Preview

            Over my first semester in my General Writing class, I have noticed my writing evolve from what it once was in high school. What used to be long and very winded sentence effectively leading nowhere, I now have made the transition to adding more impact behind these long drawls. My writing style in other ways has matured too. Such an example could be that when using philosophy I can relate it to real world applications. I feel the main difference between this and how I used to write in all my writing classes in high school was that these had real world application.  Even my diction and grammar have improved.  My creativity sprung up immensely, and my basic understanding of pathos, ethos, and logos grew to a new height.

The diversity of words used among my papers, such as in my We are Legion essay “With our crusade against terrorism, an act such as the NDAA on the archetype of freedom is nothing more than disgracing the shrine of liberty we have created in our own self-image,” I have increased my word play with more collegiate word play and metaphorical use. That just being on example, I am sure you can find multiple examples amongst my essays.

This class also combined creativity with factual support. Kind of like we could chose anything we wanted, as long as it wasn’t too outlandish. I feel like I found the line and danced on it a little too much. With my essay Jesus Loves Mountain Dew, I created an ad that I made on the spot and made it as outrageous as possible on purpose. I wanted to demonstrate how the ridiculous advertisement was. Beyond the crazy picture that heads the paper I demonstrate that it served a purpose, showing the world of advertisement will hold nothing sacred, including religious figures, just to make a quick buck.
            I felt that the emphasis on the call to action portion of all these papers is what changed the whole game for me. In high school it was write to satisfy a rubric. Now I have to write to something that might address the world. That was the best part of this class; that people can actually go and look up my writing. I was finally writing for a case of activism, for a purpose, and I feel that’s what pushed me to exploiting pathos, using logical reasoning, and social justice to flow through the paper. My favorite thing to say during all of these papers, except the advertising one, was that “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”

 I feel that pathos, while it’s the cheap way out for persuasion purposes, its one of the best ways to show a topic. If you combine pathos with logical reasoning and deductive thinking, it doesn’t strike me as bad. Through the semester I have learned that you can never truly change someone’s opinion or stance on something. Rather the goal should be to modify it, and pathos is a great way to put the foot in the door. This is how I came around to creating my third project about bear bile. I establish this immense sense of pathos, and then leave the video indirectly telling the viewer that they need to take action, even providing a link to help.

It was nice writing about something that isn’t literature and philosophy. Like I said, its nice having the call to action and real world relevance. It was a new experience that definitely helped everyone involved because throughout school we have only written, if not primarily written, about literature and history and such. Now it’s on the web, and everyone can see it. Except instead of being about whatever book we read, it’s about our own topic. I don’t know, it was just exciting to me. This was definitely a great class to increase my writing ability. My favorite part of it all was the free will we were allowed to express. 

The blog post I'm most proud of:

This is a dark twisted book written at a lower level, which isn't necessarily a bad thing except for the fact the book seemed to be made for a younger person along with the fact that the cover just screams "Hey little child, I hope you didn't enjoy sleeping, because I'm about to bring you nightmares for the next few weeks." Granted the book itself isn't that scary or creepy, but the pictures are. Namely on the cover of the book, and on the back. Jesus, when I bought the book for my writing class I thought for sure amazon sent me the wrong book and I was gonna get a free kindle or something since they messed up my shipping.

Things this book taught me:

1) Not all people have Dementia: why prejudice sucks and can make you money.
But sadly no free kindle, only a book that makes one question the inherent beliefs of prejudice and view points even in ones own family. While yes, many people's grandparents tell creepy stories about how little gas was and how much better life was back then, just imagine the world without the simple luxury of air conditioning and that in itself is its own nightmare. Jacob's grandpa's stories are real, but no one wants to listen to him because you could listen to a 2 year old try to talk to you and it would make more of a believable plot about his back story. Which only leads to something that should be postulated, that everyone over the age of 80 and under the age of 10 have nothing important to say ever. Just think about it, you could go an entire conversation without listening to them and still seem like the nicest person. Just agreeing with some person that falls into those parameters is enough for them to love you. "Why yes [grandpa/child], dogs do grow a lot of hair sometimes," and bam! you are immediately the bee's knees to this person. However this book breaks that mentality because low and behold that the psychotic old man is actually telling the truth. Talk about a plot twist no one has ever seen before, M. Night Shamalan should be taking notes.
So now our hero Jacob needs to go and find out the truth about his grandpa because apparently no one ever got to know the guy when he was alive. What a lack of bonding this man had with his son or better remembered as the main character's skeptical neanderthal of a father who doesn't care about his son's mental health. His son wants to go to an island so he can make peace with his grandfather's death and he's all like, "nah bro, that's stupid" (not an actual quote). But the minute they talk about birds, he's all aboard. We get it you're a writer who cares about work over his family, now we can check that cliche off in a teens dark drama book.

