So....What's the Difference?

Scott, Dakota, and Brittany

We were posed with the question of trying to describe the difference between blog writing and the traditional essay. There are four points that we need to compare.

First off, what are the concerns over audience?  Well blogs are more along the lines of entertaining. You want someone to want to read your blog versus having to read it in the essay. At the same time though, you are not worried about stirring up a controversy or if your viewers disagree or are offended by what you blog. In essays you tend to have to make a lot of “qualifiers” so that all exceptions can be accounted for. Essays are often more fact based with a lot research being done. Blogs are definitely more personal and opinionated.

The next point we would like to address is the question of formality. Essays are a lot more formal than a blog. The language used in an essay tends to be more scholarly.  You also are writing for a more academic audience and therefore you will tend to use more advanced writing styles, grammar, etc. In writing blogs you are focusing more on what you are talking about versus how well it is written. More everyday language is used and blogs are not usually very formal.

So what about the content of the writing?  What about the things you write about? In blogs you can really write about anything you want. They tend to be more random and more entertaining. In essays a lot of the time you are given a topic by an instructor. Topics in essays also seems to be more serious and formal.

The last point we are going to address next is particular to this blog. A lot of time bloggers will work alone, but we have been working in groups for this blog. So for our blog we have to make sure we can agree on the content so it is something we can all work on. You also have to be able to make sure every person’s opinion can be expressed. This tends to lead to more complicated blogs because everyone thinks differently and therefore there will be more inputs. In essays you will more than likely be working alone. You do your own research and are not focusing on everyone else’s opinion. You also don’t have anyone else to count on to work on an essay though.

So basically blogs are more fun and easier to write than a traditional essay!

The difference in Blogging and Essays

By: Callie, Carolynn, and Elliot

There are a lot of differences between blogs and essays. When writing a blog, you're writing to anyone who wants to read it. You don't have to worry about your opinion being thought of as bad, because you're not writing it for a certain someone to read. Unlike in essays where you know who your audience is, so your paper is written in a way they can understand. Blogs don't have a certain format to follow, it's a write as you please kind of thing. Essays have the introduction paragraph, thesis sentence, body paragraphs, and conclusion. When a blogger is writing, they're writing their opinion on a subject. Not something they took hours to develop an opinion on and research that subject like in essays.

Our Blogging Experience

     When we first started writing these blogs it was a very new experience.  We weren't exactly sure how we were going to start out.  One of our largest concerns was how to write to an anonymous audience.  How do we know we're not offending our audience, or are we even keeping their interest?  Another issue was learning how to speak to this audience.  How formal did we need to be?  We knew that writing in the blog would be far more casual than any of the essays we would be turning in for class, but it took us a little while to get comfortable being this casual.  We could speak to our audience with more of a "day-to-day" language.
     It was difficult for us to write something so casual when we are so used to being graded on essays far more formal.  We feared how our blogs would be graded.  Are we too casual?  Did we do everything right?  The difference between our essays and our blogs made it difficult for us to be confident in our blog writing.  However, we enjoyed being able to write about the things we wanted to, and about things that affected our everyday lives made it more fun to do the blogs.     
     One of the biggest stresses we found was being able to trust that the work would get done.  If you weren't the one responsible for posting it you had a lingering fear that it wouldn't get done.  Checking our e-mails, texts, and Facebook only helped when you had a message keeping you posted on the progress of the blog.  Even then it was difficult to not be the one in control.  It wasn't that we didn't trust our group members, but it was difficult to trust your grade to someone else.  When you were the one responsible there was almost no stress about the blog.  It seemed like a breeze to get through the blog if you were the one writing it, but for everyone else it was just a waiting game.  We really enjoyed the blog.  It took us some time to get used to it and learn how to speak, but in the end we got through it with another learning experience.     
     
By:  Audrey and Morgan 

Differences in Blog and traditional Essays

Writing is a major part of the English language. Americans use English to express their ideas on paper, and more often than not, on the computer. Many people use traditional essay writing to complete homework assignments or for a job project, while some prefer to use a blog site to bring their ideas out. So what is the difference? Are there any similarities? One difference is how they use their audience. Blogs seem more opinionated by the author, and can sometimes have facts to prove their case, while essays are composed of information from books, or even educational web pages. The essays use more educational reasearch to write, rather than opinion. There are also issues with formating. A blog usually have a more freestyle writing to them, with no set rules or standards. Traditional essays, however, must set a style of writing and composing rules, for example, using MLA or APA. This then leads us to their content. Blogs have some fact in them, but it is syled to a more general, or sometimes specific groups of people. Though essays also are written for a specific purpose, they tend to follow a more educational path, by using a library to find research by professionals, and the essay can quote these writings, therefore making the essay more professional. Never the less, both blogs and essays can be used by collateration. Blogs then have more acces to opinions and sometimes facts or real life stories. Essays can be given an even futher educational value by allowing more research time and knowledge of the writers. So even though blogs and essays can be typed on a computer, they still have their different messages to portray.

difference between blogs and essays

courtney maye, katie mccauley, daisha mays

Writing blogs is a lot different than writing essays. The blog writing is geared toward a much larger audience than an essay. Blogs are available to the whole world, where as an essay may not be. The topics may be different and the style of writing will be less formal in blog writing. Blog writing is more of a freestyle writing and it can’t really be taught, it’s more of saying what’s on your mind. With a group you have to figure out a process to choose which topic you’re going to write about. There are many different ideas which can be good or bad. You must develop chemistry within the group. There can be different viewpoints on a certain topic which can strengthen the argument and help to make a moral argument. Blog writing can be more fun but at the same time more difficult because you have such a broad range of ideas to choose from. 

