Group Project Update

My group consists of me, Lillian, Amy, Naila, Eddie, Diana, and Zach.

The topic we chose to satirize is Deforestation where our target will be big business owners and how they don't care about the environment. We already decided the three satirical techniques we will be using and the type of satire we will be doing. Currently, we are finishing up the script that we have for the skit and have plans to start rehearsing the skit. The location of the skit is still under debate but as for now, we plan on having it as a business meeting between companies that plan on collaborating with each other. We also created a google docs together so that we can all work on the presentation together. 

Direct and Indirect Language

When people communicate with each other, we either use direct language or indirect language. Direct language occurs when a particular sentence is being used for its specific function. An example would be "my favorite colors is blue". The speech is based on the literal meaning of the sentence. Direct language has three types of sentences. There's declarative, imperative and interrogative. With indirect speech, it occurs when the particular sentence type is not being used for its specific function. An example would be "can you pass the salt?" In this case, even though the sentence is interrogative, the literal meaning of the question was imperative. Due to these two types of speeches in society, some people believe that indirect speech should be used more than direct speech so that certain problems may be avoided. Others believe that direct speech should be used more than indirect speech so that no problems are evaded and issues can be addressed. In my opinion, I think that indirect speech is necessary but only in some cases. 

Dying Metaphors- Orwell's view

Recently, writers has been including dying metaphors in their writing. Dying metaphors are metaphors that has lost their original meaning due to overuse and repetition. Orwell believes that many politicians and influential writers has been using dying metaphors in their speeches. Not only does this weaken the purpose of their claim, it also makes it unclear about what they are trying to say and do. An example of a politician using dying metaphors would be a speech written by John F. Kennedy. In his inaugural speech, he used phrases such as "hand of God" and "jungle of suspicion" which weakened the purpose of his speech. It would have been more powerful without these dying metaphors and if he came up with original ones to use. Another example would be President Nasheed in his December 2009 speech. President Nasheed used phrases such as "in spite of the odds" and "will be the winners of tomorrow" which weakened his connection with the audience. These phrases made his speech very vague and made it unclear what he was going to do. Instead of making the speech more powerful, these metaphors did the opposite. Writers should try to stay away from dying metaphors and create original phrases to use in their writing.

Affirmative Action: The Problem or Solution?

For the past decade, there had been countless times where people had questioned whether or not affirmative action was considered the solution or the problem. Through affirmative action, minority groups were given an equal opportunity that white people had. Examples would be high school athletes who receive scholarships based on their permanence in games rather than their grades. This allows athletes to get into schools that they were unable to get into before. Another example would be     admission into a certain program based on either ur gender or race. This allows certain race and women to receive opportunities that others have had for a long time. Although affirmative action can be beneficial, some individuals like Abigail Fisher, believes that affirmative action is the problem because it causes individuals to be rejected from certain public facilities just because they are not a minority group. In my opinion, i believe that affirmative action is beneficial and allows minority groups to have opportunities that they never had before. This doesn't create a disadvantage for whites, instead, it helps to level the playing field. 

Winter Break Assignment

Link: http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/if-gender-is-fluid-what-about-race-and-age-1.11839317

Throughout the recent years, gender identity has been defined as "an individual's internal sense of gender". In the article, the term gender is determined by individuals while the term sex is given by society. This is became the term sex refers to specific parts of the body that will determine whether one is female or male. This also extends to race as shown recently when a "white" woman identified herself as an African American. I understand that such things shouldn't be determined by society but I don't think that things that can be seen such as physical features and race can be denied just because the individual does not identify themselves as such. If a person was born with male body parts, then their sex is male because it is based off of their anatomy. The LGBT community is a different story because people that are transgender believe that they are trapped in another body and not denying their sex or gender. I believe that depending on our word choice, people may perceive us differently and the way we view each other changes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!

Gender Neutral Products - Commercials

We have all seen commercials for products such as shampoo and conditioner before. However, despite being gender neutral, these commercials target a specific gender as their audience. For an example, the Pantene commercials use Selena Gomez as the spokesperson to appeal to women about how Pantene shampoo and conditioner would help make their hair shiny and smooth like Selena's hair. The shampoo brand makes shampoo and conditioner for both men and women yet in their commercials, their main audience are women. Not only are commercials like this but so are advertisements. Have you ever received a booklet in the mail from a clothing store? These booklets tend to advertise gender neutral clothing such as t-shirts, jackets, and even socks depending on the season. However, when it comes to female merchandise, words like "slim" and "fashionable" are used and for men, words like "muscular" or even "boss" are used to appeal to a specific gender party. Even advertisements for daily necessities such as shavers and deodorant used different words to try to appeal to certain people. If there was an advertisement for women's deodorant, you would never hear words like "strong" and "power". Despite products being gender neutral, companies market to specific genders and the reason is unclear as to why they would do such a thing. 

The Pillow Angel

When we were young, our parents tend to make all the ecisions for us. These decisions can cause controversy since it causes people to question their morals an ethics. Morals refer to one's personal standards or what is considered right an wrong. Ethics refer to the behavior that is customary in our culture or society. An example woul be the article, Pillow Angels where it talks about a young girl who has been diagnosed with a illness that causes her to not be able to grow mentally. Due to her illness, her parents decided to make her go through a procedure that would make her stop growing. In addition to that, her parents also decided to have her vagina and breasts removed. Her parent's justification was that keeping her short woul make it easier to include her in family activities and the removal of her vagina an breasts woul allow her to be more comfortable while strapped to a wheelchair. This raise controversy because people believe her parents violated her rights as a person and that it wasn't ethical to have her go through those procedures. Another example would be when we were all still toddlers and our parents had to decide which school to enroll us in . The decisions made by our parents in this situation wouln't be considered unethical and a violation of our human rights. In my opinion, when a child is young and doesn't have the mentality to know what is best for them, the parents should be able to decide for them and not be judged for it.

That's it for now, see you all next time!