Bottom line is, people today are prejudice in a time where everything is instant. While this is a trait not exclusive to this time period (remember the whole 1970's where prejudice was really really bad?), it has amplified with the lack of patience in meeting people. Inside the book they do actually make every good contention that just because you have beliefs and no facts about a person doesn't give you the right to judge them. This whole book would have been 50 pages long, tops, if they had just gotten to know their grandpa. But that doesn't make money, however it does provide an excellent story about a boy who goes to an orphanage to find out about his family. Kind of like if Will Smith's mom sent him to live with the Adamms Family instead of with Carlton and his family and more death of relatives. But I digress, this book does make a fantastic point that skepticism and prejudice should be managed wisely as to not cloud your view of the world as it is.

2) Sociocultural differences in Horror stories:
Different sets of stories have different audiences they affect. Every culture has different views on what is scary. For example, as Americans we find the woods scary because ever since Plymouth and the colonies we never knew for sure what was in the woods. However, British people are afraid of the city around the mass urbanization and industrialization that came around during the past few centuries. It's a new frontier and one that most people weren't accustomed to. Fears and stories, such as jack the ripper, were big to them. Every culture has its own set of bugaboos when it comes to horror stories that they just love to pull at to make you nearly or completely pee your pants from horror. If you sat down at a United Nations campfire and told a story as an American, it would be scary (hopefully) but won't ever reach its full potential as if you were just telling Americans.
This is why one of the key factors here is setting. The fact this book takes place on an island that's really hard to get to immediately puts up a flag. If it doesn't then its because you don't understand the gravity of the situation. If you're totally cool with it, try locking yourself in a building with a serial killer and boarding up the doors. But you need to put on the facade you are cool right? And everyone knows that safety and escape routes are uncool, so you might as well take your chances with a murderer. However back to the setting talk. The next big setting is within the already sketchy island that no one seems to ever visit, possibly because there's a grand total of about 50 people all through out the town, and only about 5 of them talk (not actual numbers). This immediately brings the idea of ghost town to my mind, but if you watch any horror movie where they break down and go to a town for a night, usually if there is a very small population then its about to go down. Cross-apply that to this book. The next thing that comes up is an orphanage/home for peculiar children. Nothing good ever comes from either of those things, ever. They just put a darker tone to the book, but then again it could be an insane asylum or deserted carnival. The next thing to make me say "If this was me, I would have been off the island hours ago," was the fact that there were woods. Maybe if my culture was different and I was raised somewhere else this would've been a breeze, but not my apprehensive American mind is telling me that no where on this island is safe.

3) Fosters home for Imaginary Friend and Tim Burton had a collective think tank and this was their brain child: Hero's Journey.
For those of you who have no idea what Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is, you probably had a bad childhood. If you're over the age of 30, I can understand a little, but a real hidden gem coming from an 18 year old who still watches cartoons occasionally. Let the judgement rain down upon me.
For the "too long, don't read version," this is it: A kid becomes "too grown up for imaginary friends," which is completely stupid (once again, coming from the 18 year old cartoon viewer.), so he has to take his friend to a house where they just hang out and friends get adopted. It's basically an orphanage for weird things, such as the orphans in our book. Now take the innocent kids show, and apply a Tim Burton filter on literally everything possible. However, as hard as I looked I could not find Johnny Depp so I was assured Tim Burton didn't lay a hand on the book. "Nah dude, having it in a city is too easy. A bog is way more dramatic and creepy," I presume the author thought. Granted this book has every element needed to be creepy, but is never really creepy.
 However everyone can say that about everything. You ever have that friend that pulls out the similarities between the dumbest things? Like a friend who goes, "Halo 3 is just the Bible set in the future!" Your first instinct is to say calm the junk down fan boy, because I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't own a paintball mask and an assault rifle, as much as some people wanted him to. It does raise a great point though, because both are basic archetypes of the hero's journey. All great stories follow this mold, such as Star Wars or the Odyssey. So why break the mold right? It's worked great, and I can't think of as many great stories that try to be all cool and hipster and try to break this mold than stories that do use this mold. Jacob is obviously the hero in the book, the mentor is his grandpa, the obvious travel to exotic (for the lack of a better adjective) places, the growth of his personality and self image from a giant wuss to a somewhat smaller wuss, and finally him helping out everyone in the home move to a new loop. This book fits the mold, its as if the author had a dual monitor set up with the hero's journey set up on one and Microsoft word on the other.

