TOW #14: How to Live Without Irony

Christy Wampole, a columnist at New York Times, recently published an article that was, for the most part, aimed towards the so-called "hipsters". These "contemporary urban harlequins" who are living a life of irony, nostalgic for times they have never experienced and are partial to outdated fashions, mechanisms, and hobbies. I feel as though this article was written in an appropriate time as this generation as been experiencing a growing phenomena of hipsters. A fad you could call it. Or even a cult. Wampole probably felt a need to address this growing number of hipsters emerging from every suburban corner and making their way to cities with obscure bars and farmers' markets. It also seemed like Wampole's audiences were not only those who identified themselves as being hipsters, but also to those like Wampole, herself. People who are afraid of giving sincere gifts because something about choosing a personal, meaningful gift is too intimate and too momentous. People who give "a kitschy painting from a thrift store" or "plastic Mexican wrestler figures". This is a form of self-defense, instead of potentially running the risk of getting hurt because your friend does not like the gift of sincerity, you evade the whole situation all together. Hipsters and their outmoded fashions, you and your self-defensive gifts ―all forms of ironic living.
I think Christy Wampole did a good job of not only defining the modern-day hipster and how ironic their way of living is, but also adding a personal aspect to it with the use of anecdotes. It made the article more relatable and less insulting. Wampole also utilized ethos, logos, and pathos in her article to make it more interesting and credible. She mentioned relevant and important facts such as the Berlin Wall and Generation X to support her article. Overall, Christy Wampole clearly established her purpose in an interesting and credible manner.

TOW #13: Outliers - Chapter 5 & 6

Malcom Gladwell, a British-Canadian journalist and best-selling author, talks about how people do not succeed based on their ability and hustle, in chapter five. Rather, people succeed based on their origins of virtue. Intelligence and ambition are not enough and Gladwell supports his statement with the story of attorney Joseph Flom. According to Gladwell, Flom did not succeed based on his ambition and how qualified he was. He succeeded in part by being raised in a Jewish culture where hard work and ingenuity was encouraged. Chapter six talks about how a person's origin, their culture, makes a big impact on who they are in the present. Gladwell uses ethos to support this claim; psychological studies have shown that cultures based on honor, where reputation is regarded as the most important, are more aggressive in defending their culture. Such places with these honor-based culture are down south and in Asian countries. It seemed that Gladwell's purpose was to show that success is partisan, that it does favor those with a better background and is not always fair. He accomplished getting his purpose across with the use of two prominent rhetorical devices, anecdotes and ethos. Gladwell used an anecdote about the attorney, Joseph Flom and established ethos by citing psychological experiments that supported his claim. The audience members, followers of Malcom Gladwell's writing pieces as well as people interested in how success "works", are told that success is, in fact, bias. Though society tries to hide that fact, it cannot be ignored, and Gladwell does a good job of stating and narrating that claim.

TOW #12: The Power of Introverts

Susan Cain, a graduate of Princeton University, former Wall Street lawyer, and author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, talks about who introverts are and their importance in the extrovert-oriented society in a TED Talk. Susan Cain felt the need to clarify that being introverted is not necessarily a bad thing; it has been proven through research that introverts actually have better grades in school and higher IQ's. Society projects the ideal that extroversion is superior to introversion and Susan Cain wants to make it known that, that is not the case. Her purpose is to not only educate people on what being an introvert is and means, but also to encourage and embolden her audience, specifically the audience members who might identify themselves as being introverted. Susan Cain includes personal anecdotes to help her audience, the general public, have a better understanding of where she comes from and make her story and her message more relatable. She also uses euphemisms to illustrate extroverts, often characterizing them as excited people who lose track of the importance in certain things. Ultimately, Susan Cain did a wonderful job defining what being an introvert is and letting the world know that introversion is not a bad thing; introversion is actually essential to this society as these kinds of people are the very ones capable of keeping a business running, being a boss - assuming the role of leadership.