TOW #24- Visual Text

The North Carolina bathroom laws that have recently been passed have caused some great controversy.  One particular individual, Nate Beeler, an editorial cartoonist for The Columbus Dispatch, published a cartoon regarding the law.  In the image, there is a men's bathroom and a women's bathroom next to one another.  The transgender bathroom, marked by a question mark is replaced with an exit door.  The law that was passed called the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act in schools and government buildings says that people must use the bathroom that corresponds with their "biological sex".  This refers to the sex that is written on one's birth certificate.  For transgenders in North Carolina, this law has seriously frustrated some and made many feel uncomfortable.  The new state law signed by Governor Pat McCrory puts those who do not identify with the gender written on their birth certificate in a very weird position.  People are scared to go into public restrooms and often times will wait until they get back home before they feel safe enough to use the restroom.  In the cartoon, the artist uses the exit door to show how the transgender people are treated unfairly.  The law makes them feel like they might as well leave if they have to go to the bathroom.  Although it is exaggerated in the cartoon, this is how many people feel due to the new law.  Also, the normalcy of the men's and women's bathroom contrasts with the question mark written on the transgender bathroom door.  This shows how the law disregards their needs to feel comfortable and categorizes transgenders as outcasts.  The argument made by Beeler is very effective in getting his point across that the new North Carolina law is making many people uncomfortable and mistreating those who do not identify with the genders written on their birth certificates.  Some people have chosen to disobey this new law and many have chosen to speak up and against the new law.  Beeler is helping those who are outcasted by this new law by helping show what the law is really doing to transgenders.  Beeler uses contrast in the images as well as hyperbole in the law's restrictions in order to get this message across.  The feedback from North Carolina's population will be interesting to follow as this law is enforced and pushed by its population.

TOW #23- "Baseball is Injuring Too Many Kids"

In an article written for the New York Times,  a father and little league baseball coach, Jeff Passan, argues that the current pressure placed on baseball is injuring too many kids.  The year round training and intensity in pitching has caused many young players to develop serious arm injuries requiring surgeries and long term recovery.  To be injured at such a young age is not natural and is shown through a study that Passan references.  More than 57% of Tommy John surgeries, a surgery for a specific arm injury, were performed on teenagers.  An alarming study such as this one catches the attention of the audience and requires us to think about the immense amount of kids being injured playing a sport.  Especially for little league players, baseball should be about the love of the game rather than intense competition.  The author addresses those who are working hard to get a scholarship or make it to the major leagues but then refutes their argument by proving how small the number of scholarships really is.  The "pipe dream" that they are working for is not worth the injury because it will most likely not pay off in the long run.  And even if it did, how would they be able to fulfill their dreams with such an injury?  By addressing both young and old players, the author reaches out to players, parents, and coaches of all ages because he believes that is necessary to solve the issue.  He proposes different solutions for different ages and also compares the statistics of intensity of training of Japan's leagues and those of the US.  This distinction is important to mention because of the moderation that needs to be applied in both cases.  For little league players, Passan proposes that coaches only let kids pitch for one inning to stop them from breaking the number of pitches per game limit that keeps them healthy.  The year round training for older players is the trouble spot for his solution.  The hole in his argument is that most players in high school will not give up playing over the summer for fear that they will fall behind.  Many look for scholarships to colleges and will start intense training freshman year.  They will not let up until they graduate or commit to a school.  This is extremely dangerous for their health, argues Passan, but he does not have a solution to keep them from playing.  As much as a parent might warn, teenagers will still play if they want to play.  Proposing a change to teams or training facilities and coaches may work better.  If there isn't training available, they won't be able to injure their arms further over the summer or during off season time.  Overall, Passan proves that there are serious dangers to the way that baseball players go about their training now in all leagues of all ages.  However, the solutions to this issue may take some time and adjustment because of player determination for older teens.

