Contrast of Mencken and Kroll

These two essays, although they adressed that same issue, were extremely different in their argumentative techniques. Mencken's essay was not as effective as Kroll's depsite the fact that he primarily used a logos based argument, which is generally better than ethos or pathos. This is because Mencken's argument simply wasn't as easy to accept as Kroll's, and he didn't develope his idea enough to get his audience to buy into this unpleasant reasoning. His main point, the claim that we need the death penalty to satisfy our primal need for katharsis, is not one that people will readily accept. People don't like to consider themselves as savage or unevolved, and to convince them that they are such would require much more persuasive skill than Mencken displayed. Kroll, on the other hand, appealled to a much more agreeable mentality that most people generally like to think they have. His deeply emotional appeal subtly antagonizes the supporters of capital punishment while somehow allowing us to sympathize with a convicted murderer. As he told the story of his friend's execution, he presented in a way that transformed it into a murder of a fellow human being. Very few people would be in support of cold-blooded killing, and, by describing an execution to make it seem like just that, he makes his argument much easier to swallow. The persuasive skills are much more effective in Kroll's essay than in Mencken's because we are morally obligated to agree with Kroll, and Mencken just doesn't have the development to get us to buy his idea. Also, being a moral issue, a pathos appeal was probably a more apt choice than a logos appeal. All in all, these two very different essays had two very different levels of success.

Sixteen Military Wives by The Decembrists

This song is about how we have a very even keeled response to most of the events that we see in the media. As a society, we tend to be generally unaffected by events that should evoke an emotional response, whether that responce should be happy or sad. The song is specifically talking different events that would appear on the media that should cause us to feel some sort of emotion, such as soldiers dying or celebraties winning awards. At the end of each verse, the singer says that the anchorman just says la la la and has no real reaction at all. Even more, the reaction is almost identical for each scenario, and this continues to push the theme of our society having a very minimal emotional reaction to what we see in the media.

"Race for the Prize" The Flaming Lips

The theme for this song is that ambition can consume you. On the surface, the song is about two scientists who are looking for the cure to a disease or make a big discovery. It is clear that they are competing to see who can develop the best cure the fastest. The lyrics suggest that in the beginning of this race, their goal was to better humanity and not necessarily to defeat each other. However, as their race progresses, they are not as concerned with how much good their discovery will do as much as defeating their opponent. Their ambition to win the prize of the discovery consumes their lives. The lyrics constantly mention the scientists' wives and children, and this suggests that their ambition prevents them from fulfilling their roles as husband and father. The will to win has overcome the desire to do good, which distorts the purpose of their research and corrupts their mentality. Near the end of the song, the lyrics suggest that this discovery could consume the lives of one or both scientists, and it is clear that they press on without any regard for themselves or others, only their prize. The ambition has consumed their minds and bodies as well as their relationships with their families and altogether destroyed who they were as people.

Fallacies in Famous Speeches

Patrick Henry Speech
"For my part, I consider it nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery."

Excluded Middle- He fails to see, or address, any alternatives to this situation other than the most absolute extremes.

"Duck and Cover" Propaganda

1. The overt message of this video is that, if an atomic bomb strikes, the thing you should do is duck and cover. You should also listen to civil service officers and other adults because they know what to do.
2. The covert message of this video was that if an atomic bomb does hit, you will probably be fine. It also pushed the message that the government is responsible and has qualified officials who know what they are doing. The video is trying to convince people to trust the government.
3. I believe that this video was propaganda because the government knew that, in the event of an atomic bomb, it does absolutely nothing to duk down and cover your head. Despite this, they released this video to promote the mentality that the government knew exactly what to do at all times and that they were incredibly qualified and capable to warn the citizens well before a bomb struck. I believe that the covert purpose of this video was to promote a feeling of safety around the county and increase the citizens trust in the government.

"Destination Earth" Propaganda

1. The overt message in this film was incredibly clear. They came right out and said that oil and competition allow America to have the highest standard of living.
2. The covert message is also pretty blatant. This video was trying to instill a pro-oil mentality by giving the credit to oil companies for all of the luxuries that we have. It also said that through oil and competition we are better and happier than communist states, such as Mars.
3. We know that this is propaganda because there was both an overt and a covert message in this video. The video was saying that oil was good while pushing the more powerful message that oil and competition are the reasons why we are not communist.

Propaganda poster

This poster's overt message is to eat less bread to support the troops. The covert message is that sacrafice must be made by everyone to ensure victory, and if you don't sacrifice then you are a bad American. This makes the poster propaganda due to the underlying mentality that it promotes on top of its obvious message.

Clash "Clampdown"

I think that this song is talking about the vicious cycle of the working class that forces them to be submissive and give up their humanity. I believe that the clampdown is the social pressure to follow this cycle. Some lyrical proof is that the speaker starts off as a rebellious individual who attempts to resist this pressure, but by the end of the song he has given in and become part of the clampdown. Some musical evidence of this is the monotonous and almost battery-like tempo that is present throughout the song. A propaganda connection that this song has is the line where it says that they will sell their twisted words to the young. This says that the clampdown pressure is twisted and disguised to deceive people about what it really is.

Propaganda quote

The quote that I chose for this blog was number 365, "When you would persuade, speak of interest, not of reason." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790), 1732. I think that this quote is very interesting because it claims that people are more likely to listen to what they will enjoy than to what is right. This is prevalent in many forms of advertising when they appeal to the consumers desires despite the fact that their product is not in the consumers best interest to purchase. This is a form of propaganda by leaving out certain information in order to affect the audience's decision.