First Checkpoint For Satire Project 3.18.2017

In class, we were assigned to work on a satire project on the topic of couch potatoes. During this week, my group and I worked on the script.We first made an outline to plan out our ideas. In our satirical piece, horation will be used. We decided to start our presentation as a news station broadcasting and then make it into a talk show. In addition, we have decided to use inversion, incongruity, and parody for our satirical piece. The topic of couch potatoes will be announced as a worldwide disease. Then, we will have a talk show discussing if the issue of couch potatoes is really a big deal. As of now, our group has wrote half of the script, and we plan to finish it by Monday.

The Word Police 3.4.2017

          Michiko Kakutani's article "The Word Police" is about the use of politically correct language. Political correctness is using neutral words that include all humankind. The world does not just consist of one type race and one gender, but it includes all kinds of people. According to Kakutani, the political correctness "police" are advocating for a reform in the English language, so it wouldn't be sexist or racist. The most common example used as an argument is gender-oriented words. For example, the waiter or waitress both indicate a gender. The P.C. police argue that instead of this gender based word, we should use waitron or waitperson to avoid addressing gender. Throughout the entire article, Kakutani uses the viewpoint of those who want a reform in the language to explain how words that are not neutral put a label on a person. However, Kakutani himself does not really agree with the movement and somewhat undermines it with his verbal irony.

Meaningless Words 2.4.2017

          Some writers purposely use large and complex words to make their writing seem more advanced. However, the use of these words play the opposite effect. According to George Orwell, these words serve no purpose and instead cause the author's main idea to be confusing. In reality, many people still use meaningless words. For example, Donald Trump uses the word "great" often, but the word is vaguely used and has no meaning in the context of what he is saying. Another example is the word "natural" in food advertisements. The word "natural" has no specific meaning, but is used just to make a product more appealing. Orwell believes that these jargon words can also cause readers to interpret a text differently compared to its original purpose.

          Orwell makes a strong argument about the negatives of using meaningless words in his text "Politics and the English Language." In the text, he starts off with giving examples of words that he considers meaningless, such as the use of the words "romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental..." in art criticism. This use of examples causes the reader to think about the use of these words and realize Orwell's point that these words have no meaning. Orwell makes his argument even more convincing with his comparison of a well-known verse from Ecclesiastes to what it would be written like in modern English. This comparison shows that modern English makes a text difficult to comprehend and seem desperate to sound sophisticated. Writing with complex words is not always a good thing if the word is just a filler with no meaning. If a writer has to think twice about putting a word in his/her writing, he/she should search for a new one. 

Does Affirmative Action Actually Benefit the Unprivileged? 1.14.17

          Affirmative action is a policy that was originally meant to promote equality and prevent discrimination. According to the article "Affirmative Action: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," affirmative action is not always beneficial. When the author, Vijay Jojo Chokal-Ingam, says that affirmative action discriminates against him for being an Asian American, I couldn't help, but agree. Throughout my life, I've been told to work harder and to do better than the average excelling student since I am Asian. In society, many believe that it is normal for Asians to excel, so affirmative action discriminates against them believing that they are not a disadvantaged race. As mentioned in the article, the stereotype of blacks and Hispanics being poor and needing help still remains. This causes a disadvantage to those of other races who actually unprivileged and need help.

          In the article, the author is strongly against affirmative action. He uses anecdotes from his personal life to support his position. The author mentions that he got waitlisted to a prestigious school even though he had a low GPA. He believes that this was most likely because of affirmative action, which shows that it is unfair to people of other races. The author furthers his argument by using rhetorical questions. For example, he uses the question "Did they think that every black kid comes from the ‘hood?" This question was used to show how offensive affirmative action was to the African American race. It also shows how this policy discriminates people based off of stereotypes. Overall, colleges and universities should not put race in the factor when evaluating people.