Favorite Music Video

I would have to say that Incubus is one of my favorite bands. I stated listening to them in 6th grade and haven’t been able to stop myself since. I chose the music video, “Drive” because the video conveys the message that the song is about. Although, “Drive” isn’t one of my favorite songs because it is so mainstream I still really like it. Most of their videos don’t even appear on T.V., but “Drive” did often when it was popular.
In the very beginning of the video there are two hands drawing each other to start the theme of the video. Then the hands draw the lead singer, Brandon Boyd. It also draws the other members of the band. They are creating themselves on paper. The song becomes more dynamic when the worlds, “I should be the one behind the wheel,” are sung. It then goes on to say, “Whatever tomorrow brings I’ll be there, with open arms and open eyes.” They want to keep an open mind and be ready for whatever life throws at them. They say, “When I drive myself my light is found.” They don’t want to conform to what everyone else is, they want to break out and be different. They are also trying to convey this point to their fans and listeners. They say that being a follower, “seems to be the way that everyone else gets around.” Throughout the video Brandon seems to be frustrated because he doesn’t want to fit the social conforms that are expected of him. At the end the pictures are crossed out, thrown, and tore up. This represents him taking his own way. They are taking the frustrations that they have about not wanted to be what other people think of them and literally throwing them away. I think it conveys a good message about being your own person and sticking to what you believe in and not trying to be something just because everyone is doing it or you think it is expected of you.

Rhetorical Strategies

Lyndon Johnson’s Daisy Girl Ad

In the 1964 election Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater were campaigning for president. It was beginning to be the end of the Vietnam War and that was the very controversial topic. In fact it was the main topic of the campaigns. In the Ad it shows a little freckled face girl sitting in a field of daisies. She picks up a small flower and starts counting the petals. “One, two, three, four, five, seven…” This also plays upon her innocence because she wasn’t old enough to count in the correct order due to her young age. Then the camera goes to a close up of the little girl’s eye. Then it shows an image of an atomic bomb going off. After that Lyndon Johnson starts talking and says that in order to save all of God’s children you need to vote on November 3rd, your life depended on it. The words at the end of the ad are only Lyndon B. Johnson for President.
This is one of the most controversial negative ad campaigns. It was only able to appear on television a handful of times because of its racy content. Negative ads were just beginning to air on television and candidates were utilizing the media to campaign. Since then negative ads have increased but mostly with candidate bashing instead the persuasion of worry that this ad invokes.
This ad implies the argumentation that relies upon an example. The example used in this ad is making an example of the girl to make people feel sympathetic towards the little girl as the young people that they know. It shows the impact it has on your life using the little girl. While watching the ad you would think have how voting for Johnson or Goldwater would affect the outcome of your life and the possibility of your death.
The rhetorical argument that is heavily used in this ad is pathos. Pathos is the appeal to the emotions. They use the girl to get to your emotions by showing you how young and innocent she is. People generally have a soft spot for children and especially little girls. She seemed to be so sweet and innocent because she couldn’t even count in the correct order. If you had children or grandchildren it would be very sentimental and would make you think of what will happen to your child if you voted wrong and whose hands you put your future in. It is said that the children are our future, our future leaders. Well the future leader now shapes the leaders that will come later in our lives.
A casual argument is implied. If you vote this way the world will stay the way that we like it. If you vote for Lyndon Johnson your children will be able to live. Everyone wants to have the perfect life for their children. They want them to be happy and have everything that they had and couldn’t have. People also want the best for the world. They don’t want their beautiful meadows to be destroyed with a bomb; they want to live in America too. The other argument is that of cause and effect. If you don’t vote for Lyndon Johnson it is inevitable that an atomic bomb will occur. By stating that your life depends on voting it confirms the message imparted by the visual image.
There are many uses of logical fallacies in this ad. They utilize the hasty generalization to draw a conclusion too quickly without providing relatively any evidence. He makes the assumption for you that there will be a bomb soon if you are not voting for him. He stacks the evidence clearly all to his side because he wants the public to vote for him. He doesn’t even mention the opponents name; he just wants you to focus solely on him. Lyndon Johnson also begs the question. He wants you to question what Barry Goldwater will do about the current problem they are having in Vietnam and what the current administration is doing.

This ad also appeals to character, the reliance on authority, and credibility. Lyndon Johnson is appealing to the character that he believes that he has and he questions the character of America if they are to let someone like Barry Goldwater run the country. Lyndon Johnson was also an incumbent being the vice president who presided over the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had just been assasinated and they looked to Lyndon B. Johnson to lead the country before the next presidential election, which gave him a hand up. During 1964 the big issue in politics was whether or not to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Lyndon was also using the, “We are all god’s children” part of his ad to state his take on the act to appeal to the general public. This ad also questions the character of parents, if they are to let their children grow up into a country where there are atomic bombs instead of the flowing grasslands with flowers like we were accustomed to. How could you not want the children of today and years to come to have the same advantages as you had and possibly more? Their tactic is to make you feel guilty about not voting because you could be negatively altering the life of the children of our future. He also uses the reference of god’s children which brings another authority besides him, like he measures himself with god.
Lyndon uses the scare tactic fallacy to capitalize on the audience’s fears to make a pitch. The audience was already in fear because of the current war in Vietnam and he is capitalizing on that fear by making them believe that things will get worse than they already are if he doesn’t become president. The use of the mushroom cloud also has its own ethos because of the image of fear that it instills in people. It brings a certain picture to one’s mind because most people associate that image with communism. During the 1960’s there was a great fear of nuclear war, it was especially talked about in the media and children were aware of this threat by the duck and cover practices they had at school incase of such emergency. He convinces the audience that they will be headed down a slippery slope to a serious consequence, a bomb or the possibility of death. This ad had to be pulled due to the logical fallacy of scare tactics because it invoked great fear in the public, making them fear for their life.

