Nagin Cox's 'TED Talk'

In Chapter 7, an example that stood out to me that is impactful to society is the obsessive avenger theme that is present with Captain Hook. In the story, Hook lost his hand in which he used a hook as his prothesis. He becomes obsessed on getting revenge on the crocodile that took his hand. In this example, it depicts someone who was once abled-bodied and then became disabled to do another person, or event. I have seen this behavior in the physical therapy office where I currently work. This man lost function of his arm, making his life difficult. He was so fixated in suing the company that “caused” his injury that it was the only topic he spoke about. He was blind sighted and therefore, he did not really care for his rehabilitation. In addition,

In a nation with a rich history of racism and inequality projected towards minority groups, many minorities were opposed to serving in any capacity during the Civil War. There were a few, however, that maintained an openness to the idea of aiding the Northern Union’s cause. Their willingness to fight for a shared dream, though, was not enough to put them on the frontlines. In fact, many willing African Americans were not permitted to join the ranks solely due to the color of their skin. This in and of itself was a discouraging reality for many African Americans of the time. The common question rang out: If they could not be accepted even as a soldier, how could they possibly be accepted as anything more later on? Advocate Alfred M. Green, however, had a different outlook. In short, Green decided that it was too soon to be giving up on the future. In his speech delivered to African Americans in Philadelphia, he hopes to inspire many to maintain their passion and join the Union forces. Primarily through emotional and logical appeal, Green constructs a persuasive case enticing many African Americans to continue fighting for the opportunity to join the Union army.

Slavery has had its roots deep in the soil that is our American history, dating back to the 1600s in America. After fighting the revolutionary war and obtaining independence from Great Britain, America would soon face another nemesis- The Confederate forces. The Confederate forces or the Confederacy is the name given to the slave-holding states of America which were prominent in the 1800s amid the Civil War era. It started when southern states, in favor of slave labor, seceded from the Union after the election of a more liberal present, Abraham Lincoln who aimed for the abolition of slavery. This marked the beginning of the civil war that lasted approximately fourteen bloody years. For long, African Americans were not allowed to fight alongside their fellow white citizens due to a prejudice climate. In an attempt to recruit African Americans to join the Union Army, Alfred M. Green an African American man himself, used emotional appeal, historical context, and ethical appeal during his speech to create a convincing, and persuasive argument for a better future.

Additionally, by using pathos appeal it allows the reader sympathize and familiarize with Tim O’Brien’s emotions. He invokes the audience by asking rhetorical questions which put yourself in his situation. “What would you do? Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself? Would you think about your family and your childhood and your dreams and all you're leaving behind? Would it hurt? Would it feel like dying? Would you cry, as I did?” (54) He uses emotional nouns that everybody has an emotional attachment with like “family, childhood and dreams.” By questioning important aspects of life, really makes the reader sympathize with his confusion. O’Brien adds to the pathos appeal by applying anaphora and parallel structure by repeating the words

Howard Zinn has committed his life’s work to open the eyes of American citizens, and show them the real history of our country. From America’s early beginnings and his readings of Henry David Thoreau to Martin Luther King’s plight for equality. Zinn has an eloquent way with words to put ideals into prospective, and shed light on some of our country’s issues that continually throughout history plaque our government. One of these continues historical issues is war. “Citizens have not learned from the cycle of stupidity when it comes to war” Zinn began working in a shipyard at a fairly young age after reading about Nazi camps and what Adolph Hitler hoped to accomplish, Zinn wanted to do his part to protect our nation. What he wasn’t prepared

The Civil War was one of the most pivotal moments of American history. On a large scale, the Union army fought to reunite themselves with the Confederacy. On a smaller scale, at the beginning of the war, African Americans saw this as a possible way to permanently escape bondage. The abolition movement eventually pushed to the forefront of the Union agenda with the emancipation proclamation of 1863, as African Americans were at long last beginning to get their rights. One abolitionist, Alfred M. Green, called his fellow African Americans to action at the start of the war. Green persuades his fellow African Americans to join the Union forces by reflecting on how strong they are as a group, and inspiring hope.