The recurring theme of birds and why it bothered me, until now.
When I picked up the book I had no idea that's how you spelled peregrine, like the peregrine falcon. I was pronouncing it wrong for about half the book. However I did notice a huge theme about birds, because it wasn't like the author was cramming it down your throat or anything.
Upon finish however, and after finding out the correct pronunciation of peregrine all the wheels clicked, and I was genuinely intrigued by the fact that there's a lot about birds in this book. The first thing that intrigued me was time travel. As it turns out, it wasn't all BS. A recent study found that birds can mentally count and predict the patterns of ants. Needless to say I found a new love for birds that day. It also reminded me of Chronos, or father time, for he is depicted as having wings sometimes so its fairly simple to draw the line between the two. There is also a tale of a Welsh monk who gets caught in the song of birds, and upon returning to the monastery he realizes that time has gone forward by a lot.
So I kept digging and digging through the vastness of the Internet for new and cool bird allusions, and I eventually found that most cultures have a story relating to birds and/or time travel. I found out a time traveling bird apparently prolonged the amount of time it took to find that devious Higgs-Boson particle we were looking for since 1964.
Bottom line is that birds have been linked to time travel, so even if you didn't like the book or my blog post, at least you learned something cool.


Very nice book, with a darker feel. I enjoyed it. Could have ended better then them just rowing off. But I digress.

We are Legion

We are Anonymous

“Knowledge is free. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us. (Church0fScientology)”

Anonymous is a worldwide collective of like-minded individuals around the world, for the transparency of government and fair rule of law. They stage cyber attacks on groups they view as a violation of basic human rights by the government or any corporation. Recent attacks have circled around the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act, Stop Online Piracy Act, and violations of human rights by the Church of Scientology (known as Project Chanology). They’re classified as a terrorist by many of the worlds governments for their attacks and release of information, along with many of their controversial stances, like their support of the website wikileaks which has leaked classified information from all the worlds governments.
The world woke up to a rude awakening because of this hacktivist group on the morning of January 21^st, 2008. What seemed to be a no big deal issue to anyone showed to be of great importance. Terrorist group Anonymous has called out its first victim. However was this a victim, or rather a target by an activist group? Victim implies a sense of mercy from on lookers. However target fits this format better, for something terrible was being brought to light. The leaking of scientology propaganda into the world brought new questions. Lies and deceit from this church have caused countless infractions against basic human rights (whyweprotest.net/anonymous).  Now the streets, while eerily quiet hold scars of a quiet struggle. Local chapters of the church are now defaced and citizens in mask walk the streets, eager to expose the scientologists for what they have been doing behind closed doors. Such infractions on human rights include free speech violations, suspicious deaths, torture, human trafficking and harassment and extortion of anyone who challenges their beliefs.

Project Chanology has begun. While the group Anonymous wants to make them seem as secular as possible, they state their reasons for this feud with the church to be a crusade for the rights of humans the church has taken away or disregarded. The crusade against a religion that only seeks to use its tax exemption status to violate human rights has gone in full swing. Who is anonymous? What do they do? Why would anyone want to be part of such a terrorist group?

The question is better answered as that they are not a body. They are not a group in the physical means. Rather, they are group of everyday people who are upset with things in the world. They are not a terrorist group, rather an activist group from grass roots who are for a pro-transparency approach to the world. They are only considered a terrorist group by their enemies, while they stay within the legal confines of the law for information dissemination and protest. They are a humanitarian group, not so much a terrorist group. (whyweprotest.net)

                  On February 10, 2008 the protests began in Los Angeles. The world would finally see anonymous was more than a group of rebel rousing group of kids who played internet pranks. They now stand for something. But the church fought back. They followed home the masked protesters, slashed the tires on the car and various other actions. Anonymous finally waged for the first time publically.(http://exscientologykids.com/anonymous.html)

Many might say this isn’t my problem, what can scientology and anonymous have to do with me. That a religion that someone submits himself or herself too is actually causing basic civil liberties and civil rights to be with held from people, how is that my fault? Now what if it was the country you are being raised in that committed these infractions. I wish to show that this does affect you, and every single American citizen. Anonymous firmly believes that knowledge is free and that the government is for the people. That people should be informed, make their own decisions, and call out the government for when it falters and fails to uphold its promise to American citizens. This is where the beginning of the war between anonymous and the United States government begins. Are they terrorists for doing what the founding father believed? "When injustice becomes law, rebellion becomes duty." (Thomas Jefferson). (AnonSynonomous)

