Research Paper Sources

Brown, Dee Alexander. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1971. Print.

Clinton, William J. "Memorandum: Government-to-Government Relations with Native American Tribal Governments." Welcome to the United States Department of Justice. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://www.justice.gov/archive/otj/Presidential_Statements/presdoc1.htm>.

Hamilton, Robert. "United States and Native American Relations." FGCU Instructional Technology & Broadcast Services. Web. 15 Apr. 2011. <http://itech.fgcu.edu/>.

 Maiese, Michelle. "Compensation and Reparations." Beyond Intractability - More Constructive Approaches to Destructive Conflict. Sept. 2003. Web. 16 Apr. 2011. <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/compensation/>.

Prucha, Francis Paul. Documents of United States Indian Policy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1990. Print.

Mascot Post

A potential research question that the author may have started out with could have been, “Is American Indian imagery in sports offensive to Native Americans?” The main purpose of this article is to determine whether or not American Indian imagery in sports, such as for use as mascots, is offensive. On a broad scale, the article talks about a recent N.C.A.A. edict that discourages the use of American Indian mascots, nicknames, and imagery. However, the main focus of this article is on Florida State University, whose mascot is the Seminole. The author talks specifics about Florida State University and how the Seminole Tribe of Florida is proud of the use of the mascot.

Lapointe’s research contributes to his purpose by giving factual basis to answer his question. He uses the answers of people from the Seminole Tribe to prove that in their case, this American Indian imagery is not offensive. However, it is noted that in the past the old mascot “Sammy Seminole” was found to be offensive. Today, the University and the Tribe have good relations and the use of the mascot is permitted and somewhat encouraged by the tribe. Lapointe’s use of the information that he researched shows us this.

Is Google Making Us Stupid

      After reading this article, I would not necessarily say that the Internet is making us stupid in the traditional sense of the word. However, I would have to agree with Carr in saying that the Internet has definitely affected our ability to think and comprehend “deeply”. Personally, I know that I do the exact same thing that Carr talks about when he is describing Internet users as “Pancake People”. I quickly scan through articles, e-mails, and social networking posts looking for headlines and excerpts that catch my attention. As a child when I would go to the bookstore and buy a couple of new books, I would almost assuredly have at least one of them read cover-to-cover by the end of that day. Once I entered high school and my use of the Internet soared, I stopped reading recreationally all together. Even for required books that I had to read for assignments, I would scan the books and when it came time to write a report I would reference online summaries. In the article, the quotes that Carr includes from scholars and literary experts mirror how I feel regarding reading printed text and books. Reading a book does not provide a concise transmission of the data or information that I seek to acquire. Despite how beneficial The Internet can be, I would have to say that “Googling” every term, phrase, or question that the entire human race, myself included, needs to know has “dumbed down” people as a whole.

Joy Response

      I would characterize Bill Joy’s primary concern in this article to be the dangers that new technology, specifically robotics, can hold for mankind in the future. He does talk about the positive things that the future of robotics holds, but his main focus definitely seems to be on the dangers that exist. He focuses on our inevitable future dependence on robots, both as parts of us, and their own separate species. He outlines, through many examples, the problems that lie ahead in the future with our newest nanotechnology.

      Joy uses multiple techniques to set up his problem and to validate his argument. The first example of one of his techniques is an excerpt from The Age of Spiritual Machine. The excerpt itself was written by Theodore Kaczynski, The Unabomber. This is probably the least effective source, due to the psychotic nature of the author. However, it does have a good effect in using an extreme source to back up an extreme idea. He then validates his argument through a more legitimate source, Hans Moravec’s book Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind. He also talks about his talks with people like Danny Hillis, cofounder of Thinking Machines Corporation, which built a powerful parallel supercomputer. He uses credible, and highly intelligent, sources to prove the validity of his point of view. I would have to say that each of these sources is highly effective. The Unabomber reference even has its effect. I also believe that by using these sources that he knows personally or has researched thoroughly, Joy appeals to the audience’s ethos. Also, through his reasoning throughout, Joy uses logos as well.

     Personally, I do not know much about robotics or nanotechnology. All that I do know, through the news and magazines, is that there have been incredible breakthroughs in both fields as recently as the past year. I have heard bits and pieces about robots used to diffuse bombs, robot building competitions with highly functional and effective robots, and about nanotechnology through movies. In particular, a movie my sister used to constantly watched called “Agent Cody Banks” had the teenaged, secret agent star battling an evil man bent on destroying the world through nanotechnology. Also, a movie like “I, Robot”, despite being made to make money and to be highly cinematic, shows us some of the problems that a robotic future would hold. I guess that this means that these problems have become more prevalent and mainstream in our culture. Personally, I do not have much of an opinion on the problem because robotics does not play an immediate, tangible role in my every day life.

