Article of the Week 16: The Bechdel Test

The Bechdel Test is a test for filmmakers to test the role of women in films. There are very few criteria for this test. There must be:

1. two named female characters,
2. who talk to each other,
3. about something other than men.

The idea for this test originally came from a cartoon, but the ideas remain sound. Shouldn't there be films which appeal to females as well as males? While this information on the test did come from a feminist website, the video gained credibility through its examples used. It cited numerous current popular films which did not meet these simple requirements. Today, people view the United States in particular as a place where males and females have equal opportunities, but this test shows that we have a long way to go in order to achieve equality. One element in particular that was effective in the page of the site was the portrayal of feigned boredom. This made the viewer feel that the list was longer than it actually was. In addition, the author gives more resources to the reader for further research. It gives more credence to the potential extremely one-sided views of the feminist organization that produced this video.

Article of the Week 15: IRB Section 3

I really could not stop reading this book. It was extremely compelling in that it showed the dark underbelly of the government. This section was dedicated to Zeitoun's experiences after his arrest by the New Orleans police. Zeitoun was arrested and taken to the city train station where an outdoor prison had been built. Zeitoun was housed in these circumstances with little regards to his medical, dietary or religious needs. Zeitoun was even forced to use part of a can to open up his infected foot to remove a piece of metal which had caused infection.  He was then sent then to a real prison, Hunt, where he was still subjugated to more humiliation and the treatment was only slightly better. After a few weeks there, a missionary called his wife and Kathy finally was able to post bail for Zeitoun after much time spent fighting the judicial system. The book ended mentioning the psychological effects this experience put on Zeitoun and Kathy. Most notably, Kathy at times would lose the ability to interact with the world around her, even losing her understanding of English and memory of what she had been doing a few seconds earlier.

Throughout this section, the reader is struck by the unnecessary dehumanization of the prisoners who did not necessarily do anything wrong. Killers were mixed with petty thieves and all were treated as if they were terrorists. Randomized searches for drugs, pepper spraying if not obeying quickly enough, and the lack of available doctors further the exploitation of these people. Overwhelmingly, however, throughout this section was the idea that no one was in charge. The prisoners were always someone else's problem, even while in prison. There was a lack of communication between all parties, and even the trials of prisoners were kept secret. The imagery and juxtaposition were the most impressive features of this book. The juxtaposition came in many forms, including: American government versus Siberian, American versus Muslim religions and prejudices, the government before and after the hurricane, and also Zeitoun's family before and after he was jailed. Throughout all of this the imagery plays a large role in emphasizing these differences and also making the reader care about the people in the book as it was such a short read. I would recommend this book to anyone. It was excellent.

Article of the Week 14: IRB Section 2

Because of no distinct chapters, this section had three distinct characteristics of which I will mainly focus on one. The book focused on Zeitoun's adventures in the city for some of the time. By far, however, most of the pages were based on Kathy's situation when Zeitoun was taken away. Kathy started having troubles with her family on account of her being Muslim, so she decided to visit her friend Yuko. Yuko lived with her husband in Arizona and Kathy planned on staying with her until she could return to New Orleans. When Zeitoun disappeared, Yuko also provided emotional support for the distraught Kathy.

In the previous part of the book, the author often would jump between Kathy's life and Zeitoun's, but with the abduction of Zeitoun, his end of the story left the equation. This brilliant rhetorical choice left the reader confused and hoping for Zeitoun's safety along with Kathy. This created a heightened sense of emotional turmoil as not only Kathy became worried, but also her children and Zeitoun's family abroad. Most of this 110 page section was based on the family's fears for their patriarch as it even is transformed physically into a white patch in Kathy's hair. This continual worry helps the readers to form a connection with both Zeitoun and Kathy and forces the reader to care about these people, even in such a short book.

Partly to be devious and partly because it only starts five pages before the end of this section, Zeitoun's story will be explained in the next post.