                  So now you are given an option, to start asking questions about your own government and do your research to become an informed citizen or to live in ignorance and hope everything works out. If you don’t speak out, be heard, and be an active citizen then you are part of the problem. With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (here forth referred to as the NDAA), the United States government can now “[grant] the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.” (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.1540). We are now all fair game for the suspension of habeas corpus, right to trial by a jury of ones peers, and the suspension of due process. We are all now effectively below the government, with an even higher power distance then what we have had before. Is this really a government by the people, for the people? You have the right to think, you have the right to choose, and you have the right to take action. Regardless of what you’ve seen, whether it be the occupy movements, or any other civil disobedience you’ve seen, we were given the right to protest. It’s a first amendment right, and to suspend that is to be treated as less than a citizen. With our crusade against terrorism, an act such as the NDAA on the archetype of freedom is nothing more than disgracing the shrine of liberty we have created in our own self-image.

                  Now the United States government will fight back and tell you that this group is a terrorist group. Of course they would, when you catch someone cheating it’s obviously not great to be caught with your pants down. May I remind you the definition of terrorism though is two pronged, and both are best used against the accuser. The first definition is “the state of fear,” while the other is “a terroristic way of governing.” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorism). The state of fear is entirely subjective, and if left to the broad standard everyone is a terrorist for inciting any sort of fear in anyone. If chosen anonymous or the government to be less afraid of, I would chose anonymous because they didn’t sign away my rights in a law. The second definition is what the NDAA is actually doing, causing terroristic way of governance. Now it is your turn to decide whether or not terrorist is an adequate word. You are never a terrorist for requesting information, you are never a terrorist for upholding the constitution and its beliefs, and you are never a terrorist for wanting to change the world.

                  This is not a recruitment call, but rather an eye opener. Anonymous should be seen as an eye opener, a group that teaches not to accept conventional thought without reason, and not a terrorist group. In a world that is plagued with collusion and corruption, and where politicians seek to skew facts and realities to further their own gain, Anonymous is there to keep them in line and play by the rules of the constitution our forefathers gave us. They are a Robin Hood of transparency and freedom of information, where even Mr. Hood himself was seen as a terrorist by those higher up. They are helping build a better, more informed and progressive society that the world needs to continue to thrive and further our existence as a species.

You have rights in this country. Don’t ever lose that thought. You are a citizen, and this is what we fought against in the revolutionary war. Together we can make a difference. Set down your arms of political parties and see that major reformation needs to be done. With atrocities happening in this country we have the right to act out. We have the right to show that this is our country, and that the one percent doesn’t control us. Our founding fathers instituted a rule of law to prevent this sort of mass power distance. Now you have a question on your side. Do you pretend like you never heard this? If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Anonymous are only common people like you and I, with ideals and a search for knowledge and justice, if that makes them terrorists so be it. So remember, as long as injustice lives in the world Anonymous will always be there to say, “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Sources

Church0fScientology, youtube.com. Message to Scientology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ

Anonymous. "Anonymous vs Scientology - Why We Protest." Anonymous vs Scientology - Why We Protest. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <https://whyweprotest.net/anonymous-scientology/>.

Vamosi, Robert. "Anonymous Hackers Take on the Church of Scientology." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 24 Jan. 2008. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9857666-57.html>.

"Why We Protest – Anonymous Activism Community -." Why We Protest. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <https://whyweprotest.net/>.

”ESK - Anonymous vs. Scientology." ESK - Anonymous vs. Scientology. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://exscientologykids.com/anonymous.html>.

AnonSynonomous, youtube.com. “Anonymous – NDAA Bill Awareness” !!!!!!!                      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btJ5jjhN3R8

"Bill Summary & Status 112th Congress (2011 - 2012) H.R.1540." Bill Summary & Status. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.1540:>.

"Terrorism." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/terrorism>.

Photos
Church0fScientology, youtube.com. Message to Scientology: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCbKv9yiLiQ

Project Chanology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Chanology>.

"Rais Yatim." World News. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://article.wn.com/view/2012/08/23/Why_Section_114A_should_be_repealed/>.

"OCCUPY MOVEMENT: Faith, Economy & Politics." SikhNet. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.sikhnet.com/news/occupy-movement-faith-economy-politics>.

"It’s Guy Fawkes Day! So, What Does the Mask Really Stand For?" Guy Fawkes Day. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.themarysue.com/guy-fawkes-day/>.

