Lucy Liu’s AP Comp Blog

1. The biggest idea of presentation zen is simplicity. the less things there are to look at and hear, the better. People are much more willing to respond to what is trying to be conveyed if there is one thing to focus on at a time. As a result, when things are shown on screen they have a much bigger impact than something that is added to an already busy scene.

2.  The owner of the blog is an experienced speaker, and has (and is still in the process of gaining) experience with the art of rhetoric. He is a critic that evaluates the methods of others, and goes around making presentations about making presentations.

3. Jobs is better than Gates because he focuses on one thing at a time, as do his visual presentations, has more responsive body language, and his presentations flow a lot better with that in connecting his ideas together

4. The advice can teach me that less is more. Body language and confidence go a long way, though they have nothing to do with the content.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but even more so the one that holds the head up. Recent findings have uncovered a scandal by the hand of my own campaign manager. First, I would like to apologize on his behalf, because what he has done has ruined the good name of everyone involved. I would like to state, however, that I was in no shape or form a part of his actions. I did not participate in any of the plan, from its beginning stages to its execution to its subsequent cover-up. While it is true that his actions are regrettable, we should not be held accountable for it. I myself is a product of what this man wishes, and am too a victim of his crime. He bore too much responsibility over me, and the power swelled up his head like a balloon. Rest assured that in the future nothing of this sort will happen. I will make sure of it.

In “Common Sense” Thomas Paine makes arguments for the American Revolution, offering reasons to not trust the British government, and why it was not common sense for Britain to rule over the colonies. In this particular section, Paine is exploring the relationship between society and government. Paine creates the persona of a common man, which is also the audience he is writing to. He does not use fancy language or complex reasoning, but instead uses basic facts and reasoning to make his point. His claim is that government is an evil to the . The warrant he offers are just chains of reasoning, and not supported by many concrete facts or statistics.

Malcolm X’s speech, The Ballot or the Bullet, came in the heat of the Civil Rights movement. Through the use of ethos, logos, and pathos, he tries to sway his audience toward his views in this critical time.

Ethos can be found first in the form of disinterest: early on in the piece, he begins comparing himself with Black Christian Ministers that are also leaders in the movement, such as Adam Clayton Powell, Galmison, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Even though not long before that he had explicitly and repeatedly pronounced his affiliation with the nation of Islam, he puts in these references to Christians. This is disinterest because while he could have chosen to separate himself from “them,” he chose instead to agree with them and see them as “fighters in some other category.” Not only will this attract more attention and sympathy from Christians, but will also strengthen Malcolm X’s persona by painting him as a more accepting leader.

Another instance of Ethos is hear the middle of the speech when he offers an explanation for their current woes. It is again disinterest used when Malcolm X is talking about the current government. Rather than lashing out at it, as would be expected from a Civil Rights leader, he turns the table around and poses the theory: “It was the fact that you threw 80 percent of your votes behind the Democrats that put the Democrats in the White House.” Preaching to the converted (as is apparent by the amount of applause) is easy, but it is not nearly as effective as chiding them.

Looking through the transcript of this speech, it is apparent that Malcolm X didn’t use many facts to support his points. He does, however, keep referring to the “22 million victims” of prejudice against blacks. “…to bring about the freedom of 22 million Afro-Americans here in this country where we have suffered colonialism for the past 400 years…22 million black victims for the Democrats…and the Republicans…of Americanism.” He uses this bland statistic and turns it into a sticking point. The audience upon repetition feel the impact that civil injustice has upon their people.

Another recurring use of logos is in his request to put religion off to the side, and focus more on civil ethics. He states in the beginning, “I believe my religion is my personal business,” and that “Were we to come out here discussing religion, we’d have too many differences from the outstart and we could never get together.” He begins with an ethical appeal and turns it into logical reasoning. In the middle, he brings this idea back, “If we bring up religion, we’ll be in an argument, and the best way to keep away…put your religion at home.” He could’ve chosen to just tell people not to bring in religion, but he offers a logical and legitimate reason forth this request.

To portray pathos, Malcolm X tells personal anecdotes, “Though I went to a white school over here…the white man made the mistake of letting me read his history books…wasn’t nothing non-violent about old [Patrick Henry] or George Washington. “This statement is put in to inform the audience that the speaker has first-hand experience and expertise in the subjects he is addressing. Malcolm X attempts to stir emotions with statements such as “Liberty or death was what brought about the freedom of whites in this country from the English. They didn’t care about the odds…yet these 13 little scrawny states…told that big British Empire ‘liberty or death’.” Malcolm X is definitely trying to make history here.

The article “Do Democrats have the backbone to win?” uses many specific examples and anecdotes to prove its point. This could be seen as both ethos and pathos; ethos because it establishes the writer as a knowledgeable person that keeps up with politics, and pathos because of the use of personal anecdotes. By comparing and contrasting the democrats to the republicans, namely members of the current administration (”John F. Kerry, too, saw a record as a war hero turned upside down, impugning his patriotism and questioning whether he deserved his medals. All the while, Bush, Cheney, John Ashcroft and the crew had avoided service in Vietnam. … and blatantly.”), the writer is emphasizing logos and ethos; logos because democrats are this and republicans by contrast are this, and ethos because the writer takes the democrats’ side and thus is able to gain their sympathy.

1: The teenagers would always sleep whilst watching tv. Therefore watching tv makes them sleepy.
2: It was found that more accidents would occur the morning after daylight savings set clocks back an hour than occurred the morning after clocks were set forward an hour.
3: 50% of the females interviewed in a class said that they prefer to wear socks over bare feet. Therefore, half of all women prefer wearing socks over bare feet

I looked at Tapped and the Corner. From a quick glance, Tapped seems more like the opinion breed of blog and the Corner is more the informative kind. In either case, it didn’t take long to find the party that each was associated with, what with the “Huckabee just saying that God is giving him a temporary bump in the polls, only to send his campaign crashing down later, in order to demonstrate to His earthly subjects the danger of hubris and the importance of early fundraising?” sarcastic implications from Trapped or the “So Huckabee’s defense is that Bill Clinton (pardoner extraordinaire) and another Democrat (and now convicted felon Jim Guy Tucker) also thought the life-plus sentence for a 35 year-old-man who kidnapped and raped a 17-year-old girl was too severe?  Yeah, that oughta fly …” sarcastic comments. The blogs didn’t really use images. The corner was more logos-heavy, while trapped was more ethos-heavy. Both seemed pretty disconnected, pathos-wise.

John Stuart Mill uses much chain logic to prove his point. He uses hypothetical situations to convince them in the forms of “if this…then that” and “If not for this…then that”. He uses the “less of two evils” format for his arguments. In this short passage, he gives no clues to the persona that he is trying to portray, and also does not use any hard evidence to support his arguments.