TOW #7-"Harvard Students Believe U.S. Is Bigger Threat Than ISIS" (Written)

I happened upon this FOX News article whilst browsing the web and I couldn't help myself but to laugh at how humorous the article was. FOX took to the streets at world-renowned Harvard University to ask whether the U.S. or ISIS poses the greater threat to world peace. Three highly intelligible students respond by saying the U.S which is quickly criticized and bashed by the FOX News crew. Three student responses very quickly became a sweeping condemnation of ALL of the “liberal” campuses. And it surely didn’t take too long for FOX to get in a shot at Barack Obama! The first student spoke specifically to American imperialism as being the root problem, not “America” itself. So in the end the debate became too simplistic, the panel wanted to focus on the current and undeniable threat/evil of ISIS, whereas the students were more focused on the historical PAST and some “American” foreign policy decisions in the Middle East that played a definite role in creating the current situation.

The author's (FOX) purpose behind this article is to condemn these alleged "smart Harvard students" by misconstruing and taking their statements out of context. I can certainly tell you what rhetorical devices FOX News DIDN'T use. For starters, they never established any credibility the entire time that the panel was claiming that ISIS is the bigger threat to world peace. Just because they are news anchors and one is a country singer doesn't mean that there opinions have any validity. In fact, the students at Harvard University established more credibility by citing their sources and stating cold-hard facts. The strongest rhetorical device that FOX used was that they strongly appealed to anger Americans into feeling like these students are "unpatriotic". FOX really emphasized their support for this gracious land to make the reader feel patriotic.


http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/10/08/video-harvard-students-believe-us-bigger-threat-isis

(I also found this satirical online newspaper that did an article on this http://satirev.org/harvard/fox-news-confirms-majority-harvard-students-seem-have-paid-attention-history-class#.VERD3lboYci Might have to do this written text as well!)

TOW #6- "Americans' concern over EBOLA" (Visual)

Jack Ohman a cartoonist for the small Sacramento Bee newspaper, drew an interesting cartoon depicting the hysteria that has struck America because of Ebola. Ohman's intended audience was the standard newspaper reading Sacramento citizen that has heard enough about this "Ebola" crap. The basis of the cartoon is to make fun of the stereotypical morbidly obese, cheeseburger chomping, cigarette smoking, beer guzzling American and their reaction to this vicious disease Ebola.

Ohman's purpose behind this cartoon is to bluntly state to America that Ebola is being too "hyped up" and it is the least of our worries. Ohman is trying to point out just how hypocritical Americans are being about Ebola and their deep concerns with how badly it is going to affect them as they continue to pound down liters of beer and fly through packs of cigarettes in a day.

Ohman used a bunch of rhetorical devices including satire, hyperbole, and I would even classify the cartoon as a whole as a parody of American citizens. Every facet of the cartoon contains extreme exaggeration in one way or another. Standardizing Americans as that severely obese holding a burger and a beer in both hands, with a big gulp and large fry in lap, and a cigarette protruding from the side of the mouth is all in one an embellishment of American citizens. It is important to note however that the standard, plain black text in the background displaying the numbers of deaths per year in the United States is actually very accurate. According to the National Institutes of Health all of the numbers Ohman put were exactly correct. By contrasting the havoc that the primary focus of the comic brings with the subtle background text, it makes the meaning and purpose of the comic much more distinct and powerful. At first it is a humorous piece to look at and have a nice chuckle about but then after staring at it for a little longer you begin to think about the severity of obesity, alcohol, and tobacco on American society.


http://www.sacbee.com/2014/10/09/6771205_a6771204/jack-ohman-americans-concern-over.html

TOW #5-"These people I interviewed in Iran clearly loved the country. So why did it put them in jail?" (Written)

Anthony Bourdain is host of CNN's "Parts Unknown" and author of "Kitchen Confidential". To say he is a culinary expert is an understatement as Bourdain has traveled country to country across the world to taste the food that country has to offer. In his most recent trip that he took in mid July of this summer, Bourdain traveled to Iran. This isn't the first time Bourdain has traveled to somewhere that most Americans wouldn't travel for pleasure. He has also been to countries like Egypt, Iraq, and Turkey.

This op-ed piece that Anthony Bourdain wrote for The Washington Post regards the Washington Post's Iran correspondent and his wife. While in Iran Bourdain met Jason Rezaian and his wife. Rezaian had nothing but great words to say about Iran and when asked if he'd ever consider coming back to the US he replied that he never thinks he'll ever go back because it's too easy to love the city and country (Tehran, Iran). Oddly enough, Rezaian and his wife were mysteriously arrested and detained by Iranian authorities just a few weeks after Bourdain's trip. Bourdain is simply exclaiming his confusion and outrage at what has taken place.

The primary rhetorical device used by Anthony Bourdain in this opinion editorial is personal anecdotes. The whole purpose to his op-ed is based in the grounds of his trip he took to Iran over the summer. All personal recollections and stories were used to help Bourdain support his claim. Anthony Bourdain's purpose in writing this article is to inform anyone in America about this bizarre occurrence even after his amazing trip to Iran. Bourdain was not quick to criticize Iran and the country when he was there. In fact he actually praised how nice the people were that he met and raved about the food that he got to taste. Bourdain simply wants to get the word out about his friend without jumping to any accusations.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/05/these-people-i-interviewed-in-iran-clearly-loved-the-country-so-why-did-it-put-them-in-jail/