Rhetorical Analysis In his passionately written article “The Backlash Against Serial—and Why It’s Wrong,” author Conor Friedersdorf comes to the podcast’s defense following the harsh criticisms that have been thrown at Serial since its debut. Serial is a spinoff series from parent podcast This American Life, which details the investigation and reinvestigation of a brutal 1999 murder involving high school lovers of the Baltimore area. Friedersdorf’s piece not only comes to defend Serial’s honor, but it also fights back and grapples with these disparagements thrown at the podcast. In particular, the accused transgressions from fellow writers Jay Caspian Kang in his own work “Serial and White Reporter Privilege” and Jeff Yang’s post from Quartz. In my judgement, Friedersdorf does an excellent job refuting Kang’s and Yang’s opposing views and persuading his audience that Serial is innocent of the accused wrongdoings. What are these wrongdoings you ask? Kang claims that Serial is not so much about the cold case it is investigating, but more so the producer and narrator, Sarah Koenig’s, fixation on the case. He also believes that while Koenig may be well intentioned, she is interpreting and making assumptions on facts of the lives of people within minority communities involved with the case. Another writer, Yang asserts that This American Life’s method of narrative journalism displays “cultural clumsiness” (Yang qtd. Friedersdorf). Friedersdorf argues that these allegations
The purpose of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is to protect the health of America and to “promote the quality of life through the prevention and control of the disease, injury, and disability (CDC, 2013).” The CDC has a concern about a growing disease that is normally found in children to young adults called Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, also known as ADHD. This Rhetorical Analysis will be focused on ADHD. The CDC’s Website is trying to inform current or future patients, parents and care givers, and teachers on how to handle this illness.
In the essay, “What You Eat is Your Business”, Radley Balko writes to tell his audience about how the government is trying to control people’s health and eating habits by restricting food, taxing high calorie food, and considering menu labeling. Balko includes in his essay that government restricting diets and having socialist insurance is not helping the obesity problem, but it is only making it worse because it not allowing people to take their health in to their own hands so they have no drive to lose weight or eat healthy. In his essay, Balko is targeting society, including those who may be obese, he is trying to show them that the laws our
Social consciousness in the media and journalism is commonly thought of as the ability to acknowledge that an event has occurred, then address it vaguely to parade a false sense of progression. However, columnist and Pulitzer winner, Leonard Pitts Jr. embraces the analysis and discussion of issues that the public does not understand or refuses to recognize, such as racial prejudice in his essay, A Racial Hate Crime, Pure and Simple, where he concedes the denial of racism in America. In each of his pieces, Pitts provides versatility with his rationale as well as an immense regard for the magnitude of communal perception and prejudices. In support of his more liberalistic ideals, he makes a point of using compelling argumentative techniques, which convinces his audience to examine the articles in his favor, giving him the components of a strong essayist.
African-American crime for criminologist is not discussed as often. It is something that many criminologist or do not discusses due to “fear of racism being attributed” (434) but as well as censor out so that the group does not feel oppressed than what they already are. Criminologist are aware of African-American crimes and do name them in their research, but African-American serial killers are not almost represented in the criminologist work. What is seen on the work of the criminoloisgt is statements like “ There are a few women, Black or native Americans in our files” or “Serial killing is perpetrated predominantly by white males on white females” (434). This way of outing African Americans and White serial killers is reacist for both race
We support each other and encourage each other to always reach higher, but society seemingly is unwilling to let that diamond shine brightly. Instead we are paraded and insulted on the news. For decades now we have heard the underlying chants of ‘Black Lives Matter’ seemingly on repeat; a record engrained in us. From Rodney King in Los Angeles and the acquittal of the four offices accused of beating him in March 1991, to fifteen years later — more recently, Akai Gurley in New York City and the guilty verdict of the Rookie Police Officer convicted of manslaughter and official misconduct, but recommended by the District Attorney his killer does not deserve jail time. Black lives has been a household topic for decades now. Living in a time with no shortage of crime television, we have all become private detectives. Our youth plastered on the news for crimes unbeknownst to most, innocent until proven guilty is a human decency most conveniently fail to
The Netflix satire not only explores how media perpetuates racial narratives that ultimately give way to the jaw-dropping moments of racial tension in episodes 5 and 10. It simultaneously explores how the same media spaces provide distraction and even comfort for the traumatized through the proliferation of reality television and “Shondaland” shows. Following the chaos surrounding Troy’s arrest, Dear White People ends on Defamation Wednesday at the dorm. Defamation is one of many callbacks to popular media in mainstream culture, as it parodies the outlandish and often problematic narratives of Scandal. Another reference includes Dereca, Set Me Straight, a parody of faux-help reality television show, Iyanla, Fix My Life. Simien’s clear callbacks
(1)One of my most profound moments was when Dr. Jackson spoke about the hidden messages that are in TV shows, rap music, and some of my favorite movies. I have never been oblivious to the subliminal attacks that comes through the media, however, this presentation persuaded me to pay closer attention. After I started paying a closer attention, I notice that the media is extremely destructive and that they have a specific target, which are black people. I researched hidden messages in Cartoons and Disney shows and I notice that everything Dr. Jackson stated was true. The role of the black actresses on the Disney channel is always sassy and dramatic. I also observed cartoon shows such as SpongeBob, The Lion king, Author, and Family Guy; the amount of Ethnocentrism and racism that I found was overwhelming. Dr. Jackson’s presentation revealed to me just how serious this fight is. I am now more consciously aware of all messages that are being relayed through the media.
