Blog 5- Are you being “ripped” off?

1.My reaction to this youtube video was that it focused on the positive aspects of steroid usage even if the host is trying to persuade us not to do it. This video also fails by lacking any major facts and testimonies that contribute to the expressed view. Therefore because of these statements, there is no way that steroids could be used in a responsible way because it is a unnatural form of drug.

2. My reaction to steroid use is that it is unnatural and that it is against our own teachings. Therefore, with this it can be also said that everyone is entitled to the testing. There should be a no tolerance for any sport or activity.

Blog 4-

For the first article, the author argued that plastic toys influence kids in a way that makes them want to be more like the toy in appearance. For the second article, it shows that these toys don't influence kids and that they do it themselves on their own way.

The tone used in both articles suggests that the first one is for a more specific audience, in this case educated adults and professors. This is found in the format of the paper because it is setup in a way that emphasizes the facts and details more. The second article is for a less serious audience. This is shown in the length and seriousness of the article.

While the first article made more sense to me, the second one had a less serious tone that made me question its reasoning. I didn't have any experience with plastic dolls and such. Therefore, the articles affected me in a minor way.

Blog 3 - pro- ana websites and blogs

Stance 1- against pro- ana websites and blogs

These sites and blogs which promote pro- ana are not beneficial to the people who create them and read them. They show them how life can really be, even if it means eating almost nothing per day as in fasting. Therefore because of this, it is harmful to ones health because they would be influenced in ways Even if people say that the further you are into it, the worse it is, it would be harder to quit from any standpoint. Given this, once you start being pro- ana or even supporting it, it would be hard for you to quit.

There is another side that is bad when a person is pro- ana or in other words anorexic. This is that with fasting and refusing to eat at all, they would affect their life by being isolated for their beliefs, practices, habits, and other things. Therefore, in this case the risks outweigh the benefits in which in these cases would be being slim thus attractive. In conclusion, in all situations, one should not go to this extreme to stay attractive even if they are willing to do it because it is not worth it at the end. The websites and blogs are a method for people to express their methods and thus would influence other people.

Stance 2 – supporting pro- ana websites and blogs.

Some say that these sites and blogs do not benefit the people who are anorexic. In reality, they really do because they allow them to express themselves in such a way where they are not made fun of or other things similar. This also benefits them by that they don't have to get help from people who may make fun of them but instead get advice from people in the same group. In conclusion, the benefits of this outweigh the risks of being anorexic and thus these sites are a good thing to help them express themselves.

Blog 2- We are not joggers

My initial reaction to the ad was that even if it was average, there were few areas that stood out. These included that there was on about every other page a section of text that stood out from the others, that some of the pictures fitted well with the content of the advertisement, that the primary text was interesting, and that it was played out as a booklet for versus a long article. Even if I don't run, my response was affected by that the writing was better than the pictures.

While analyzing the advertisement, I noticed that some of the pictures were significant companions to the text on the pages. But on the other hand, some of them had conflicting results like the first set of the caveman art and the accompanying the text “If you weren't already a runner, you would never have been born.” Other things I observed include the usage of text that was for persuading the audience to start running and stop “jogging”. At the same time this text told me the ad was trying to promote running and at the same time discourage “jogging”.

The intended audience in this advertisement is people who jog and other readers. She does alienate the “jogging “ population by suggesting that they would not have been born if they didn't run. When I look at the advertisement, I see more of an appeal to logos because the advertisement persuades the audience in a rational way. In conclusion I would choose to place the Reebok ad because it doesn't alienate the audience in any way.

Blog 1 - America's Army

There is a lot of examples of rhetoric on this website which include the use of a gray color scheme for the background, a flash movie depicting upcoming events on the bottom right hand corner of the main page, multiple testimonies of the players in the game on the front page and in the second tab “Real Heroes”, use of acronyms on the web page to suggest a technological approach to the game on various sections, and an extensive database of information about the game which is in the first tab “Game Intel”. Based on the evidence given, the audience would be new players or also current players that are interested in participating in the game. Overall, the rhetoric appeals to its audience in an effective way based on the amount of people registered which would be close to ten million.

Compared to real life experiences as mentioned by Navy veteran Boyle, this website and thus the game differs greatly from real life experiences in many ways. These ways include the level of combat faced in games where everything is scripted as in it is already programmed into it versus random events happening in real life. Another fact is that there are real life consequences in the Iraq war versus minor ones in this game. One last thing is that the media portrays the Iraq war as more gritty and violent versus this game which is a simulation and the violence isn't real.

It all depends on the game and the type of environment the player was raised in to determine if the player will think the game promotes violence. For example, most first person shooters such as counterstrike, half life 2, doom, halo, and other games have violence but is limited because of the rating of the game. This means it cant reach everyone because some may not be allowed to purchase these games. On the other hand several other games like mortal kombat and the GTA, are more violent than other games. This means while some games do influence teens, some do it more than others.