Great authors portray their ideas in multiple ways to reach out their message to the present audience. As Tim Urban in his Ted Talk ¨Inside the mind of a master procrastinator¨ he discussed what the thinking behind procrastination leads to through his own experiences, presenting in a way to make the audience laugh, and to convince them that everyone procrastinates in life. Any great writer incorporates ethos, pathos and logos within their writing, speech or even presentation. Tim did an excellent job portraying to his audience these rhetorical strategies which earn him the right to be listened to respectively.

In paragraphs 29-31, Swift mentions several expedients, such as taxes, wearing homemade clothes, rejecting foreign luxury, curing vices among women, instilling the virtues of patriotism, taxing the absentees, and rejecting divisiveness while promoting honest, industry, and skill. Swift’s speaker stated at the end of all his expending, “How preceptors!” Swift’s rhetorical purpose is to make the reader realize that he is ironic as well as understand what he actually stands for. The reader learns that Swift is forced to resort to ironic tone to reveal his true intention, which would otherwise go unnoticed. Swift is ironic because there is no way his expedients could succeed in a time that Ireland was in, he was mainly trying to highly the economic problems affecting the county at the time.

Moshe Szyf, an epigenist informed us through his Ted Talk, “How life experience is written into DNA,” of our genes and how they are “combined of two components” (15:17). He used rhetorical strategies to engage his audience in understanding the view of DNA through an epigenetics perspective. He provides many examples of experiments performed which show these layers of information. The two layers include the old information from millions of years of evolution and the epigenetic layer which includes the open and dynamic set up of a narrative that is interactive and allows us to control our destiny.

The text my partner and I were originally going to analyze was Robb Willer’s Ted Talk called How to have better political conversations. We decided not do analyze his speech however we did take inspiration from it. The text we analyzed in the end were article titles posted on The Washington Post written by a variety of people.

President Reagan read his speech in public with so much care for the people and their families. Some examples that shows that he cares is that in the first paragraph he says “We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country”. This part of speech says a lot because he is referring to that the deaths of the astronauts has not been hard on the families but also on the country. President Reagan wants the audience and the crowd watching to feel the pain and also the astronauts were brave enough to go up in mission without caring about the consequences.

“Stop trying to be good people.” It is only human to be biased. However, the problem begins when we allow our bigotry to manifest into an obstacle that hinders us from genuinely getting to know people. Long time diversity lawyer, Verna Myers, in her 2014 Ted Talk, “How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them” discusses the implicit biases we may obtain when it comes to race, specifically black men. Myers purpose is quite like the cliché phrase “Face your fears.” Her goal is to impress upon us that we all have biases (conscious or unconscious). We just have to be aware of them and face them head on, so that problems such as racism, can be resolved. Throughout the Ted Talk, Verna Myers utilizes an admonishing yet entertaining tone in

Niall Ferguson begins his “Ted Talk” by discussing the “billions” of the future and the past. He mentions that 106 billion people have lived on this planet and that most of them are no longer living. Most of those 106 billion people live and have lived in Asia and are on average, very poor. Today, there is 195,000 billion dollars of wealth in the world and most of it was made after the year 1800. He goes on to say that the West is 19% of the world’s population today and that Westerners own 2/3 of the world’s wealth. This is what is referred to as “The Great Divergence.”

Alice Goffman, the speaker in this TED Talk, does a great job reaching out to her audience in a great number of ways. Her purpose in this TED Talk titled, “How We’re Priming Some Kids for College, and Others for Prison,” is to grab the attention of all people, but it is directed towards the younger generations, to show them that they have to work together in order for change to be made. The change would be to work together to help end the problem of mass incarceration; to help completely rebuild the Criminal Justice System. Throughout her talk, Goffman uses examples of logos, ethos, and pathos to reach her audience in an effective way, and to inform them of the problems going on with the United States Criminal Justice System.

“I have a dream that one day all men are created equal.” Arguably the most powerful quote said by the most powerful men at the most powerful of speeches known as the “I Have a Dream Speech” during the African American Civil Rights Movement. So, it does require deep analyzation to fully grasp the piece and the author as whole. Analyzing the style of the author as a writer and a speaker, the audience and the rhetorical themes will help you to fully grasp the piece and the author. The author his name, Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King is an astonishing speaker. He is also a great writer too. Martin Luther King’s speech changed the landscape of civil rights immediately and for years to come. Since there is the speech itself and a written piece I will be analyzing a mix of both from the speech and the written peace.