This is my Practice IOC of "The Handmaid's Tale" Pages 24-25.

Blog Post #7- Analyzing Political Cartoons

https://humorinamerica.wordpress.com/category/visual-humor/political-cartoons-visual-humor/

This political cartoon depicts Donald trump surrounded by flammable material having his torch lit by lady liberty. The fact that lady liberty is in the political cartoon is significant because lady liberty often represents the prosperity and achievements of America. Though she is not the primary focus of the cartoon it is still important to note that she is in the cartoon. The other significant figure in the cartoon is the current U.S President Donald Trump. He is depicted as a short and stubby man with a sneering and malicious grin. He is holding a torch which is being lit by lady liberty’s torch. In the cartoon, Donald Trump is completely surrounded by flammable material and has a speech bubble saying, “The Torch has been passed. Let the fun Begin.” This implies that he is going to take that fire and set ablaze to the flammable objects.

 Now what can be taken from all of this is the interpretation that Donald Trump is taking a good and dignified U.S, represented by lady liberty, and is completely ruining it and s giving the united states a bad reputation. The Fire in the torches can be seen as a metaphor for this. The fire of lady liberty’s torch can be seen as the fire that lit the way for America and gave it hope. On the other hand, there is the fire that is in Donald trump's torch which can be seen as a dangerous fire that is taking all the hard work done by lady liberty, maintaining a functioning country with a good reputation, and mangling it turning it into a negative substance.

 By making Trump seem short and fat as well as giving him an evil looking facial expression it gives the feeling to the audience that he is almost a villain out of some sort of Hollywood action movie. It makes the audience feel that he has dangerous intentions with the country and is going to turn it into a wasteland for his own pleasure.

Blog Post #6: Reflection on Practice Paper 1

Before thanksgiving break our class wrote a practice paper 1 similar to the one that we are going to have to write for our final in English class and what we will have to do for our IB exam our senior year. While I was writing my Paper 1 I thought that it was going quite well and was doing some rather good analysis that clearly expressed what my thought process was. It was going well at the beginning but once I had gotten to the end of the class period I found that I had ran out of stamina and just wanted to finish my work. This led to me quickly finishing the last paragraph and not putting very much effort into it. I did finish though and I thought that overall I did pretty well. The next class period we had we decided to take a look at what IB examiners felt was a bad examples of a paper one. This made me feel a little self conscious because I felt that mine was worse than the bad example. Then when we looked at the good example it was clear that it was leaps and bounds ahead of mine.

Once we began to peer edit I found that my largest problem was my format. O had not known that the preferred format for this assignment was a five paragraph essay. I just analyzed both of the texts in separate paragraphs then had another one comparing and contrasting them. I felt that it was able to convey my ideas properly but it was not the format that I was supposed to use. I think it may have been appropriate if I just simply added and an intro and conclusion.

What I learned fom this process was how to properly write a paper 1 and what the criteria is. I also learned that I need to focus on not having stamina in my writing so I do not get lazy towards the end.

Blog Post #5: Bias in the News - ARTICLE ANALYSIS

Article with Annotations:

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/charlie-kirk-democrats-come-out-the-big-losers-in-floridas-election-mess

Charlie Kirk: Democrats come out the big losers in Florida’s election mess

Despite desperate efforts by Democrats to overturn the decision of Florida’s voters – and despite the state’s deeply flawed, mismanaged and corrupt election system – it’s now clear that Republican Ron DeSantis will be the state’s next governor and Republican Gov. Rick Scott will be its next U.S. senator.

While a hand recount is still underway in Scott’s race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, “Nelson was left with almost no chance of pulling off a comeback to retain his seat” because Scott was leading by more than 12,000 votes, the Washington Post reported. And Florida’s machine recount of votes showed DeSantis more than 33,000 votes ahead of Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum – a margin too large to mandate a hand recount.

Democrats who refuse to accept that DeSantis will be governor and that Scott is heading to the Senate are refusing to accept reality. Their complaints against Republicans are absurd and simply the whining of sore losers unable to accept responsibility for their losses.

The reality in Florida is that the state’s voting system is badly broken. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, who is presiding in one of several lawsuits arising out of the Nov. 6 midterm elections, was right when he recently said: “We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this.”

Why does Florida have so many problems counting votes and determining which votes should count?

There are three issues involved in determining which votes are valid./

The first issue is voter fraud. This can involve someone voting who does not have the right to vote, such as a person who is not a U.S. citizen. It can also involve someone voting more than once, such as a person who moves to a new community but is still registered to vote from his or her previous residence. Fraud can also take place when a person pretends to be someone else – such as a voter who has died – and votes under that false identity.

The second issue is election interference or tampering. This is where a person or entity acts improperly to influence voters or the counting of votes. This can involve many things, such as: foreign interference in an election; computer hacking to alter voter databases; tampering with equipment that records votes; and creating front groups to put out false information on social media, in ads, in mailings, in robocalls and in other ways.

