Blog # 5

A) "Men have become tools of their tools", after reading Pollan's statement i dissected it to clearly examine the quote. When Pollan says "men" I interpret as the collective meaning: humanity, because all humans use tools, not necessarily tools for a mechanic or construction worker, etc; tools for women would be makeup to apparently enchance their beauty, another example would be an elementary school student given a abacus to make arithmetic calculations. In the society we live many tools are required. However the statement by Pollan I believe means that men (humanity) has become reliant on their tools, the tool being a innamate object with a particular function needs a human to access that function. A human without the tool would have a difficult time with a certain task. A farmer in the days before the tractor had to rake hay and turn it over on the field till it dryed and then finally would be able to gather it, with the tractor the time it takes to complete this task is minimized and also saves the farmer alot of energy. As man evolves so does society and the creations of man, and this way we become more reliant on the tools we use thus becoming tools of the tool.


B)Men, too, face pressures concerning their diet and body image. What are those issues?
Women more then men seemed to be pressured by diet and body image, or is it just illuminated to the public this way. Men like women care about their body image, its like nature the male wants to impress and attract and female therefore they do not want to be overweight or really skinny scrawny like. Men do not show it as much as women but they do face these issues some men more then others. We are pressured to become muscular not just by women but other males, in a fight the stronger will be the victor. Women are targeted far more by marketing companies of beauty products, weight loss programs and fashion, if we look at commercials we can see that men are targeted aswell with ads like iron gym "get ripped in 30 days". One may not agree that men and women are equally pressured but there definatly are issues that men face with body image, diet, etc.

Blog # 4

a. What is similar between what Asimov and Sedaris realize about language?

What Asimov and Sedaris realize is that even if a person may be a master of language it does not necessarily mean that they are more intelligent then a person who is not a sophisticated speaker.
There are two types of knowledge one may say, Practical which would be used in real life situations, and theoretical which would be applied more in the classroom. Basically I believe that the similarity that Asimov and Sedaris share is that language varies, and does not establish intelligence. Intelligence can be applied to many fields of expertise, and in these fields different forms of intelligence must be applied. Language aswell varies in the sense of different expertise for example a plumber develops his own lingo the same as a traveling businessmen, if these two where to meet and attempted to discuss their fields of expertise in the languages they developed, they would not understand eachother.

Blog # 3

A) "Within each broad category (formal, business, informal) there are choices which are considerably different one from another, and the sense is that one may as well try out various possibilities to see what comes of it- as though life where a series of costume balls. Thus one can occasionally mock one's own appearance, for identification is not deep (Goffman, Gender adds 217-23) I find this quote significant especially the italic part because identity is not deep but character is, and in this way advertisements manipulate people into purchasing products by relating to its viewers. Example: "most American women go into ecstasies at the sight and smell of the tables and cabinets that have been lovingly caressed with long lasting satin finish, lemon scented, spray on furniture polish (Komisar 1972: 306-307). Women enjoy having a comfortable setting, elegant shining furniture to make the neighbors green with envy. I call this manipulating through relating.

B) "It only becomes a public matter when we force the public to pay for the consequences of those choices. If policymakers want to fight obesity, they'll halt the creeping socialization of medicine, and move to return individual Americans ownership of their own health and well being back to individual Americans (Baltko pg 159)" this quote if signigficant because it represents the orginal idea of capitalistism, for if the government must intervene even into such matters as what the public should eat then it eliminates personel responsibility and makes the gorvenment into a big nurse who must nurture its patients. "Kids taking on Mcdonald's this week, suing the company for making them fat. Isnt that like middle-aged men suing porsche for making them get speeding tickets? Whatever happend to personal responsibility? (Zinczenko pg 153)". This qoute basically shows as that it is a matter of freewill, there will always be things to tempt man-kind but it is our decision whether we should fall into these temptations.

C) Goffmans and Baltkos analysis holds up well in todays world because not muc has changed except that everything has simply expanded, things have grown past the borders of America and the western world and have spread throughout the world. For example advertisments of McDonalds and other fastfood chains are more common now in eastern Europe which was once seperated from the western world by the wall of communism. Women in adverstisements have grown into major roles, when you see a woman on a billboard advertising some sort of make-up product, she has a regal like sense eminating around her. I believe not much has changed except for the fact that things have become more international.

Blog # 2

The icon is a symbol, a representation of ideas, philosophies, communication and pictorial images. The most familiar of these icons off course are the pictorial images. The quote "But If who I am matters LESS maybe what I say will matter more"(McCloud pg 208) can be interpreted to mean that its not what the icon looks like its what the icon represents. Figures in our soceity,Celebrities and Politicians can all be seen as icons as well, President Obama is said to be a icon of change, however prejudice people may avoid his message and simply label him for the color of his skin. I like the quote because I find it to be true, most people will look at a book's cover and judge it without reading through its pages, when the message is scrupulously displayed and the messengers characteristics poorly illustrated to the conscious of the receiver then the message is louder and people will take it into greater consideration. This technique eliminates bias and prejudice thinking, thus proving itself a effect method of stimulating thought in the subject that the icon represents.
If humanity discovers a consistent resource, then war will become obsolete. This is a a logical fallacy known as a false analogy. It is a logical fallacy because even if humanity does discover a never ending resource there are still characteristics in human nature that will drive humanity to destroy one another.

Blog #1

Rhetoric as defined by Foss means to communication between humans through a deliberate and conscious choice of symbols, often people believe rhetoric to be senseless and void language. Also it may be taken as a metaphorical way of speech. However through out the ages since the word originated it meant the conveying of messages through symbolism. Foss states that there are three primary dimensions: "(1)humans are the creators of rhetoric;(2) symbols as the medium for rhetoric; and (3) communication as the purpose of rhetoric. One can agree with Foss on the use of rhetoric only by its creators since humanity has constructed its society and reality based on symbols, for example a flag a symbol of a nation, the flag of the United States of America has stars on it representing the 50 states that make up the nation. Rhetorical symbols however may be interpreted in different ways other then the way the creator intended. Another example of rhetoric is a skull and crossbones on a back of cigarettes the symbolism here means that smoking leads to death, the skull and crossbones symbolizing death. Many messages may be interpreted to mean something else for example Foss wrote that " If a United States reconnaissance plane accidentally strays over North Korea without the purpose of communicating anything to North Korea, however the pilot is not engaged in rhetorical action. In this case however the North Koreans can choose to interpret the event symbolically and take retaliatory action against the United States.(chapter one 8th paragraph)". This shows us that any action can be interpreted symbolically. In most Spanish speaking countries there are strict codes of social behavior, girls for example are chaperoned and therefore may flaunt their sexuality openly without having the fear of attracting trouble. However this in some English speaking countries may mean that a female is trying to attract someone. Body language can deceive the receiver of the message depending on cultural background. Some symbols may mean something different in other cultures. The swastika in the western world is tied with evil due to the events that where witnessed there, however in eastern Asiatic cultures the swastika is a symbol of spirituality of well being. In the United States the common person may see the swastika tied with the Nazi regime, actually the symbol has a an ancient definition.
Definition 1 : the art of speaking or writing effectively: as a : the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times b : the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion.
2 a : skill in the effective use of speech b : a type or mode of language or speech; also : insincere or grandiloquent language.