Visual Argument

Complex is not Descriptive Enough

My sister, Danielle, is the most complex person that has ever lived on this planet.  No, I am serious, I am not overreacting at all.  She can switch from one personality to another in one second, and I never know what to expect when talking to her.

When she is not extremely happy and bouncing off the walls, she is complaining about everything
"I totally failed that test."
"Of course Danielle, just like how you have failed every other test in your life."
"But I'm actually serious this time."

Often, when I walk in the door to find her at home, she is sitting and watching television.  When I say hello to her, there are literally a million different responses I can expect her to give me.  It is impossible to read her emotions from her face, so I just have to go along with whatever she is feeling then.  Even if  she is in the happiest mood in the world, she may still be on the verge of a breakdown.

When getting into a fight with her, there is no winning.  Often none of her arguments make sense, but they somehow work together to seem completely logical.  The easiest way to get out of the fights is just admitting that she is right, even if she is completely right.  It does lower my self-esteem in a way, but I do not have to end up enduring her hurtful words this way.

While she can be unpleasant, she still is a great sister.  When she is in a good mood, she will be willing to talk with me about anything, and she will give the best advice.  Also, she helps me get through many tough situations which I would not have been able to get through without her.  I love my sister, and I am able to overlook her mood swings to see how great of a person she actually is.

A Joyful Turkey Day (Insert Sarcasm Mark)

Oh, Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is a time, for most, to kick back, relax, eat until your stomach explodes, and spend some quality time with your family.  Every family has their own little traditions and their own schedule for Thanksgiving day.  This is a time of the year that 99.999999 percent of the worlds population looks forward to every day leading up to it.  Well, I would have to admit that I am that .000001 percent.
No, I do not in any way hate Thanksgiving.  I just have never seen it as an amazing holiday.  First of all, I absolutely despise all Thanksgiving food.  To me, turkey has no taste, stuffing is tolerable but I do not love it, and sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce are gross.  Also, I am not one to talk deeply with my family, but on Thanksgiving, they almost force me to, and it gets me pretty uncomfortable.  Finally, there is really nothing to do on Thanksgiving until dinner time.  Overall, Thanksgiving is one of my least favorite holidays, and that feeling did not change this year.
I would have to say the one positive of this year's Thanksgiving is that my sister came home from college to be with us.  I have not seen her since she left for college in August, so I had a great time being with her again.  Okay, now that that's out of the way, let me talk about all of the not so fun stories that happened on Thanksgiving this year.  My grandparents also came to Minnesota from New Jersey for Thanksgiving.  While this used to be more of a positive, they me and my sister like we are eight years old.  When they came to Minnesota, they gave me and my sister our gifts comprising of two board games.  I am completely serious, two board games.  The hardest part was acting like we loved them, and having to play them every night my grandparents were in town.  Throughout each day, they would talk over-enthusiastically, as if that would make us more joyful or something.  Also, they started making weird childish nicknames for us during this Thanksgiving, which started getting me really annoyed.
The day of Thanksgiving this year was by far the worst day of the weekend.  All day, my mom was cooking, leaving no time to spend with me and my sister, and my dad was out golfing with my Grandparents.  That left me and my sister alone all day to do nothing.  Yes, I found some amusement from watching football, but it got very old after the first full game.  After that football game, I literally watched random other television shows until dinner.  I know, it was a very action-packed day.  My sisters day was not much better.  Since she does not even like football, she was trying to help my mom cook all day, even though she has no clue how to cook.  Because of my sister's inability to cook, the stuffing ended up burnt, which I did not even know could happen, and she was complaining almost all day.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  The day must have gotten at least a little better with the big feast.  Well, I wish that happened, but it only got worse.
I knew it was going to be a long dinner when the second we sat down, my sister spilled water all over the table.  Most of the dinner consisted of my parents and grandparents talking about childhood memories that my sister and I could not relate to at all.  When there were instances of the conversation switching to something more relatable, it was usually when I was in the kitchen helping to bring food into the dining room.  The food was worse than ever.  Usually, on Thanksgiving, I would just eat a load of stuffing because I cannot stand any of the other foods.  Well, as I mentioned earlier, my sister somehow managed to burn the stuffing.  Therefore, I was out of options, and ended up eating a gourmet meal of Ramen and more Ramen.  While I do like Ramen, it was not exactly what I would expect to eat on a day where everyone in the world has their favorite meal.  The only hope I had was that dessert would be great, but of course, there were no desserts I liked.
The only actual funny story I can remember happening was when my dog stole a whole leg of turkey.  When people think of a fifteen pound white dog, they think of it as very cute and innocent.  Well, that is the exact opposite of my dog.  When he can make trouble, he will make trouble.  He somehow managed to jump onto our table that was three or four times his height, steal a turkey leg, and run away.    When my dad finally extracted the leg from my dog's teeth, the bone had been licked clean of any meat.  I am sure, because of that, my dog had a better Thanksgiving than any of us.
I know I may sound a little harsh, but I just did not have a good time on Thanksgiving this year.  It was awesome to see my sister, it was nice to see my grandparents, but I just overall cannot say I enjoyed the weekend.  I am coming out of it very disappointed, for despite past years, I had high hopes for it.  I will now have to look forward to next year, in hopes that it could possibly be better than this year.