Chuck Norris Approved

Dakota Miller, Scott Tylenda, Audrey Shobert

There seems to be a craze of Chuck Norris jokes, saying and merchandise.  Teenagers everywhere are saying that when Chuck Norris does a push-up he is not pushing himself up, he is pushing the world down, another one is that Chuck Norris killed his living room and now it is just "the room." Sure these are funny and a great way to pass the time but in all honesty they are immature and frankly can get annoying after awhile. Who would have thought that a politician would have fallen into this teen fad? Mike Huckabee did.... His advertisement seems to be a joke at first glance but then you realize that he is for real! This is a real ad and it really is trying to get you to  approve of Mike Huckabee!  You would assume that politicians would know better than to use silly teen sayings  to convince people that they are right, but I guess not. This seems to be a far reach to try to get a vote.

Borat- OKC Traffic Commission

We all know who Borat is...now. But prior to the release of the extremely popular movie, Borat, or Sacha Baron Cohen, was relatively unknown. Somehow he found a way to speak before the Traffic Commission in Oklahoma City. And of course, hilarity ensued.
Borat in OKC Part 1
Borat in OKC Part 2
The speech starts off innocently enough though, despite the occasional funny pronunciation. But it's not long before fabricates a story about a massacre and asks for an awkwardly long moment of silence. He later apologizes for farting, makes a "joke" that draws delayed laughter, and states his wish to "do a romance inside of" a woman, but "not with force". Particularly impressive is Cohen's ability to keep a straight face throughout the speech. His humor may be racist, perverted, sexist...whatever you want to call it, but a guy who has the guts to do this in front of an official panel like this deserves high praise. Chalk one up for Borat.
By Scott, Dakota, and Brittany

Ed Hardy Brand: Taking Over the World?

Writers: Taylor Vazquez, Jennifer Dobie, Amy Hall

If you do not know what Ed Hardy is, then you must been sleeping under a rock or your parents have kept you hidden from society. But here is a link for you [click here], it is a small interview of the Ed Hardy Brand. Back to my topic which I have not explained, but maybe you actually read my title and probably might have a glimpse of what is on my mind.

Christian Audigier is a very successful man no doubt, but enough with the monopoly. In 2004, he came out with his oddly widely popular tattoo inspired brand: Ed Hardy. At first, I have to admit, even though I really do not want any of you to know, but to keep this from being bias I must, I actually thought it was pretty cool and very edgy. Then it became too much. Not only did he come out with his line, of course it was not enough, he came out with a perfume line, under garment line, swimwear, school supplies, car accessories, bedroom accessories, wine, and yes, a restaurant, in Dubai. Yes I know, he has been very busy taking over the world. What I mean by Ed Hardy taking over the world is as you can see his brand has spread through almost every aspect of the Fashion, Restaurant, School Supply, Vehicle, Alcohol, and Interior Industry. It is getting to the point where it is basically too much. You can wear Ed Hardy undergarments and clothing, drinking Ed Hardy wine all while you are lying in your Ed Hardy decked out room and if you are feeling really “sassy” you can go visit his restaurant and drink your wine there. Ed Hardy never has to leave you with his same boring tattoo inspired work. Some Ed Hardy believers/wearers are probably angry with me because I refuse to wear that disease. I will not support this monopoly. Now some are probably saying well he isn’t such a bad guy, he does give his money to charities that work with children. Yes, I know. But that is not what my argument is about. It is about how the Ed Hardy Brand is getting too much and it just need to stop. He does not need to put his name everywhere and anywhere to help support his charities. He would still be successful with just a clothing, undergarment, and perfume line. But again as I said, enough is enough. I am tired of seeing Ed Hardy everywhere I turn. Plus people who wear Ed Hardy simply look stupid and absolutely un-fashion forward; take it from an Apparel Design Major.

Governor Race

By Sam, Audrey, and Morgan

                The Midterm Election for Oklahoma is this Tuesday, November 2^nd 2010. This election Oklahomans can vote for candidates running for Governor, Senate, and House of Representatives. This election is a big milestone; both candidates running for Governor are women. This will be the first woman governor in Oklahoma’s history.  Jari Askins  was born in Duncan, Oklahoma; she is currently Oklahoma’s Lt. Governor, she has also worked in all three branches of Government. Mary Fallin was born in Warrensburg, Missouri, but was raised in Tecumseh, Oklahoma; currently she is an U.S. Representative. Fallin also served as Oklahoma’s first woman and Republican Lt. Governor. The candidates have very different views. Mary Fallin is the Republican candidate, while Jari Askins is the Democratic candidate. In class, we are reviewing ethics in someone’s argument. Fallin on her website states that she is a Tecumseh, Oklahoma native. When in all reality she was born in Warrensburg, Missouri; this is ethically wrong because it’s not telling the whole story. Fallin was raised in Tecumseh, Oklahoma but this does not give her the right to claim she is a Tecumseh native. Askins states that being Lt. Governor qualifies her for Governor, but Askins doesn’t state that Fallin was also Lt. Governor in 1995. When Askins states this she is not stating the other side of the story. One of Fallins campaign slogans is she wants to return to Oklahoma, and she loves Oklahoma. Askins states in one of her campaign ads she has never left Oklahoma implying she is more qualified for the Governor position and knows the “Oklahoma Way” when in all reality Fallin’s work in Washington and outside experience could make her more qualified. This Tuesday we will find out who Oklahoman’s believe is more qualified for the position of Governor.