The third issue is voter suppression. This involves efforts to discourage or prevent voters from casting ballots. Democrats accuse Republicans of this because Republicans favor measures to prevent voter fraud, such as requiring voters to present a form of identification when casting ballots. The Democratic claim makes no sense. Requirements for an ID are not voter suppression – they are just commonsense steps to ensure people don’t vote if they are ineligible, don’t vote using false identities and don’t vote more than once. True voter suppression took place in the past, usually by Democrats in the South, to deny African-Americans the vote. And the votes of women were suppressed before they were granted the right to vote nationwide by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920.

Historically, Democrats have shown they are willing to do just about anything to win elections. Republicans must quit taking the high road and fight back with everything we have.

Democrats have long been the party of voter fraud. The line “vote early and often” describes the Democratic Party machine in Chicago (the original line has even been attributed to gangster Al Capone, although nobody knows). Chicago has also been a place where the grateful dead have been more of an election force than a rock band. There, as in other major urban population centers, Democrats have used voter fraud as a way to retain and consolidate power.

Today the voter fraud issue centers around letting non-citizens have access to the ballot box. Despite media claims that there is no evidence of this happening, the truth is that there is plenty of observational evidence from around the country that it is. Letting non-citizens vote jeopardizes our principles as a nation. They vote only for entitlement, not for their own responsibility as citizens.

Election interference and vote tampering certainly appear to have occurred in Broward County in Florida in the recent midterm elections.

Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes, a Democrat who has held the position since 2003, has a long history of duplicitous behavior. As NPR – hardly a tool of the Republican Party – recently reported: “Accusations of bias and incompetence have followed Snipes for years.”

And yet Snipes continues to be allowed to serve because a majority of people living in predominantly Democratic Broward County apparently believe the ends justify the means when it comes to counting votes in order to favor Democrats.

The intellectual dishonesty of Democrats trying win elections they actually lost in Florida and elsewhere is staggering. Make no mistake, the only thing that these Democrats care about is winning this election in this moment. They don’t care that by doing whatever is needed to win they are undermining our entire system of government.

Banana Republic is a great clothing store but a lousy place to live. This is the kind of behavior we see in such nations.

Republicans need to understand there is no high road to take here. We need to be as aggressive as we legally can be, and any politician subjected to Democratic tactics designed to improperly win elections cannot ever concede or withdraw.

Democrats know the mathematics of being able to “flip” just a few votes in every voting location. With over 113,000 voting sites in the United States it doesn’t take much.

We should all be grateful to the Founding Fathers for our electoral system. We need to be vigilant in protecting it in the face of attacks by Democrats that are stronger than ever.

Purpose: To show the world that democrats are solely responsible for voter fraud.

Connotative Diction:

When the author says, “the state’s deeply flawed, mismanaged and corrupt election”, it makes seem as if this is the Democrats fault that the election system in Florida is so flawed. As they are constantly blaming the Democrats for everything it would only seem fitting that this be their fault as well.

Adjectives:

The words that are used to describe Democrats make them seem as if they are completely evil, sore losers, and are childish. This can be seen when the author of this article say, “Their complaints against Republicans are absurd and simply the whining of sore losers unable to accept responsibility for their losses.” By calling them whiny and sore losers it really shows how bias Fox news really is.

Exaggeration:

In this article it can be seen that the author really exaggerates the negative traits of democrats. This can be seen when he says, “the only thing that these Democrats care about is winning this election in this moment.”  This shows his beliefs that the only thing that Democrats care about is winning, not actually bettering the country and making advancements and improvements in society.

Bias through source:

Fox News is known for taking a very conservative point of view. This would cause them to not take the side of or advocate for Democrats which makes the story one sided.

Bias through word choice:

The word choice that they use makes it seem like Democrats are not fit so society and are not good for the future of the country. This can be seen as early as the title of the article which is, “ Democrats come out the big losers in Florida’s election mess”. By calling them Big losers sort of sets the tone of the standpoint they are going to take in the rest of the article.

Blog Post #4- Gender in Advertising

What are The Major differences in the ads?:

• One ad is portrayed with a boy and the other a girl.
• They are wearing clothes that would be associated with their gender.
• Color schemes are different.
• Vocabulary used in ads are different.
• "The Little Scholar" and "The Social Butterfly"

Did my Perception of GAP Change After analyzing the ads?:

          My Perception of GAP did not change because I personally have never worn or wanted to wear GAP Clothes and these ads did not do anything to really change my mind about that. 

How do I think and feel about the ways boys and girls are depicted in these Ads:

           I think that the boy is depicted as a future scholar that has a bright future and is going far in life and is planning to do so. I think the girl on the other hand is portrayed more as if she is focused on her physical appearance as the most important thing in life and is super enveloped by what other people think of her and how she looks.