Political Cartoons

No, by posting this cartoon, I am not saying that I am necessarily against Obama.  I just thought it was a very interesting cartoon.  The message it is trying to get across is that Obama keeps getting America into more and more debt.  It does this by showing a fat guy who is labeled debt who is saying he is being fed by Obama.  This cartoon is very comical.  Just the image of this gigantic man causes laughter on the audience, influencing them to pay more attention to the rest of the argument.  Another more hidden meaning of this cartoon is that the debt Obama is causing is ruining America.  This is shown by the fat guy labeled "debt" crushing Uncle Sam.  The fact that the guy who is so large is being carried by Uncle Sam who is very skinning provides a great level of irony.  Also, the fact that the guy is holding alcoholic drinks is showing that he is a complete mess, and that debt has become a huge mess in the United States.  Finally, this cartoon stands out because of the enormous man, enticing more people to look at it and read it's argument.

Okay, there, I evened out the playing field with one about Romney.  The main point this political cartoon is trying to get across is that Mitt Romney does not actually know what his plans are, and just relies on his administration for giving him words to say in speeches.  This is shown by him giving an irrational plan, and then asking someone from his administration why they gave him the wrong plan to talk about.  The reason why this cartoon is so funny is because while it is a little harsh, this is kind of what happened to Romney in some of his speeches.  He would contradict himself a lot.  Therefore, people know what is going on, and it will give them a little laugh.  The extreme irrationality of his first argument in this cartoon really portray him as someone that does not know what they are talking about. Finally, the non-intelligent name of his plan in the third frame only further the point of the cartoon.

Studies Never Tell the Whole Story

This Jay Leno Jaywalking video pretty much sums up how Bauerlein thinks about teenagers today.  In The Dumbest Generation, Bauerlein's main argument is that the teenagers and youth of today are not living up to their potential when it comes to intelligence because they have other things that they feel occupy their time better than learning.  He does this by showing hundreds of studies throughout the book that back up the fact that we are not getting any smarter.  He describes that since studies often show trends in society, and the studies are showing that teenagers are not getting any smarter even with the new technology, that there is a trend in society of teenagers not advancing in intelligence.

One passage in which Bauerlein provides that makes a lot of sense is when he says, "You are six times more likely to know who the latest American Idol is than you are to know who the speaker of the US house is."  I definitely agree with this, I am sure that at more than half of our school would feel it is true.  This is a link for a quiz on all of the presidents http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/presidents.  I bet people taking it cannot even get a third of it right.  This is the kind of thing that, while many know is true, do not want to believe.  I feel that this is why many Americans are underperforming in the intelligence category.  They do not realize most of the time that what Bauerlein is saying is actually true, so they just keep going on in their non-intelligence related ways.

Another passage I agree with from the book is when Bauerlein says, "It almost seems that [users] go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense."  I definitely feel that people go online so they can quickly learn the information and not actually read anything.  It is a faster and easier way to learn what they need to know, and with teenagers lives being so hectic, it seems like a fine alternative to reading.  What this is really doing though is only giving them the information they need to know for a specific task, and it does not actually engrave the information into their mind.  Therefore, by only knowing the information short-term, teenagers really are not learning anything from the quick information online.

One passage I do not agree with from the book is when Bauerlein says, "The intellectual future of the United States looks dim."  While I do agree some knowledge we used to know and cherish will be lost, I feel that there will be new forms of intellectuality for people in the future.  People are more and more figuring out how to improve ideas we already have, and are figuring out many new things about the world.  What Bauerlein does not get is that intelligence can change its meaning, and we are still getting more intelligent in many areas.

