Manipulating Public Opinion

Human behavior is 93% predictable according to a group of leading Northeastern University scientists. That’s right, I found this article so interesting, I actually did some amount of research! Round of applause for me, please.

But seriously, I found this piece of writing by Edward L. Bernays compelling. It’s crazy to me how human behavior is so predictable, so easy and simple to manipulate. Bernays talked about several instances in which a group of people decided to manipulate people’s opinions, and it worked. Just like that. We’re going to make our hats popular and fashionable? Ok, let’s do it. And then, boom, just like that they could influence the way people thought. It’s almost scary, how easily people are swayed.

And yet, these kinds of things are everywhere. Persuasion is everywhere. Advertisements on your TV, on your radio, on your computer, your phone, your magazines. Ads on billboards, at bus stops, on buses themselves, being dragged behind an airplane, sent in the mail, plastered in store fronts, occupying newspapers. Heck, people even advertise without realizing it! Teen girls parade around with Abercrombie & Fitch on their shirts and Pink on their butts. Women take every chance to show off their Coach bags and Dior shoes. Guys make sure the Nike symbol is visible on their socks to go with their Air Jordans. We do it because we think it makes us cool and acceptable. We conform and hop on the bandwagon. And consequently, society and the art of persuasion has turned us into walking, talking advertisements. I even knew a guy who tattooed the Nike swoosh on him. Talk about free advertising.

Did you spot the WordPress logo? ————————–^

And persuasion is everywhere because it works. Humans, with our easily-manipulated, status-seeking brains, succumb to this persuasion. We are pulled in like bugs to a light bulb. It kills me how the human race is supposedly so genius and so evolved and such, and yet we are so predictable. Sure, we can send people to the moon and clone sheep and harvest energy from the sun, but our actions can be predicted with 93% accuracy!

But anyway, I really did find Bernay’s writing quite interesting and thought-provoking. It opened my eyes even more to the fact that we live in a world wallpapered with means of persuasion, and that that persuasion works. Without even realizing it, we found those hats stylish, just because the company decided they would be.

The “Banking” Concept of Education

I could really grasp the concept of this reading, since I feel like this “Banking” concept of education has been used throughout my school career.

For one, the Freire talks about how in the classroom, the teacher is considered all-knowing  and far superior to the students. The students do not have a mind of their own, but are merely receptacles into which the teacher pours his or her knowledge. “In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing” Freire says.

And in almost every class I have been in, this is the case. The teachers believe, no matter what, that they are right and we, the students, are wrong. As an inferior student, I sit in my desk and listen, receive, all that my teacher is teaching me. As Freire puts it, “The teacher talks and the students listen- meekly.” And it is true; I sit and listen and do not question because that is what I have been taught to do. We are taught as students to receive the information the teacher is giving us, not to conceive it.

That is another thing. Not only do we, as students, never question the teacher’s lesson, we do not truly grasp it. For example, when I was in fifth grade, we were forced to memorize the Preamble, the national anthem, all of the presidents, the states and capitals, and the entire Gettysburg Address. We spent weeks devoting our time to reading these words and implanting them in our brain. And yes, by the end of it I could tell you all fifty states and their corresponding capital cities, I could tell you who the 28th president was off the top of my head, I could recite all 272 words of the Gettysburg Address and all 53 of the Preamble without fail. But one day my mom asked me, in reference to the Gettysburg Address, “What does it mean?”

Well. I had no clue. I knew all the words inside and out, but not what meaning they held. I knew the words individually and in what order they went, but not why the were strung together as they were. My teacher didn’t spend weeks teaching us the importance of the Address or the national anthem, just how to memorize it. And now, six years later, I can’t recite a full sentence of the Address. But (after my mom finally taught me) what has stuck with me is the beautiful meaning of it.

And in all honesty, that is mostly what my educational career has been. The teacher is always right and far superior to I, the lowly student. Information is meant to be memorized, don’t waste any time analyzing the true meaning. I don’t think that’s the way it should be.

