Main Takeaways from ENC 1102

• In contrast to what I said in my 2nd blog post, I now believe that rhetorical analysis is a skill that needs to be refined and refreshed regularly, regardless of your profession or what type of writing you will be doing in the future.
• It seemed like after 8th grade, the amount of learning that could be done in an English class plateaus. I now realize how little I know about the subject and how much room there is for growth in my writing.
• From now on, when a teacher assigns a 1000-word paper, my thought will be, "Is that all?"
• Utilizing different genres as opposed to writing only essays and research papers can be refreshing.
• Although I may never write in an ENC 1102-esque way again, I'm confident that the skills I've acquired will transfer to other genres.
• I think that I am better at distinguishing weak arguments from strong ones than I was 6 weeks ago.
• MOST NOTABLY: Writing is only boring if you choose to make it boring.

Distribution and Circulation

     My first text, a magazine advertisement, would be distributed to a wide array of people at first. After that, it is unlikely that very many people will circulate that particular medium of text to their friends. However, word may spread in a similar fashion by word of mouth. If someone sees a tantalizing advertisement, they might check it out online. If they like what they see, they may tell their friends (or buy the product and show it off to their friends). In this way, the advertisement reaches many more people than just the people who actually see it, which I think is pretty interesting.
     My second genre has far less potential to be heard. The genre is a speech given in the context of a member of a manufacturing interest group to other members of the interest group (or to politicians. I'm not 100% sure how interest groups work, but I plan on doing my research). The speech will likely only be heard by a couple hundred people at most and will not be circulated or discussed much in the public eye, since most interest group work goes unnoticed.
     The final genre may or may not be circulated to the masses. I plan to write a scientific journal. Some scientific journals can gain rapid popularity when it regards an issue/discovery/invention that the public cares about. I believe that the topic, 3D printing, is interesting enough to capture the attention of the pseudo-author's peers, and possibly a small cross section of the public. It could also conceivably become one of those articles that get shared all over Facebook and other social media.
     I believe that you can predict how popular something could potentially be and take measures to prepare for it, but it is ultimately unpredictable. For example, the majority of people who have posted viral videos on Youtube have said, "I had no idea is would be so popular". After the initial distribution, it's in the hands of the public, both literally and figuratively.

Blog #4 Genre

One genre that I deal with that is pretty unique is Tumblr.

http://wreck-lo0se.tumblr.com/post/92003875939/doctorsherlocklokison-im-depressed-but-funny

If you follow the link above, you can see an example of a typical thread of Tumblr text posts. The most defining aspect about this genre is the complete disregard for punctuation. Almost always, the posts are uninterrupted run-on sentences. It's not even a matter of the author's education. Most Tumblr users are completely competent and frequently distinguish correctly between "your" and "you're" or "its" and "it's".

The target audience is almost exclusively young people, usually between the ages of 15 and 21. The audience is has the ability to follow blogs with content that is pertinent to them, but in my experience, I expect humorous posts regarding relatable topics like school, body image, and feeling awkward in social situations.

It's pretty similar to other social media platforms, but it is unique in its own right, with many memes and phrases that don't quite disseminate to other social media platforms. It seems to add a sense of exclusivity to the genre. Right now, for instance, it's become a craze to incorporate the phrase, "I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now" into one's post.

There are expectations, but no real constraints. People can express themselves however they want, since there are many communities within the community of Tumblr. People range from being "bronies" to radical feminists to 90's reminiscers, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It can be summed up as a genre that can be utilized by people with varying interests, with features that allow those people to clump together into subcommunities.

Belief vs. Knowledge

     I can't recall what I had for dinner last Thursday, I couldn't tell you who won the Super Bowl three years ago, and I have no idea where I was when 9/11 happened. However, for some reason, I can remember a conversation I had with my classmate one day in preschool. We were sitting on the carpet and I struck up a conversation about a commercial I saw for a kids' National Geographic magazine. I pointed out that in the commercial, there was a lizard running across water. "That's fake," my friend remarked, "I asked my dad and he said that lizards can't run on water". "No," I pleaded, "It shows the lizard running across water in the commercial". Even at that age, the disconnect between his beliefs and mine got me really frustrated. He didn't believe me even though, in my eyes, the evidence I had was enough to trump his. In hindsight, neither of us had sufficient evidence to back our claims, but we stuck with our beliefs. Now, every time I get into a heated philosophical debate, I take a moment to reflect on the fact that I'm handling the situation exactly the way I would have as a 4-year-old.

     I suppose that what I'm trying to get at is: beliefs should be backed up by knowledge. Beliefs should not only be based on facts, but also have an airtight segue as to why that knowledge would lead to that belief. For instance: fossil records firmly support the claim that a species' gene pool varies from generation. Since this is the main premise of evolution, you can knowledgeably and confidently say that you believe in evolution. On the contrary, you can't use this logic to say that since you did a rain dance and it rained afterward, you have a superhuman connection with nature because this belief is not fully supported by the evidence. I'm rambling, but the underlying point is: 

DO: use your knowledge to derive your own set of beliefs

DON'T: form beliefs and then try to justify them with facts

Dissoi Logoi of Rhetorical Analysis

     Rhetorical analysis is a great tool for distinguishing the author's purpose of a piece and to pick out the different methods they use to support their point. Being able to recognize when someone is overusing the pathos appeal as opposed to the logos in an argument that should be dictated by facts (such as a political debate) could effectively help you categorize it as a weak argument and prevent you from falling victim to any propaganda. As a writer, rhetorical analysis is especially useful, giving you a platform on which to build your argument. Knowing the basic skeleton for which to base your argument can be immensely helpful. Did you notice that you didn't do a good enough job establishing your ethos in an essay that you wrote? Probably not if you aren't familiar with rhetorical analysis.

     One criticism I have, however, is that rhetorical analysis can be argued to be an innate skill that can be learned without it being taught. Think about it this way: we're exposed to rhetoric every day. We naturally become better at separating good arguments from weak ones as we grow older. We don't need to be taught what ethos is to realize that urbandictionary.com is less credible than dictionary.com (or that Fox News is less credible than... well... any other source of information). We don't need to know about pathos to be moved by a documentary about animal cruelty. For this reason, I think that everyone has and needs the ability to perform rhetorical analysis, but the skill can only be refined so far. Additionally, that refinement of the skill will probably make you a better writer, but not substantially.

Blog Post #1 "What is Writing?"

     Throughout my high school career, I've been conditioned to associate writing with a feeling of disdain. This was most apparent sophomore year, when my teacher assigned a 6 page research paper about a literary device. Mine happened to be magical realism, which is nowhere near as exciting as the name suggests. It was excruciatingly boring and I ran out of things to say around page 3. I found myself going in circles, rephrasing the same points that I'd made earlier in the paper. I never really loved writing, as I never felt that I had strong talent for it, but that experience definitely shaped my views on it. I want to be proven wrong, though, and to have my opinions reshaped.

     As for what makes writing good, I'd have to say that it's in the eye of the beholder. Every person has a different piece of literature that they refer to as their favorite, so "good" writing is clearly subjective. However, there are characteristics that make writing more enjoyable. The author needs to cater to what the reader wants, and what the reader does NOT want is to be bored. Books and newspapers are already going to the wayside in favor of more subversive forms of media, and people who write boring and monotonous essays aren't doing the cause any justice. Some things that I find interesting when I'm reading is very colorful similes like, "The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant," or even better, similes that are more like anti-jokes like, "John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met." As you can see, I'm easily entertained. I'm not sure how blog etiquette works as far as conclusions, so I'll just leave with "Thus concludes my blog post".