Article of the Week 13: Individualism

I decided to change this week up a tad. I will be drawing this analysis from an article about naming babies from Time Magazine and an article about hipsters from NPR.

Coming from two universally respected sources, these two articles may seem worlds apart at first, but they both mirror a growing sentiment in America today: the need to be unique in a flattening and internet-based world. "The Hipsterification of America" speaks mainly about the spread of the hipster ideology throughout America. Once on the outside of society, hipsters have become almost universally accepted and widespread as the internet has spread their message. Now, more and more being a hipster is -- ironically -- popular. It speaks to trying to be an individual in a large population. The article from Time Magazine on naming children follows a similar thread of individualism. Part of the article is written about how people will judge children based on the spellings of their names. "Alexandra may be spelled Alekzandra; the "kz" combo is almost never seen in middle-class families" This then, would promote people to treat the child with less respect because it is a "lower class" spelling of the word. The article mostly, however speaks to the increased role of the internet on choosing names. When choosing a name parents look specifically for negative associations to the name and the uniqueness of the name.

What struck me the most about both articles is the desire to be unique so much that people are willing to alienate themselves and their children. Both articles continually stress this growing American sentiment. To this end, both articles show a large knowledge of their audience and current culture.

Unit 2 Reflection: Synthesis Essay

All societies insist that a citizen follow written laws. While the people are the power in any natural government, they give their power up to leaders who then must embody the ideals of their country. The Romans were not far off when they began to call their ruler the “First Citizen” of Rome. As a leader is the “First Citizen” of their own government, it is his or her duty to publicly abide by the written laws of the government. When these requirements are no longer met, it is the right and duty of the masses to correct this problem and regain the power they vested in their government.

It is Locke’s belief that the people give their power to their government. This government is natural when all people as equals elect a representative. Locke writes, “…these men, it is evident, were actually free… [and] by consent were all equal, till by the same consent they set rulers over themselves.” In this way, it is naturally logical that there should be one ruler to organize a government, one who rules by the will of the people. Even Machiavelli in The Prince concedes that there is power held in the people.  “…it is necessary for him [the prince] to  be sufficiently prudent  that he may know how to avoid the reproach of those vices which would lose him his state.” Much of The Prince is based on keeping the common people content. Even though Machiavelli promotes negative actions like deceit, he still recognizes the power of the common people.

While Socrates was never a part of his government, he was a leader in his own right because of the support of people who looked up to him; he was truly a “First Citizen.” As such, he felt he was not only responsible for his own actions, but also that of those who followed him. He argued for his own death in Crito because in escaping, he would harm his society. Socrates asks Crito, “Do you imagine that a state can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and trampled upon by individuals?” (Plato). By escaping, Socrates, as a public figure, would incite more disobedience of the law. Although wronged, Socrates’ escape would wrong others and could potentially hurt his own society. Therefore, he would have rather died an honest man, than live as a criminal. His influence in society would have crumbled because he no longer would have the power of the admiration and respect of the masses who had originally given him importance.  

There is power held in both the rulers and the ruled, but when the rulers get out of hand it is the duty of the citizens to speak up. Locke spent much of The Second Treatise of Civil Government speaking on the tacit contract. He believed that if one did not disband from the government into which they were born, then they were obliged to follow the rules of their current government. In this way, Locke equates silence to agreement. Similarly, not speaking when something unacceptable occurs is like accepting the event. This then puts the responsibility of maintaining society as well as power into the people’s hands. It is the duty of the individual to maintain order by speaking on the behalf of what is correct. Furthermore, a citizen hurts society when he or she stays quiet about a concern.