Indian Education

“Junior Falls Down”

“Bloody Nose”

“Steal-His-Lunch”

“Cries-Like-a- White-Boy”

“Weakling”

“Guilty”

“Squawman”

“Punk”

“indian, indian, indian”

“These Indian kids”

“Traitor”

I went back through the passage and looked for every time the protagonist was called a name. Eleven was the total tally. Eleven names and not a single one was something positive.

In “Indian Education,” Sherman Alexie talks about his experiences in his school career, grades first through twelfth. Throughout his childhood, he was bullied, stereotyped, and judged. It didn’t matter what school he was in or what part of town, he just wasn’t accepted.

In his earlier years, grades first through seventh, Alexie attended the tribal school on his reserve. There, he was mocked, taunted, mentally, physically, and emotionally bullied. Even his teachers were cruel. His peers considered him a weakling and a misfit; his teachers regarded him as a troublemaker and a rebel. When his kissed a white girl, his people called him a traitor.

In his time at a farm school for white kids, the bullying didn’t stop, the names just changed. His classmates and teachers both regarded him as an “indian”, without capitalization. An illegitimate and inferior race.

I think this really exemplifies how society will always find a way to bring you down. No matter your race, your grades, your job, your body, your skills, your anything, society will tell you it isn’t enough.

The Beatles were told by a recording company that they, “don’t like their sound”,  Stephen King was told no by thirty different publishers, and Dr. Seuss by twenty seven publishers. Oprah Winfrey was told she was “unfit for television”, Marilyn Monroe was told she’d be better off as a secretary, and Beethoven was told he was hopeless.Such judgement can’t be controlled or stopped, but what you can control is how you react. You decide the outcome. You could believe the criticisms, and let them defeat you, let them define you. Or you could prove them wrong. Oprah and Beethoven proved their belittlers wrong. As did Alexie, when he became valedictorian and later grew up to be a successful writer.

That is what this piece of writing meant to me: Society wants to push you down, but you don’t have to succumb. It’s up to you. In the words of Michael J. Fox, “One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.”

What Is Intelligence, Anyway?

“Capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.”  is intelligence according to Dictionary.com.

To Stephen Hawking , “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

And Albert Einstein apparently agreed, having said “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

But George Scialabra (book critic)  said, “Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun.”

To which Einstein possibly could’ve agreed with as well, believing, “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”

Though Susan Sontag (American writer, activist, critic) thinks, “Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas.”

And “Intelligence is the ability to avoid doing work, yet getting the work done” is the thought of Linus Torvalds (Finnish computer engineer and programer)

These are all different views about what intelligence is, and none of them are wrong. These examples are six different views from six different people; imagine how many different definitions I could find with 7 billion people in the world?

In the paper “What is Intelligence, Anyway?”, Isaac Asimov talks about how the word intelligence means different things to different people. Based on his IQ level and score on the aptitude test, Asimov is intelligent. According to his auto-repair man, he is not. And neither of them are wrong.

Throughout my academic career, I’ve often been considered “intelligent.” I earned straight A’s throughout elementary and middle school, with the occasional B in high school. I’ve been in countless Honors classes and won many academic achievement awards. In elementary school I was in the Gifted and Talented program. But just like the author, I don’t know the first thing about engineering, or carpentry, or farming, or so many other things in the world. I couldn’t fix a car if my life depended on it.

I think our schools and teachers put far too much pressure on students to get good grades. They want A’s, it doesn’t matter how hard you try. I know students who can get A’s effortlessly, they are just naturally academically gifted. I know others who work much much harder, study much longer, ask more questions, are more active in the classroom, take more initiative, and still don’t get the grades that supposedly define an “intelligent” person. Intelligence shouldn’t be solely based on GPA. Because in the end, that’s not what matters. Einstein flunked math. I don’t think people wonder what Picasso or Van Gogh’s GPAs were when buying a world famous piece of art. I doubt people consider what grades Michael Jordan got when they cheered after a slam dunk. People don’t listen  music artists because they were Valedictorian, they listen because are musical geniuses.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking its stupid”-Albert Einstein

How to Tame a Wild Tongue

“And our tongues have become dry, the wilderness has dried out our tongues, and we have forgotten our speech.” This quote by Irena Klepfisz is featured in Gloria Anzaldua’s essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. In this piece, Anzaldua writes about her background being a Chicana and how the Chicano culture is continually undermined and criticized.