Mary Fallin Bio

Mary Fallin Bio

Jari Askins Bio

Jari Askins Advertisement

Mary Fallin Advertisement

5 Ways to use Evidence Ethically

1. Consider the audience which sets up the tone of the writing style and what ways you can make your argument to effect the viewers.

2. Use a sufficient  amount of valid evidence. The evidence is needed to support the argument throughout the paper. When a writer uses valid evidence, it will build his credibility and increase the audience reading the paper.

3. When researching evidence always make sure to search databases before turning to the internet. People can get onto and access the internet so easily. Everyone has their opinions and will gladly let the world what they think before even thinking if they are correct about whatever they post. Heavily using internet sources make your argument have less credibility because no one knows whether or not the source the evidence was found was true.

4. The arrangement of evidence can make or break an argument as well. If the argument does not have the correct arrangement that allows the paper to flow and easily read, the writer will lose their audience.

5. Never rely too much on personal experience. Personal experiences are great ways to prove a point and better relate to the audience. But using just personal experiences with factual evidence is not a strong argument because there is no proof to support the claim.

Amy Hall, Taylor Vazquez, and Jennifer Dobie.

Rules of Using Evidence Ethically

Our top five rules of using evidence ethically are Rule Number One- Don't take stuff out of context. When you gather information make sure you stick with their point and not form your own opinion. Rule Number Two- Make claims that support your evidence. If you are trying to prove a certain point make sure your evidence and claim back each other up. Rule Number Three- Have a sufficient amount of evidence. You have to investigate your evidence fully and know the ends and the outs. Rule Number Four-Cite your sources. Citing your sources is one of the most important ones. It is important for everyone to know where found your information. also you would be able to look it back up easily if you needed to. Finally Rule Number Five- Do not make biast claims. It is important that you see both sides of the argument. Even if you do not totally agree.           Scribe- Courtney     Group Members- Daisha and Katie

Rules for Using Evidence Ethically

By: Morgan Greenwood, Audrey Shobert, and Sam Cave

1. Have rights to evidence and give credit.
     When you use a piece of evidence be sure to give credit to the source.  Also, be sure you have permision to use the source, for example from a database.

2. Check credibility of a source.
     When you use a source be sure that it is credible and correct.  Double check the information you get off of any website or book.

3. Do not bend and shape evidence.
     Using evidence honestly is important.  Don't make the evidence fit your claims.

4.  Photoshop is a no-no.
     Do not create evidence of your own with photoshop or other programs. It's dishonest and unethical.

5. Finding broad proof.
     Do not stick to only one point.  Be sure to use multiple points, and don't leave out something that may  be important just because it may oppose your claims.
    

Rules for Using Evidence Ethically

          Callie Ogilvie, Elliott Crawford, Carolynn Dahlfors

           1)      Don’t lie.

      When you’re trying to prove a point in an argument tell the truth. There’s no need to lie about something when you will probably just be found out later. More than likely someone that’s either listening or reading your argument will know that you’re not being the honest.

2)      Don’t rely on your personal experiences too much.

Something that personally happened to you can be very effective, especially when it comes to    the emotional part of the argument, but if that’s your only evidence then you apparently either your  argument is faulty or you just need to find something else to use as evidence too.

3)      Use material that firmly supports your point.

If you’re trying to argue that a duck can float on water then there’s no need to bring up the                  fact that Barack Obama is the president. You need to find papers and articles that talk about your subject clearly and thoroughly.

4)      Don’t take a source out of context.

Whenever you are quoting a text from another source you need to use it the right way.

Include the sentences around it if you have to, because more than likely people won’t know

what else the article says and they’ll have to assume for themselves. Plus you don’t need to be

using the text in any other way than it was originally intended.

5)      Don’t use patchwork writing.

Let us know what you think! Don’t use other people’s ideas the for your entire paper. The whole point is to let us know what your take on this argument is and for you to have your chance to prove something.

Facebook...Helpful and Annoying?

Dakota, Scott, and Brittany

Taking the World by Force! ....Facebook!

From Farmville to status updates, tagging to chatting, Facebook has become a part of everyday life. If you are not on Facebook, you might as well be a hermit.

Admittedly there are a lot of good things about Facebook, such as keeping up with friends and family, sharing memories, and even meeting new people. There are also a lot of bad/ extremely annoying things about Facebook.

1.) Farmville

            The game behind those annoying Facebook status updates. You may often find your friends fighting over whose farm is the best. Do not be alarmed, your friends are not real farmers.

(http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=farmville)

Urban dictionary has a pretty good definition about how most people feel about this “game”...

