Choosing is both a blessing and a curse as described in this chapter by Barry Schwartz. Many believe that being able to choose things for ourselves ultimately leads to us being more happy but that’s not always the case. Nowadays there’s an overwhelming amount of choices for us. There’s so many options that it create stress. Choosing what we want for a career, who we want to be with romantically, even something as simple as what do we want for dinner. When we have so many options it can be overwhelming to think about if we are making the right choice. Like with modern dating. With the people we are now able to be exposed to through a combination of online dating, school, work, the option for a romantic partner are endless leaving us to wonder could I have made a better choice? Who else is out there that might be even better for me? I know I’ve certainly had this mindset at times.

Another factor that plays into choice and happiness is are social relationships. We choose who we want to surround ourselves which can ultimately have effects on other choices we make. For example, we may want to make a choice that our friends or family don’t agree with but decide not to because we don’t want to be judged by them. Society holds a lot of weight over choices we make because there’s an invisible pressure on us to make the “right” choices. The same thing can happen with having to choose a career path. As a child parents tell us we can be whatever we want to be. Then as we learn about all the different choices for careers and it puts this pressure of “am I making the right choice” on us.

Having choices and happiness don’t always go hand in hand. Sometimes having fewer choices can be less of a burden on us than having unlimited ones. For example, kids living in poorer countries are seen playing with their friends on the street and aren’t concerned if they have the latest iphone or computer. They don’t have as many options in terms of ways to entertain themselves and yet you see they are content and happy. Having unlimited options can cause depression but how can we solve this issue of choice when options are still ever expanding. I honestly don’t know the real answer to this.

Donald L Hollowell was an African American civil rights attorney and an unsung hero of the civil rights movement. During his early years as an attorney, Hollowell was assigned to defend an African American by the name of Willie Nash who was accused of murdering a white woman’s boyfriend and then raping her. Mr. Nash had preferred a white attorney which makes sense because during this time of segregation what white person would take a black attorney seriously? The trial went on with the “evidence” that was provided against Mr. Nash such as the murder weapon, Nash’s confession, and a black witness who says Nash was at the murder scene. The prosecution even waved the woman’s underwear in front of the entirely white jury. The evidence was so blatantly biased but no one cared because this was a white woman accusing a black man of murder and rape. Thankfully his attorney, Mr. Hollowell, was able to get a mistrial because the prosecutor couldn’t remember the black witness’s name and refers to him as “that fat n****r.” When that was said Mr. Hollowell jumped up and said “a negro is entitled to respect as any other person!” The judge agreed and declared a mistrial. During the 2 months it took to set up the retrial Mr. Hollowell was able to better prepare his defense. During the retrial he asks the head of the crime lab if he ever found and blood on the alleged murder weapon which the head of the crime lab replies no he did not. The police who were put on the stand had multiple conflicting stories. Mr. Hollowell even puts the defendant on the stand to ask him about his confession. Nash tells everyone that the confession was beaten out of him. When Mr. Hollowell goes to question the alleged victim he finds out that she had a second boyfriend who left town after the murder of her first boyfriend. Finally, when looking at the evidence of rape none could be found anywhere on the alleged victim’s body. Because of all this evidence that Mr. Hollowell presents in Nash’s defense the court rules in favor of the defendant and Nash goes free.

Another case that Mr. Hollowell worked on was the case of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the prominent leaders of the civil rights movement was arrested because he was on probation for not switching his drivers license from Alabama to Georgia in the 90 days provided. When he was a part of a sit in police arrested him saying it violated his probation and sentenced him 12 months to a chain gang. Martin Luther King, Jr. calls Mr. Hollowell to help him fight this prison sentence. When Mr. Hollowell got to the jail to try and get him released he was told that Martin Luther King, Jr. was moved 300 miles to the state prison in Reidsville, Georgia which is notoriously bad. Mr. Hollowell held a press conference and was able to get Martin Luther King, Jr. released shortly after. After he was released, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to the press during which a famous photo was taken of the moment and Mr. Donald L Hollowell can be seen off to the side quietly in the background.

