Sry Gotta Bail Mayb Nxt Tme

            As modern technology advances, texting and instant messaging has made it easier to navigate our social lives, but at the same time it as turned us into ill-mannered fools. Not long ago, the only way to break a social engagement was to do it in person or on the phone. An effusive apology was expected, or at least the appearance of remorse. But now, when our fingers tap our way out of social obligations, the barriers to canceling plans have been lowered. The author of this article is Caroline Tell. Caroline Tell is a fashion and lifestyle writer based in New York. Caroline is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily, Conde Nast Traveler, Style.com, Robb Report, 1st Dibs and more.

            The context of this article that prompted the author to write this was her inner need to speak up about how the offline rules of etiquette no longer seem to apply with the use of e-mail, texting, etc. She believes people hide behind their e-mails or text messages to cancel appointments, or do things that are uncomfortable in a face to face situation. Caroline Tell’s purpose in writing this article was to address the societal corruption caused by the use of cellphones and computers to avoid social confrontation. She wants people to step out behind their cellphones and communicate with people face to face. The audience for this article includes a wide range of ages. This article can be applied to kids as young as 10 to adults as old as 50. Simply, anyone who is a virtual communicator is the target audience for this text. Caroline Tell even writes, “You’re not treating anything with any weight, and it turns us all into 14-year-olds. We’re all 14-year-olds in suits and high heels.”

            There are several rhetorical elements used in this article. However, the two used most frequently are anecdotes and repetitions. An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. Caroline used several anecdotes to give real-life examples to explain how cellular communication has affected our daily lives. This gave the audience amusing, relatable stories to illustrate and assist the author in accomplishing her purpose. The author was showing the evidence rather than plainly telling it. The second rhetorical element used frequently was repetition, the repeating of a word within a sentence or a poetical line, with no particular placement of the words in order to emphasize someone or something. This is such a common rhetorical device that it is almost never noted as one. The word repeated in this article was flakiness. The author thinks virtual confrontation encourages and promotes flakiness. This word is constantly used through out the article and repeated in several anecdotes. The constant repetition makes the word stand out and stick in ones mind. The idea then sticks in the readers mind that texting and e-mailing will cause flakiness, or carelessness and laziness.  

            Overall, I do believe the author accomplished her purpose of showing people how cellular communication is corrupting our society. She used anecdotes and repetition to constantly reiterate her point, and she provided example after example to support every claim she was making. She is a credible author and used her expertise to provide her audience with an informative article that was packed with information from beginning to end. 

            

"Join, or Die"

       "Join, or Die" is a well-known political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin, and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754. “Join, or Die” is a woodcut showing a snake severed into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of a British American colony. The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies to display the importance of colonial unity. Not on did this cartoon represent colonial unity, but during the American Revolution, it became a symbol of colonial freedom. As mentioned, the author of this cartoon is Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He earned the title of "The First American" for his early and unrelenting campaigning for colonial unity. The context of this cartoon can be examined by looking at some American history. The cartoon took on two different roles: one during the Seven Years’ War and another during the American Revolution. I am going to focus on the Seven Years’ War because that is what prompted the original illustration. At the time this cartoon was published, the colonists were divided on the issue of whether or not to fight the French and their Indian allies for control of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. Later, this came to be known as the French and Indian War. The Americans had revealed an astonishing lack of unity. Even the Indians had laughed at the inability of the colonists to pull together. Therefore, the purpose of this cartoon was to show colonists the need for an organized action against the outside threat. Consequently, it is only logical that the audience of this cartoon is the American colonists. They were the main characters of not only this event, but of this time period. Additionally, they were certainly the ones in need of the unification. Although there are several rhetorical elements used in this political cartoon, the two I am going to elaborate on are the appeal to pathos and the use of a metaphor. The goal of pathos is to generate emotions in the audience; death is an obvious subject that will spark some sort of internal emotion. Franklin is using death as an emotional appeal to reach the overall objective of his cartoon. He is basically saying that if the colonists do not unify, they will die. Harsh, but it will definitely make people pay attention to what Franklin is trying to say. A metaphor is another rhetorical device used in this cartoon. As seen, Franklin chose a snake to show the separation amongst the colonies. He could have chose any animal to display his point, so why a snake? Well, during that era, there was a superstition that a snake that had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset. This is metaphorical to the colonies. Franklin is basically saying that although the colonies are separated now, they still have hope of reuniting to fight against the common enemy. I do think Franklin accomplished his purpose through this cartoon. He chose strong words and uses a clear and direct image to convey his message to the colonist that they must reignite their sense of unification. He presents his point clear and concise making it easy to understand the point. Overall, Franklin makes everything in this cartoon very meaningful, making his purpose jump off the page. 