If you do play Farmville, good for you! But I do not want to help you out by giving you a bucket of nails to build your fence. Nor do I want to help find the sad little brown cow you found in your cabbage patch a new home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odBDAcOEKuI

2.) Status…

            As far as Facebook is concerned, there are two statuses that we need to worry about

                        A.)Relationship Status-Yes it is very nice to know whether or not that cute girl in your biology class has a boyfriend or not. How could a relationship status be annoying? Well when you go on to little Miss Becky’s Facebook today and it says in a relationship, then tomorrow, she is single, the next day it is complicated, she is back in a relationship and loves the person by Thursday, and on Friday she is once again single and hopes that Johnny burns in hell…. Surely anyone can see that this kind of rampant changing in relationship could honestly be qualified as a cause of complete confusion with a mild case of whiplash!

                        B.) Status Updates on Your Wall- first of all we can all agree that updating your status is important enough. When you update your profile status to let people know you are coming back home or that something big has happened this is a wonderful feature. Even if, like a lot of us do, you put song lyrics as your status, you are in the clear as long as it is just once a day. If on the other hand you are someone who posts what you are doing, thinking, listening to, or even seeing every other minute you need to STOP! I do not care that you just say a bulldozer in construction Zone than 2 seconds later you see an ambulance at a hospital! Really? If you are on Facebook that much you need a new life… sorry J

Follow up on Dale Peterson

By: Elliott Crawford (scribe), Callie Ogilvie, Carolynn Dahlfors, Katie McCauley, Courtney Maye
 
     Dale Peterson has put out another ad, more less because he seems to enjoy the attention. This particular ad is  about the governors race in Georgia. This ad is utterly pointless, Dale Peterson is a man running for Agricultural Commissioner, in the state of Alabama. The point of the ad is to trash talk Georgia's old Governor King Roy Barnes, who announced this year he would be re-running for office. Personally i don't see what business Dale Peterson has sticking his nose in another states governor race, especially since he hasn't even won his yet. In the ad, Dale ask, "Do you know why they call him King Roy?", and then replies, " Because he thinks hes better than everybody else!". Then Dale States that "They need to send King Roy home to his castle where he cant do Georgia anymore harm.", and also claims King Roy Barnes, "sided with thugs and criminals". As comical as this is, i don't think it was right to make remarks about someone you have absolutely no involvement with politically, and in addition he seems to pull the facts right out of his ass. And as always Dale has his Trusty rifle with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTHLTOmC45s      

Facebook Mistakes

By: Sam, Audrey, and Morgan

Facebook is only becoming more and more popular as the days go on. There are over 350 million Facebook users currently and that number is only increasing by the day. No one is deleting their Facebook account; people are only logging on to see what the Facebook craze is all about. Many people take what they see on Facebook very personally. Many people make social mistakes on Facebook, post stuff they don’t want one specific person to see, add someone that they really don’t know, or post a picture they really don’t want their Grandma seeing. Here are just a few of the many mistakes that can be made on Facebook:

1.       Facebook is a public networking site. Everyone can see your Facebook page, and this is not always a good thing. Your grandma, your boss, and even the University you are attending or applying for can see what is on your Facebook page. Sure a person can go in and change privacy settings, but this doesn’t always make the information as private as a person may want. This influential person seeing what is on your Facebook page is not always a good thing. Using bad grammar and short hand, or you and someone using profane language on your wall isn’t something you want your potential employer, grandma, or university seeing. We would also advise not to post status updates about illegal things you might be partaking in. Just remember to be conservative and considerate when posting and writing on Facebook.

2.       Pictures also cause many controversies when it comes to Facebook. People don’t want to see pictures of someone half exposed, or doing inappropriate things. People get tired of seeing a person’s pregnant stomach from two hundred different angles. Another pet peeve of many people is ultrasound pictures and pictures of kids when they are unclothed or naked. We get that parents want to show their kids off, but it’s one thing to present your kids in a nice conservative way, and only a few pictures of the kids. But an ultrasound picture or naked baby pictures are a private thing and they don’t need to be shared to the world. Also people do get updates when you change your profile picture and add pictures to an album, it gets quite annoying when you change your profile picture or add pictures six different times a day. People can also easily print pictures off of your Facebook, so even if you aren’t friends with someone who you think might be influential, they might still be able to see the pictures. 

3.       People take Facebook very personally. Someone doesn’t accept a friend request on Facebook; they may not be able to continue to be their friend in real life. Also if someone ignores a friend request once, don’t try to add them again; if someone ignores a person once, they are going to ignore that person again. Also if someone deletes someone, they deleted them for a reason don’t re-add them or throw a fit about it. Don’t add people you don’t know just to make your friends list have a higher number and appear friendly doing this isn’t friendly. A common saying is “It’s not official, until it’s Facebook official.” This saying can get old quickly, to make something official it does not need to be posted on Facebook. Say a person gets engaged; you are already engaged before you post it on Facebook, posting it on Facebook only lets the whole world see it. We’ve also seen our fair share of breakups over wall to wall posts.  Also don’t change your relationship status every 10 minutes; you can go from single, to in a relationship, to engaged all in one day if you wish. Changing your relationship status gets annoying to friends and people will not take your relationship serious anymore.

Sex-Ed?