These stories that Malcom Gladwell detail in this podcast are very important to bring up and revisit for so many different reasons. It makes sense that nowadays African Americans feel like the justice system is rigged against them because there are these cases and so many others as evidence to prove it. Unfortunately, not so many African Americans were as lucky as Nash to have an attorney like Mr. Hollowell that were able to set them free. Without Mr. Hollowell the civil rights movement might not have had Martin Luther King, Jr. to lead it and may have not have been as successful which is terrifying to think about. People like Mr. Hollowell were the backbone of the civil rights movement and need even more recognition for their roles in it.

Generating Sympathy For A Cure

             There are a lot of different awareness campaigns out for a variety of different reasons. As well as trying to spread awareness for various things these campaigns are also meant to make money for what they are bringing awareness to. That is the case with this Muscular Dystrophy ad that was put up in bus stops, train stations, and grocery stores all throughout the UK. Muscular Dystrophy is an incurable genetic disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass that can affect people of all ages. This disease is rare so awareness campaigns like this are crucial for raising awareness and funds for more research to find better ways to treat it and hopefully find a cure one day. The image does a good job at creating sympathy by showing a boy in a wheelchair who suffers from the disease but could be reconstructed by changing the background to create even more sympathy causing people to donate money.

             This black and white colored Muscular Dystrophy ad relies heavily on pathos to get its intended purpose of raising awareness and money across to the person viewing it. When someone first looks at the photo, they see a child sitting in a wheelchair on a country dirt road without a smile on his face. By using a child in this image, it evokes pathos causing people to be even more sympathetic towards the disease rather than if they had used an adult in the image. To emphasize even more that this is a child suffering from this disease, there is a cartoon smiley face that takes up the entirety of the wheel on his wheelchair. Having this on his wheel keeps reminding the viewer that this is an innocent child having to deal with the disease in his day to day life. The absence of color and a smile on his face adds a gloomy and longing affect to the image indicating he suffers from Muscular Dystrophy. This point is made even more by showing him in a wheelchair and having the text written above his head in childish writing saying, “He’d love to walk away from this poster too.” This image was put up in places such as bus stops and train stations where people could just walk by it and continue with their day. Showing the child in a wheelchair combined with this text can help cause guilt in someone who might normally just walk by images like this without thinking twice. Finally, at the bottom of the image in small font, there is a link to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign website with the child’s name in the link along with the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign logo. Combining all these aspect in this image causes a person to feel bad for this child which is the point of this ad. If a person feels bad that a child is suffering, they are more inclined to visit the website to donate towards this cause. Using pathos in images such as this one is a great technique for raising money.

             The image does a good job evoking pathos to gain sympathy in order to raise money but reconstructing the image with a more relatable background could benefit the cause even more. Currently, the boy is sitting in his wheelchair on a country dirt road with nothing but grass and some bushes in the background. This setting seems unusual for a kid to be in and can cause some disconnect for the person viewing it. This image could be reconstructed by putting the boy in a playground setting with kids playing around him. Having kids playing around him while he looks directly at the person viewing the image without a smile on his face creates even more sympathy from the person viewing it. It shows that while other kids are playing around him on playground items such as slides and swings, he is stuck in his wheelchair not able to do the things “normal” kids are able to do. It helps emphasize that while he is not physically alone he can still feel isolated by having this disease. Adding these aspects into the image enhances it even more causing people to want to help this child by donating to this cause.

             Awareness images for rare chronic illnesses such as this one are very important in raising money to help find a cure for the disease. Rare diseases such as Muscular Dystrophy are usually underfunded leaving people suffering from the disease stranded without enough research dedicated to finding a cure. A lot of the time chronic illness ads rely on being inspirational in order to raise money which some people with chronic illnesses do not like. Typically, images featuring someone with a chronic illness tend to be all about inspiring the person viewing it by showing how happy someone with a chronic illness can be. Showing an inspiring image where someone is struggling with a chronic illness but is still happy makes a viewer feel inspired to want to do more in their lives by helping whatever cause the image is promoting. This Muscular Dystrophy ad takes a different approach of sympathy rather than inspiration which is another good technique for raising money. As someone who suffers from Muscular Dystrophy I believe either technique is beneficial for raising money for the disease. It is important to be able to get more funds for research on the disease in order to find a cure and this image provides a good way to reach that goal.

