persuasive, your either arguing for the truth or you know the truth and are trying to persuade someone to your side of the truth. Theres an argument to everything, from the clothes that you wear arguing what type of person you are, the things I'm writing on this post is arguing what I'm trying to say about myself. As the book says there really is an argument to everything. The fact that arguments deal with pathos, ethos, and logos was pretty interesting as well, because we have been arguing since Aristotle's time which is alot of time to be aruging over arguments.

In Class: Deep Thoughts on.. Pot

For my in class argument I brought a webpage that states the pros and cons of the legalization of marijuana. I think I chose this because I have done multiple research stuff on this and I have found that both sides of the argument are pretty good. The pros of legalization of pot include its not any more harmful then tobacco or alcohol, it has medical benefits for cancer patients, and it could be a good source of tax revenue for our government who is now in like what trillions of dollars of debt. The negative sides of course include stoned driving would become a hazard, some consider it a stepping stone to harder drugs, and legalization could increase the use of the drug by kids. Although many of the negative sides of legalization have been disproven, such as the fact that it may be a gateway drug. Researchers have found that that is not necessarily true and they have found that people who use harder drugs will use harder drugs no matter if they smoke pot or not, because of the way that person is (personality, addiction, etc.). The pro side of legalization has many more advantages in my opinion because the positive effects outweight the negative effects. FDA will regulate the drug just like alcohol or tobacco products which will make the drug safer. Cancer patients will have their pain eased just from the simple act of haven a few tokes and being able to eat. According to my article pot is a simple act of pleasure like sex and cigarettes so who wouldnt want it to be legalized?

Deep Thoughts on... Me

My name is Jeff and I was born and raised in Plano, TX. I am currently a sophmore and I'm on the TCU swimming team.  I am a CITE (Computer Information Technologies) major with a minor in Business.  I really am just taking this class because my academic advisor told me it's required, but I do enjoy writing a little bit.  I think of myself as a pretty decent writer, but I guess you will be the judge of that.  As to what I want to get out of this course, pretty much just to improve the flow of my essays.  In the past I have mostly written mostly persuasive and comparitive essays, as well as research papers.  Out of school the only writing I do is texting, facebooking, and e-mail.  I'm not really sure how the blog is a form of argument, I guess I am arguing whether or not I'm a good writer.  I chose for my blog to be dark colors because the title is Deep Thoughts, even though I don't think think I have very deep thoughts, haha.  I guess it shows I'm just trying to be ironic.  I think of the blog as pretty much whatever the author wants to say so whatever they want to argue is their deal.

Well other then that I have read and agreed to the course syllabus.