My Politics

Politics is a strange thing. Everybody hates politicians, but you can't go on without them. I enjoy learning about politics, but I don't really like talking about them. It seems like every side you can take is a bad choice. Choosing   an option like Republican or Democrat seems to cement you into a whole collection of ideas that you may not necessarily share. You say you're a Democrat and people assume you're an angry hardcore anti-religion atheist or you're pro-choice, you say you're Republican and people assume you vote against gay marriage, you hate immigrants, or you hate non Christians and so forth. Even when it comes to the less extreme positions, there are no in betweens. You may agree with less funding to the military or the welfare system, but you don't agree with the tax ideas that often go with the respective government funding focuses. Even though most people don't hold the entire belief set attributed to a party, it's commonly assumed that they do. Things like this make me hesitant to pick any one side, despite me holding beliefs that may fit either party. Third parties are alternatives to the main two parties, but these small parties often have a single focus and only one true cause that all members have in common, which does not seem conducive to getting things done. I feel like there's no real way to be satisfied with my choice of political party, which leaves me sitting as an independent, which I am still not sure about.

Another thing I find absolutely ridiculous in politics is how politicians and even regular people seem to spend more time trash talking the opposition rather than supporting their claim. People always talk about how everyone on the "other side" is stupid and shouldn't have the right to vote. The parties are almost like opponents in a war. Why does everything have to be so hostile? Additionally, ad campaigns for politicians often times revolve around, "Vote for me, because the other guy eats babies," rather than, "Vote for me, because I support X, Y, and Z and this is how I plan to achieve these goals." Politicians are more concerned with getting votes (which is obvious, considering their job relies on it) by being completely vague about their position and explaining why the other guy is a bad choice. Risking votes by specifying what you believe in is almost a no-no for politicians. It seems like the only honest politicians are (in)conveniently the ones that openly run against gay people or have a clear religious bias. Politics seems like it's based completely around dishonesty.

Politics in general almost makes me hate our governmental system (but it's not like there are any better choices). There's pretty much no way for us to win.

Jefferson Analysis

Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence in 1776 as means to show the world that the American colonies were not going to back down against the tyranny of King George III. The exigence of the piece was to convince people to join the Americans in the ongoing revolution against King George III because he was a tyrant. The primary assumption underlying this claim is that governments are made by the governed, and thus people have the right to overthrow an unjust government. The audience of the writing is both Americans who were not completely on board with the revolution as well as foreign powers who were not fully convinced that America would be up to the task of challenging the British Empire. The context of the writing is the American Revolution. The use of ethos, logos, and pathos is very apparent. Jefferson shows his trustworthiness through his eloquent writing style, such as his use of parallelism, anaphora, and periodicity. The long list of reasons given also contributes to Jefferson's credibility. His logical appeal is apparent in the long list of reasons for King George's tyranny. While there is a long list of reasons given, many of them are vague. For example, Jefferson says that taxes were imposed without consent in paragraph 19, but no mention of what taxes were levied is mentioned. Jefferson uses pathos through his strong language of calling King George a tyrant, or his eloquence on describing what rights men have and how it is their right to rise up against King George. The Declaration of Independence is a very effective piece of literature, as many countries such as France sought to help America to weaken the British Empire, and many more American colonists joined the cause to fight the British. The Declaration of Independence has been used as inspiration for many more revolutions around the world, suggesting that it is a very effective piece of literature and Thomas Jefferson truly knew what he was doing when he wrote it.

McDonald's Ad Analysis pt.2

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/11/mcdonalds-french-fry-wi-fi-ad/

Forgetting that using imgur.com to shorten the url also prevents the professor from finding the actual source is probably a bad thing. Actual source now included.

McDonald's Ad Analysis

The McDonald's ad chosen advertises a plan to offer free wifi at all McDonald's locations. The exigence of the ad is clearly to improve sales by attracting members of the working class that require access to the internet at all times. The message of the ad is again somewhat vague, assuming that everyone will know the four bars signifies free wifi. However, it is also quite likely that anyone who uses wifi regularly at lunch to conduct business will already be knowledgeable about the symbol. The primary audience of the ad is anyone who may require wifi access at lunch to continue their work or read email while eating. There is also a secondary audience, that being the increasingly large number of people with smartphones who will find wifi helpful to look things up while eating. The context of the ad is that people have to eat, so the ad is attempting to convince people to eat at McDonald's. The ethos in the ad is almost nonexistent, but is present in the fact that McDonald's is a very large and well known fast food restaurant and has little reason to lie about what it does. The logos is simple, in that wifi is helpful for anyone working on the go and needs to keep up with business even while on a lunch break. The pathos is also nonexistent. The ad is extremely minimalist, and has little substance while still conveying a simple message. The ad itself is eye catching, with a bright red background and all yellow text. This makes the ad easy to see and allows virtually anyone to almost instantly connect the ad to McDonald's. The ad is somewhat vague, assuming everyone will already know that the bar symbol signifies wifi capability. However, since the ad is targeted at a small primary demographic it is likely to be effective in attracting those people.

http://i.imgur.com/kVDuI.jpg