In 2009 there was this bizarre thing that happened called the Toyota Sudden Acceleration Scandal. What started this was when a man driving a Toyota car with 2 other passengers in it called 911 saying his car suddenly started to accelerate and he couldn’t get it to stop. They eventually went through an intersection where they crashed into another car, spun out, and went into a ravine. All passengers were killed in the crash. This phone call went viral on media outlets causing other people to come forward with horrifying stories of their accelerators getting stuck in their Toyota as well.

In this podcast Malcom Gladwell describes how so many different entities, including the government, weighed in with their opinions on how this was all Toyota’s fault. People blamed an over sized floor mat as the reason the 911 callers accelerator got stuck down. Other people theorized that the coding in some cars could be bad causing the car to keep accelerating. A good point that Gladwell brings up that not many other sources do is that almost all the cars that these events were happening in were loner cars or cars the driver wasn’t familiar with. This point is important because it leads into the fact that most of these sudden accelerations can simply be explained by human error. In these incidents people panic causing them not to think straight so when they think they’re pressing the break to stop they’re actually pressing the accelerator all the way down. There’s a black box in cars that even say that this is the case. That almost everyone in these situations didn’t even try to hit the break.

So even with these facts why do people still believe that it’s all Toyota’s fault? Well as with all incidents that happen the blame has to be placed somewhere so naturally the media and government placed it all on Toyota. I mean at the time the media couldn’t have accused the person driving the car of human error. Because this person died the media could’ve been ridiculed for even suggesting that so they placed the blame on a much easier target. Toyota. Without facts or proper evidence the media blamed this company for releasing these cars. The attorney general at the time, Eric Holder even chimed in saying how much Toyota was at fault. As a result of all this blame Toyota took a huge hit financially. Facts slowly started to surface showing that Toyota might not be at fault but it was too late. The damage was already caused by the media. This bizarre case shows how the media can exaggerate stories to make it seem one way instead of reporting in a balanced way. This is so dangerous because a lot of people take what the media says at face value and doesn’t do more in depth research. This particular case shows how influential the media can be which is scary to think about all the other ways they have influenced people’s thinking.

Rhetorical Situation:

This image was created by a Muscular Dystrophy Campaign in the UK in an attempt to raise awareness for the disease and to get donations for more research. It was put up in train stations, bus stops, and shopping centers throughout the UK. The message of the image is intended to make people stop and think about this disease before continuing their routine. It relies heavily on pathos to do this. By using a child to represent the disease rather than an adult creates more sympathy from someone looking at it. The absence of color creates more of a gloomy look to enhance the sadness someone might have living with this disease. The child is looking directly at you with an intense look and no smile to grabs someone’s attention but the mood is slightly lightened by his large wheelchair wheel having a cartoon smiley face on it. Finally him being in a wheelchair combined with the text “He’d love to walk away from this poster too” adds another element of pathos to the image. Reading this text while seeing him in a wheelchair compels viewers to take a second longer to analyze the image another time rather than quickly walking past it like most do with ads.

This image is powerful due to it creating sympathy for a child living with this disease. Seeing a child usually leads to people wanting to donate to help which is the goal of this ad.

“As A Result”

Throughout the chapter “As A Result” the authors describe the importance of tying writing together so it feels less choppy. In other words, writing should keep a momentum going by continuing to make connections to what has previously been said in the text. If writing lacks connections it forces the reader to continually have to go back and make the connections on their own. Using transition words are a good way to ensure your writing flows seamlessly. Transition words include “in other words,” “in fact,” “for example,” and “nevertheless.” Using words like this help connect all the moving parts of your writing. Other ways that help keep writing flowing are by using pointing words such as this or theirs, repeating key terms and phrases throughout the text, and finally repeating yourself with a difference.

Ain’t So/Is Not

During this chapter the authors talk about how academic writing doesn’t necessarily mean setting aside your own voice. When writing academically a lot of people feel like their own voice gets lost in it due to feeling like you have to be so formal. It is possible though to have a mixture of academic and colloquial styles throughout the text though. Doing this can help connect to your readers on a more personal level as well as intellectual. It is possible to overuse informal writing so it’s important to consider who the target audience is.

“But Don’t Get Me Wrong”

Metacommentary is an important element of writing as the authors detail in this chapter. Metacommentary is used to clarify and elaborate on what you have already written. In other words, it can help add length and depth to your writing. If you fail to add depth to your writing it’s possible for readers to mistake what you’re saying or fail to see the significance of your overall argument. Titles can even be used as metacommentary. Furthermore using metacommentary can enable yourself to more out of your idea than you originally thought possible.