Should Anything be done about these ads?:

           I believe that rather than removing the ads from society they should make ads that offer the counterparts to each depiction. So they should have an ad depicting a girl as a scholar and a boy as like a rock star or something along those lines. It would make it so they still have the depiction of the original ad as well as offering equality and diversity in the new ads.

What can be done about gender stereotyping in ads, especially at such a young age?:

           I think that the only thing that can be done is companies also giving diversity in ads so then it can show the progress of society as well as keep the same kind of ads that have been used to appease to the people that believe in older ideals as well.

What are My overall Impressions of GAP as a company after analyzing these ads?:

          I think that GAP is a normal company that has not really done anything wrong they just were making ads and probably did not give it a second thought about what they were saying. Though I do not like GAP clothes I cannot say I despise them as a company just for putting out an ad showing off new children's clothes. 

Blog Post #3- Advertising, Happiness, and The End of the World

I personally is my happiest when I am engaging n some kind of athletic activity. Preferably that activity is football, but any kind of activity usually makes me really happy. For some people physical activity is not so fun but for me it is what really I feel defines who I am. I think that the national happiness index is a good idea because it shows that some countries are generally happier than others and it is important to know that the country you live in may not be the happiest. This is important to know because it shows that maybe an attitude adjustment may needed to try and spread positivity and improve the happiness of a country. I believe the best way to measure the happiness of a country is by the way people interact with each other . If people are happy I believe that they will generally try to be positive and be nicer to people. So if the country that you live in generally is not filled with the nicest people it shows how maybe those people are not so happy.

The story “I’ve Been Called a Luddite” implies that technology has impaired the happiness of many and has made the world a lot harder place to live in. I think that in some ways this is true. It really brings down the amount of human interaction because everything is done electronically and not manually. It also makes it a lot easier to bully people because the bully is hidden behind a username and a screen. Though in some cases it makes people a lot happier because it offers hours of entertainment and can really be a good bonding point for people.

The NY times article But Will it Make you Happy” implies that the more fancy and expensive things that someone has does not mean that they are going to end up happier than someone who has just enough things to survive. The more luxuries a person has can actually end up making them sadder because now they do not have as much time to enjoy the smaller things like time with their family because they are too focused on how they do not have the latest model of the iPhone or something along those lines. It really advocates for the idea that money can’t buy happiness. The expression keep up with the joneses can is when someone tries to emulate or “one-up” their neighbor. Just because someone that lives closer to you has newer more expensive items does not mean that they are better. Some items that they have may not have the sentimental value of the that you have with yours. I think that a car is a perfect example of this. If there has been a car n a family for years it becomes more than just a car. It becomes a place that holds countless memories of road trips, arguments, jamming to music, and fun times with your family. Though it may be from the year 2000 and not the fancy 2019 car that just hit the market it ends up being more valuable because of the memories. I do agree with the stance that this article takes to an extent because I do think that luxuries can impede on the more important aspects of life but I do also enjoy some of my fancy technology because it find it entertaining.

Image of some of my teammates, coaches, and me after a win

(holding up two fingers because it was our second win)

Blog Post #2- Ads That Speak to My Interests

https://youtu.be/Jr36VK4Wtb8



This Ad Speaks to my personal tastes and interests because I am very protective of my good as well as my family. This ad uses various camera angles throughout it. This includes close-ups of the little boy and the man in the ad. The speaker in this add is a middle aged man and a little boy. The little boy being a son of a single mother is very protective of his mother. They use the perspective of the little kid but not the perspective of the man because. The literal message of this add is that the kid is going to protect his Doritos and his mother because he loves them very much and this man coming into their household has not yet earned the right of having any Doritos or his mother. The hidden message in this add is that the audience should buy their product because it is worth fighting for. This ad uses pathos quite a bit because it uses various emotions to try and persuade the audience. The first one that it uses hunger, this can be seen when it does a close up of a bowl of Doritos that are all perfect full sized chips that look very appetizing. Another example of pathos is when it appeals to the emotion of love because the kid loves and wants to protect his mother. The last one that it uses is humor, this add is rather funny so it tries to make the audience laugh in order to convince them to buy their product. This add is rather convincing in making people buy Doritos because it makes them laugh as well as showing images of the product looking very tasty.


https://youtu.be/sN9qP3juEZA



This ad speaks to my tastes because it is about football and madden which is a video game that I really enjoy playing. This ad uses various camera angles to show all of the different NFL players and music artists dancing. It also uses fast paced music to get the audience feeling of wanting to get on their feet and dance. The speakers of this ad are various NFL rookies and a second year NFL player Juju Smith-Schuster. It is told the from the perspective of Juju and how he is frustrated that the rookies are not good at celebrations. There is a heavy amount of Ethos and Logos used in this ad. They use ethos by including professional athletes and music artists to represent their product and to show how they are also enjoying the new video game coming out. There is also logos because it shows the game play of the game and how there are fancy new features that were not included before. This ad is convincing because it uses famous people to represent their product and they show new features added which makes the audience want to buy the product to experience these features.