The Index of my life.

Analysis, not sumamry 29
BLA - Forced to read shitty books 107
Blogging - Sunday at 3:45.... "OH SHIT!!" 36
Cardona=God 1
Close Reading Journals... hehehe sure 99
Diction: What? 13
Didion, Joan 28
     Why I Write... Copy Cat 30

Everything's an Argument 8
     No really, everything 10
Facebook, No really! it's homework!
    All hail the Cardona - What I'm really doing on Face Book 14

Finals Go in blind and do average 147
Free-writing Sleepy time
Humor The only interesting thing of the class... 112
     Parody 116
     Sarcasm 120
     Satire 126
Max-It's a Love Hate relationship 87
Orwell Father of God? 6
Power writing, Gettin' down to business 57
Quizzes-D average? I hope 50
Rhetoric, What to look for... 24
     Modes 27
Visual arguments oooh! Prettttyyyy :) 43
Writing=ruined (joking!) 130
   

Boring Me to Death

I just finished reading the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman and I was extremely disappointed. I had read a small section of the book in a previous class and I became interested in reading the rest of it. Technology, being such a big part of today's society, could have been a very interesting topic and Neil attempted to argue that Americas reliance on technology was bringing us into an age of mind numbing amusement with little or no deep thought. While I do not agree with Postman's argument I was still interested in seeing the other side of the story. However, Postman's argument was dull and repetitive and overall a bad read. I had tons of trouble finishing the book and the only reason I did finish is was because I had to read it for class. I fell asleep multiple times while reading it due to the boredom it caused. It seemed to me and my group that Postman had written a chapter of the book that presented a clear amusing argument, but when working to get the book published, had to write a couple more chapters to make it long enough that consisted of repeating the same arguments and examples as before in reworded syntax. 

A book like this would be very valuable in today's society given the amount of and the extent we use technology. A book on this subject has tons of potential to teach Americans of the harm of technology on our society. However, due to the boring, repetitive examples, the value of this book is greatly diminished in today's society. 

The (Christian) Pledge of Allegiance?

Many people believe that saying the pledge of allegiance often is a vital part of being an American, however, is this the only way one can "pledge" their "allegiance" to America? The line "under God" in the pledge creates much controversy and non-religious and atheist Americans feel that being forced to quote this line in the pledge is contradictory to American principles. 

One of the biggest debates concerning this topic is in the school class room where students across America are often made to recite the pledge, sometimes including "under God" and sometimes not. It is my belief that we should not force students to quote the pledge, especially the line "under God". Some people say that America was founded under Christian principles and thus "under God" is a necessary line in the pledge. But, if this country was truly founded on Christian principles wouldn't it be morally right to give people the freedom to choose weather or not you said the pledge. Jesus did not force people to believe him. Jesus was kind and just to everyone, sinners and believers alike. And Jesus would not force people to recited pledges of allegiance to him. If a follower wanted to pledge himself to the word of Jesus he would do it on his own accord, not of Jesus's. So coming back to the main argument why would a country based on Christian principle believe it is of Christian thinking to force students to pledge allegiance to the country and to God. 

This kind of thinking is not just and forcing students to pledge their allegiance when it includes this line is not just and not fair to the Americans around the country who do not believe in God. 

Process analysis for the video

Process Analysis

            The argument I was trying to make in my video is that SOPA is against the fundamental values of America. The broad argument I chose was censorship and soon after I decided on this topic I learned of SOPA and all of the bad publicity it has received because of its potential of leading to a censored internet in America. Some of the warrants I am basing my claim off of is that passing SOPA will lead to a censored internet because, on paper, SOPA is a bill that would just give big producers the power to ask the government to block both foreign and local sites that share copyright content. However, many people are scared that if SOPA passes, music and movie producing companies would overextend their power and try to block and site that may help people illegally download content from the internet. This could include Facebook, YouTube, and could block outcomes Google gives for certain searches.

            My main audience for this video are teenagers and young adults who would be most affected by SOPA being passed. However, I also had in mind that I would be showing the video to a roomful of high school students so I had to decide against including some more specific and sensitive material. The main purpose of this video is to encourage the audience to speak up against SOPA and demand the bill be killed.

            I chose the pictures I did, and the order I put them in, to specifically tell a story. I open up the argument with the word “censorship” and a picture of Nazi book burning to create a negative picture in the mind of the audience when they think of censorship. I then slide through the flags and maps of countries where censorship and censorship of the internet is famous like China, communist Russia, Egypt, and others. After this I say while censorship is famous here, it can’t possibly happen in America can it? After an image of the US flag I have a picture of flags with America’s in the center titled “The Coalition for Internet Censorship”. This is to put emphasis on the fact that passing SOPA would compare America to countries like Egypt and communist Russia. Immediately following this picture I have a slide with “SOPA”, and its meaning, “Stop Online Piracy Act”, written largely. I do this to make sure the audience realizes that SOPA is a violation of what America stands for and would put us in a league with the countries listed before. Then I ask the audience what would happen if it passes. This gives the audience a second to think before I go into some potential consequences of passing this bill. I know these examples may be extreme and an over-exaggeration, but I purposely kept these up because they would have the biggest impact on my intended audience. I finish the video with a couple of pictures that do not directly contribute to the argument I am trying to make but have to do with censorship in America and will leave a strong impression on the audience.

