Introduction

As much as people complain about have to write papers and making speeches, there is not any other assignment that can help prepare people for their futures as much as essays and speeches. In modern society, nothing is more important than communication skills. These skills can only be honed through writing and public speaking. The ability to communicate is something that can separate the successful from the unsuccessful, the employed from the unemployed. Although today's modern society puts value on fast, short communication, rhetoric, pathos, logos, ethos, kairos, and exigence are more important than ever. Rhetoric allows people to do the three most important types of discourse: inform, motivate or persuade. Pathos can be especially helpful, as it appeals to a person’s emotions.  Logos appeals to logic.  If an argument does not make sense, it is not likely that anyone will agree with it. Ethos refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of a writer or speaker.  Without tone and style, ethos hardly exists.  Even if the argument is sound, if the audience does not trust the writer or speaker, the argument is pointless. Kairos is a word meaning the right or opportune moment. Possessing a skill like this can make an argument stronger, but it could also make it worse. Lastly, exigence is the reason discourse even happens, as it is the issue, problem or situation that causes someone to speak.  The job market is competitive and the more skills someone can demonstrate, the more likely they are to be successful.   

Communication is vital to any career path one chooses.  Effective communication can only occur through intelligent discourse, and by having control of these different elements, especially when it comes to writing and public speaking, success is not far off.

Link to Keirstyn Marcucci's e-Portfolio

What I've Learned

For our last post, I decided to stay away from what we did in class or read in the book. I thought it would be more appropriate to make this reflective.

Personally, I feel I learned a lot this semester in LA 101 H, and I don't just mean in terms of "rhetoric" either. Yes, I learned the definitions of pathos, ethos, logos, exigence, along with many other things, but I learned that applying to rhetoric is not all that easy.

The class also let me learn a lot more about the things I love, remember times that I loved, and taught me that sometimes, things may not be great, but work through them and you can have a really awesome project that you're extremely proud of.

I got to write weekly blogs about the place that I grew up and love, and for me, it made me a little less homesick.

I got to talk about how I developed a relationship with the most important man in my life, my step-dad, in my "This I Believe."

I gave and speech and wrote an essay on the place that makes me happiest, Disney World, and share some of my love and excitement about that magical place with the entire class.

I got to make a 10 minute media project on Photoshop, and how it's negative effects are causing an increase in eating disorders, something that I truly care about and have experienced myself (shout out to Molly, we're finally done!)

And next I get to write an essay and give a speech about something I love, the arts.

This class has basically allowed me to talk and write about everything I care about. It's given me the chance to find out so much about my classmates too. What's important to them, their hobbies, and I'll always remember the day we told our awkward moments for the question of the day.

The Media

We've all been there, just sitting on the couch watching some TV,  wishing the commercials were over. Then suddenly you hear "in the arms, of an angel," with the cutest little dog.

I don't know about you, but I reach for the remote as fast as humanly possible and change the channel. I can't tell you the amount of times I've cried watching that commercial, it's like two minutes straight out of hell... but with cute, sad looking animals.

Don't get me wrong, I feel bad. I myself own the world's cutest dog (please, there is no use in arguing with me, I know it's true).  But after doing our projects on ad analysis, I've started to view the commercial as a ploy.  I don't think anyone can really argue that it doesn't draw on pathos... unless you hate animals I guess.

In a way, it's kind of awful that companies abuse these types of images and songs, which draw highly on emotion. Yes, it may be for the greater cause of getting donations, but in a way companies like SPCA are exploiting the animals they are showing.

This led me to think about if the commercial is actually effective.  Yes, our hearts bleed for these animals, but how many people have actually picked up the phone or gone on the computer to donate money? Most of us haven't.

Is it okay for a commercial to use techniques like this solely to bring in money, even if it is for the animal's own good?

Another example of this is the KONY12 video. The video draws on pathos, just like the SPCA commercial.  Millions of people posted about the KONY12 video, but no one actually did anything to solve the problem, a problem that has been going on for years.

We feel awful about these problems, but do nothing to stop it, so is really necessary for these commercials and videos to be made? It doesn't seem like it.

Rhetoric in Music

So it's no secret to a lot of people, even people that I hardly know, that I'm obsessed with country music. I guess I understand why people don't like it, it has very hick tendencies.

But when you put that aside, it really does tell a story. Some are about breakups, some are about marriage, children, drinking beer. Name anything along those lines and there is probably a song about it.

Something that a lot of these songs do are make an argument. They do not necessarily occur in duet form either. Singers sing about trying to convince their ex boy or girlfriend to take them back, or list the reasons why they're wrong, or try to persuade other's to do what they want.

Yes, the songs that focus on these types of persuasive arguments tend to be sad, but they're amazing. Someone especially known for music people can relate to is none other than Taylor Swift. Although I don't consider her country, for some reason that's the branch of music she falls under.