In 2014 a independent film called Dear White People by Justin Simien was released and the purpose of the movie was to follow 4 black kids at an ivy league school and show first hand what they go through. The main character Sam had a documentary called “Dear White People”, which she used to express how she felt about white on black discrimination in her school and in the world. This bothered some kids in her school and fellow classmate asked, “Gabe: So, Sam, how would you feel if someone started a "Dear Black People"? Sam White: No need. Mass media from Fox News to reality TV on VH1 makes it clear what white people think of us.” This statement goes hand in hand with what is going on in the real world today. By analyzing race in America, it has become clear that the media has become the foundation for racial tension.
The backlash to Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protests reveals a disturbing trend of suppression against independent black thought. For example, a prominent Fox News contributor and ardent critic of Kaepernick, Jeanine Pirro, in response to the protests, questions whether “we have the fortitude, courage, and determination to stand up to those who threaten our values.” This ominous statement begs a few questions: What values, exactly, does Pirro see threatened by Kaepernick’s protests? To whom is she referring with the collective pronoun ‘we’? The answer, sadly, has little to do with Kaepernick or his protest. Pirro knowingly implies that black people are “threatening” white people. At its crux, the protests are rooted in seemingly non-controversial ideas; however, the fact that they are coming from black Americans rather than white ones provoke widespread backlash and “threaten our values” — referring to the values of white Americans. The reactions to the protests reveal a dark truth about America: white people still control most of the power and influence in this
This week's content brought to light many of the disparities that minority populations face in comparison to their European peers. In particular, I wanted to look at the toxic exploitation of black culture that stems from stereotypes reinforced by various media outlets such as the news, television, film, and video games. News outlets are the culprit of portraying bias towards black vs. white crime and making headlines that desensitize the impact of a black person involved in a crime versus a white person. Furthermore, the association of crime with black or Latino people enables society to print a negative mental picture of these people based on the colour of their skin - which is wildly misrepresentative and ignorant. Video games such as GTA,
In 2014, we live in a world with a media saturated culture. This is the era of digital news services, of 24-hour news channels, free newspapers, and even media based applications. For the majority of us, the way in which we learn about the world outside our personal perception is through the consumption of news, mainly still through broadcast or print (OFCOM 2007). Various forms of media has fed the public statistics that created a sense of stereotyping for each particular race. For example, the media and those on film, such as politics and leaders of the government, link together race and crime, which conveys a criminal image of the public’s consumption (St. John & Heald-Moore, 1995). Since race and crime are tied together, when one thinks of a crime, hears about a crime, or when crime is being reported, race is usually associated with it. In the American society, a frequent representation of crime is that it is majorly committed by African- Americans. The view of African Americans has been distorted and twisted by the media and other contributors. Without question, almost everything that is being covered by the media is believed by most of society and it becomes their actual perceptual reality. Broadcast media and other various forms of media has a history for portraying African Americans in a biased manner, as if they were mostly reported involved in crime, drugs, or acts of violence. This has led to many cases of stereotyping, racial profiling, police brutality,
The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make the criminal look like he’s a the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press, an irresponsible press. It will make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
According to the Americans, they believe that the extreme competition at workplaces is actually good for the country and is a key to a better economy. But ironically, what’s happening is exactly the opposite because it is causing infinite loss of talent and aiding in the production of insignificant quantities instead of pioneering quality. Slaughter is annoyed by this matter and wrote this article in order to display her opinion, which is largely backed by facts, to the American society and the firm owners precisely. However, due to it being published in an article, Slaughter had a limited word count. She had to be concise and perhaps was unable to elaborate as much as she may have liked to. She made sure to avoid using overly complicated vocabulary for the audience to easily comprehend the point she was trying to make, while also sticking to certain key terms to explain her issue vividly. “Bad work culture” and “Culture of overwork” were one of those key terms and which
As crime continues to remain as a universal problem, members of society are continually keen to know the status of crime on a regional and global level. The mass media not only acts as a vehicle for delivering information and to entertain (i.e., infotainment), but it is also the main public instrument for sourcing crime (Dowler, 2003). However, with the media now focusing more heavily on crimes they deem as newsworthy, it has become evident that this boundary between media as a source of information, and as a means to entertain has progressively blurred. As such, the media has a negative influence on the public’s perception of crime because it tends to report more on violent and rare crime whilst commonly showcasing Blacks and Latinos as perpetuators and Whites as victims of criminal activities (Edmiston, 2004; Bjornstrom et al., 2010) To corroborate this argument, this paper will utilize research to delve deep and uncover how and why the media, particularly print and TV media outlets, chooses to filter and over represent certain types of crimes, victims, and perpetuators. It will also discuss the implications of this distortion among its readers and viewers, particularly focusing on their increased fear of crime.
With just a few words and paper, writers and journalists have been able to change our government ,and its laws, and even incite wars of freedom and revenge. One can see that writers from the Women’s Rights movement in the early 1900’s, who inspired the push and eventual acceptance of women’s rights, the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s, that brought the issue of racial equality to the spotlight, and the Journalists that were a part of both movements and all of the twentieth century have been able to affect change in