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urban harlequins" who are living a life of irony, nostalgic for times they have never experienced and are partial to outdated fashions, mechanisms, and hobbies.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.

TOW #11: Syrian Government Enemy Chart

This cartoon illustrates the "enemies" of the Syrian government. It is stating that the Syrian army targets the old, the young, and the very young. The author (whose name is too small to read) is a credible cartoonist from TIME, an also credible news source. TIME released this illustration on May 31, 2012, the context being that the Syrian civil war was occurring during the month of May, 2012. This cartoon uses sarcasm as well as satire to show the audience, news readers and followers of the current situation in Syria, that this war is doing nothing but killing innocent citizens. Sarcasm and satire are closely related in this cartoon as the author makes a satirical jab at the Syrian government and army; the old and young are the "rebels, terrorists, and armed insurgents", when in reality, they are harmless and unsuspecting. These innocent citizens are being ruthlessly murdered because of paranoid army men. The ultimate purpose of this text is to bring awareness to the "outsiders" of this crisis, letting them know that innocent people are being targeted and murdered. Another possible purpose may be to let the Syrian government know that what they are doing - who they are killing - is not, in any way, acceptable. The author did a good job of succinctly conveying the brutality of the Syrian government through a comical yet effective cartoon.

TOW #10: Outliers - Chapter 1

In chapter 1 of Outliers, Malcom Gladwell, a credible British-Canadian journalist and bestselling author, starts off by saying that we view success in a certain context and he supports this with the analysis of professional hockey players in Canada. The understanding is that the best are the best because they were born with that certain talent. However, Gladwell begs to differ, stating that the best are the best because of the month in which the hockey players were born. He explains that the cutoff date for hockey classes are January 1. This means that a child born earlier in the year could possibly be playing another child 364 days younger than him, an advantage in physical maturity. Gladwell finishes the chapter by stating that cutoff dates are significant and that things like hockey classes should be divided based on birth-month.
Gladwell introduces this example of cutoff dates and hockey in order to show his readers, especially those who think talent is an innate ability, that talent is cultivated. His purpose is to show that, although some are exceptionally gifted in certain facets of life, date and birth holds much more weight than actual talent and whether or not one is born with "it" or not. Gladwell persuades and intrigues the audience, readers who are intrigued by success and what causes success, with the use of ethos. By citing credible sources, such as Canadian Psychologist Roger Barnsley, Gladwell gains the trust of his readers; he becomes a reliable and believe source. Gladwell also uses anaphora to emphasize the reason in which certain people achieve success. He starts the sentence with "The best are the best because..." and states the most common misconception and then states the actual reasoning in the second sentence.
Malcom Gladwell has started off Outliers with an interesting theory and legitimate reasoning that has shed light to a possible reason as to why some people are more talented (and ultimately more successful) than others. I am excited to read more about Gladwell's reasoning and ideas.

TOW #9: Ivan the Terrible and His Son (Painting)

This picture depicts the aftermath of a heated argument between Ivan the Terrible and his son, Ivan. The argument ends with the father swinging his pointed staff at his son, whereupon his son falls to the ground. Ivan the Terrible immediately drops down to kiss son and attempts to stop the bleeding. The Metropolitan Museum Journal published this painting as a result of an art article created by Elizabeth Valkenier, a member of Columbia University. This painting's purpose seems to be that the painter wants to illustrate Ivan the Terrible's horror at this moment in his life. This painting depicts the tragedy both Ivan the Terrible and his son deal with and the audience, art enthusiasts or anyone capable of appreciating historical paintings, is able to feel that same pain. They are allowed a glimpse of a terrible event and this painting evokes a sense of regret, hopelessness, and excruciating pain from within the audience using pathos. The deep reds and shades of dark colors used help exaggerate the terrible emotions the the subject is feeling. Ivan the Terrible's face is that of sheer fear and regret and this taps into the audience members' own experience with traumatic events. Ilya Repin, the painter, effectively conveys multiple emotions through a poignant painting; the audience members are truly able to experience these feelings, almost as if they are there, witnessing the death of Ivan the Terrible's son.

TOW #8: Freakanomics, Chapter 5-6

In chapters five and six of Freakanomics, the authors address parenting and how parents' choices and financial status can affect their children's lives. Levitt makes an example of one of his studies on the safety of backyard swimming pools. He concluded that children are 100 times more likely to die by drowning in a backyard pool than by a gun. This book was written by two credible authors, Steven D. Levitt, a economics professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen J. Dubner, a former writer and editor at The New York Times Magazine.
With so much talk going around about child safety and improving it, Levitt probably wanted to provide concrete evidence on ways to increase safety with a research experiment. That is why he conducted the backyard swimming pool experiment; he wanted to find out how safe it was for children to be swimming in backyard swimming pools. His purpose was not only to inform people, specifically parents with young children, but also to provide shocking facts and statistics about how parents' socioeconomic status have the greatest impact on children's academic success. Although many rhetorical devices are used throughout this book, logos was the most prominent. Many data tables and statistics are used to create a credible narrative. This whole book is based on logic and facts. The swimming pool experiment is a prime example of logos. Levitt appeals to the readers by coming up with a shocking statistic through thorough research and analysis. Overall, I think Levitt and Dubner did an excellent job in accomplishing their main purpose, which is to educate the masses through an informative yet interesting book about economics, the study of incentives.