“He Says Contends”

Lastly in this chapter the authors explain ways to revise your text using templates they previously explained in their book. Revising is a crucial stage of writing that can be very challenging. While reading what you have written it is important to ask yourself questions such as “How do you represent what others say” and “Have you tied it all together?” If the answer is no to these questions then you must go back and revise what you have said in order to make what you have written more comprehensive.

I found this chapter to be the most helpful of them all. Having the authors mention the importance of pointing words but to make sure they can be linked back to what you’re saying was very helpful because I feel like I’m guilty of doing that from time to time.

In the chapter “Having It His Way” the authors Carrie Packwood Freeman and Debra Merskin detail the different ways fast food companies use the connection between masculinity and meat as a marketing tool. Meat is typically viewed as more manly whereas vegetables are linked more to women. Most men feel this pressure to be masculine out of fear of being ridiculed by others. The authors use the example of a man checking out of a store with tofu and vegetables while the guy behind him is buying a full rack of ribs. The guy buying the ribs probably doesn’t even notice the guy in front of him buying non meat items but this pressure to be masculine gets to the guy who is buying the vegetables instead of meat. Fast food companies are well aware of this need for men to feel masculine and use it to their advantage. Examples of this are companies like Burger King using taglines such as “Eat like a man, man.” Or when fast food companies insert women in their commercial as silent, submissive figures comparable to a piece of meat.

Viewing meat as more masculine and comparing women to pieces of meat is a stereotype that has been around for a long time. Fast food companies use this stereotype and will do whatever it takes to sell their food and make money. The evidence of that is clear when you look at their marketing campaigns geared towards what many people view as masculine traits. What’s interesting is that most people, male or female, aren’t outraged by this or may not even notice this marketing tool fast food companies use. Sure if something was incredibly obvious and blatantly sexist people might be more outraged but both genders are generally just accepting of this stereotype fast food companies use. “People on both sides of the stereotype tend to agree with the stereotype itself” (Prejudice and Discrimination: Crash Course Psychology #39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P0iP2Zm6a4 )

The fact that most people tend to agree with this stereotype helps fast food chains tremendously. It’s not a bad thing that fast food companies use this stereotype, after all they didn’t create it themselves. They are just merely trying to sell their foods by any means necessary. As the world evolves and adapts I believe so will the ads marketing companies create. We are already seeing that with companies inserting nontraditional couples into ads or even those with disabilities. Companies want to do whatever it takes to make money and will perpetuate whatever view the world has at that time to continue to sell their products and foods.

Yes/No/Okay, But:

In this chapter Graff and Birkenstein talk about the “I say” part or writing. After you have explained in your text what others are saying about the subject you are writing about you can move on to the different ways to respond explained in this chapter. The first way you can respond is to disagree with what others have said but it’s important to explain why rather than just saying something like “Although this person believes this I think they’re wrong”. The second way to respond is to agree but add something different to the conversation. Ways you can do this are by pointing out some unnoticed evidence or citing some personal experiences that can enrich the subject. The last way to respond is to agree and disagree with what “They Say” about the subject. Examples of this are “Although I agree up to a point, I still insist…”

And Yet:

It’s important for readers to be able to distinguish what you are saying from what others are saying in your text. You can do this by using voice markers as described in this chapter such as putting a reference to the other person’s argument in your own sentence’s. Using “I” statements in your writing is another helpful way to identify what you are saying from what others are saying even though it is usually discouraged in academic writing.

Skeptics May Object:

Planting a naysayer in your text is a way enhance your credibility in what you are arguing. Explaining what critics might object to in your writing and then giving answers to those objections can help convince those who might be more on the fence to agree with your side. When you choose to insert a naysayer into your text you want to be sure to represent their views fairly while answering them persuasively. If you seem to be biased when explaining a naysayer view it can alienate those who don’t agree with you which is who you probably want to reach the most with your argument. In some cases you might find as you’re doing this process that the objection is still more convincing than the overall argument you are presenting. If this happens it’s okay for you to reverse your position completely in your writing.

So What? Who Cares?