Teaching Sex Education in a public high school is a controversy in itself, but when you throw a teacher in there who believes that you should save yourself and she's teaching the opposite of that. She argues that teenagers are going to have sex whether we tell them to or not, so why not prepare them? We as a group, totally agree with her. Teenagers are gonna be teenagers so why not help them be smart when they're having sex? Some schools make the teachers teach celibacy because it's in their contracts. So what do they do when their students come to them with problems about their sex life, can they not help them because if they did they might not be teaching celibacy.

Sex Ed...Counterproductive?

 By: Scott Tylenda, Dakota Miller, and Brittany Anthony

Teenagers are always going to have sex, we are never going to change that. But when looking at sex education programs in schools across the country, one cannot help but notice a fatal flaw in helping this age group be safe while engaging in intercourse. Abstinence.  

So how is abstinence the problem? When asked about preventing STDs and pregnancy, teachers must respond with abstinence as the only safe way. If they don't, start looking for a new job. That sounds like a problem, and is definitely misleading our youth. Abstinence is simply the only safety measure being taught to students in most of the country. If all kids are going to be abstinent, then hallelujah! Problem solved! But we all know that is ridiculous. Teaching abstinence alone is a waste of time. There are those who have made up their mind to be abstinent before it was taught to them, and hoping to convert the rest is just wishful thinking. They will probably be more likely to go out and have sex after some "stupid teacher" told them it was bad. We simply cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that our current methods do not work. They are only adding fuel to the fire.

So how to fix it? Comprehensive sex education. Give the facts, don't leave out important information. Condoms, birth control, STDs, the list goes on. Equip the students, don't blindly send them off with no knowledge of how to have safe sex. If a situation arises, we must be sure the kids of this country know how to handle it. Because the fact remains, our current teaching methods are only hindering this country's goal of lowering teen pregnancy and STD rates.

Hey kids, don't do the dirty!

By Tanner, Michael, and Jacqui

                In many schools, the only sex education students get is this: Don’t have sex. There’s no other way to prevent bad things from happening to you. Many of these abstinence-only schools tip toe around the dirty deets – Like, besides pregnancy, what could happen if we had sex? They don’t talk about contraception, STD’s, or anything that has to do with sex at all. They just say “Don’t have sex.” Hoping the students’ lack of knowledge of anything sexual will keep them from having sex. No one wants to jump into a black pit, especially if they don’t know what’s down there, right?

                Wrong. Most students don’t spend their entire day at school. They come home; watch TV, or read, or whatever the hell they want to do. Now, the media, in all its forms, doesn’t censor itself just because Junior might possibly be viewing. No, they broadcast whatever seductive or scandalous thing they want to: music videos that have sultry women dancing around the Pimp-daddy rapper, a steamy scene in a movie, or a graphic chapter in a novel. It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that teens are exposed to it all the time. Schools can’t completely monitor all that their students see.

                This being said, if a younger teenage boy sees something that makes his hormones go wild, he’s going to want to do something. If he only has the school’s abstinence-only teachings to go off of, he may not know about proper contraception, or even about masturbation. So, if he and little Susie decide that they’d like to try, even though it’s against everything they’ve been told, there’s really nothing stopping them.

                Then…. Oops. Susie is pregnant, and that boy has the clap. Why? No birth control, no condoms, nothing. The cycle of life is beautiful… until it’s pulling you out of school to watch baby.

                That’s why it’s so important that, while schools may teach abstinence only, they should at least teach about the dangers of STDs, the proper usage of contraception, and EVERYTHING that could happen if something does, indeed, happen. It’s better for students to be in the know. Look at the graph on page four of  this.  It shows the difference between abstinence-plus (which is the teachings of abstinence only PLUS the admittance that students will have sex, and the teaching of contraception and the dangers of STDs) and abstinence-only education.

Face it, teenagers have had, are having, and will have sex. That’s all there is to it. It doesn’t matter whether or not you tell them that the only way to keep any bad things from happening is to not have sex. Most of them are about as hard headed as an ox. They won’t listen, and will probably go ahead and do whatever they want. However, if they are shown the full picture, at least not as many of them will turn into this.

The Visitor on Library Lawn

By: Amy Hall, Taylor Vazquez, and Jennifer Dobie


Last week on September 29th, Oklahoma State University welcomed back a very infamous guest.  Pastor Matt, but known to the majority of the student body as Pastor Bob, got quite the audience when he preached his fire and brimstone to the students who listened.  When analyzing his argument and its appeal to an audience, all three parts of the rhetorical triangle were not present.  The pastor's word no doubt had a pathos appeal.  The main emotions from his audience was anger and maybe a mix of shock.  The students were outraged with his so called word of God.  His argument even left a girl in tears!  But what about ethos? Or logos?  Matt never tried once to build trust or credibility to his audience.  Not one student gained his trust or wanted to go pursue a stronger spiritual relationship after they heard him speak.  Which is any preachers goal when informing people about his religion.  No one had respect for the man as he damned everyone to hell either.  He definitely had an art of persuading people away from his views.  There were some truth in what he was saying, no one can deny that, which meant he has a logos appeal.  Regardless of the evidence he did provide, that still did not help his case.  Yes he presented bible verses that supported his accusations towards the students, but with out ethos his logos had could not stand up in his argument.