Article of the Week 12: Advertisement

Despite their small stature on the page, compared to other flashing and moving ads, the advertisements found on Facebook can be some of the best on the internet. How does this compare? Well, if you know me you might already have a guess. The advertisements on Facebook cater to the account. I love hockey as well as photography. The most effective part of these ads is that it focuses on all three basic parts of the rhetorical triangle effectively. The web site gathers advertisements from companies (rhetor). The companies wish to get their message out and this website gives them a medium to advertise to about 1/3 of the world population. These advertisements are then relevantly matched on a content to audience basis. They take information from your account (what you talk about, your "likes" ect) and feedback on previous advertisements and match them to what they think you would like. And what if this advertisement does not appeal to you? You can "hide" the advertisement; but you can only hide it if you give them feedback for future advertisements. This eventually helps the program to make advertisements even more specifically catered to the individual. This makes these small ads more enticing to a customer than a random advertisement on a random web site.

For the class work regarding advertisements, I will be using the following ad:

Article of the Week 11: IRB Section 1

The author of Zeitoun, Dave Eggers, has had much experience in publishing. He has written six books, with this one being his most recent. He is also the founder and editor of a private publishing company called McSweeney's.

Zeitoun was written in 2009, but focuses mostly on the few days surrounding Hurricane Katrina in 2005. is a story about a Syrian-American man and his experiences in New Orleans and with Katrina. In this section, the author sets up the conflict in the main storyline. Zeitoun is a relentless worker who owns a handyman business. He offers pretty much any job such as painting, paving, or plumbing. His wife hears about the storm on the news and decides to leave the area, but Zeitoun stays to take care of his company. When the storm hits, Zeitoun is not worries, but eventually the levies start overflowing. This causes a major flood and Zeitoun's first story is flooded. Soon, Zeitoun decides to leave his house and he takes a canoe he bought a few years ago around the city. Always working, Zeitoun visits his various properties and on the way saves eight people from being trapped in their houses. The section ended with Zeitoun telling his wife that he wished to say in New Orleans to help save people. Other parallel stories are also told as flashbacks. They mostly tell the hardships of two Muslims running their own business in America.

This book was written for people with open minds. It brings up some controversial issues such as religion and sexual orientation. Nonetheless, it only speaks to Zeitoun and Kathy’s points of view and does not push a certain belief at the reader. Also, it was written for people interested in Hurricane Katrina and the struggles it posed to families. Most interesting, however, are how Muslims are treated in such a situation. Both adults have an interesting point of view, because Kathy converted late in life and Zeitoun lived in a wholly Muslim area for his early life.

One device I thought was interesting was the way that the author refers to Abdulrahman Zeitoun mainly by his last name. It was stated that he was referred as Zeitoun because most people could not pronounce his first name, but I believe this to be almost a commentary on present-day America. People are so little invested in other people that they are too lazy to learn a man’s first name. This then is juxtaposed with Zeitoun’s accepting demeanor. He is willing to forgive people who slight him and many of his clients do not even learn his first name.

Unit 2: The Constitution of the Iriquois Nations

Independent Reading Book Selection

Zeitoun
Dave Eggers

Section 1 - 0 - 110
Section 2 - 111 - 220
Section 3 - 221 - 325


I chose this book because it was highly recommended and sounded interesting. The book is about a Syrian-American family caught between the effects of Hurricane Katrina and America's war on terror. It surrounds their struggles as well as the father of the family, Abdulrahman Zeitoun. The book is highly reviewed by many organizations and newspapers. This book gives a unique take on a tragedy that occurred when I was just beginning to become aware of current events.

Article of the Week 10: Radio Advertisement

This advertisement is meant to make the viewer want to listen to Kiss radio station. They use an interesting play with words. Their non-text background also parallels this theme with school supplies mixed with the large radio on the bottom left. The numbers also seem to go with the idea of school, while in actual meaning the advertisement is almost anti scholastic. This contradiction of visual versus the meaning leaves the viewer to be intrigued and to examine the advertisement more closely. The ad uses common memory and lists various bands and songs with numbers. Not a music enthusiast myself, I read half the list before understanding the purpose of this ad. Nonetheless, this misunderstanding only made me more interested in the relevance of the numbers to the advertisement. The juxtaposition of mostly straight lines in most of the ad drew the audience's eye to the lower right corner including the one area with extremely curved objects. They also used the strategy of placing their logo small and in the corner in order to make the viewer actively look for the company and the connection.