The tactics that Lyndon Johnson uses are obviously exaggerations of what he really is planning to do in office. It is obvious to the public that they will not die right away if they didn’t vote for him and there will not be an atomic bomb going off if you decide to vote for Barry Goldwater instead. He was trying to make you think of what could possibly happen if you didn’t vote for him, however his ad was far too dramatic which devalues it. His strategies work to make you think of whose side to be on with the current war in Vietnam and puts weight to the issues on hand. It makes you think that he values this position and wants to make a difference to keep America beautiful and that he cares about the citizens. However, his rhetorical fallacies make you question his morality.

Works Cited

"Barry Goldwater." History Central . 11 Nov. 2007 .

McAdams, John. "The Kennedy Assasination." The Kennedy Assasination. 2007. 11 Nov. 2007 .

"The Civil Rights Act of 1964." USA Info. Aug. 1996. 11 Nov. 2007 .

"Lyndon B. Johnson." WhiteHouse.gov. 11 Oct. 2007. 11 Nov. 2007 .

"The Vietnam War." The History Place. 1999. 11 Nov. 2007 .

Pro-Choice Supporters Worshipping False Idols

Pro- Choice Supporters Worshipping False Idols

Recently in Lincoln Cardinal Justin Rigali spoke at a convention to rebuild the Culture of Life. He spoke on the pro-life behalf of the ongoing political debate of abortion. Abortion is always a controversial issue because it is not an issue of politics but that of morality. Cardinal Rigali believes that opposition to embryonic research is not a religious position but a moral stance because an embryo is a child formed in the womb. Freedom of choice, Cardinal Rigali believes, is negated by the most basic principal which is to live. Rigali said, “The City Council has mistaken evil for good, a modern-day form of idolatry.” He wants to change our modern day culture to a positive pro-life message.
Currently 1.2 million abortions were performed in the United States, but support for abortion is at an all-time low with only 44% in favor. Personally, like many people in my generation, I am pro-choice. I think that this man’s message is good, but he goes way overboard with his ideas. He refers to us as a culture of death because of the number of people who are pro-choice and not pro-life. The freedom of choice and the freedom to live are on the same level. Neither of them have a larger degree of freedom that the other. The exception of being able to have an abortion is if either the child or the mother are needed to be saved and can’t survive with each other. There is also the concern of rape, because most people who are raped don’t want a constant reminder of their rapist. If you were to put that restriction on that I think that the number of reported rape cases would go up, and they could possibly be false. Abortion is an issue that will forever be discussed and one that may never have a solution that people can agree on.

Free Write: The Good Life Concert

The Good Life Concert

Saturday night was a homecoming for local band. The Good Life, led by Tim Kasher (Cursive), finished up their six week tour by playing a home show in Omaha at Saddle Creek Records new venue, The Slowdown.
The Good Life fresh off a new record release (Help Wanted Nights) tore through the entire album in front of a packed house. After this was over the band took a quick break and came out to a welcoming crowd. They played some of their classics from the albums Blackout, and Album of the Year. The concert was ended by Tim belting a heart wrenching version of the classic song Album of the Year. The crowd was ecstatic as the band hit their last drum and strummed their last chord, they all wanted more.
Among the crowd was Saddle Creek veteran Conor Oberst of the band Bright Eyes. Oberst and Kasher have been close since their earliest days in school and have been playing music together since their early teens. Each man is in two bands on the Saddle Creek label however they do not share projects. They are often seen at each others local shows and are seen holding hands on the cover of the single “Lovers Need Lawyers” by the Good Life. Oberst has come across a recent wave of success with his latest cd Cassadaga. A wave that I’m sure his good pal Tim wouldn’t mind riding. Some would say that it is only a matter of time before Tim becomes as big as Oberst if not bigger. His other band Cursive has enjoyed local success all over the Mid-West and have traveled to both coasts playing their Nebraskan style experimental rock. However I’m sure that Kasher is just fine drinking all day and playing to local Nebraskans every night.

State Issue: Affirmative action critic trying to end policies in state

Nebraska is being targeted to end the use of affirmative action by public colleges and state and local agencies. Nebraska is one of five states being targeted and there are many other states in the country that have ended this policy already. With times changing racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination isn’t beginning to be such a large widespread problem as it previously has been. Nebraskans tend to want to help females and minorities and not help gain opportunities of white men. White men are always favored in situations and women still only receive 70 cents to a man’s dollar so it seems that white men do not need any more help. In Nebraska the problems of affirmative action are not as big of a deal compared to other places in the United States like the south because we do not have that many people of different racial or ethnic background. Although we are gaining a more diverse population it is still mostly dominated by Caucasians. Nebraska was a good state to target because of its lack of different ethnic background and its tendencies to be fair.
Voters of Nebraska seem to mostly be in favor of abolishing affirmative action but were not in favor of a program that offered in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants. To me that seems to be an obvious reaction of Nebraskans because of the number of meat packing plants in our cities. The workers are already thought of as taking money from Nebraskan workers so most Nebraskans have a negative attitude towards illegal immigrants. Nebraskans are usually conservative and place high values on honesty and fairness. Affirmative action doesn’t need such great emphasis if they are already practicing fair job hiring and college applications. It is said that they want the best qualified people for the job. I personally wouldn’t think of people in terms of race if I was to hire someone for a job I would think of what that person could contribute to the company.