TOW #22- "Why Slaves' Graves Matter" Argument Tow

An article in the New York Times written by Sandra Arnold brings up what may be buried underneath a playground or park that you have been to.  She explains to her audience that many burial grounds for former enslaved Americans have been covered up by new developments in towns all over the country.  In the article she argues that the country should explore ways to preserve the public memory of enslaved Americans and recognize the places that they rest.  Her argument was made effective through her appeal to pathos.  She begins her article with an anecdote about her great grandfather who was a slave buried in a location that does not even recognize or memorialize his presence.  She talks about her distant relationship with a man she never knew before she discovered his grave.  Then she reveals her change in perspective after she realized where he had been buried and how strongly she felt for this man.  The personal relationship that Arnold has with the issue allows her audience to feel sympathy for her and also gives the audience an idea of what it is like for loved ones to be simply forgotten after death.  When the audience begins to think about this in relation to their loved ones or themselves, they are more likely to agree with Arnold's argument.  The author also appeals to ethos after her anecdote.  She lets her audience know that she has deeply researched this issue so the audience know that it is actually a nation-wide problem.  The author explains that she created the "National Burial Database of Enslaved Americans" in order to account for all of the times in which slaves were buried without recognition all over the country.  This is important to her argument so that the audience can understand the issue as one that occurs all over the country and also shows that the author knows the issue well.  I completely agreed with her argument and was easily persuaded by her article because of her appeals to ethos and pathos throughout the piece.  When I think about any of my family members being completely forgotten and covered up, it makes me feel just as frustrated as Sandra Arnold was.  Also, Arnold's arrangement of ideas in her article made the argument clear and persuasive.  Introducing the topic with an anecdote gave it meaning on a personal level for the audience and also gave us a basic understanding of what she was talking about.  Then, she moves into the numbers and statistics of the issue to get her audience to understand why it is such a big problem.  This arrangement was effective to me because of the way I could understand and follow the argument.  Overall, this article was very persuasive and the author's deep connection with the topic made her argument very agreeable.

TOW #21- "Here's How We Will Start Fixing Metro"

An article written in The Washington Post this past week identifies the issues with the Metro system and offers some solutions to how to fix these issues.  It was written by Paul J. Wiedefeld, the manager of the Metro system.  Since November of 2015 he has been making changes to the Metro system in order to improve it.  This article was written to share the biggest issues with the Metro and his ideas for solutions.  One of the ways he does this is by using statistics to present his audience with the issues of the system.  He mentioned that last year the number of rail car mechanical failures caused the rate of late trains to double.  Wiedefeld also presents the audience with financial information to show that Metro has the financial means to make productive changes to the system.  In order to appeal to ethos, he admits the issues that the Metro system has.  This makes his audience trust him to give them the facts of the problems and to acknowledge that problems exists.  Then, he begins to propose his solutions.  He addresses issues of safety and security first, to appeal to the audience, most of which are Metro riders.  This allows the author to build up a connection with his audience in order to get them to listen to what he has to say.  Since they are concerned about their safety on the Metro trains, they will be more likely to support his solutions on this issue.  The author strategically arranges his argument in this way to get his audience's support.  Continuing his focus on his audience, he addresses customer experience, in order to appeal to the Metro users.  His plans focus on reducing wait time and delays.  The focus he puts on his audience's needs are what allow readers to agree with his argument.  However, in the argument he lists a lot of things that he will fix but is not too clear on the "how".  He introduces a "get well" program, but not how he will implement it, how it works, or how he will afford it.  He focuses only on what its outcomes would be.  But the audience can not know for sure that these outcomes will be guaranteed because of the lack of supported information of the plan's success.  Hopefully Wiedefeld can implement these solutions and ultimately improve the Metro system for future customers.

TOW #20- IRB: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill's biography has been a very informational book so far compared to the other IRB's that I have read.  As I'm learning a lot, I am also taking in some of the writer's style that is used to paint a picture of Winston Churchill as the author wants the audience to see him.  In chapter 5, "The Center of Events", the writer uses strategies of rhetoric in order to provide accurate information about Churchill in a positive light, even when his actions were not viewed so positively by others.  The author's ability to reveal the good side of Churchill even in his worst moments is the result of Keegan's use of arrangement of information and negative diction.  When presenting a situation in which Churchill was responsible for deploying police against strikers when he was home secretary, the author is able to use arrangement to show the necessity of Churchill's actions.  To justify Churchill's controversial actions, the author explains, "The need to contain industrial unrest, fomented by the recession of 1909, forced Churchill to deploy the police against strikers on several occasions... he was even obliged to put troops on standby during riots at Tonypandy," (Keegan 74).  Before even mentioning Churchill's actions, Keegan explains the context of the time period and the need for a leader to contain the unrest of the industrial workers.  By presenting this information first, Keegan is able to alter the view of Churchill's actions by showing the audience that he was forced into ordering the police to do this.  Rather than explaining Churchill's actions as his own, the author shows how the time period affected Churchill's decisions.  This places more blame on the 1909 recession and the strikers rather than Winston Churchill.  Another way that Keegan portrays Churchill in a good light is through the use of his negative diction against those who opposed Churchill.  When explaining the repercussions of Churchill's deployment of police against strikers, Keegan mentions, "'Remember Tonypandy!' was a cry that haunted him for years after his return to the Conservative Party in 1925, and helped to make him, quite unfairly, better remembered as a home secretary hostile to the working classes," (Keegan 77).  The author's bias towards Churchill seems very apparent in this quote because of his use of negative diction.  The use of the words "haunted" and "quite unfairly" victimizes Churchill.  Keegan makes the audience sympathize with Churchill and understand how the opposing side was attacking him for something he could not control.  Whether or not Keegan's bias towards Churchill undermines his credibility in this biography is debatable, however his use of rhetoric in this chapter very clearly helps him achieve his purpose of portraying Churchill in a good light.  He is able to help the audience see some of Churchill's most controversial decisions as uncontrollable ones forced upon him.  

