Bua Paintings

-What is the style?
Bua's painting style is a mix between abstract and realism. He paints realistic settings and environments however he uses bent and unnatural lines to portray his figures. He also likes to elongate his figures making many of the subjects in the paintings seem skinnier than they probably are. He uses muddy colors and organic shapes in all of his paintings which make his paintings seem almost animated.

"Sixteen Military Wives"

- What is the song about?
This song is about the small percentage of Americans who suffer because of our government and our society. The small percentage of military wives are hopeless under the hands of the "cannibal kings" (the government) who control their husbands' actions and lives. Also, the celebrity minds are hopeless under the "cannibal kings" (the media) who portray the celebrities in only the ways that society wants to see them.
- What is the theme of the song?
Our country isn't as great as people think. Even though most people have the freedom to do as they like, there's a small percentage of people who have no control over their lives/the lives of their loved ones and they suffer because of that.

"Race for the Prize"

What is the theme of the song?
There are people in the world devoted their entire lives to bettering mankind. These people sacrifice their own lives to move our species one step forward. In the song, the instrumentation and tune makes the song seem happy but the lyrics seem sad. This is to show that these people are willing and wanting to put their own lives in danger for everyone else, they aren't forced to sacrifice they're own lives. I think this song also wants to show that individual people are not very important in the grand scheme of the world. The lyrics say that there are scientists fighting to reach a prize even if it kills them, and then it says "they're just humans". This shows that the loss of an individual isn't nearly as important as an improvement for our entire species.

Death Penalty Essays

Mencken and Kroll used two very different approaches to persuade their audience. In their arguments, Mencken was almost completely logos while Kroll used mainly pathos. In Mencken's essay, he spends the majority of the time explaining 'katharsis' to support his claim (directly) that capital punishment is justified in certain circumstances, whereas Kroll uses a personal anecdote to indirectly show his opposition towards the way executions are carried out. Kroll's argument is much more effective because instead of using logic and facts to state an opinion, he gives an emotional account of the impact of the issue. For example, in Mencken's essay, the last paragraph starts off with, "the wait, I believe, is horribly cruel". These words have hardly any effect on readers. It's common sense that waiting to be executed is not pleasant and Mencken's argument gives no support for how it is "horribly cruel". Saying the same exact message, Kroll writes, "when they brought Robert in, he was grim-faced, tired and ashen. Beyond the horror of having stood at the brink of the abyss just two and a half hours before, he had been up for several days and nights. He was under horrific pressure". Kroll's argument of the same message is much more effective because instead of thinking of a hypothetical criminal, Kroll provides us with an image of a real person that has gone through the slow wait to be executed. Kroll uses the method of painting a picture for us through descriptions, whereas Mencken only leads us through a series of logical thought. Because pictures stand out much more in our memory than a single train of logic, Kroll's essay is much more effective.

JFK Speech: Fallacy

In John F. Kennedy's inauguration speech, I found an example of a non sequitur fallacy in the last sentence of the eighth paragraph when he says "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich". This is an example of a non sequitur fallacy because the conclusion (a free society that cannot save the few who are rich) does not follow the established premises (a free society that cannot help the many who are poor). The conclusion is irrelevant to the first statement, the logic does not follow, therefore it is non sequitur. However, this example of fallacy is beneficial to the speech as a whole because it implies that Kennedy wants to satisfy the needs of all (the poor and the rich).

Duck and Cover Video

- Overt message? The overt message is that atomic bombs can explode at any time and people need to know how to protect themselves in all situations. I also think the video is trying to say that the government (the civil service people) is here to help and protect citizens in every way possible, in this case it would be by informing the citizens.

- Covert message? I don't think there is a covert message in this video.

- Propaganda/persuasion or informative? I think this video was strictly informative. I don't think the producers of the video where trying to persuade or convey a hidden message, I think they simply wanted to inform young students of all the ways they could be best protected when exposed to potential danger of an atomic bomb explosion.

Propaganda Video

- Overt message? Oil is a great resource. We use it for all different kinds of purposes and it's in many different products that we buy. But, it is also very hard to find. Competition pushes the motive to find more oil, and therefore we get more products out of the oil drilled.

- Covert message? This video is pushing individuality and freedom to do as one likes. In the video, the leader of the martians is against competition and individuality and he is also seen as the antagonist. Also, the video stresses the need for people to go out and compete to achieve more for your "industry" (which is again, your individuality and prosperity). I also think the video is sending a message that the United States is a model nation for others countries and the US is what others should strive for. I think this is the covert message because it is never said straight-forwardly, however, every prospect of our daily lives is marveled by the alien.

- Is the video propaganda or persuasion? I think the video is propaganda because the video not only persuades people that drilling oil is great, it also gets people to think about how individuality pushes competition, which then turns into rapid achievements. The video uses glittering generalities to make their message seem better than it is.