Article of the Week 9: IRB Section 4

The Lone Survivor was a powerful and chilling book. Since the last section, Marcus and one of the local people who had saved him ran from the village hoping to find shelter to fight the Taliban. The Taliban ran through the village and beat up children to keep the village morale down; they did no more because the Taliban needed the support of small villages such as these. After the Taliban left, Marcus and his friend ran from the village and miraculously stumbled upon a troop of US soldiers looking for Marcus. After radioing in, Marcus and the other troops were lifted out via helicopter on a village opium plot. Marcus spends the rest of the book describing how his family and friends reacted to his mission and his friends' deaths.

Repetition is rampant in The Lone Survivor. The author continues to express ideas of never being alone, and the threats of the liberal media. Throughout the book, Marcus emphasizes this SEAL tradition of never leaving each other alone. When they trained, they always had a partner, but what struck me was at the end when the Navy was taking the bodies of the dead soldiers back. Even then, they sent a SEAL to stay with the soldier until he was buried. This stuck with me because it showed how much the organization invested in the people who had gotten this far.  Maybe more important than never being alone, was the threat of the media in a soldier's life. Marcus described the news as a sort of weapon that the Taliban had in their arsenal--the only one of which the SEALs were afraid. This fear of the media caused Marcus' team to go against their training and ultimately led many lives lost. These ideas were constantly brought up in the book, but the reader did not realize the scope of these statements until the end of the story. It was interestingly  written to escalate. First, Marcus mentioned that he did not like the media, then he showed how they changed his decision, and last of all, showed the destruction of such a decision. The plot of this story almost ran like a syllogism.

Article of the Week 8: Quit Blaming Congress for All of our Ills

Quit Blaming Congress for All of our Ills is about how the American people have been using Congress as a scapegoat for the many recent economic problems. Ross K. Baker,  a political science professor and writer for USA Today, states that Congress should not be the only group blamed for the recent problems. His opinion is that the Obama administration has not been open enough with other branches of the government and the Congress, with much of it's operations open to public viewing, has taken the blame because if its visibility. He also states that much of the problems we see right now are because of voters who have elected candidates who will not compromise, effectively halting the government. This was written to try to convince readers around the D.C. area that they should not look to blame one source for all of their problems as well as to caution them to vote logically instead of emotionally.

Baker used pathos clearly in his piece. He references a book written by Texas Governor Rick Perry and also an influential leader from the past, Otto von Bismark. The author also seems to use the classical argument structure. (Outlined above) This helps him to organize his thoughts as well as to convey his point. On the whole, this piece was written well and convincing. The congress is not the only party at fault. It also brings the average voter to look at who they had voted for and whether they truly thought their decisions through.

Article of the Week 7: IRB Sections 2 - 3.5

After taking about a month to read the first section, the book took off and I am almost done in less than a week. After landing in Afghanistan, Marcus and the other three men on his team begin to look for a good place to stay in order to have good visibility of the village where their target lives and have a good defensive position in case if any Taliban fighters find them. They find a spot and are set up, when three goatherds accidentally go by them. The soldiers need to decide whether to kill the goatherds. They eventually decide to let the goatherds leave, but they are spies for the Taliban and the nearby Taliban army of about 200 quickly descend on the four American men. Both sides fight and the battle ends with half the Taliban forces dead. Miraculously, Marcus lives (though more than half dead) when some local people find him near a river. They bring him to their village and give him hospitality which, by their laws and customs, means that they have to defend him from harm by any means necessary. After some time, Marcus decided to leave so that the people protecting him would no longer be in danger, but as soon as he tried the Taliban decided to attack.

