Analyzing Rhetorical Situations

Rhetorical situation analysis is the process or assessing what you are writing and how you should go about creating the text so it is the most effective. You must decide what kind of voice to use (a professional tone or a more casual tone), where your writing will be published or read (on a blog, in a text message, by a professor), what genre to use to get your point across, and how to speak to the audience in a way they will be interested in what you have to say. These decisions are often made subconsciously; for example, you wouldn't send a text message to a potential employer with casual language because you know a professional tone should be used in that situation. You must relate to an audience to have a successful essay and to do that you have to know who you're speaking to.

My writing appeals more to Pathos because I like to connect my writing to my experiences. I talk to the audience on a more personal level rather than throwing in facts and figures. My idea of a good essay is one that changes my mood, makes me think, and something I feel like I can relate to so this is what I try to do for my audience. I think I'm more of an emotional writer because I love photography and portraying feelings into a still frame. I treat my writing as more of a description of a photograph: a moment in time. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words!"

Kairos = a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action :  the opportune and decisive moment
From merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kairos


Based on this reading, what do you see as modern concerns with the weblog? Do you agree? What are your concerns?
Weblogs can damage people emotionally and financially. Emotionally they can get abuse from comments, and they can lose friendships with people who read the things they say on their blog. Financially they can lose their job and not be able to get back into the work place because of their bad reputation. Also they can have "bad fame," including threats and other things said that hurt them emotionally.

And, what is the importance of voyeurism to how we understand writing or reading?
Voyeurism = the practice of obtaining sexual gratification by looking at sexual objects or acts, especially secretively.

From dictionary.reference.com/browse/voyeurism

Everyone wants to have unlimited information about the people around us. We want to see just to know not just to believe. We desire to know others' lives even if we take away their privacy. In writing, a successful blog should have information that people don't know to keep them interested. The more we tell the deeper we get and the more it hurts people who are exposed to the public.


Three Questions:

What causes genres to evolve? What do they evolve to and why?

What is considered violating someone's privacy, and when do reporters go too far? What is the limit or what should the limit be?

Why do so many people want to write personal blogs when they know they are available to everyone? What makes them want to share personal information if it'd make them upset if many people read it?

The speakers tones are assertive and questioning of Obama's decisions and how his promises aren't being followed through such as lowering the unemployment and providing healthcare to all people. Obama points out numerous times that he takes ideas into consideration but none of them have valid solutions to the problems at hand. He uses logos to show the fact that to provide healthcare for everyone at no cost is impossible. He uses pathos by saying that if they allowed insurance companies to let people use their services in other states that it would allow companies to pick and choose the people they want to give insurance to and would leave some people who have current health issues without a good insurance plan. He shows compassion to the people who he knows need help and insurance.

Obama defends himself saying there were problems before he was elected and they might have underestimated the effects of unemployment but he believes that they are trying to stop the loss of jobs even if the plan he had in mind wouldn't take effect until the next year. (15:30) Obama says he's willing to have a conversation with a politician about budget and the spending bill but does not want to start freezing spending now. The politicians use evidence that doesn't completely back up their argument that their proposition will work. Obama says the reason he's not taking the freeze bill into effect is because they had already prepared a budget in 2010. He says he's "listening to the people who know the economy best" (16:23) "if you either increase taxes or significantly lowered spending, when the economy remains somewhat fragile, that that would have a dissimulating effect and potentially you'd see a lot of folks losing business." Obama has read many of their propositions but believes that they will not work under the circumstances of the economy at this time.

The different speakers did not interrupt the president very much when he was talking but when they did it was a harsh tone that belittled the president's knowledge and ways of thinking. The questions appeared proper and concerned with the economy and America's people but they actually were very argumentative with the president's decisions and his ways of doing things; they won the peoples attention by creating a connection between the propositions they were presenting and how the people will be effected which emotionally drew in the audience with this form of pathos. They did this to make the president seem distant and not caring toward the people in need or the problems people were experiencing first hand.