            The music I chose was a mash up I found on The Kollection called Imagine One Day. It is a mixture of John Lennon’s Imagine, Matsiyahu’s One Day, Blink 182’s All the Small Things, and two other artists whose music does not appear until after my movie ends. I chose it because the theme of the song is peace and love, and while it does not have a direct relevance to my argument against censorship, it matches the, perhaps over-exaggerated photos of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia, where strong feelings still linger in American society. The music is not only a mash up of some of my favorite songs, but also matches the intensity, and longing for peace my argument also calls for. The music is very smooth and unexpected at the same time. The first song that plays is One Day which is not as popular and unknown compared to other songs in the mix. I also think that when the music changes from One Day to the much more popular, Imagine, it will leave the audience a little shocked, but this will quickly be overcome with a larger sense of understanding. 

Works Cited for the video

Works Cited

"ABC Map of North Korea; Flag, Map, Economy, Geography, Climate, Natural Resources, Current Issues, International Agreements, Population, Social Statistics, Political System." ITA - Information Technology Associates Immigration USA for Windows. 13 Aug. 1997. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.theodora.com/maps/korea_north_map.html>.

"Big Red Censorship, Censored Words Stock Photo 44605042 : Shutterstock." Stock Photos | Shutterstock: Royalty-Free Subscription Stock Photography & Vector Art. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-44605042/stock-photo-big-red-censorship-censored-words.html>.

"Budget China Tours,Discount China Travel,China Travel Guide,introduction of China,about China." China Tours,Budget China Travel,Discount China Tour,Cheap China Travel Packages, Luxury China Vacation. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.topchinatours.net/AboutChina/China-Overview/Brief-Introduction-of-China.htm>.

"Facebook: Banned at Work | @SilkCharm | Laurel Papworth." Laurel Papworth Online Community. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://laurelpapworth.com/facebook-banned-at-work/>.

"A Huge List of Companies Supporting SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) — BlogWorld & New Media Expo Blog." BlogWorld & New Media Expo Blog — Official News Blog of the World's Largest Social Media Conference & Tradeshow. 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.blogworld.com/2011/12/22/a-huge-list-of-companies-supporting-sopa-stop-online-piracy-act/>.

"Inside Iran :: Censorship." Inside Iran :: Main Page. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://jadi.civiblog.org/blog/censorship>.

Levy, Josh. "Don't Let Them Censor the Internet | Save the Internet." Save the Internet | Join the Fight for Internet Freedom. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/11/11/29/dont-let-them-censor-internet>.

Martins, Antonio. "Soviet Union." Soviet Union. 1 Nov. 2002. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://flagspot.net/flags/su.html>.

"Picture of the Nazi Book Burning, Berlin, Germany." Travel Blog - Free Travel Blogs - Keep a Journal of Trips at TravelPod.com. 1 Mar. 2010. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-photo/dinoshona/1/1267987359/picture-of-the-nazi-book-burning.jpg/tpod.html>.

"Resolving the Golden Shield." Refractal. 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://blog.refractal.org/2008/10/28/resolving-the-golden-shield/>.

RoodieCool. "I've Been Censored....." Pic Crush! 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://piccrush.blogspot.com/2011/11/weve-been-censored.html>.

"Senators Condemn Link between Syria, China, Iran, Egypt and Their Internet Kill Switch Bill | Surface Earth." Surface Earth News and Opinion. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://surfaceearth.com/2011/03/24/lieberman-internet-kill-switch-bill/>.

"SOPA | Everydaycounsel." Everydaycounsel | Legal Discussion and (somewhat) Intelligent Commentary. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://everydaycounsel.com/tag/sopa/>.

"Waihiawa Veterans Day Parade Should Not Be Canceled Because of APEC Conference | Hawaii Reporter." Hawaii News | Hawaii Reporter | Breaking News Honolulu. 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://www.hawaiireporter.com/waihiawa-veterans-day-parade-should-not-be-canceled-because-of-apec-conference/123>.

"Youtube Banned in China « IT Impact On Social Life." IT Impact On Social Life. 12 Aug. 2010. Web. 03 Jan. 2012. <http://group5tud.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/youtubeban/>.

                                                                                 

Don't pass SOPA

Just writing

So I am writing my free writing first... Why? because it doesn't involve thinking. I really haven't thought sense I left school a couple weeks ago and I do not want to start thinking again at all. Even writing this is starting to hurt my head. Oh well, I am going to write a couple paragraphs as fast as i can and get this done with. I guess I'll just write about my break. So the first couple days were pretty boring up until the day before Christmas. I pretty much hung out with some friends and just relaxed. The 24th became slightly more fun though because we got to celebrate Christmas a day early! It was a pretty good year! I'm getting an iPhone, but I have to wait until March for my plan to run out. I got a whole bunch of ski stuff earlier and a couple of gift cards and some clothes! Nothing to complain about! Then around 7 am on the 25th we left for the airport! We were on our way to Steamboat Springs Colorado! Every year my family chooses a new place to go skiing and this year we chose steamboat! I skied four days and the rest of my family skied three days! My first day I took a racing lesson and got to ski with three old Olympians including Billy Kidd who won the silver metal in slalom in the 1964 Olympic games. That was really the highlight of my trip for the next three days were spent just skiing with my family. We got back on the 30th and I've been doing homework sense I got back except for a couple hours on New Years Eve when I went over to a friends house. Mkay, despite the fact that I said I'm going to write a couple paragraphs and I only wrote a big blog of words I am done. Oh yea, I nearly forgot, Packers won with seven of their best players inactive for the game to make sure they are healthy for the postseason. Superbowl? I think so. OK, bye.