Throughout these sections, Luttrell uses many combat terms and abbreviations. He never refers to a weapon with something as general as "gun" or "rifle." His weapon is a "Mark 12 Sniper Rifle" and the native weapon is an "AK-47." The author spends much of his time closely describing his surroundings. He often notes the impossibility of his mission compared to the bravery and attitude of his friends. Each one was shot multiple times before they died. He describes each occurrence in detail, not just to get across the gruesome injuries, but to express the strength of these men and their bravery. One man was shot in the neck and continued to fight until shot another shot killed him. Also, throughout the book, even before the Taliban attack, cursing is prevalent. While in most cases, this would be frowned-upon, his use of this language gives the book a more realistic feel and helps to convey the mentality of these men.

One section that I found particularly interesting was:

     "Look at me, right now in my story. Helpless, tortured, shot, blown up, my best buddies all dead, and all because we were afraid of the liberals back home... Afraid of American civilian lawyers... if you don't want to get in a war where things go wrong... where innocent people sometimes have to die, then stay the hell out of it in the first place."

This section was remarkably reminiscent of "How to Tell a True War Story." Throughout the book, Marcus explains how he is never allowed to shoot a person until they begin to shoot at him because of America's laws on "civilized" warfare. He states that he is more afraid of the American media than any of the Taliban. His point hits home at this part of the book because over fifty people died in order to keep up an American pretense of being righteous.

Article of the Week 6: Worldview: Will U.S. honor vow to rescue Iraqi aides?

This article speaks to the negatives of the US troops leaving Iraq. Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer is a highly qualified author and has visited Iraq eleven times in the past seven years. Trudy Rubin talks about Obama's moral obligation to save the Iraqis who have helped the US throughout the war because all of the bases are being evacuated and the citizens without protection. The US has planned to give visas to these people, but last month only 43 Iraqis were given visas. Trudy Rubin criticizes Obama for not holding up his promise in a situation she believes he can fix easily.

With the war losing supporters in the last few years, many people support the withdrawal of soldiers. Personally, I have been against the war but this article forced me to think again about removing soldiers from Iraq prematurely. This piece is relevant in the sense that this is happening currently, but it could have been more effective at a time when more focus was put on these efforts. Written to inform the public of this tragedy about to occur in Iraq, it comments on the way politicians often change their views and how this hurts people who have helped the US and should deserve our support. Throughout the piece, the author uses a strong appeal to emotion, using phrases like, "Why are you consigning many of them to death?" "desperate Iraqi interpreters," and "you betray the Iraqis who helped us." This causes the reader to feel guilt through her use of strong emotional word choice. She also takes Obama's words, moral obligation, and uses them repeatedly in order to drive home the hypocrisy of his actions. Despite her skill, the author has not caused a change as of yet. This is still a large issue and as she mostly speaks to the president's obligations it is not likely that her writings will cause the change she is seeking.

Unit 1 - Assignment Question Reflection

What single assignment, reading, activity or 'something else' was most helpful to you so far and why? Be specific.

The most helpful resource by far has been the rhetorical triangle handout. Being visual to a fault, this helped lay the groundwork for the course in a simple layout. I also thought that the way it was presented was especially helpful. This material was given with the other materials on the source and then we, as a class, were told to mark it up ourselves. This brought out our own ideas as well as content we felt was important from the text. Then afterward, we went over the important details in class and what we were supposed to gain from that resource. This method, then made the class think on the topic as well as expressed the important ideas of the course. It is also a great resource because it is easy to look back on to review the main ideas of the materials we have covered and the basics of rhetorical analysis. The first step I tend to take when analyzing a document now is to visualize that paper in my head.

Unit 1 - Essential Question #1

What makes an effective Argument?

An Argument starts out with an arguable premise, but that is not the only factor in creating a solid argument. The rhetorical triangle is a major component of writing, considering the rhetor, audience, context, and subject. Even though there have been many techniques outlined in this chapter to help with argument, these have stuck out to be the most important of the concepts learned. Sometimes it is hard to get a part of the triangle correct, and if this happens, then the entire paper will fail because it failed in conception. For example, if a person were to write a paper on family values they would look to cite sources. Before the Tiger Woods scandal, he would have been a great person to cite because of his supposed commitment to family values. However, after his affair was publicized, he was no longer a good source of information on this topic. So, failing at one of these basic steps, such as context, can be a person's downfall.