An argument will not be effective if the three rhetorical parts are not used properly.  You will not be able to captivate or convince an audience about your claim.  Each of the elements has a potential to affect other elements, like what happened with Pastor Matt's ethos and logos in his argument.   

Fantasy vs. Harsh Reality

Taylor Vazquez, Amy Hall, and Jennifer Dobie

Daydreaming is a regular thing for majority of people. A place in your mind that you escape to from everyday life, but I think it would be great to actually escape to my fantasy and simply vacation and view it for a week or three. And of course, I found my solution without having to invent a time machine. Colonial Williamsburg a place where I can connect to my inner eighteen century side which sounds pretty un-freaking-believable! Which of course sadly, I have to say this whole entire time it is only an amusement retreat, where they take you on a journey through their version of history to evaluate our fantasy dreams and keep things “G rated”, but we also have to think of what the reality of the 1700’s. Take for example their advertisements, in the brown colored themed the black male dreams to build the town with his hard work skills. Funny, let us view back to our history books please, in the 1700’s blacks were slaves and had no rights, and I do not remember reading about any free blacks riding no their free will to America. The fact that his man is actually dreaming to give up his freedom to build homes for a master seems very unrealistic. Side note- If you look in the corner picture, you see a black man and his son. Notice anything odd? They are extremely clean for slaves, just saying. That master must be in to appearances since they represent him and his wealth. Another is the homeowner doing some yard work in her front lawn. “A gardener of the royal governor…”, so she gives up being a homeowner to a servant for someone just because she has this abnormal love for her hydrangeas which of course are the pride of Virginia. Now my favorite one, the purple themed ad with the very gorgeous Asian lady, She romanticizes being sailed off to the New Land where a rich man starved for love courts her and they end up married because he is not afraid of commitment. Okay one- she would be the mistress because two- she is not white. Three- her family is not wealthy. Four- no one married out of love. Sorry, the reality of the 1700’s is harsh, yes I know. Of course daydreaming is the use of your own creative imagination where actual history does not matter. Now all I have to say to Colonial Williamsburg is, keep it up. You are doing such a fine job of twisting history to match our fantasies, so you can stick your hands in our nice fat wallets. Dream on my friends… Dream on.

3 Colonial Advertisements

By: Tanner Bennett, Callie Ogilvie, Carolynn Dahlfors, and Elliott Crawford

The three advertisements of Colonial Williamsburg show three different kinds of emotion to appeal to many different audiences instead of just one. The purpose of these ads is to try and get people to come visit the "Colonial Williamsburg" which is a city that takes you back in time to the 1800s to see what life was like during that time.

The first ad is in a green color scheme and has a lady raking leaves in her front yard. The ad talks first about the "colonial me". What she would've been if she lived in the 1800s. She sees herself as the gardener to the royal governor. The two perfectly shaped bushes by her front door show that she loves to tend to her garden. This ad would be directed toward the middle class suburban parents who want to get away for a weekend and have fun. The picture at the bottom right shows a very happy couple walking through a beautiful garden in 1800s clothes. At the end of the ad they throw in a little 21st century text to relate even more to people now talking about the homeowners association.

The second ad is in a purple color scheme and has a lady sitting on her couch at home. This woman's "colonial me" is an immigrant to the new land who gets swept off her feet and marries a wealthy man who lavishes her with the finer things in life. At first purple conveys love, but when thought about more purple conveys wealth. This ad would be directed more toward the upperclass, younger, maybe single women. The picture at the bottom right shows a couple in 1800s clothes on a horse drawn carriage. The 21st century text in this ad talks about how maybe fear of commitment hadn't yet been invented maybe implying that she is going through a relationship problem and is day dreaming of what life could be like.

The third ad is in a tan and brown color scheme with a man sitting at a counter eating breakfast. This guy's "colonial me" is a slave. Someone who worked to help support a family and build the country. The picture at the bottom right shows a group of people carrying crop caring tools and baskets as if they are going to or coming home from working. This ad would be directed more towards the working class. The 21st century text in this ad talks about what he would become later in life. This guy could be at a crossroads in his life wondering what his place is and what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

All three ads convey a different message for the same reason. These ads do a good job at attracting people to come to Colonial Williamsburg. The pictures are a bit more glamorous than what it would've actually been like in the 1800s. It is portrayed as an escape for people to not only learn about the country's history, but to be able to have fun pretending to be someone one you're not.

Captain Morgan

By: Audrey, Morgan, and Sam.

                The  Washington Post babbled again today about Obama inheriting a huge deficit from Bush (who inherited a big debt from Clinton ). Amazingly enough,...... A lot of people swallow this nonsense. So once more, a short civics lesson:    
Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. The Democrats  controlled the budget process FY 2008 and FY 2009, as well as FY 2010 and FY 2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.
FY 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.  
And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let's remember what the deficits looked like during that period:    (below)

  If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets.  That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself.
In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th.

There is no way that this will be widely publicized, Unless each of us sends it on! 

 This is your chance to make a difference.