Discourse is the group we belong to that has an effect on our personality and traits of literacy. You can learn to communicate with reading and writing through teaching or from exposure to something or someone, like a parent. Everyone's different experiences change the way they express themselves. He says, "children use language, behavior, values and beliefs to give a different shape to their experience." You learn your first language by exposure and your second by teaching.

He also discusses reading and how it isn't the ability to memorize the letters and what they sound like but rather the meaning behind what is written. Reading is decoding. To be able to really read you have to comprehend. He defines literacy as the "control of secondary use of language (i.e., uses of language in secondary discourses)" he says. You must be in control of your writing and how it presents itself.

I learned that literacy is more than just writing. It is more about how you present yourself in words to express ideas. You can learn a language and how to use it in different ways depending on your background. I feel like there are a lot of rules for the way you need to get your point across but there is still flexibility for everyone to contribute in their own way. My own literacy story is going to be a unique style that I can use to deliver my message. My understanding of the story will be the way it is presented to my audience.

Org's general argument is that writing is not what literacy is. There are oral languages that have been around for a fraction of the time that humans have been in existence and even smaller time that the languages were written. Some languages do not have a way of being written down. "Most (languages) have disappeared or are fast disappearing, untouched by textuality." Some languages disappear because they have no way of being documented. Stories have been passed down orally and without this we wouldn't have learned from what our ancestors have learned. Being able to write is not necessary when you have the ability to think and imagine without it. Writing represents a moment in time while speaking is long forgotten as you move to the next word. The word isn't there anymore. He also explains how writing has an influence on our thoughts. "We do not commonly feel the influence of writing on our thoughts. We cannot separate it from ourselves or even recognize its presence and influence." He explains that without writing, someone who is literate would not be able to compose thoughts in an oral form. There are differences between an oral and a literate mind. Illiterate people are thought to lack a skill that everyone should have when really without an understanding of oral communication we wouldn't be able to "grasp what writing accomplished."

The line for El Rancho was out the door. Standing in this dreaded line on Broadway, my friend Nina and I attempted to avoid the touching and talking of old drunkards. They talked to us and at us, begging for attention that they wouldn’t get. My black panty-hoes were cutting off my circulation as we stood and tried to avoid eye contact and provocative head nods. Finally we entered the warm damp restaurant. "Why did we have to get food here?" I thought as I realized it was less than worth it to have stood in line for so long. My friend got her nachos and we exited quickly, avoiding making contact with the people behind us in line who smelled of weed and who knows what. We hit the cold air. It was a Saturday night or I should say Sunday morning, about two am. We had just been at a house party and decided to walk around downtown before heading home. El Rancho was last on our list and as our night neared its end we decided it was time to walk back to the car.

The air smelled like gasoline and I hoped the chilly wind wouldn’t flip up my dress. I clutched my pepper spray just in case. We accepted the occasional compliment but kept moving. We came to a stoplight and before crossing we notice two guys across the street from us, yelling. Nina and I are always up for a good show so we paused and waited. Nina even opened up her nachos and started eating as if we were at a movie. The two men stood face to face, close enough to feel each other’s breath. They were having a conversation but all I could make out was “just call it!!” being screamed into the other guy's face. The dark haired one shoved a piece of paper in the blonde's face who ignored it and stood there with no expression.

Before our eyes in a matter of seconds the dark haired man had pushed the blonde man and tackled him to the ground. It was only a few seconds before the blonde had his hands around the other guy’s neck as they rolled around drunk and confused and clearly furious. At that moment we ran across the street yelling “stop, stop!” as the brunette lost his breath and the other one dominated the situation. Clearly they were past the point of drunk and their fighting looked like two elderly men in slow motion, but I knew they were strong enough to hurt one another.  Although it was a stressful situation, being in the middle of a fight, I wasn't concerned because after I pushed them apart I could tell how weak and clumsy they were from all the alcohol. I thought to myself,  "We should have called the cops. We should have let them be." but my actions wouldn't listen to my cautious brain as I asked the men, "Do you need a ride?"