Another part of Bauerlein's argument that I do not agree with is when he says, "The verbal values of adulthood and adolescence clash, and to enter adult conditions, individuals must leave the verbal mores of high school behind.  The screen blocks the ascent."  The part I disagree with in the statement is the last part.  Yes, I feel that the language of adults and teenagers are very different, but I do not feel this is because of technology.  I feel this is because of how their friends talk and influence each other.  Without technology, the way teenagers talk would still be very similar.

I do not think Bauerlein was successful in his argument, and while I think he did get his point across, it was not persuasive enough.  First, almost his whole argument was based on credibility.  Although some credibility can help strengthen an argument, it cannot be used as a whole argument.  To make his argument strong, Bauerlein would have had to use more logic than he did.  He said that his argument is true because of all the research, but research does not always show set facts.  Also, I do not feel his argument was effective because he rarely looked at the counter-argument.  Yes, teenagers are losing intelligence in some areas, but they are gaining a large amount of intelligence in other areas.  If Bauerlein would have explained and rebutted the counter-argument a few more times, he would have been a lot more effective in his argument because people would see he knows all aspects of his argument.  Overall, Bauerlein got his point across crystal clear, but could have used better techniques to get his point across.

It's Horror Time

I love horror movies, and love is not even a strong enough word.  I watch them whenever possible, and on Halloween, I try to watch all of them that are on television.  I have never known why, I just love being horrified during these movies.  One part of horror movies that I am sort of confused with, though, is the development of horror movies.  I am never scared at horror movies from ten or more years ago, but new horror movies freak me out. 

After watching "The Unborn" from 2009, I was scared out of my mind, and had trouble sleeping for weeks.  After watching "The Blair Witch Project", though, from 1999, I honestly can say I was not even shaken a little bit.  This is odd, because "The Unborn" got mediocre reviews and "The Blair Witch Project" is considered one of the scariest movies of all time.  My lack of fear after "The Blair Witch Project" was what really got me interested on the history of horror movies.

After research, I have discovered that a large part of why horror movies are so scary is because they often depict myths and legends of the time.  They will try to show the myth or legend in its scariest form, which is how it scares everyone in America.  Therefore, there are horror movies that can be made at specific times.  This is why a movie considered extremely scary from twenty years ago may not be as scary as a cheesier movie from the last few years.

Now I know that when I want to be horrified by a scary movie, I should watch more current movies.  This does not mean that old horror movies are bad, they just are not as scary to our time period.  Tonight I am looking forward to watching the horror movies on t.v., for this is why I get excited for Halloween.

The Unintentional Persuasion of Halloween Costumes

Halloween costumes may just be the worst idea for teannagers in the world.  No matter what kind of costume someone wears, they will be ridiculed for it somehow and someway.  So, while someone does not try to persuade others with how they dress on halloween, people will still be persuaded by it in a certain way.  This kind of indirect rhetoric has hurt the lives of many around the world.

Take, for example, the costume that Cady Harron from "Mean Girls" wore on Halloween.  Don't ask me why I remember a specific part from "Mean Girls", it just somehow stuck in my mind.  She wore a scary monster costume to a halloween party he got invited to.  Her intentions were not to say something about her personality or who she is as a person, but everyone took it that way.  Most people at the party thought she was weird for wearing such a childish costume to a halloween party, and therefore, thought she was weird in general.

I actually got furious when watching this.  Yes, I got furious when watching the comedic movie of "Mean Girls".  How could the teanagers of today be so cruel about something so minimal?  Why do people care so much about how you dress on a holiday where you are supposed to dress up?  I just don't get it.  While this is only a movie, it is true in real life, too.  I would be humiliated to come to a halloween costume in a costume like hers, even though my intentions are just to come in a creative outfit. 

Halloween costumes show that rhetoric is not all about how you are trying to influence someone, but sometimes can be how you influence someone without even trying.  It is true that sometimes the clothes you wear or the way you carry yourself sometimes tell about someones personality, but not always.  Teanagers of today do not realize that the only way they can get to know someones personality is by actually talking to them.  The way someone dresses on halloween does not tell who they are.  So, for everyone out there listening right now, next time you go to a halloween party, maybe think before you judge based on halloween costume alone.