Jesus Loves Mountain Dew

            Would it surprise you if this were an actual ad? Regardless of the answer, some ads are this outlandish and bizarre to sell products to the masses. Many companies extort our basic emotions, beliefs, desires, and insecurities for a quick dollar. While we do have ethics and practices for what ads can be put up on billboards and be shown to different demographics on TV, many ads try to couple these inherent human qualities and faults to sell us something. Did Jesus actually advocate Mountain Dew Baja Blast? No he didn’t, because Mountain Dew didn’t come around till nearly two millennia after Jesus.

            While this is a hyperbole and probably offends some people out in the world, it brings me to my first point. Nothing is sacred with advertising. Have you ever heard the term “Sex sells”? Well that’s because of our primal instinct to reproduce, so as a species we see that a material possession will get us with a mate and our primal instincts go “buy this, we need to further the species.” They seek out what we feel we need or actually view as a necessity so they can prey off of it and sell something to someone. If by some miracle this add about Jesus actually convinced someone that Jesus liked Mountain Dew, it wouldn’t be far from plausible to say that people would buy it to fill their need to be zealous. Companies try to convince us that without their product, we don’t fit in with the group. We are social creatures, so we need to stay as a group. That’s how we survived so long, because on our own we would have been slaughtered. We are a MacGyver species, and we survived off of brainpower and collective thinking. All ad companies have to suggest is that if we don’t own their product, then we are exiled from this group and to an even greater extent are walled off and left to fend for ourselves. Don’t believe me? Try being in a group of iPhone users and not have an iPhone. You’ll probably get a weird look or two because you’re not part of team iPhone. (Search Marketing Standard Magazine)

            Along with the nothing is sacred attitude, not even the deepest reaches of your mind are safe. The subliminal bombardment of messages that created an artificial need is bombarding you with every ad. For every hour of TV you watch there’s roughly 15 minutes of commercial. In that time frame you are bombarded with countless subliminal messages telling you to buy this product. (Subliminal Advertising and Modern Day Brainwashing) There is no actual subtext or subject matter behind this, just that there is constant messages bombarding you, just mindless and discrete relationships between product and emotion. For example, this ad I created is funny right? What about other Mountain Dew ads? Remember the one where the vending machine fired cans at the guy? I remember seeing that as a kid and laughing hysterically when I saw it. The relationship has been cited as Mountain Dew uses humor to create a link between itself and good times. (Subliminal Messages)

            Now why did I pick Jesus to sell Mountain Dew? Many might say that it’s a vague correlation that if you drink Mountain Dew, you will be like Jesus. As stated before, this is an incredible hyperbole. However, Jesus falls under the category of celebrity more often then not. People strive to be celebrities, they are what certain people aspire to be, so we buy the products they use. (Business 2 Community) They have power, money, fame; what more can a person want. The basic idea is “buy this product and you will be like them.” It’s another subliminal trait that certain advertisers use with endorsements. If it doesn’t work then why are companies putting out millions of dollars endorsements for a tiny spot on the corner of your Facebook feed or on the door of a car in NASCAR?

            Now if this was real life, and this ad was created by a professional, the subtext and subliminal messaging would make it more likely that next time you head to the grocery store to stock up on soft drinks for your dorm, the probability of you buying Mountain Dew would be higher then most other soft drinks. Why does this matter? Maybe Mountain Dew is the greatest thing to happen to the soft drink world, and Jesus did advocate its consumption. It matters because this is just one of many examples corporations use to sell a product, and with the ever growing vulgar practices of these advertisements and over the line tactics by advertisers, they can put us in a mental headlock. Not to go to the extreme of those creepy videos of Japanese advertisements on YouTube that use subtext to tell you to kill your mother, but to the extent that we’re pigs walking to slaughter to throw our money down for things we don’t even need. Junk food and soda are supposed to be a once in a while type thing, but with the amount of advertisement they put out, totaling a grand 30 hours of advertisements a year for selling these sorts of items. (CBSnews) It’s no wondering our country faces an obesity crisis. So unless you love mindless consumption, wasting money, and destructive habits of buying these things then more power to you.

"Subliminal Advertising and Modern Day Brainwashing." Subliminal Advertising and Modern Day Brainwashing. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.redicecreations.com/specialreports/brainwash.html>.

"Four Basic Human Emotions to Sell Anything." Search Marketing Standard Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/four-basic-human-emotions-to-sell-anything>.

"Subliminal Messages." Subliminal Messages. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.personal.psu.edu/dao5058/storiessubliminalmessages.html>.

"Kids Get Diet Of Junk Food Commercials." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-2620036.html>.

"Celebrity Endorsements and Twitter: Do We Buy Things When Celebrities Tell Us To?" Business 2 Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. <http://www.business2community.com/twitter/celebrity-endorsements-and-twitter-do-we-buy-things-when-celebrities-tell-us-to-0229724>.