Kyle had a very cocky personality. He kept saying how sexy he was and how Kenny was just jealous. Kenny lagged behind in a daze as Kyle talked the whole way back to the car. Kyle told us to tell him he was hotter than Kenny and he even tried to hold my hand at one point. I pulled away and he just kept holding it as if he didn't realize the rejection. Nina and I talked to them along the ride home. We didn't put them both in the back seat of course because we were afraid they'd start hitting each other. Kyle repeated himself over and over. "I'm gonna step on your freaking neck Kenny!" We tried to calm him but he was like an angry child throwing a fit for no reason. When we got back to the house Kyle pulled me into a hug. I could smell his cologne and feel his sweaty body as hugged for longer than necessary. I felt like I was holding a baby, someone who couldn’t function, someone that without my support would probably fall down in front of me. I ignored his begging to come inside for a drink and told him to not hurt Kenny. We left, soon realizing that in the morning when the hangover sets in they would believe this was all a dream.

In my opinion his writing doesn't make sense unless you know what kind of operation he is talking about. This is good dialogue and you can tell something is wrong but I found it pointless by the end of the story because I didn't understand it. I had to look up online that they were discussing having an abortion then I went back and reread the story. I wish he would have had more details about the characters so I wasn't so lost.

Here's my favorite Dialogue:
"Its really an awful simple operation, Jig"

"I don't want anyone but you. I don't want anyone else."

"I don't care anything about it."

Works Cited

Goetz, Cari. “Sexual exploitability: observable cues and their link to sexual attraction.” serialssolutions.com, July 2012. Web. 13 November 2014.

Charles, Christopher A. D. “Skin bleaching and the prestige complexion of sexual attraction.” link.springer.com, 14 August 2011. Web. 13 November 2014.

Symons, Douglas and Szielasko, Alicia. “Attachment styles within sexual relationships are strategic.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2009. Web. 13 November 2014.

Bryan, Angela, Webster, Gregory and Mahaffey, Amanda. “The big, the rich, and the powerful: Physical, financial, and social dimensions of dominance in mating and attraction.” psp.sagepub.com, 9 February 2011. Web. 13 November 2014.

Murry, Sarah and Milhausen, Robin. “Comfort with sexual matters for young adolescents: A measure of erotophobia-erotophilia for youth.” serialssolutions.com, 2012. Web. 13 November 2014.

Perilloux, Carin, Judith Easton and David Buss. “The misperception of sexual interest.” pss.sagepub.com, February 2012. Web. 13 November 2014.

Maybach, Kristine and Steven Gold. “Hyperfeminimity and attraction to macho and non-macho men.” Jstor.org, 1994. Web. 13 November 2014.

Puts, David A. “Beauty and the beast: mechanisms of sexual selection in humans.” Serialssolusions.com, 2010. Web. 13 November 2014.