Being stuck in a middle-ground between English and Spanish, Anzaldua describes how she really speaks eight languages: Standard English, working class and slang English, Standard Spanish, Standard Mexican Spanish, North Mexican Spanish dialect, Chicano Spanish, Tex Mex, and Pachuco. And I’m not even bilingual! I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to speak not two, not three, but eight different languages. Because she so often had to switch between languages to adapt to the people she was talking to, there were only a few select situations in which Anzaldua could speak freely. Again, reading this shocked me as I compared it to what I know. In my life, I can speak regularly with my family, friends, classmates, peers, teammates, and many others; I only really have to monitor my language when addressing respected adults and in academic situations. How restricted must one feel when your very means of communication is constantly something you have to think about, change, monitor, censor?

And not only is it difficult keeping track of so many tongues, society makes it hard belonging into all or any of them. Native Spanish speakers called Anzaldua a traitor for speaking English, but her teachers punished her when she spoke anything else. Though her family was originally from Mexico, she couldn’t identify with Mexicans. Though she was born and raised in the United States, she couldn’t identify with Americans. And the one thing she can identify with, Chicano, is not even classified as a real culture by society. “It is illegitimate, a bastard language.” Anzaldua says. What must it be like to feel as though you only belong to something fake?

I think it is very sad that society thinks they have the power to demean an entire culture and language. It is no one’s place to tell a group of people they don’t belong. I have a great deal of respect for Anzaldua and others like her. It’s never easy fitting in, but it’s certainly no picnic for Chicanos. But, despite that, they are strong. “Stubborn, perserving, impenetrable as stone, yet possessing a malleability that renders us unbreakable, we will remain.”

Essay 3: Visual Rhetorical Analysis

 Visual Rhetorical Analysis

             Media and marketing usually choose a specific audience, and, often, that audience is young people. Teenagers are so frequently targeted when it comes to advertising; they are constantly bombarded with ads directed towards adolescents’, with everything from makeup, to food, to acne cream. Marketing goes through drastic measures just to attempt to appeal to the ever-critical teen age group. The four images I have chosen to analyze have that common thread: targeted towards teenagers.

My first image is an advertisement for Proactiv’s acne treatment, a still-image ad used in magazines, billboards, posters, and other similar means of advertising. It shows three bottles of their product against a black background with text overhead. At the top, in all capitalized bold white letters, reads, “Got acne?” while in smaller print underneath reads, “Just ask you boyfriend what to do. Oh, that’s right, you…” Beneath that, in slightly larger and pink font, finishes the sentence with, “Don’t have a boyfriend.” I selected this image because it surprised me with its brash, blunt, and borderline rude message: if you have acne, you must therefore be single. Unlike many other ads, there is no hidden meaning, instead, the ad’s intended message is right in front of your face. Its target audience is teenagers since acne occurs most often in teen years, and consumers this age will likely be more sensitive about lacking a boyfriend/girlfriend. What it means to its audience, specifically teenage girls with acne, is poor skin will cause social problems, such as the inability to obtain a boy/girlfriend, and Proactiv’s product can fix that. The aesthetic composition of this ad helps it be more persuasive and better convey the message. The simple background and plain picture of the product emphasize the text. Furthermore, the white and pink text stand out against the black behind them, and the all capitalized lettering makes for a more harsh and more blunt message. The use of the color pink suggests a female audience, and the pink lettering is further accentuated since it is next to white text; the emphasis put on the pink text is meant to stress above all else the fact that the consumer does not have a boyfriend. The argument presented is that Proactiv’s product can solve the audience’s dilemma; the ad claims their product can erase the user’s acne, therefore enabling them to fix their social problems. This Proactiv advertisement uses the pairing of a subtle visual image and bold text to persuade their targeted teenage audience that their product can solve their acne and acne-caused problems.

