At the start of the quarter, my ideal citizen was a high school girl. She was involved in many things, from cheerleading to volunteering. For books, she liked the classics and a few more modern books. Her music came all from the top 40 list. She lives in an affluent suburb and has a normal nuclear family and her parents are very successful. In short, I gave my ideal citizen all the advantages in life but she also tries to give back.

My new ideal citizen is one who has faced hardships. She will really know the kind of problems that face the world and she will use this knowledge to help her better it. She will not listen to popular music or watch popular shows because she doesn't fit the standard mold. She will not care what others think of her.

I changed my ideal citizen because I thought more about how normal does not mean ideal and often it isn't. The normal person doesn't really help the world much. My first ideal citizen would do some volunteering but I don't think she would cause any real long lasting change in the world. By not being normal, my new ideal citizen can really shake things and get things changed.

I've learned a lot about writing and research through this course. I had never written an analytical essay before like we had to. I've learned that rhetoric is a powerful force and I need to pay more attention to it otherwise, I will be blindly influenced. I can also use the rhetoric to my advantage. So in conclusion, we need to critically think about the issues that surround us, otherwise we will fall into the normal category and be mindless pawns. If we do not critically think, then we will never be able to effectively be activists.

Blog #4

Blog 3

For this assignment, I attended the OUAB movie night which showed Religulous. This movie is very critical of religion as the title implies since it combines religion and ridiculous. Bill Maher travels across the world, interviewing people and most of these people are those who believe in religion. He questions their faith and makes jokes about it.

Maher uses humor very effectively. He interviews people who usually end up saying or looking ridiculous. Some of the people that he interview come off as self absorbed idiots. I think that editing helps him accomplish this. This helps put the audience on his side with their laughter if they aren't offended. And even if an audience member is offended, different religions are questioned so even a staunch Christian or Muslim could find some humor. Maher also uses logic which is an easy target for a topic as faith based as religion. He also talks about his past in a church which establishes his credibility.

The ending appeals to fear. Images of wars and violence are shown as Maher says that religion will be responsible for our demise and that religion has always been our problem. This is very heavy handed and theatrical, which doesn't go with the tone of the rest of the movie. He seems like a preacher himself standing in the place that people believe Jesus will rise and the apocalypse will come. Like religion he doesn't provide much evidence that religion will be the undoing of the world. So I thought it was somewhat hypocritical. I was not convinced by the end of the movie. Even though I am not into religion, I don't think people are wrong for believing and that it will ruin the world. Maher did make valid points that religious fanaticism isn't right and that people do use religion in a way to control others but there are some positive aspects of religion he ignored.

Prompt 2

This poem "Self Evident" was written by Ani DiFranco, a musician who has chosen to be independent of major labels according to her website's biography. Since it was published on the internet and written in all lower caps, it appeals to young people. Especially young people who are not fans of the government since the poem criticizes it so harshly. The imagery of the towers falling effects the emotions of the reader which would be pathos. Saying the president stole the election also rouses feelings. Ethos is also used in the end of the poem; the author calls for the reader to not let the government get away with using the tragedy of September 11th as a tool in their plan, appealing to the ethics of the audience. I find this rhetorical appeal to be somewhat effective, it appeals to my emotions but the logos of the poem is lacking. Comparing the CIA and KGB is a little too overzealous for me. The medium influences my opinion, I read the poem instead of listening to it. If I had listened, the poem probably would have had more influence on me because the voice is more persuasive than text. This analysis was different because different questions are used to examine the rhetoric of the poem.

Prompt #1

My ideal American high school student is a white, blonde female cheerleader who lives in the affluent suburb of Dublin named Lilah Moore. White Americans often do not face the prejudice that other races face and being rich further compounds the advantages. Lilah’s family is the very picture of perfect with her father being a doctor, her mother works in public relations and her brother is a lovable young scamp. Lilah is interested in tutoring urban kids and other volunteering activities because it is highly regarded to be involved in bettering the community and world. This shows that she is generous and not selfish. She is a cheerleader because cheerleaders are often popular within high schools.

All of the music I chose for Lilah was from a list of the most popular music of the moment. The television shows are also popular among teens. Popular music and television shows show that she is in touch with the culture of her peers. Lilah’s favorite books are a mix of highly regarded literature and some of the more popular simplistic stories. Being intelligent is a great boon in this world. Regarding her political views, she is democratic because it is the foremost political view in her area. The quotes that Lilah likes are from Grey’s Anatomy, Julius Caesar, and the Bible. This is a mix of the contemporary, the classics, and religion. Lilah is Christian because it is the most popular religion in this country and being religious is seen as ideal by society. All of the choices I made for Lilah are what I believe that society in general exalts. She is a mix of popularity, teen culture, and the expectations of adults. Lilah is society's ideal, the popular and selfless beautiful teen with the seemingly perfect life.