Outline
1. What I will be talking about? What are stereotypical things people say about matching
a. Love at first sight?
b. Looks don’t matter?
c. Why do looks matter in mating?
d. Which things people say are true or not true about how relationships are selected
2. Media today and how it has transformed the dating platform
a. Dating websites
b. Social media profiles
c. Where we meet people and how we talk (safe vs not safe stranger interaction)
d. What we are used to? What we see to be the ideal man because of media and we select people to pursue based on their profile.
e. Why is this normal to us? How has this changed our idea of mating and of meeting and of attraction? (Profile pictures can be deceiving) also can lead to crimes and identity theft.
3. What role does attractiveness play in selecting a mate?
a. What does media find attractive?
b. Personality’s role in mating (why does personality matter? What is the most important quality?)
c. What kind of personalities do attractive people have? Why?
d. Can a 10 be with a 2? How does that work? Who is considered attractive?
4. How do you pick a mate?
a. Mating as a form of reproducing (picking someone strong to have strong offspring)
b. Macho men are selected for what reasons? What do girls want in a man?
c. 10 with a 2 based on Netflix video (mating selection)
d. Do we pick someone based on familial resemblance? (girl picks someone like her father)
5. How we pursue someone
a. Body language as a form of seduction.
b. We use strategic ways to get the person of interest
c. What are our instincts? What do we do subconsciously
d. First impressions are most important…what do we conclude in our mind within the first interaction. How do we know if we want to pursue them further
e. What our body is feeling when we are attracted to someone. Instincts?
f. Dominance in mating
g. Natural selection (survival of the fittest?)
6. Does this process work for us?
a. People who look alike have a healthier relationship? Same childhood? Similar personalities and beliefs?
b. Do our relationships work based on this?
c. Why does it matter?
7. Conclusion
a. Who does this effect
b. Conclude the outcome and discoveries
c. Interesting facts
d. Where do we go from here and how should we think about the mating process

