TOW #20: IRB A Child Called "It"

            I am reading A Child Called "It" by Dave Pelzer. This book is a heart-wrenching autobiography about the author childhood. It recounts on the horrendous times his mother put him through as a child. Life was normal, when one day his mother started being hard on him, and from there it escalated. The boy, now called "it" was rarely fed, always beaten, and forced to do an insane amount of chores all under the force of his mother. Even with many attempts to get around her ludicrous rules. Toward the middle of the book, his teachers and principles become interested in his presentation; scars, bruises, slashes, torn clothes,  and a horrid smell. Although scared of his mother because he "told," David gets taken away from his mother under the principles command. This book appeals to ethos and pathos. The ethos comes to the personal anecdote of the author, which verifies the actuality of the stories he is recounting on. The pathos comes in because the stories are so horrendous and terrible, that when reading you can't help but want to help David. The book also uses strong figurative language and descriptions to describe his chores, punishments given by his mother, and his appearance. I recommend this book because it is a terribly, heart-wrenching story that leaves you routing for the main character to survive. It is an easier read, but the plot develops so well it is difficult to put down.

TOW #19: Why Science Is So Hard To Believe

In an opinion post on Washington Post, Joel Achenbach explored many humans questioning of science. He builds around the point that "science is a method for deciding whether what we choose to believe has a basis in the laws of nature or not." Achenbach discusses how although science may prove things, there are millions of ways and thought processes that disprove or counter that science. Also that whatever one believes, is hard to refute with scientific laws because we cling to our intuitions. The human brain "craves pattern and meaning" so we like to create and explore the correlations between certain ideas or scientific findings, that sometime lead us to a general conclusion that may not always be fully accurate. Achenbach basically applies the idea of induction to show that the reason many people refute science is because they believe if X is true, and Y is true, then X and Y but connect or happen because of one another, etc. He also claims that no scientist ever claims to be fully certain about their findings because "uncertainty is inevitable at the frontiers of knowledge." His overall purpose is to demonstrate that there are many misconceptions and misinterpretations of science and that many don't believe it because many concepts are hard to wrap one's head around. Achenbach appeals to a big audience because he uses multiple past and present examples of scientific discoveries that people try to disprove and dramatize. He also creates a basis for why many people doubt science, and brings the thought process together.

TOW #18: Guns

This political cartoon demonstrates the issues of gun rights in the United States. It shows an opposing view to permitting people to own guns. The cartoon portrays the United States as a "Guns R Us" store. This is to show that if states permit the gun laws to be passed that people will have access to guns in the same respect that they have access to toys. This is addressing a very controversial issue today. This cartoon uses pathos to to appeal to the viewers emotions about the situation. It is a faulty comparison that many parents wouldn't want to see. The juxtaposition allows the viewers to see the other side of the issue and understand why the passage of this law would be deteimental. It uses the slogan "stand your ground" to show how this would make everyone have to be on guard and get armed because it could result in violence. I liked this cartoon because it was a good way to show the negative aspects of the gun laws and gets the message across quickly and effectively.

IRB Intro Post #3

The book I am reading is A Child Called "It" written by Dave Pelzer is about an abusive mother who treats her son as a slave. The mother calls the son "it"
and plays games with him, these of which he has to win to survive. I picked this book because it was highly recommended and looked very interesting and unlike anything I have read before. The plot of the book looks appealing along with the extreme appeal to pathos. 

TOW #17: Super Bowl

          In a recent article on the Fiscal Times done about the Super Bowl this year, many gathered statistics relating to the aspects that accompany the game itself. The article claimed that around 1.4 million chicken wings are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday. Along with that it shows the information that wings are the most common food eaten on Super Bowl Sunday, accompanied by chips, dips and other common appetizers. The article also reported about the advertisements that are what many look forward to during the breaks of the game. A general 30-second spot commercial airing during the Super Bowl costs on average 4.5 million dollars. Many companies have spent much more every year just to get more complex advertisements out to the public during the Super Bowl. On top of all of that, and the reason for so many companies push to advertise during this game is because a project 171 million to 184 million people are expected to watch the Super Bowl this year. This article was very effective in demonstrating how large the entertainment value of the Super Bowl is, and how it is steadily increasing. The article builds ethos based on its news based site and analyzers to create the statistics used. With the large amount of statistics found in the article, it also builds the logos present throughout. The article also allowed viewers to put into perspective on how large the Super Bowl is, even beyond the actual game itself. I enjoyed this article because it game an insight into how much actually goes into the Super Bowl and how many other corporations and businesses make money off this event.