Finally, you want to make sure you explain why what you are saying matters. To do this ask the “Who Cares? So What?” question in your writing. Identifying groups that have a stake in what you’re writing about and mentioning them can help with answering the “Who Cares” part of the question. Answering the “So What” part of the question is one of the most crucial parts of a text. When answering this question you link your writing to a larger conversation that people already view as important.

These chapters helped a lot for my understanding on how to write a better argument and overall text. I found the different ways to respond especially helpful along with inserting a naysayer into your text. I can see how inserting a naysayer’s view and answering their objection logically really helps your credibility as a writer.

I chose the article titled “How Taylor Swift Played The Victim for a Decade And Made Her Entire Career” by Ellie Woodward. In this article the author tells us how Taylor Swift has been playing the victim long before the Kanye West incident of him interrupting her on stage during her Video Music Award acceptance speech. The author highlights that she has been playing the victim since the start of her career by writing about all the ways boys had wronged her in past relationships. https://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/how-taylor-swift-played-the-victim-and-made-her-entire-caree

Rhetorical Situation:

Authors Background: Ellie Woodward is a celebrity article editor for Buzzfeed UK. She has written several different celebrity articles including Taylor Swift.

Target Audience: Young adults who have an interest (good or bad) in Taylor Swift with the secondary audience being fans of Taylor Swift.

Context: This article was posted on January 31st, 2017. This was 2 months after Taylor Swift’s album ‘reputation’ was released and during the secondary feud Taylor was having with Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian West.

Argumentative Elements:

Main Argument: How Taylor Swift has created her entire career off of playing the victim.

Claims: Taylor Swift’s innocence contributed to her common theme of playing a victim.

Presenting herself as a victim of the betrayal of famous exes fueled the media.

Manipulating timelines in her relationship/breakup history in order to make it seem like songs on her album were about different celebrities to fuel sales.

Evidence:
Swift as the victim of the behavior of a bad boyfriend, or rejection by her crush. This is a common trope in teen pop music, but for Swift it became the very foundation of her posture as victim.

When she and Joe Jonas split in 2008, Swift went on primetime TV to assign the blame firmly to him. Speaking on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, she said: “When I find the right person, I’m not going to be able to remember the boy who broke up with me over the phone in 25 seconds when I was 18.”

The timeline of her relationship with Harry Styles and when her song ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ who she claims is about Styles don’t align. Swift revealed that the idea for the song came to her six months before her scheduled writing sessions – around January 2012. This was at least three months before she’d even met Styles. But the video for the single suggested clearly that it was about him, even using a lookalike with an identical tattoo.

The definition of evidence is “The available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true of valid.” In other words evidence is some sort of proof proving something to be true. When you look at the definition of evidence it seems simple to understand on the surface but there are so many layers in how we perceive evidence given to us. In her chapter “Evidence” Kathryn Schultz talks about the ways human cognition can play a role in how we perceive evidence, inductive reasoning and confirmation bias being some examples. Inductive reasoning is the way we use logic to reach a probable conclusion based on past experiences and confirmation bias is to seek out or ignore evidence to fit our beliefs. Kathryn Shultz gives an example of these by telling a story about how a woman used her inductive reasoning she believed the Orion constellation is a summer constellation and should only be seen in the summer. Even though a friend pointed it out to her in the winter this woman still wholeheartedly believed it to be a summer constellation even with evidence to the contrary. Now this example is a less harmful one but there are others out there that have a much more harmful effect. Take politics for example. During election year there’s a presidential candidate from the republican and democrat side and during the presidential run each side is constantly presenting evidence on why the other person shouldn’t be president. Most of the time the evidence could be considered pretty sound but because of our confirmation bias we choose to keep insisting it’s not true without counterevidence. Our current president is a good example of that. He can be accused of something and there could be evidence proving it but he will just say “false” or “untrue” without giving us any counterevidence. Confirmation bias can also cause use to blatantly ignore evidence. You see this happening when people try to debate with news anchors. The news anchor will question their beliefs and present evidence against them and the person responding will choose not to answer certain questions that present evidence against their beliefs. This is a dangerous thing happening in the political climate especially. Evidence should be evident but human cognition can get in the way of logically processing the evidence. The best way to try avoid falling into these patterns of perceiving evidence is to keep an open mind and be aware of your own confirmation bias.