Online Dating: New technology has changed ideas of mate selection

Dating in the modern world has shifted far from “love at first sight.” Now a person can know all the vital facts about someone before they even hear their voice. Social media dating applications are a new trend that over 40 million Americans are currently taking advantage of to find a mate. (Washington Post) There are many factors that come into play when choosing a mate but how has that changed since the idea of online profiles. There are many people who are conducting research and investigating mating patterns through studies of human behavior, but how does technology played a role in the realm of dating?
“In the past, courtship has been a lengthy process” (Hetsroni). Marriages used to be arranged by the parents without the child’s consent or input. “Liking, attraction, and love of the bride and groom toward each other have been the least considered factors” (Murstein, 1974). This shifted in the 20th century. Now that people are free to choose their own mate, they have developed unique preferences and requirements for their spouse.
How does one choose someone to date? Typically genders have different standards for their ideal mate. In a study conducted with samples from the United States and Israel, males thought physical attractiveness was a more important trait, while females wanted a man that could provide financially (Hetsroni). This needed attraction is a common stereotype for men today. Characteristics that are found attractive to men of the female face include full lips, large eyes, small nose and delicate features. These characteristics are associated with higher levels of estrogen. In fact, faces of women with higher levels of estrogen are rated as more feminine looking than faces of women with lower levels (Law Smith et al. 2006), thus they are more attractive to the male gender. Women are also more likely to adapt themselves for a man, according to the female erotic plasticity theory posited by Baumeister. Sexually they will adapt to what conditions they are in and who they are with during intimate times.
As far as women’s preferences, “Women emphasize the interpersonal dimension of romance” (Buss, 1994). A woman wants to be wooed by a man and have a special emotional connection with him. Other factors that come into play are age (women tend to prefer men older than themselves), and size (height and weight). Laboratory studies of preferences suggest individuals take height into consideration when comparing potential mates. When asked which characteristics are attractive in a mate, very few mention size: “only one woman out of 46 questioned (2%) cited ‘big’ as desirable; one of 46 women (2%) and one of 55 men (2%) preferred thinness; and only two men out of 55 (4%) mentioned that the woman should be shorter” (Sear). There has been said to be a male-taller theory which compares the observed proportion of female-taller marriages to random mating. In this study they found that 8.2 percent of all marriages the wife is taller than the husband (Sear).
When looking for a long term partner, females tend to prefer a man of quality. Preferences lean toward someone who is a strong and powerful figure, and someone who will be able to support them financially and physically. Women also do this as an instinct to reproduce using quality genes for their offspring. “Women invest more in offspring than men do through gestation and nursing for up to several years in foraging societies (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1989)” (Puts). (Ahmed & Talal 1990), and Folstad & Karter (1992) argue that “only the healthiest males with the best genes are capable of displaying such epigamic traits.” Testosterone is also a part of male–male competition and can enhance characteristics related to male dominance. (Mazur & Booth 1998). In that way, humans have animalistic instincts. An animal's fitness decides if they are suitable mates. “In the majority of animal signaling systems, males are the advertising, and females the choosing sex.” (Holveck, Riebel) In other words, a female’s choice of men is the deciding factor that leads to marriage. Single men are more likely to have a wide range of potential mates and females must decide what the best matches will be.
So, how has technology changed dating? “Eighty-percent of youth ages 12–17 report using social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace)” (Zweig). Tinder reports having 10 million users (NBC News). Media has convinced young adults that they are supposed to be in a relationship. This causes people to settle for someone who is below their standards. There are reasons why sometimes a women will settle for someone who is not up to their standards. “Women may get married to someone who is not ideal for them if the costs for targeting the best males are sufficiently high (e.g. increase of rarity of high-quality males), then low-quality females might minimize search costs or even lost breeding opportunities by changing the direction of their preferences towards low-quality individuals” (Holveck, Riebel). These poor decisions lead to divorce or unhealthy relationships including physical and emotional abuse or depression.
The birth of photography in the 19th century and its development has allowed us to have easy access to the body form in advertising. Today photography in magazines it has been used to promote objectification of women (Schroeder and Borgerson). Some consider photography to be an art form but it has changed our cultural idea of beauty into something unrealistic. Stereotypes are formed that women cannot achieve. This causes pressure on young girls which sometimes leads to depression and eating disorders. “In the on-line environment, followers will have lots of opportunities to compare themselves with their peers” (Williams).
Online dating has added positive and negative roles to picking a spouse. Positively it has allowed young adults to narrow the search considerably based on people's profiles. Determine who would be potentially compatible is simple when comparing profiles. A person can create a profile including how old they are and what they are looking for as well as their secrets and ambitions. Some websites will take profile preferences and match them with people who have similar profiles. People can view what other people have written on dating profiles to get an idea of who that person is before they decide to pursue them. Today a woman can pick out a man as if she was designing new clothes. By selecting age, height, weight, religion and many other things, the search for a dream guy becomes easier and narrower.
There is no "love at first sight" when you go into a relationship knowing all those random facts about how this person defines himself. In the past, when people met, they were not able to see if they were a potential match for one another right away because they would be starting with a blank slate.
Although it all sounds like an efficient dating opportunity there are risks to meeting strangers online. Some say dating websites have taken a turn for the worst. A once good idea, to meet new people and make connections, has led to sexual assault and pornographic images being transferred. There has been a bad connotation associated with online dating because people hear about these explicit photos and victims of assault. Abuse associated with online dating is usually psychological but could lead to physical abuse when the couple meets. Although assault is not a possibility online which makes it appear safer, meeting with a new person can be dangerous.
There is also a risk of being scammed online, just like scams that have been around for decades. People will ask for money and convince you that it’s for something important. The classic scam is when someone claims to be in military overseas and then asks for money to fly back to the United States to meet in person (NBC News). When a person has been a victim of cyberbullying, "The emotions that they display range from anger to severe sadness and depression, and often times they criticize themselves for being duped out of their money," Darrell Foxworth, special agent for the FBI, told NBC News.
To help prevent fraud, Tinder now links their profiles to Facebook accounts to prevent fake profiles or “Catfish” (Los Angeles Business Journal). A new show called Catfish is dedicated to finding online relationships and helping those people meet to see if they are compatible matches or if they have been using a fake profile. Nev Schulman, one of the producers, said "It's a hugely important fact that I myself was the victim of an online relationship, in which I was greatly deceived.” Nev and his friend Max Joseph filmed Nev’s experience with being catfished and created a movie. From there, they created a TV show. When asked why people would fall for a person when they know nothing about them and cannot meet, Max says, "People will come up with their own excuses for why they're not meeting.” These excuses justify why a person may not have skype or got busy and couldn’t meet. A person will fill in details that they don’t know because they think so fondly of the person. “When you want to fall in love, you ignore red flags in the optimistic hope that it does work out,” Max said.
There are some people looking for intimacy and nothing more than a short term relationship or "friends with benefits." Just like meeting someone at a bar, a person must be cautious even if they know facts about them from a profile. Talking online makes it easier for sexual exploitation and deception. A person will only tell you what they want, and just like in person, they could be lying. What older generations don’t realize is that these things happen anyway. They are just not associated with online dating. The internet is not at fault. There will always be violent people it’s for us to decide who to be around. There are the same amount of liars and cheaters in the world and it's a bachelor’s job to determine if you are putting yourself in a safe situation or not.
Teens today have grown up on social media and when it may seem scary to our elders it is all this generation has known. Being safe online is something this generation has grown accustom to. In this day, adolescents are good at weeding out the “red-flag” situations. Texting is now easier and less stressful than speaking face to face or even on the phone.
Although there are many risks to online meeting and dating, there are also many positive outcomes which makes people want to try it out for themselves. Dating online has taken "looks don’t matter" and somehow amplified it by talking to someone and know them before meeting face to face. The downside to knowing someone emotionally online is that it makes it harder and more awkward to meet someone later on in the relationship. This is because there hasn’t been a physical connection from the start. Even though you connect emotionally you might not connect physically. It is the opposite for meeting someone in person first. There is a physical attraction at the start and then as time passes the couple will figure out if they have the same views and values. The difference between online dating and regular dating is the stereo type of love at first sight (loving the physical aspects first), and looks don’t matter (being able to determine a person’s values before physical intimacy. This new dating platform has transformed our standard routine of mate selection into an inside look at a person’s life and the risks that come along with texting strangers.

