Saturday, September 24, 2011


 Summary: 
Political cartoon that criticizes our the western world's focus on Middle Eastern countries' weapons of mass destruction and overlooking Israel's.

Context:
Causal: The author created this after Vanunu (former Israeli nuclear technician) revealed secrets about Israel's plans to build nuclear arsenry. The U.S and other western powers neglected to act on his claims and continued to focus on Iran.
Purpose:
satire of American foreign policy. The author's purpose was to criticize the western world's focus on Middle Eastern Muslim societies when other, more prominent, issues arise in other parts of the world.
Audience:
Anyone who is knowledgable about American foreign policies
Rhetorical Elements:
  The size of the two bombs relative to each other, suggest that Israel is a much more prominent threat than Iran. This difference in size delivers the irony of the western world's attention on Iran. All of the Western powers are shown as old, obese, fat men. Typically these images connote greed. But the fact that the United States says "Can't you see we're busy," indicates to me that they are overlooking Israel not because they don't care, but because they aren't aware of their weapons of mass destruction due to their intense focus on the middle east. Though the person trying to get the U.S's attention (Vanunu), suggests that they aren't aware due to a lack of information, but because they refuse to heed the warnings of such persons such as Vanunu, and look into his claims, perhaps this may be because of personal reasons.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Gamers Solve Molecular Puzzle that Baffles Scientist

Summary:
Foldit is a new interactive online game in which gamers can try to solve many of the scientific problems that baffle scientists even today. Recently a team of gamers discovered the structure of an enzyme pivotal to the spreading of the AIDS virus. This information could potentially allow scientists to develop drugs that counteract this enzyme and stop the virus in its tracks.

Author:
The author of this article is Alan Boyle, a reporter from MSNBC's Cosmic Log, a site dedicated to educating the public about scientific issues and innovations. Since MSNBC's purpose is to inform viewers and readers of current happenings, I don't feel as though they possess any biases which could have altered the information presented.

Context:
Casual: The discovery of the structure of the enzyme linked to AIDS prompted the writing of this article

Purpose:
Inform readers of a new program called Foldit and its scientific accomplishments

Audience:
Since the article was posted on MSNBC's Cosmic Log which only writes about scientific events, the target audience is most likely scientists and others who enjoy science related news.

Rhetorical Devices:
Contrary to what many may think when reading the title of the article, the writer does not admonish or condemn the scientists who were "outsmarted" by the gamers; nor does he exalt the gamers who accomplished the goals. Instead, he examines the possibilities of Foldit. It is clear that the article is very uplifting and the tone can only be described as hopeful. He quotes the researchers who designed the program state only positive things such as, "These features provide exciting opportunities for the design of retroviral drugs, including AIDS drugs" and "Foldit shows that a game can turn novices into domain experts capable of producing first-class scientific discoveries." It is quite clear from the inclusion of these many quotes that the author is also hopeful that this program can solve many more problems which plague scientists. The usage of quotes by reputable persons in technological and scientific fields of study help to support his claim and hope that this program will do just that.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

BBC News: Chilling Messages from 9/11 planes which Crashed into World Trade Center.

Summary:
 This video can be viewed as a tribute to the people who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It begins with the assumption that all viewers already know of the event, and so it only briefly sets the stage. It gives the time, the date, and a sentence or two about the hijacking of the planes. It then transitions into a phone call from one of the attendants on one of the hijacked planes. Shortly afterward, viewers hear the voice of one of the terrorists threatening the passengers on the plane. This never before released audio of the highjacking is accompanied by the voice of Ben Sliney, head of air traffic control, who conveyed his state of confusion when he was forced to react to the 9/11 crisis his first day on the job.

Source/Author:
The narrator of the video is Adam Brookes, a reporter from BBC News. BBC News is considered by most a reputable site. From the tone and perspective of the narrator, you can tell that they were pro-America though, which lends itself to its biased perspective. The video looks at the video from an American perspective and neglects to consider why this happened or the motives of the terrorists.

Context:
 This video was released just days before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, which definitely impacted or, perhaps, prompted its release.

Purpose:
 As mentioned in the summary, I feel as though this video served as a tribute to the victims of 9/11. The video didn't attempt to inform readers about any aspect of 9/11 or persuade them to think a certain way about it; the video simply introduced a new means of retelling what their audience already knows. The fact that the voices were those of the victims also seems to establish this commemorative/nostalgic tone.

Audience:
 The title and content of the video suggest that the video was intended for Americans who already know of this event.

Rhetorical Elements:
The use of the words "bafflement and disbelief" helped to create the 'chilling' effect discussed in the title of the video. The cadence, sentence structure, and even the accent of the narrator also lend itself to the suspense and dramatic nature of the video. The narrator's voice possessed no hints of humor or excitement, just remorse and reflection.

Effectiveness:
If the intent of the narrator was to commemorate and convey the confoundment of the victims and respondents to the 9/11 crisis, it succeeded. This was definitely a serious and depressing video, as most commemorative pieces are. The tone, mood, and diction all work synonymously to create that effect.