Speech RA

A Time to Break Silence speech by Martin Luther King-
August 28th 1963


This is an amazing speech that has an amazing message. It is a call to recognize what our world has become, as well as a call to action to change it. Martin Luther King starts off by expressing his feelings toward the war in Vietnam. Most of the speech is about how the war needs to end because it is unnecessary and we are causing a conflict where there should be peace. I believe that the intended audience is to the people of America. It says a lot of things about how the government should change, and what should be done to fix this conflict, but I believe that it is more of a call to action from the people. The speech brings out the conflict that is raging, and lets the people become aware that these terrible things are happening, and why. He then calls them to action by opposing the government, and by banding together. He talks about the heavy sacrifice and burden that is being placed on both continents, and that we are doing more harm than good. After his point about the war is made, his real argument is that we must end the violence and hatred that pollutes our world. He goes on to say that without this brotherhood and unity, our nation and our world will fall apart. He tells the people to set aside race and class and become banded together. He wants the government to change, but his true argument is to convince his audience, or the middle-class patriotic citizens, that we need a world revolution of values. His goal is to convince them to take action in this movement. This argument is definitely made through Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos because as a minister and a social figure, he has some credibility in what he says. Pathos because the emotion he conveys in his speech will draw people in, and will bring them to action. Logos is also used a bit because he uses the logic of war and that it does not fix anything. I think that it was sufficient, effective, accurate, and relevant. It was pretty typical of this time period- when the war was going on, many speeches were given, and many of them were like this one. The speech got a response out of me, and I'm not even the intended target. I think it was effective.

Music Video RA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJLkcPhVi9w&feature=channel

Only One- Yellowcard

This music video is interesting to me because of the message it conveys. The song is obviously sung to the boy's girlfriend. He sings the song basically telling her that she is his only one, and he can't be without her. That is what the majority of the songs now days are, but the music video on this one is particularly interesting because half of the video is shot at a yellowcard concert, while the other takes place at a peace rally. For the most part, we don't know what the rally is for, but we do know it is for peace because of the girl with the flowers, the police, and the bubbles. I think the song is a bit of a testimony to how love conquers all. The very end of the video is the main singer with his girlfriend spinning in circles and looking at each other, right in front of a tank. It is a bit extreme, but it shows that even when the world is in turmoil and everything is in chaos, the love that you have will carry through and make it better. The audience I think is to young fans, but specifically to lovers in general. The love that they have can make a difference. I think that he was singing to his fans of course, but he also may have been singing to that one special girl. This was a girl that wasn't just a pretty face- they had a deeper connection, and they shared common beliefs and practices. The goal is to entertain of course, but it is to share the message of the song, and to promote love I suppose. The argument is made by ethos and pathos. Ethos because as entertainers, musicians have some sort of authority. People compare songs to themselves, and we sort of trust that musician in some way to show us things about ourselves that we never quite thought about before. With give them that authority and credibility. It is also made through the emotion of the song. Everyone is looking for love, and the song conveys the love that can bring peace to all. For the target audience, it is sufficient. It gets the point across, and it conveys the emotion. It is relevant, but it is not very typical. Not every relationship is will be tested at a peace rally- but it is a nice touch for a music video. I think that it is effective for the target audience as well.

Paper A RA

The argument for this particular paper is geared toward current high school students, who are working a part time job. The argument is that if they don't work at all in high school, they will be able to get into a better college, and ultimately have better college success. My goal was to convince my target audience to quite the jobs they are working right now, and to focus more on the academic side of their lives. We made the argument in terms of scholarships, paying for college, and getting accepted. If the high school students were to focus completely on academics, they could solve the expense issue by receiving scholarships. If they were able to achieve those good grades while getting involved in other extracurricular activities, they are more likely to get into a good school, and hopefully get a scholarship to pay for this good school. The argument is made mostly by ethos or authority, and logos or logic. It is made by authority because the paper is supported by sources and studies that show the benefits of focusing strictly on school and extracurricular activities. It is made by logic because we focused the entire paper on the logic behind doing it our way, and by not working in high school. I believe it was relevant- it was a specific point that was specifically geared toward our audience. It was accurate, and typical. I don't believe it was quite sufficient, however. I feel like we weren't able to go as in depth or specific as we could've, based on how long the paper was and the information we had. There could've been more information to make it more sufficient. I believe that it was effective for our audience as well. I worked all through high school, and I can definitely see the benefit of focusing strictly on academic and extracurricular activities.