Works Cited
Goetz, Cari. “Sexual exploitability: observable cues and their link to sexual attraction.” serialssolutions.com, July 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Symons, Douglas and Szielasko, Alicia. “Attachment styles within sexual relationships are strategic.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2009. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Bryan, Angela, Webster, Gregory and Mahaffey, Amanda. “The big, the rich, and the powerful: Physical, financial, and social dimensions of dominance in mating and attraction.” psp.sagepub.com, 9 Feb. 2011. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Murry, Sarah and Milhausen, Robin. “Comfort with sexual matters for young adolescents: A measure of erotophobia-erotophilia for youth.” serialssolutions.com, 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Perilloux, Carin, Judith Easton and David Buss. “The misperception of sexual interest.” pss.sagepub.com, Feb. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Maybach, Kristine and Steven Gold. “Hyperfeminimity and attraction to macho and non-macho men.” Jstor.org, 1994. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Puts, David A. “Beauty and the beast: mechanisms of sexual selection in humans.” Serialssolusions.com, 2010. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
Jarvey, Natalie. "Mobile dating app hopes it has romance's number: Tinder links to users' Facebook pages to weed out phony profiles." Los Angeles Business Journal 7 Jan. 2013: 10. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Murray, Sarah, and Robin Milhausen. "Factors Impacting Women's Sexual Desire: Examining Long-Term Relationships In Emerging Adulthood." Canadian Journal Of Human Sexuality 21.2 (2012): 101-115. Academic Search Elite. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Cornwell, R. Elisabeth et al. “Reproductive Strategy, Sexual Development and Attraction to Facial Characteristics.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 361.1476 (2006): 2143–2154. PMC. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Hetsroni, Amir. “Choosing a mate in television dating games: The influence of setting, culture, and gender.” springer.com, Jan. 2000. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Williams, Robert and Ricciadelli, Lina. “Social media and body image concerns: Further considerations and broader perspectives.” springer.com, 15 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Wagstaff, Keith. “Hook, Line and Tinder: Scammers Love Dating Apps.”  nbcnews.com, 11 April, 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Sampson, Issy. “Catfish on TV: It’s an uplifting show about self-love’ say creators.” theguardian.com, 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.