Recent News: Proposals 3

Anti-Iraq War Protesters Arrested
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/19/iraq.anniversary.protests/index.html
- On the 8th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, more than 100 people were arrested in front of the White House during an antiwar protest. This reminds the country of how opposed the majority of Americans were and still are to our military actions in Iraq.

Egyptian Constitution Changes Pass in Referendum
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/20/partial-voting-results-referendum-passing-egypt/
- Millions of Egyptians voted freely on Saturday for the first time in more than half a century on a new package of constitutional changes. This is a huge success for democracy and the people of Egypt, who have not had a voice in their government for decades.

Recent News: Proposals 2

Aftermath of the Earthquake in Japan:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/19/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T2
- Radiation has been found in high levels in the food sold in stores near a nuclear power plant in Japan. This has been an ongoing crisis since the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami left Japan's nuclear power plants with failed cooling systems which is leading to radiation leakage.

Yemeni Forces Kill Protesters
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42148274/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/
- President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen is struggling to hold onto his 32 year reign over the country. Protesters, who are trying to have him ousted, were fired upon by snipers, killing dozens of civilians and bringing to light the harshness of Saleh's regime.

Recent News: Proposals

The Conflict in Libya:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/18/libya.civil.war/index.html?hpt=T1
-President Obama sent a message to Muammar Gaddafi in Libya to follow through with his supposed "cease-fire", and to stop killing innocent civilians, or he will face military action. There has been turmoil in Libya as of late as it's government is highly suspected of committing crimes against humanity on its own people.

Wisconsin Anti-Union Laws
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110318/pl_nm/us_wisconsin_unions_order;_ylt=Al4tl6LwPq3amaWd5496XytvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTJxY2JnbTQyBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwMzE4L3VzX3dpc2NvbnNpbl91bmlvbnNfb3JkZXIEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2p1ZGdldGVtcG9yYQ--
-A judge temporarily blocked a new law that strips Wisconsin unions of their collective bargaining rights. Although only temporary right now, this sheds more light on the plight of Wisconsin workers, who face tough times in the near future if their unions have no power.

A Modest Proposal

  Swift uses his satirical proposal to identify issues regarding the treatment of the poor in Ireland and overall British policy in Ireland. His satirical approach helps to show just how ridiculous the British policy is in Ireland. By proposing something as ridiculous as selling kids to be eaten, he shows just how little value the British put into the Irish people. Through his proposal, it is clear that his opinion is that the British would do anything to the Irish that would be economically beneficial. The purpose of this piece is to bring to light this mistreatment, through the proposal of such a ridiculous idea like this one. By doing this, he exaggerates the mistreatment in a way that makes the reader really think about just how badly the Irish must be getting treated for Swift to go about proposing something as ludicrous as this just to prove a point.

  Due to the ever increasing budget deficits at both the state and national level, I think it is more than necessary to institute some major changes in our economic policies as a nation. In accordance with the new budget deficit solution in Pennsylvania, which is a brilliant one I may add, it is time to fix that deficit through one major outlet: education cuts. Yes, I believe we need to cut nearly all spending on public and higher education. Honestly, what is an education even good for? We have spent trillions of dollars as a nation trying to provide a free education for all. Well my friends, the free ride needs to end. If all public schools were to turn private over the next ten years, this country would end up with more money than it knew what to do with. We could return to the glory days of prosperity in America and, like always, only the ones who truly deserve an education, the rich, will get one. What state university's tuitions are now will rival what high school students will pay for schooling, and higher education will be reserved for only the top of the upper class. We could even go one step above this, and tax those people who still can afford to pay tuition to go to school. That way the country can save the hard earned tax dollars that would have been spent on education and also generate increased revenue through a fee on those who do still pay for schooling. I believe that this may be the only solution for deficit reduction. It definitely beats taxing big business or cutting spending on "police actions" in foreign countries.

The Doors Review

   For my blog entry, I chose to review a review of The Door's debut self titled album. The review can be found at  http://www.guypetersreviews.com/doors.php. In this evaluation, the reviewer, Guy Peters, does a good job of mixing a focus on the influences of The Doors and an actual review of the album itself. Having read a biography of Jim Morrison, I can attest to the fact that Guy has a good sense of what The Doors stood for and what they were about. This knowledge helps to validate his review of the album because he proves that he is not some random nobody who is critiquing a band that he knows nothing about. Throughout the review, he breaks down what he thought about each individual song. My only problem with his review comes with his opinion of some of the specific songs, which I happen to like.  However, I personally like all of the songs on this album so, in all fairness, any negativity towards them would cause discord with me. In particular, the song, "The End", is possibly my favorite song by the band and although he says he likes the hypnotic feel, he dislikes the vocals. I would have to disagree very strongly with him on this point because the vocals, in combination with the whole sound the rest of the band puts out, produce a song that entrances the listener. I have listened to it countless times and every time I close my eyes and relax my mind, it takes me to a new place.