The next most useful elements in making an argument would be the topics. Although we have not covered them thoroughly in class, they seem to be a reliable way in order to make strong comparisons between subjects. Along the same lines are the enthymeme and syllogism. These two ideas seem that they would make an extremely strong argument if used well.

The Classical Argument Structure also can help in making an effective Argument. I would be remiss if I left it out, but I feel as if we knew it already, if not by name. The concept may have been new to others but, since starting high school, my English teacher had focused on those same ideas as mentioned in the piece on the Classical Argument Structure. This structure is an important tool as it allows for varying structure and creativity within the piece. It also allows for an "aha moment" that the conventional "TICAP" essay does not afford. Generally, though all pieces of the course so far have been helpful, the greatest tool has been the rhetorical triangle and the exploration of how all of the pieces in this system fit together. 

Article of the Week 5: IRB

Lone Survivor tells the story of a Navy SEAL's mission in Afghanistan through a narration of the trip and a series of flashbacks. Joining the Armed forces two years before 9/11, Marcus Luttrell Petty Officer First Class, the author and subject of the book narrates this specific mission as well as his experiences training to become a Navy SEAL. Published six years after 9/11, Marcus' journey and major topic of this book was a direct result of those terrorist attacks. This book shows how dedicated soldiers are to the country and the ideas it represents. Often repeated is the idea "Let him who desires peace prepare for war," (Luttrell, 101). The people who would read this book would most likely be Americans who would be curious about the war and what it is like to be in one. Also, people who are interested in politics and history as this book is response to an event that changed much of the world.

While not even far enough to have read about the mission, there are a few prominent rhetorical devices used thus far. The use of flashbacks is the  most noticeable. it provides depth to the story and meaning to the mission because the reader gains knowledge of how hard the author has worked to get in such an elite fighting force. The author also uses much repetition throughout the novel. In the section where he is in training for the SEALs, the command to get "Wet and sandy," occurs many times a page. What is interesting is that the author does not just repeat this order, but every time explains how this order has a different effect on him each time it is used. These strategies show how difficult it was for Marcus to attain his position in the military. At this point it is difficult to distinguish the author's purpose because he is still setting up the story. 

Presentation Slides: Politics and the English Language - George Orwell

Group Members:
Mark Muli, Emily Ostrow, Arthur Zhong, Mike Marta and Erin Annunziato

Article of the Week 4: Teenage Brains

"Teenage Brains" is an article from the October issue of National Geographic, a highly respected science and history magazine. This article is about how the teenage brain develops and the differing theories on its development. The theory previously accepted is that teenagers made bad decisions because their brains were not fully developed, but this article attributes those decisions to chemicals in the brain. Rather, this article mostly focuses on how scientists now believe that the brain acts this way in order to make people in their teens and early twenties more able to deal with change. This time of change in the brain is beneficial because once the "wiring" is finished in the brain it is less able to change.

Written mainly to inform adults or parents, the article often threw in comforting comments to parents who have trouble with teenagers. As teenagers are not considered responsible in many societies and throughout many eras, the article addresses a continuing topic of concern for the audience. The use of narration (a teen speeding) in the beginning of the article is effective because it is used as a source of reference throughout the piece. However well written, this article laid foundation for the first half of the article, making it less interesting for audiences with previous knowledge. Much of it could have been shortened for a more interesting and less long piece. The author often uses (somewhat) common memory for examples, but his flaw is that not all people have had the experience of raising a teenager. This device is then rendered inadequate because these situations are not applicable to all people. While this article may be successful to the majority of the population and the target audience, it has the potential to anger teenagers as it often refers to them negatively and uses generalizations.

