Review

Review:  
1.Which of the following is Not a logical fallacy?
A.Hasty Generalization
B.Faulty Use of Authority
C.Post Hoc
D.Blue Herring
2.A Claim of Fact consists of the following:
A.Sufficent and Appropriate Data
B. Facts or Inferences
C.the words "Should or Ought"
D.Reliable Authorities
3.Which of the following is not a type of warrant?
A.Authoritative
B.Emotional
C.Substantive
D.Motivational
4. When should you use a quote?
A. When you need to meet the requirements for the paper your writing
B.When you find a certain source that you like.
C. When a source provides sufficient irrefutable evidence for an issue you wish to support.
D. When it is better for you to put a sources content into your own words.

The Body and You.

The idea of the perfect body is constantly around us in todays culture. It is quite obvious with all of the 24 hour gyms popping up and the diet or weight loss commercials that come on every 10 seconds on t.v..  I believe that the media for the most part, mainly media geared towards girls, doesn’t portray the norm. This can lead to some of the issues Croll talks about. The reason I believe its geared mostly to girls is that the males we guys see on magazines such as ESPN or other sport magazines are athletes. So they look the way they need to. It is necessary for their occupation to be big and strong. Where as in the case of models, the reason why they are so skinny is because it became then norm right of the back. There is no physical reason for a model to be so skinny, but there is a reason why a line men needs to weigh a considerable amount, that is so he can do his job.  Croll did a good job of distrubiting “factual information” which was geared to defending his stance. I agreed with some of it but failed to see what Croll was seeing on other points.  Croll said that “over one-third of males think their current size is to small” while this may be the case I think guys naturally or instinctively want to get bigger.  Bigger or stronger so that they can protect the ones they love or do a job more efficiently. Or if they are playing a sport they need to get bigger or slender sometimes to be better at. It is all situational and varies from person to person.  Even though I do believe advertisements geared to a flawless image are wrong I believe we do it to ourselves. Since the thing that is fueling this whole image issue is MONEY. Over the years we have constantly poured more a more money into things that will help us look better. Everything from new face creams to plastic surgery.  And everyone wants money so why not create a new diet plan and throw it out there so you can make a quick buck. So what is the answer to this social dilemma? Who knows and truly I do not care or think twice about it. 

"Kill The Poor" or not to Kill the poor?

Imagine a desolate wasteland with dead trees dotting the landscape. As you start to walk the smell of rotting flesh surges into your nostrils. Ruins of buildings are scattered over the landscape with not a chance of human life insight. What could have possibly happened to this place? Well if The Dead Kennedys had their way this would be the way many places in the United States would be based upon their song “Kill The Poor”. Just kidding! The song just like a modest proposal is entirely a satire piece.  Which makes fun of the thought of using a Neutron bomb to wipe out the poor which if done would solve all the problems.                   The first piece of the song starts of almost like a cheer saying “efficiency and progress”. Claiming that the neutron bomb is the answer to everything and while it doesn’t make sense at war it makes sense at home. The part I thought about makes no sense at war because of all the innocent people that a bomb of this nature kills. “The sun beams down on a brand new day” to me means that they think the bomb is the answer and it is continued by lines that say the bomb was the answer and that all these things people think are bad such as welfare and overcrowding are fixed.  Ending with all the systems go to kill the poor tonight. “Behold the sparkle of champagne” meaning that the night is over the bomb has been dropped and everything is better”. Continued with the crime rate is gone and all is good in the world.                So are they really saying to kill the poor in this song? No, they are making fun of the idea that doing such a thing would solve all the problems in the world.  Because sweeping our problems under the rug is never the solution for any problems. It is just a cowardly solution to a serious problem. People need to learn to tackle their problems head on .  

A modest proposal indeed!

Swift makes an excellent argument one which I wish we went through with. I'm sure if we had followed his proposal over population wouldn't be such a problem. Selling children as a delicacy was an excellent idea he came up with. As Swift mentions in "A Modest Proposal" it would "prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice of women murdering their bastard children, alas, too frequent among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes, I doubt, more to avoid the expense than the shame, which would move tears and pity in the most savage inhuman breast" (355). I agree with Swift we can save the children from these horrible deaths of murder and abortion if we just sold them as food. Clearly this all is ironic I dont honestly believe we should sell babies. Either way we would be killing babies. So it is clearly satire of the highest nature.

Fallacies and You

Advertisements everywhere use faulty authority to push their products on to people. For example commercials about weight loss programs or supplements; there is always a doctor in the commercial saying that he or she approves of the product. All the while during the commercial there is fine print at the bottom of the screen that say results not typical. The use of this technique even though it is wrong is fueled by pop culture of today. Everyone wants to be skinny and everyone, pretty much everyone, trust doctors so if one is telling me that something will make me skinny why should not I try it?  That is the way many people view things. Even though it is a dirty trick to get someone to by their product as a culture we a partially at fault for wanting to be so thin the "easy" way. I will not name any of the commercials but you have seen them before. I mean one comes on during some of your favorite t.v . shows on Thursday night.

The Flynn Effect and the Sleep curve, related?

I would have to agree that there is some kind of correlation between the Sleeper Curve and the Flynn Effect. Well there would have to be a correlation because I believe that the sleeper curve is real. Meaning that what Steven Johnson explains as the Flynn Effect makes sense. As television and video games get more complex our problem solving skills are increasing. We are constantly trying to make connections between characters in video games or television shows. Putting pieces of information together in our minds trying to figure out what exactly is going on in a drama. Sometimes we are successful and are able to call something before it plays out in the show.  For example the other night my roommate and I were watching “Vampire Diaries”. And as a new character was introduced I would almost instantaneously try to figure out his connections between the other characters. Of course there are more complex shows out there but it is the action of trying to unravel the character instantaneously that is proof that my mind and problem solving abilities are at work. This is why I believe there is a correlation, maybe not as huge as Johnson plays it out to be, between the Sleeper Curve and Flynn Effect.

Agree or Disagree

Kevin Alexander wrote a piece titled “MySpace Not Responsible for Predators” in which he strongly opposes those who claim that MySpace should be responsible for the actions of its users. In this piece he talks about a court case where a mother of a 14 year old who allegedly got raped filed suit against the company. Alexander’s response to this case and the families’ remarks is that “MySpace is a business and one that has never advertised itself as an online babysitting service” (119). Continuing to talk about how most youth crimes can be pinned back to bad parenting.  Kevin mentions that MySpace has taking precautions to cases like this, however they are still damaging to the internet. He claims that people will see cases like these and bring other lawsuits against any site on the net. Kevin finishes the piece with a cold statement saying who is more dangerous the predators or the victims out there.

In his essay “MySpace Not Responsible for Predators”, Kevin Alexander writes that websites shouldn’t be responsible for the actions of its users. However, I think that the websites should take in mind that the internet for the most part is free to use and is used by many. So they should prepare the site for those who lack the mental capacity to protect themselves. Like the 14 year old who not only didn’t recognize the dangers and the mom who failed to stop this from happening. While I agree in most part with Kevin his essay lacks enough good evidence. I believe that the evidence isn’t sound enough while I can look up MySpace’s user policy everything else could have been easily fabricated.  He could of quoted someone from the company rather than quoting some officer who we don’t know. Overall a good piece but just lacking the sound evidence for a stronger argument.
Kevin Alexander. "MySpace Not Responsible for Predators".
         New York: Morrow, 1985. Rpt. in Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader.
         Annette T. Rottenberg and Donna Haisty Winchell. 9th ed. Boston:
         Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 119-120