The second image I chose is a public service announcement by The Candie’s Foundation, whose goal is to end teen pregnancy. On the left side, it shows a large close-up of Hillary Duff’s face. On the right, there is a picture of a baby bottle and white and pink text against a black background. Above the bottle, in pink capital letters, reads, “You think being in…,” and is finished in white letters reading, “School sucks?” Underneath this, in much smaller white print, are the words, “You know what sucks a whole lot more? A baby- almost every 2 hours for feeding time. And breast feeding isn’t always easy, so if you choose to use formula, you’re looking at about $1,500 a year. Guess school doesn’t such that badly, huh?” I chose this image because of its use of celebrity endorsement to appeal to its target audience. This PSA targets teenage girls; the use of the color pink throughout the ad suggests a female audience, and the mention of school applies to the teenage age group, and talking about breast feeding applies to mothers. The ad is claiming that teenage pregnancy is a difficult lifestyle, and girls should stay in school instead. The public service announcement uses images and text, celebrity endorsement, and aesthetic composition to send its message. Using the image of Hillary Duff helps appeal to the audience by connecting the PSA to a celebrity who generally appeals to teen girls. The use of the baby bottle stirs the thought of baby-raising. The text, “You think being in school sucks?” helps relate to the audience by stating a thought most teenage girls believe. Additionally, the placement of each element portrays the meaning of the PSA. The picture of Hillary Duff takes up a very large portion of the image to stress the celebrity support, and the placement of the Candie’s Foudation website underneath Duff’s picture further suggests that she backs the foundation. The color and font of the text emphasize them against the plain black background to make the message even more prominent. The Candie’s Foundation public service announcement uses celebrity endorsement, a subtle image, and bold text to claim that teenage pregnancy is something to avoid at all costs.

The third image I chose is and advertisement for the Los Angeles City College. It shows an old man delivering a pizza with the quote, “This is my summer job” next to him. Underneath the image, text reads, “Don’t let your present become your future. Enroll now!” I chose this advertisement because of its interesting approach to illustrating what the future of a person who doesn’t attend college could be. Its targeted audience is students graduating high school, since it is encouraging students to attend their college. The ad’s argument is that students who do not attend college may end up with a job and future with less opportunity than those who do; their claim is that attending the Los Angeles City College will give you a different future. By using a large image with a quotation and small but blunt text, the ad conveys this message. The use of the picture with the quote shows an example of a person who never advanced past his “summer job” because he did continue his education. This image is an in-your-face way of telling warning audience of what their future could entail. The text further supports this message and clarifies the picture by explaining the thoughts of the man. The composition of the ad further stresses their claim. By making the picture so large, it is the focal point of the ad. The black capitalized text emphasizes both the man’s dialogue and the message encouraging the audience to “enroll now”. This advertisement for LACC uses a large and obvious image and clarifying and supporting text to claim that their school can provide a better future for its students.

My last image is an advertisement for SLL Insurance. The top half of the still-image is the shoulders and chest of a young woman. The picture is split in half, the left side showing the girl looking normal and healthy, the right showing her holding a flat iron with ash and burn marks on her neck and chest. Underneath this picture are the capitalized large words, “Check yo’self before you wreck yo’self.” Beneath this is a good deal of text giving reasons for investing in SLL insurance. It features the words, “Who knew that accidentally leaving your flatiron on for, like, and hour could burn down the building?”, “You’re and accident waiting to happen,”, and “SLL insurance protects you like a boss.” I chose this image because of its use of slang and causal text to appeal to the young adult age group. The intended audience for this advertisement is teenagers since it uses language generally associated with teens and features the picture of a teen-looking girl. The ad’s argument is that teenagers are accident-prone and thoughtless; their claim is that their insurance will help in teenager-caused accidents. This message is conveyed through a direct visual showing a potential accident that could easily happen to any teen, casual dialogue and slang commonly used by young people, bold and rhythmic text that suggests a self-caused accident, and a list of specific reasons for buying their product. The composition also helps express the message. The picture on top is the focal point, really illustrating the effects of thoughtless accidents and why consumers need this product. The placement of the bold white text underneath draws your eye to it secondly, emphasized by the large font and white color against a dark background. The words in this image both clarify the picture by explaining the situation and what happened to the girl, and support the image by telling the audience why SLL insurance will help in such circumstances. This insurance ad uses the pairing of an image with bold font and clarifying text, as well as relatable language, to claim that their audience of clumsy teenagers and their parents needs their product to protect themselves in teenager-caused accidents.