   If I were to review this album, I would probably follow a similar style to Guy. The only additional thing I would put into the review would be more background information about who The Doors were and their style, although Guy does put a good amount of this into the review.

Definition Proposal

For my definition paper, I would like to define the word drug. I think that I would stick to the existing definition of anything that alters a person’s mind, but I would propose changing what a drug stands for. The definition is too broad and leads to something like crystal meth being classified in the same category as caffeine. The word drug is very prevalent in today’s society and I believe that “drug” should either be subcategorized or split into two separate things. The purpose of my paper will be to define what I think a drug really is with an emphasis on clarification between “good” and bad drugs.  The audience for my paper could be anyone but specifically people who use the word “drug” with a negative connotation.

Blog Assignment #2

For me, Oswalt's definition and description of a "geek" or a "nerd" was really eye-opening and a new way to look at something that I thought I knew a lot about. He defines these terms as more of a passion or an understanding of things that aren't necessarily nerdy or weird, just different. Being a nerd seems more like a way of life that someone chooses, not an insulting stereotype as society seems to make it sound. I think his purpose in writing this essay was to open people's eyes up to what a nerd is and why the sacred lifestyle is in danger. I would have to agree with him and also say that it seems like the internet is definitely doing society a disservice in more ways than i previously thought. I really like how in-depth he went into the things that he liked and it's pretty cool to see that this "otaku" is now rich and famous. His larger point about society seems to be that we are all conforming into one being. I'd have to agree with him. We are losing this diversity that existed before everything became so "etewaf". We are losing the passion and the fervor of waiting for something to come out and the dedication that comes with that. I do believe that in today's world, "geekiness" has become normal.

Supermarket Pastoral is the idea behind all of the literary descriptions of organic food and organic food itself. It's the short blurbs included with every item at Whole Foods. It's the rustic idea of believing that happy cows that live happy lives are eventually killed for our consumption, not the real world, big agribusiness chains whose main goal is quickly raising and killing animals as fast and effectively as possible. It's wanting to know that you aren't buying into that big business idea and that the food you eat comes from things that were grown or raised in a nurturing way. Pollan talks about this to inform the reader about Whole Foods and the nicer alternative to buying and selling food on prices alone. This article talks very highly about organic agriculture. It informs the reader in a way that basically praises this special kind of agriculture. He expresses a genuine love for the stories that accompany all of the items that he buys. The only negative thing is that even organic agriculture relies on huge farms for the sole purpose of efficiency and being realistic. It would be awesome if all of the food that we ate was grown locally though. That would be my kind of world.

Topic Proposal

For my narrative, I would like to write about a car accident I was in with my dad a few years ago. The other driver, a 20 year old  kid on a motorcycle, was fatally injured during the accident. I would like to do unsafe driving as the exigence. I've never really talked much about this event because of how emotional it can be to think about, but I feel as if writing a paper about it may help me to finally get past it. The purpose is to inform people about how dangerous it can be to speed while driving any sort of vehicle. The audience will specifically be younger drivers but it can certainly apply to drivers of all ages.

Mein Kampf Assignment

Burke looks at Mein Kampf from a rhetorical perspective by looking for Hitler’s effective use of language in order to persuade the German population. Burke breaks down his methods into four specific sections of how Hitler both subtly and bluntly provides propaganda to the German people against the Jewish population. Hitler dubs the Jews as an inferior race that can only poison true-blooded Aryans. He also condemns “Jewish finance”, laying the country’s economic woes onto the shoulders of the Jews. In this way Hitler became very convincing, by saying both personally and economically that the Jews will cause harm to the Aryan race. He allowed the German people to project their troubles onto the backs of a scapegoat, the Jews. He convinced them that they did not need to do anything differently, but rather that if the Jewish people were taken out of the picture that all Aryans would flourish.

A general piece of rhetoric that I dislike that is loosely used by nearly every insurance company is this ridiculous idea that somehow every single company can save you money if you switch from another company. I can see how these are popular and also effective marketing campaigns because the bottom line is people like to save money. Somebody out there is bound to be convinced that fifteen minutes can definitely save them fifteen percent or more on car insurance or that on average everyone saves four hundred dollars just by switching to this specific company. If these things were true then there would only be one company in existence because obviously all of the rest are overcharging by exorbitant amounts. The audience behind these commercials is America as a whole or more specifically anyone who owns a car, boat, house, etc. that needs insurance. The exigence that exists here is that people pay a whole lot of money for insurance on the things that they value and each insurance company wants their thousands of dollars of “what if” money.