This email doesn’t provide many lies, but it doesn’t provide the whole truth. Obama did inherit a huge deficit from Bush, and Bush did inherit a big debt from Clinton; this is true. Inheriting debt from the former President is just an ongoing cycle; each President can blame the former President for the deficit. Budgets do come from the President, but Congress does have to approve of the budget given to them by the President. We disagree that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush by passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. Barack Obama only had about two months until he could take office. Even though Bush was the President, he was only going to be President for two more months even if Pelosi and Reid did bypass Bush. Barack Obama was part of the Congress that passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets, but the Republican Party proposed the 2009 budget. The FY 2007 deficit was in fact the last of the Republican budgets. The FY 2007 deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. The democrats in Congress did take control of spending, Barack Obama did vote for these budgets. Our group believes Obama inheriting this deficit from himself is still a little harsh just because he was part of the Congress that voted for these budgets.  

                Our group believes this email is unethical, because the email provides a lot of mudslinging onto Obama. The email does not deliver the whole truth, only portions of the truth. The email provides a one sided argument. Our group also feels this email goes against the Washington Post, saying that Washington Post is on Obama’s side. By using the word babbled we feel the writer of this email is disrespecting the Washington Post. The email also uses the word nonsense to describe what the Washington Post is talking about. The writer also thinks we should trust this email because he uses a lot of so-called facts in the email. When in all reality a lot of these facts are not the whole truth.

Black, White, and The Red Barn

Brittany Anthony, Dakota Miller, and Scott Tylenda

At the Red House, everyone can get along apparently. But what is the Red House you may ask? Well it is a furniture store but you may have a hard time remembering that once you watch their commercial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnOyMSEWNTs  

The message they seem to be trying to convey is that anyone can come to their store and is completely irrelevant to the fact that they are trying to sell furniture.  During the duration of the commercial furniture is mentioned very few times in comparison to the theme of it not mattering if you are black or white.

This this commercial fails miserably at selling furniture. It really has nothing to do with selling furniture, whether the owners of the store realize it or not. They are not trying to sell furniture but are instead trying to sell their “pitch” that anyone can come to the Red House, therefore they should. The commercial does not mention anything truly relevant to selling furniture to the public. There is no mention of what brands they sell, what kind of sales, or anything that would draw a customer to the business for the purpose of buying furniture.

 Another way they fail is that race should have nothing to do with selling furniture. They make the issue of race the main focal point of the commercial instead of the furniture. By trying so hard to prove that their store is not racist and that anyone can shop there, they have made the commercial incredibly racial. Racial stereotypes are rampant throughout the commercial.  Not all white males like to go deer hunting and bass fishing nor do all black guys pump iron. And just in case anyone failed to notice, let us point out the black woman who is in the commercial and is conveniently sitting by an African inspired painting. It seems slightly racist to us.

This commercial not only fails but is completely bologna.

Hide'ya kids, hide'ya wife, hide'ya husband.....

By: Brittany Anthony, Dakota Miller, Scott Tylenda

On August 28, 2010 WAFF48 News aired a report of an intruder breaking in to a home, and attempting to rape one of the women inside. During the report the brother of the victim was interviewed about the case, Antoine Dodson, the victims brother, began his interview very emotional about what has happened to his sister, and warning others to watch out for the perp.

Emotion is the first explanation that comes to mind when viewing Antoine’s very strange and over-the-top performance during the short interview...but is it the real reason that he used such outlandish behavior? 

After the WAFF48 News interview aired and then was posted to YouTube, it became a huge hit. The YouTube clip Link here gained over 2 million views and has had numerous remixes, and spin-offs. Antoine Dodson had become a YouTube superstar by a simple interview that he had done about his sister being the victim of an attempted rape. Within the next few days WAFF48 News aired another story featuring Antoine; this time it was about his sudden rise to fame and how it made him feel.

Antoine’s new interview showed a happy man who seemed to be proud of himself for becoming such a star, whether it be for the right reasons or not. He stands by his claim that he was just doing it to warn his neighbors but we think that he really was just soaking up the spotlight. 

Dale Peterson for Alabama Ag. Commissioner

by. Elliott Crawford, Carolynn Dahlfors, Callie Ogilvie

Dale Peterson, a man campaigning for Alabama Agriculture commissioner is the epitome of a bullshitter. In his most recent campaign ad he states " I've been a farmer, a business man, a cop, and a Marine during Vietnam, so listen up!".  For someone running for Ag. commissioner it seems the only job that would be important to know about, would be farming. He also says that Ag. commissioner is one of the most powerful positions in Alabama, responsible for 5 billion dollars, then he claims the reason you didn't know that was because of " thugs and criminals", and says " if they can  keep you in the dark, they can do whatever they want with all that money!" the relevance of that, is for lack of a better word, bullshit. There is no correlation between thugs, and the money that the Ag. commissioner is responsible for. Thugs and Criminals make there money by selling drugs and stolen property, not corn or livestock. Then at the end of his ad, he pulls out his Winchester repeater and says " were Republicans, we should be better than that.". The need to pull a gun out in a campaign ad should raise some suspicions about how bad he really wants to blow away the competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU7fhIO7DG0

The Princess of Bullshit

         By: Katie, Courtney, and Daisha


         Recently in our comp 1 class our teacher assigned us the task of creating a blog based on bullshit. The inspiration for our assignment came from the book entitled Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt. The book breaks down the philosophy of bullshit and defines it as having no respect for the truth and fooling people with false motives.                                                                                           

           One very good example of bullshit is Paris Hilton and her purse dilemma. Paris has been known to use drugs before so it comes as no surprise that she was caught with drugs again. The behavior she chooses to follow classifies her as a master bullshitter. Paris is famous for just being famous and trouble seems to follow her around.