Overall, all these four images have a common theme of being targeted towards teenagers. Each use text and images to support their claim, and have different methods of appealing to the teen age group. Though each product is very different from the next, they all have a mutual goal of speaking to adolescents.

Distraction Free Writing Part 2

I used my DWF part 2 to practice analyzing advertisements, just like we have been doing in class. Here it is:

For my distraction free writing part 2, I decided to practice the analysis strategies we have discussed and learned in class to analyze an advertisement. I found an ad from the World Health Association, whose motto is “Eat Responsibly, Live Longer,”. This advertisement shows an illustration of a man holding a banana to his head, as if it were a gun. The words, “Healthy food won’t kill you, but junk food will,” are shown.
First off, the illustration of the man is in black and white. The banana is bright yellow, which is meant to draw emphasis to it. The words, “Health food won’t kill you,” are in black, but the words, ” But junk food will,” are in bright red, also emphasize it more. The emphasis placed on the banana and the words, “But junk food will,” are to bring attention to the suggestion that junk food is deadly while healthy foods are not. It also brings attention to the contrast between the two; the banana is healthy and good, shown by a bright and cheery yellow hue, while junk food is bad, portrayed by bold red lettering, the color red often having a negative connotation and being associated with stopping.
The words used in this advertisement are suggesting that junk food will be the cause of your death, while no harm can come to you whilst eating healthy food. However, the ad does not dive deeper into the concept of “junk food” and “healthy food”. The only example we are given is the banana, labeled as “healthy food”. We are not given any hints or suggestions as to what “junk food” may be, it is just left to our own personal opinion.
The placement of everything in the ad also plays a factor. The banana, bright yellow and hard to miss, is placed nearly in the center of the ad. The words, “But junk food will” are a little ways below the banana. This is designed in this way so your eyes see the banana before anything else, take in the rest of the image, and then rest on the phrase about junk food.
The picture and the words work together to portray the message of the advertisement. The picture, showing a man holding a banana to his head, resembles the posture of a man holding a gun to his head in order to commit suicide. The words portray that junk food is deadly while healthy food isn’t, which is why the man is unharmed by holding the piece of fruit to his head.
Overall, the color, placement, image, and words all play a big part in the persuasiveness and effectiveness of this ad.

Visual Text Analysis

“Don’t let your last text become your last words.”

This is a public service announcement warning people to avoid texting and driving. It shows tombstones reading, “C U SOON :-)” “HAHA IM GOOD TXTING N DRIVING!” “b thr in 5 traffic sux!” and “LOL ROAD TRIP!!!” The words in this PSA read, “Don’t let your last text become your last words.”

It is suggesting that texting and driving will kill you. The focal point of this image is the tomb stones, which is complemented by the bold text above and below the picture. The visual of the gravestones deepen the understanding of the text by explaining what the words mean. Without the image, the audience might not understand what, “Don’t let you last text become your last words,” is exactly referring to, but looking at the picture, it is clear it is saying that texting and driving is deadly.  Conversely, without the text, the message would not be understood either. Just looking at the image, the audience would be confused as to why text-like phrases are on the tombstones. The words are needed to understand what the whole image is trying to say.

For ethos, this public service announcement was released by the state of Massachusetts, as you can see the seal of Massachusetts in the bottom right hand corner. This is a credible site, since the state’s government would most likely not advertise anything without it being reliable.

As for logos, the logic for this PSA’s argument is sound and makes sense. The visual is constructed in a manner that makes sense and clearly portrays the intended message. With the picture and the bold text above and below it, the audience can easily see the image, read the text, and understand the meaning. The composition also contributes to the accurate portrayal of the PSA’s argument. Having the image in the middle of the poster puts emphasis on it and draws your eye to the tombstones first. Having the text around it lets the image be the focal point, then draws your eyes to the words.