Panetta Sounds Alarm on Cyber-War Threat

            As we all know, warfare has been around for centuries upon centuries. However, this article explores the rise of a new warfare that may be just as dangerous. Cyber Warfare is a new worldwide issue on the rise. On Thursday, Leon Panetta, the United States defense secretary, came to the nation’s financial hub – New York City – to issue his battle cry. The city is the brightest bulls-eye on the American target for enemies wishing to cripple the U.S. economy with computerized “worms” and “malware” that can infect computer networks and virtually paralyze our country. These new attacks have the capability to take down a power grid, water system, transportation system, or even our entire financial system. Considering the US is always on the technological radar, the U.S. military is stepping up its offensive cyber war capability. Major defense contractors see cyber defense as the next post-9/11 money pot making annual cyber spending about $12 billion. This article was written by Time Magazine's writer Mark Thompson, a Pulitzer Prize-winner who has covered national security in Washington since 1979, and for Time since 1994. The context that prompted the publication of this article is simply the recent rise in concern of cyber warfare. Also, this article is prompted because the author does not want our country to sit back and wait for a crisis to happen, which is what the United States tends to do. So, the purpose of this article is to inform American society of the new threat that is taking over our country. The author wants the American people to be aware of what our technology can do, and the new threat it is producing worldwide. The audience, as mentioned above, is simply American society. The first step to prevention is knowledge. So the more American society is informed, the less likely a naïve American will fall suspect to deception. There are several rhetorical elements used in this article. However, I am going to focus on two. The most prevalent of the bunch is definitely pathos. The author appeals to pathos continuously throughout his article. To offer an example, he writes, “Panetta warned of cyber terrorists derailing U.S. passenger trains – as well as trains laden with lethal chemicals.” As easily felt by reading this sentence, the author is appealing to our emotions to draw us towards the subject being discussed and realize that cyber warfare is not just a bunch of hocus pocus; it is real. The author uses pathos in this instance to create a negative tone, which in turn creates an image that nauseates the reader.  Another rhetorical device used was an anecdote. The anecdote written in this article was the recount of the “Shamoon” virus attack on the Saudi Arabian state oil company, Aramco. The virus strike wiped out 30,000 of the companies computers. It created the image of a U.S. flag in flames on the infected computers and it burned the computers up. The use of a particular instance or concrete example to support his claim assisted the author because it makes the article even stronger. The use of a concrete example made it so readers do not view cyber warfare as a foreign topic, but instead a real issue. The author did accomplish his purpose in his article. Specifically, the utilization of rhetorical devices helped to support his purpose of informing American society of this new threat and increase awareness to prevent cyber warfare. He used powerful words and examples to instill the sense of fear in the readers, which again benefitted his purpose. Overall, the author constructed an effective article to get his purpose across to the audience. 

No Easy Day

     Although I am still in the exposition stage of this book, I have still managed to grasp a general sense of the story’s plot. The novel, No Easy Day, is about a Navy Seal named Mark Owen and his Naval Special Warfare Development Group — commonly known as SEAL Team Six. They have been a part of some of the most memorable operations in history. However, this book centers around the biggest mission of the team’s lives: The mission to kill Osama bin Laden. The author of this book is Mark Owen himself; he is again a Navy Seal a part of the prestigious DEVGRU team. The context of this story that prompted Owen to write this book is simply his want to share with the rest of the world a blow-by-blow narrative of this unforgettable moment. In the introduction of the novel, Mark Owen explains that his purpose in recreating this moment in history is that hopefully, “one day a young man in junior high school will read it and become a SEAL, or at least live a life bigger than him” (Owen 1). Although, so far, I believe he has various secondary purposes. For example, he simply wants to tell people what really happened during that day as well give credit where credit is due and pay respect to those who risk everything for our country Therefore, it is only logical to say that the audience of this book is not solely the general public who take interest in military work, but specifically young American boys who are the future Navy Seals of America. Considering I am still towards the beginning of this novel, there are only a few rhetorical elements I have noticed while reading. Some of these elements include appeals to ethos and pathos, description, imagery, persona, and scenario. Lastly, so far I do not believe the author has accomplished his primary purpose of encouraging others to be a Seal. However, I do believe he is beginning to accomplish his various secondary purposes just by simple carrying his readers through this jaw-dropping mission and giving readers a feeling like they were experiencing the mission first-hand. Overall, this book is a fascinating read that everyone should delve into.