Article of the Week 3: Obama Political Cartoon

This political cartoon is the work of Toles from the Washington Post, meant mostly for the people who work and live in Washington D.C. and the citizens of America. This work was made after the election of Obama to the presidency. Chosen because of its comments on society, this work is reminiscent of the Rosa Parks cartoon previously shown in class. By citing the Constitution, Toles uses common memory as a rhetorical strategy. He also includes the application of a strong enthymeme by using a major premise with which most Americans would agree. Then, he undermines that statement by using a minor premise: that not all people were equal until minorities (especially African-Americans) had the opportunity to become president. His conclusion: now all people are created equal because now African-American citizens have been given equal unspoken rights.

In addition, Toles plays up this size difference between Obama and the White House in the image. It seems imperial and cold in nature, maybe anticipating the challenges that the lone Obama will face later on. Obviously meant as a criticism of America up to this point, Toles congratulates the country as well as satires the lack of opportunity for people who are in minorities.

Article of the Week 2: Israel: Adrift at Sea Alone

Israel: Adrift at Sea Alone, is an article about Israel's most recent conflict with the Palestinian government. The author, Thomas L. Friedman, is a highly respected columnist for the New York Times wrote this article mostly for US and New York citizens, but also has international clout. Because of recent failures in negotiation between Israel and Palestine, the Palestinians have decided to go to the UN to ask for assistance in gaining back their country--to the 1967 borders at least. This leaves allies of Israel with a problem because they are put in a difficult situation while Israel is unwilling to compromise. America will soon have to vote on this issue in the UN.

As an editorial, the author can express opinions, and Friedman seemed to condemn Israel for throwing its supporters under the bus. The article mostly read as straight fact until the end when the author expressed his feelings. This allowed the reader to make his or her own decisions before hearing the author's. He also reports the article in a conversational tone in order to make the reader feel like they are having a conversation. Not needing to establish ethos, the author uses only logos in this situation. Friedman carefully outlines the mistakes Netanyahu has made in his current dilemmas. Overall, Friedman was extremely effective in this article, and I did not see any flaws in the writing.

Independent Reading Selection

Lone Survivor
Marcus Luttrell

Month 1 - Prologue - Chapter 3
Month 2 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 6
Month 3 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 9
Month 4 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 12

I do not often read realistic books in any sense, so I was having a difficult time picking a book that was interesting me. After many fruitless searches on the internet and through bookshelves, I decided to ask for a recommendation. This book was mentioned and I automatically thought it sounded interesting. That day, I checked it out of the library, and after reading the prologue and the covers, I was hooked. This book seems exciting, but it also gives insight into what Afghanistan has been like for the soldiers who went there and fought in the war against terror.

Article of the Week 1: U.S. safer 10 years after 9/11, but at what cost?

After reading this article, I wondered whether the terrorists won. The article states many policies have been enacted limiting the freedom of citizens since 9/11. This stemmed from the fear of terrorists still living within Americans. The article then describes good effects since 9/11, such as the growth of security and how this has somewhat lessened recent fear of attacks.

Daniel Trotta of Reuters wrote this article in a timely fashion; it references the 9/11 terrorist attacks only a few days before the 10th anniversary. This article aims to explore how this event has changed people's lives and beliefs. While anyone could read this article, it is most likely aimed at the Americans who were alive when this event occurred, especially those old enough to note the change in US policy since 9/11/01.

The rhetoric used is different from my expectations of the article. There were few appeals to pathos or ethos. Instead, it focused on logic and progression of events since that day. The two sections in the article ended with quotes of opinions on security since 9/11. These quotes negatively affected the article because they made the article feel choppy and not polished. While disappointing in style, the author was successful in content because he promoted serious thought.

So, did the terrorists win? Well, in a sense, they did. The constant fear of terrorism has prompted the government to limit personal freedom. The goal of terrorism is to create change through fear and many are still afraid.