For pathos, this visual definitely evokes emotion. It attempts to draw sadness, guilt, and fear from the audience. By implying the death of drivers, the PSA brings out sadness and grief. It also brings out guilt by saying the cause of death was texting while driving, something many drivers are culprits of. By showing how death was a cause of texting and driving, it evokes fear, since the audience does not want the same fate.

Overall, it is a very powerful, yet subtle, image that can change the minds of many drivers.

Having It His Way

So burgers are for men and salads are for girls? Let me tell you, I’d take a burger over a salad any day.

Reading Having It His Way, my mind was blown. I can’t believe these gender roles are still around, even though they started all the way back when men were hunters and women were gatherers. Why has this stereotype lasted so long? I find it ridiculous.

I suppose it’s because these gender roles have been enforced our entire lives. This article obviously addressed the issue of male and female stereotyping in advertisements, but ads aren’t the only offenders. We are taught at a young age what a man does and what a woman does, what a man looks like and what a woman looks like, how a man acts and how a woman acts, etc. And those lessons are only enforced throughout our lives.

When I was little, I loved to organize things into “families.” I would take three stuffed animals and make the biggest one the dad, the second biggest the mom, and the smallest the baby. Even back then I was taught to associate the largest with the male. And what toys did I play with when I was a kid? “Girl toys.” Yup, every birthday and Christmas I’d happily unwrap a Barbie doll or cute pink clothes. One time, I went to McDonald’s and they asked me what toy I wanted with my Happy Meal. I said the toy car. And what did that stupid drive-through lady tell me? “Oh, honey you don’t want that, that’s a boy toy!” And then she proceeded to put a “girl toy” in my box instead. You can even go to the toy section in Target and see that they obviously have a boy aisle and a girl aisle. One painted blue and decked out with Nerf guns and Legos, and one is decorated pink and overflowing with princess dresses and My Little Pony.

TV only enforces these gender roles even more. When has a TV show portrayed a stay-at-home dad? Or the mother mowing the lawn?

And why is everything women do always sexualized? Seriously, what woman eats a burger in a bikini in a seductive pose on the beach with her hair blowing in the wind like that? If I eat a messy burger, I pretty much resemble Gollum from Lord of the Rings. It’s not cute.

Overall, society keeps feeding us these gender roles, and women are sexualized in everything. When are we going to wake up and realize that girls can like burgers too, and guys can enjoy a salad, and I can get a toy car in my Happy Meal if I want, and that there are as many different ways to live as there are people on this planet?

#TwitterEvaluation

It has been an interesting four weeks of Twitter. It was a completely new experience for me. Not only have I never had a Twitter before, I don’t participate in any social media, I’ve never had Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or any of the like. So this was very foreign to me.

To be honest, I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it. It wasn’t terrible or anything, I just didn’t necessarily feel the need to spew a random 140 characters out for the world to see. And I didn’t really care to see other people’s 140 characters (no offense classmates). I guess I just don’t see the point of Twitter. But personal preference aside, I can see how it was a educational experience and how it could stimulate interaction with my peers.

So first off, the negative sides to my Twitter experience: For one, as I mentioned before, I’m not exactly a fan of social media. I feel like social media is undermining face-to-face interaction and making people obsessed with what others think of them. Nowadays, people are constantly checking their phones. One study showed that people check their phone 150 times a day. Everyone is so wrapped up in how many followers they have, or how many likes they get. I feel like social media is messing up peoples’ priorities. Secondly, I found it incredibly difficult to find things to tweet about that related to class. I mean, there is only so many things to say about English 101! And after tweeting comma jokes and memes, I really just felt lame.

But I won’t deny the fact that there were up sides to Twitter. Tweeting about English 101, as well as reading others’ tweets about English 101, definitely helped keep the concepts we learned in my head. It made perception, commas, and transition words active in my mind even outside of class. Twitter also helped me get to know my classmates a little better. I got to interact with them a lot more than I would have just seeing them in class twice a week.  Also, it was something very different from a traditional classroom setting. I’ve never had to do anything like this before, so it was fun trying something new and original, instead of the typical English assignments.

In conclusion, I probably won’t be continuing Twitter. It was interesting, definitely something I had never experienced in a class before. But I can safely say my tweeting days are behind me.