TOW #19- Thomas Nast "The Tammany Tiger Loose" (Argument)

In 1871 during the Gilded Age in America, Thomas Nast created a series of cartoons attacking Boss Tweed in Harper's Weekly and the New York Times.  The Tammany Hall tiger shown in this cartoon represents the New York City political organization that was charged for corruption as it was led by leaders such as William Tweed.  Nast created such cartoons in order to warn the public of Tweed's power because he was causing corruption in the economy in this time period.  Tammany Hall's original purpose was to help the poor and New York City's immigrants, however this did not occur that way.  Thomas Nast portrays Tammany Hall as a tiger, mauling a citizen, representing the population of New York City.  The tiger has destroyed her sword and shield, which represent the ballot and the freedom of voting.  Tweed and the other leaders of Tammany Hall would give baskets of food or assist the poor who could not afford it.  Then, those who received that assistance would have have to show their gratitude at the polls.  The corruption of Tammany Hall led to a corrupt vote and elections that did not accurately portray the votes of Americans.  Another way that Nast gets his point across is by showing the spectators just watching and enjoying the show.  Nast is helping his audience understand that the public is just sitting around witnessing the corruption and doing nothing about it.  This gives the audience something to feel guilty about.  As spectators, they are seeing the destruction of the freedom of the public and the freedom of the vote.  After seeing this cartoon, Nast hopes to inspire them to start taking action against this corruption.  After learning about Tweed's schemes of the Gilded Age in history, I would agree with Nast's point of view.  The image that Tammany Hall portrays is that it helps the poor and gives opportunity to immigrants.  While this was true for some, many suffered because of Tweed's corruption.  The tiger is an accurate depiction of Tweed's power structure because of it's strength and relentless aggression.  The citizens can not escape Tammany Hall's power because they were in need of economic support, but in the long run, all that this did was hurt them.  His depiction of the public's helplessness in this cartoon is also accurate.  They had nowhere else to run, just as this person was stuck in the arena with the Tammany Hall Tiger.  Thankfully, the cartoons that were published in Harper's Weekly and the New York Times did inspire change.  Nast's effective cartoon's eventually led to the downfall of Tweed and Tammany Hall.

TOW #18- The Crisis of Minority Unemployment (Argument)

The New York Times Editorial Board published an article this week about the necessity of a solution for minority unemployment in America and Congress's failure to put a solid plan in place to fix this issue.  Subsidy programs have been proposed and disapproved by Congress multiple times in the past years making it very difficult to fix this impending issue.  The author starts by introducing the problem of minority unemployment and emphasizing its importance to the functionality of America.  To support this, he uses statistics of the unemployment rates of various races in different cities with large minority populations.  This introduction to the article's argument puts it in perspective for the audience so that they can understand its importance.  The author then reveals that the subsidy programs have been proposed and shot down by Republicans in Congress, targeting a specific group to blame for the issue.  This is an effective strategy in order to get the audience to feel strongly towards this group in order to make a change.  The use of statistics showing subsidy program success in other communities is extremely helpful to the argument of the article.  By showing the success of the proposed programs, the author can convince the audience that subsidy programs are not only necessary but that they would be effective if they were used in America.  In the conclusion of the article, the author points out the advantages of increasing employment for the minority groups.  The author points out that the suggested programs would not only solve the issue of minority unemployment, but provide other benefits as well because "Work reduces alienation, gives people a stake in society and allows children in poor communities to absorb the ethic they need to be successful."  The strength of this argument is caused by its appeal to logos as the author works in different statistics about subsidy programs to show how effective it would be in America.  The only part of the article that may have weakened the argument is in the concluding paragraph when the author writes, "If Congress fails to take on this crisis, as it has failed on so many issues...".  The bias that is revealed in this dig at Congress's actions weakens the author's argument by showing that he or she already has a rivalry with Congress's decisions.  Rather than focusing on the Congress's decision about this specific issue, the author zooms out to a wider scale showing their underlying feelings of discontent with Congress.  Besides the flagrant bias in the conclusion, the article offered a very strong argument overall that convinced me of the issues of minority unemployment in our country.