Her songs list the reasons as to why relationships failed, why they worked, or why they should just try them again. They're powerful songs too. She evokes an emotional response without really doing much of anything other than writing down the words in her head. Yet she's amazing at getting those emotions--and those arguments down.  She calls on pathos to help her audience, and the person she is specifically singing to, understand where she is coming from.

She's not the only one that does this though.  Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood's duet "Remind Me" also appeals highly to emotions.  The words, the voices, the music make the song drip with pathos. Not only does create emotions between those singing, but even to other people listening. The song makes you think of the past, and remember things that you sometimes try to forgot (plus they're both beautiful, why wouldn't you want to listen... like seriously take a look at Carrie Underwood).

If you don't fall for Taylor, Brad or Carrie, there has to be something wrong with you.  Because, believe me, if someone was singing those same songs to me, I'd take them back in a heartbeat.

A Little More on Controversy

As I struggled to come up with something to write about this week, I realized that all that I could think about when the topic of LA101H came up was controversy.

I definitely did not think it would be hard to think of a topic for our project.  It was hard to think of something that everyone could really agree was a controversy.  While debating topics with my group, it got me thinking: what exactly defines a controversy?

Dictionary.com defines it as "a prolonged public dispute, or contention; disputation concerning a matter of opinion." So something that the media really harps on; turn on the news and there are ton of these. The second definition was "contention, strife, or argument." This definition basically says it can be anything a person does not agree with.

To me it seems as if these two definitions clash. One says it must be a focus of public dispute, but the other just says it has to just be one simple argument.  I also think that when it comes to public controversies, most people strongly stand on one side; there is less middle ground.

But isn't controversy partially in the eye of the beholder?  Who says that just because one person is offended by something that others will agree? How do controversies really begin?

For some reason, I can't seem to think up any good reasons for these things.  I guess that's part of controversies, they all seem to come out of no where, especially during a year like this: an election year.

I guess part of 2012 will be a constant conversation about controversies about what Democrats vs. Republicans have to say. Although it might not make sense, that just seems to be part of the word.

Controversy is Everywhere

No matter where we are, controversy is all around us. From the littlest things, like if Kim's "marriage" to Kris was real to things that have an effect on the entire nation like the war in Iraq, almost everything done in the public realm turns into some sort of controversy.  The most recent one that seems to be blowing up the news, the internet, Facebook and even Twitter seems to be Obama's birth control mandate.  If you are not familiar with this, here's a clip of him talking about it:

Now I understand that people can be against this. I understand that it is against the beliefs of the Catholic Church.  But I'm sorry, this is a secular society. The church shouldn't have anything to do with it. You heard Obama say it: contraceptives save lives, prevent disease, and save families money. Frankly, more people could benefit from using said contraceptives (yes, I'm talking about you Snooki).

I'm not saying everyone should be for birth control or anything-- you are welcome to have your beliefs and so am I. The point I'm trying to make is that Obama's small decision to mandate something that almost all companies already do created a huge controversy. What is more important than that is the timing. It's an election year, will this hinder him or make him more popular? I think it's a combination of both. He probably gained lots of feminist voters, but may have lost some religious men and women.

It's interesting that such small decisions have the ability to create so much talk. Personally, I think it was a smart step for Obama. In the middle of all of the Republican primaries you really are not hearing too much about Obama. With all of the focus on the Republican party, Obama needed something to get the news talking about him once again. I think he might have done this better than ever expected. A topic like this causes people to take sides, something that really helps controversy along.

Then again, people like to argue, so anything really can be made into a controversy.

Bad Speeches

I know that I absolutely hate public speaking. So when we were given the speech assignment last week, nothing but nerves filled my body. While giving my speech on Thursday, I was pretty sure my nerves were visible.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one to feel this way. I could overhear many people in the class expressing how nervous they were as well. Well good news, the speeches were great. Everyone knew what they were talking about, picked amazing commercials, made eye contact consistently, and kept good body posture.

Even  if you aren't very confident in your performance, at least you can take pride knowing that you are a better public speaker than our former President, George W. Bush:

Politics aside, George W. Bush is a terrible public speaker. He received harsh criticism from almost everyone for his inability to pronounce words, how often he stumbled on words, and his thick accent, which can be extremely hard to understand. Although you can blame some of this on nerves, President Bush probably should have learned to get rid of them after eight years in office.

He is one of the best examples of what not to do in a speech. In order to be successful when publicy speaking, you must make sure you're confident enough in yourself to keep from letting nerves harm your speech.

The only way to guarentee this confidence is practice, practice and more practice. It is also helpful to know when you plan to make eye contact, move your hands and body, and make sure you do not include any words that may trip you up when the nerves do kick in. If necessary, practice in front of a mirror. That definetly helped me when I prepared for our ad analysis speech. Do whatever it takes to have some confidence in yourself. 

So maybe you aren't able to enstill this confidence in yourself. At least you can take pride in knowing that you're probably a better public speaker than a man that once ran our country.