            When Paris was last arrested for the possession of drugs she came up with plenty of excuses of why she was innocent. The first was that the purse didn’t belong to her. That story soon fell and she admitted to owning the purse but said she let a friend borrow it and half the contents belonged to her friend, but it doesn’t really matter whose purse it is. The thing that matters is she had drugs in her possession at the time of her arrest. Paris can bullshit all she want s, but people can see through her thick load of bullshit and find the truth.

Dinner for Breakfast!

By: Jacqui, Michael, and Tanner

Bullshit. What is it? It’s not necessarily a lie, because the person spewing it isn’t necessarily trying to deceive those who are listening to them. The 'bull shitter', as Harry Frankfurt, a professor at Princeton University, puts it, is ambivalent toward the truth. He’s only trying to get us to do what he’s trying to get us to do.

Take “The Onion” for example. It’s a website full of satire, cleverly masked as well written news articles. They don’t call themselves “America’s Finest News Source” for no reason. News can often be boring. Who really wants to read about actual current events, health, and celebrities every single day? The stories are always the same. So, the Onion puts a twist on the news, adding a bunch of bullshit to stories everyone knows. (Yes, we realize they just do it to be funny.)

Take this article on breakfast ("Experts Say Breakfast Now Sixth Most Important Meal Of The Day" is the title. The Onion won't allow a link to it.) They say that breakfast is not as important as everyone had been led to believe. However, it’s been proven that breakfast can make or break a day. The energy consumed right at the beginning of the day is the most important. Anyway, these bullshitters have it all wrong. Midnight snack  is nowhere near as important as elevensies and luncheon. Especially not afternoon tea.

Old Salem Cigarette Commercial

By: Morgan, Audrey, Sam, and Cale



     In class on Tuesday we watched an interview with Harry Frankfurt about his essay "On Bullshit". Frankfurt explained that bullshitters aren’t liars, they just have a blatant disregard for the truth, which can be dangerous. We found an example of bullshit in an old cigarette commercial on YouTube. The commercial makes smoking seem like a healthy and fun activity.

     The commercial shows the characters outside on a rope swing with a woman smoking a cigarette. In the background you hear happy, upbeat music. The commercial goes on to claim that the cigarette will freshen your breath with menthol. Also, that the cigarette is made out of a special paper that pulls in fresh air to soften the taste.

     We find this commercial to be bullshit because of the way it portrays smoking, and because of the advertisements less likely to be noticed. For instance, there is only a woman smoking, so the ad focuses more on women than men. The claim that the cigarette will freshen your breath, and that it draws in fresh air. All of the claims and subliminal advertising are bullshit.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86lYG1V2-n4

The BP Oil Spill

Have you been watching the news? Since April 22, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico belonging to The British Petrolium Company exploded, spilling as much as 60,000 gallons of oil a day. This launched a massive investigation against BP, and the oil rig itself. According to some of the investigations, there was no Fire Boom aboard the rig, which is Government enforced. A Fire Boom provides a barrier to collect and contain floating oil so it can be burned. Some other investgations show that there was oil spilling  before the rig even exploded. BP has come out and attempted to try and stop the spill, but all they have been doing is blaming the US Government, and vice versa. The general public has done all they can, but are limited to the amount of help they can bring. So who is to blame for the spill? BP? The Government? We may never know. What we do know is that to this day, over 200 millions of gallons of oil have been spilled. So watch the news, it could be telling you soon how much it will cost you to fill up your gas tank.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

A Note on Our Title.

By: J. Spruill

As facilitator of our blog, my hope is that this blog will develop a readership. I am hoping that parents, friends of students and the university, other English classes and so on will read and enjoy our blog and even learn from it. Because I fully expect people to come to it, I think, perhaps, people will want an explanation of our naughty looking title.

For the sake of honesty, yes, the similarity between our blog's title to a certain "bad" word is purposeful.  Here is the history of that choice.  In preparing to start our blog, we watched an interview with Princeton professor Harry Frankfurt, author of a philosophical and uber-academic book called On Bullshit. In his book, he looks at the ways in which pure bologna functions in our society. Dr. Frankfurt believes that its danger lies in its ambivalence toward the truth. The bologna artist doesn't care whether he lies or tells the truth. He cares only about what one feels about him - whether or not we will buy what he is selling.

As a class focused on analysis and rhetoric, we are interested in exposing the way people try to "sell" us things, concepts, ideas, and people. So, in short, we are interested in being bull#$@!% detectors.

Ahoy, from the S.S. Bullship

By: J. Spruill
Welcome to the S.S. Bullship, the blog for Mr. Spruill's 12:30 English Composition class at Oklahoma State. We will be posting blogs, exposing the rhetorical devices used in ads, speeches, and other public texts in fun and enlightening ways. Our project will publish new posts every two weeks. We hope that you will subscribe. Read. Enjoy. Comment. . .

. . .Or we'll make you walk the plank.  And you don't want to swim in this ocean.