MP2 | IRB Intro - Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents

Noted as one of Sigmund Freud's most famous and well-written books, Civilization and Its Discontents is a book Freud took upon writing one summer in 1929, where he explores the human life, connecting them to his theories, such as the Oedipus Complex. Through his use of juxtaposition of "civil" human life versus "savage" human life, Freud reveals the dirty but raw truth about human nature and society. While frequently displaying interest in Freud, I never had a chance to read any of his books or understand any of his theories to the fullest. By reading Civilization and Its Discontents, I hope to further inform as well as entertain myself about one of the most important psychoanalysts of our time.

TOW #9 | Written - Team of Vatican Geneticists Successfully Clone God

The Onion, a well-known satirical news source published an article titled, “Team of Vatican Geneticists Successfully Clone God.” Through maintaining a satirical tone throughout the article and using allusions to the Bible, the Onion effectively reveals the irony of the article in order to entertain the audience and mock the close-minded Catholic community.

The irony present in the article is very outright and straightforward. The title itself, “Team of Vatican Geneticists Successfully Clone God,” expresses irony in which Vatican people are very Catholic and conservative, and would never approve messing with “God’s power” by cloning. The act of cloning God is ironic as well for the same reasons. Because of this ridiculous irony of conservative, Catholic people going against their faith and cloning God, the being in which condemns acts such as cloning allows the audience to laugh at the ridiculousness of the irony. Throughout the article, the Onion manages to allude to the Bible in order to emphasize that the clone is being treated like God. They refer to the newborn clone of God as “He,” and claim that the newborn is able to “possesses complete omniscience, and even at this early age, we have observed Him beginning to transcend space and time” (8). These descriptions emphasize how the newborn clone is something of greater power and superior to humans. The way that the author describes and refers to the clone portrays an element of seriousness, a stark contrast to the satire present before. This added element of contrast and irony by referring to the clone in a holy, serious manner further entertains and pokes fun at the close-minded conservative Catholic community.

The irony throughout the text is portrayed through maintaining a satirical tone and adding allusions to the Bible in the article; By doing so, the Onion entertains the audience and mocks the close-minded Catholic community.

TOW #8 | IRB - Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

As Malcolm Gladwell continues to connect stories of success with the common theme of “talent plus preparation,” he presents to the curious American public how much a combination of opportunity and origin can influence successes and failures that occur throughout the world. He utilizes statistics in one specific analysis, “The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes,” to portray how one’s upbringing in a specific geographic location can influence their capability to fly a plane.

Gladwell brings up one statistic--a list of countries that were ranked in terms of “uncertainty avoidance”--to portray how a country’s tolerance of ambiguity stems from their culture. Countries that were at the top of the uncertainty avoidance list, like Greece and Guatemala, have the commonality of conservative cultures, in which their people were taught to stick by the rules and not stray away from any set of rules, regardless of the circumstances. Other countries that were at the bottom of the list, like Denmark and Singapore, have cultures that are free to conform to situations and are not constricted by a specific set of rules. The people from the countries of the bottom of the list, as a result, were able to conform better to emergency situations (e.g. the fuel running low, the plane at risk of crashing), for they had no rules that they were trapped by, unlike the countries at the top of the list. Another similar statistic Gladwell adds presents a list of countries ranked in terms of the Power-Distance Index, or PDI. South Korea, a culture that emphasizes superiority of bosses and elders, ranked second in this list, proving that Koreans’ inability to equally distribute authority and “power” resulted in the high number of plane crashes that occurred in the early 2000s. These statistics thus helped Gladwell in his attempt to show the correlation between the culture of a specific geographic location and a person’s ability to fly a plane.

Although one's culture or specific geographic location can seem so far away from one's ability to fly a plane, Gladwell manages to reveal the relationship between the two through the use of statistics. He therefore portrays to his audience the intriguing nature of how one's origins can influence their job choice. 

TOW #7 | Visual - Center For Food Safety's "Not Milk"

With genetically modified foods now a “normal” part of society, the Center For Food Safety creates the advertisement “Not Milk” to emphasize that genetically modifying food--like cloning cows for milk--is not something that should be acceptable in our society. They target the people of America, urging them to “tell the FDA” about taking out these animal clones that make up our food. The text utilizes color to help portray that genetically modified food is not good, and people should take action in changing the rules in the FDA to not allow animal clones in food.

The color green is one of the only prominent colors that are used in the text, the milk carton, and as a “milk mustache” on the child’s face. When the color green is associated with food like milk, it usually represents something spoiled or bad for one’s health. Making the child’s milk mustache green portrays that the green milk carton, which is labeled “lab cloned whole milk,” is something bad for one’s health. With green having a negative connotation in this advertisement, it shows that the Center For Food Safety also has a negative opinion towards the FDA and animal clones, portrayed by the green text above the milk carton. This green color allows the audience to gain a better understanding of the Center For Food Safety’s attempt to show the negative aspects of genetically modified foods, so that the audience will be able to fulfill the Center For Food Safety’s purpose: to take action and try to change the FDA regulations on animal cloned foods.

Although not labeled, we see genetically modified foods everywhere--from milk to cheese to bread to even strawberries--and the FDA has yet to regulate any of it. The Center of Food Safety wants to not only portray the negative aspects of genetically modified foods like animal cloning, but also wants the American people to go out and take action to get rid of the genetically modified foods. They use color as a main aspect in an attempt to have their audience go out and try to change the FDA’s rules and regulations towards animal cloning in food.

TOW #6 | Written - Zora Neale Hurston's "How It Feels to Be Colored Me"

In Zora Neale Hurston's "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," she defines what it means to be colored. Instead of being a characteristic one is born with, she instead associates being "colored" with feeling apart or different from the majority. She uses sharp diction and metaphors to describe her personal experiences of feeling "colored."

Although she does share her experience of how she became "colored," she highlights how being colored did not bring her down in any way. She explained how "there is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes" (6). The use of terms like "dammed" and "lurking" emphasizes on the normal reaction other people in society have once they recognize that they are colored. By using these strong terms and portraying how Hurston was able to fight against the "dammed sorrow" and the "lurking behind her eyes," it shows how strong Hurston was in those situations. This also reveals to the audience the effect stereotyping can have on people and the importance of standing up for oneself and accepting oneself as who they are as an individual, regardless of the stereotypes that come with certain traits like their skin color.

Hurston also uses metaphor to describe her experiences being the minority. She describes herself as "a dark rock surged upon, overswept by a creamy sea" (10). By describing herself as a dark rock and white people as a creamy sea, Hurston highlights the color of their skin tone to help the audience understand how she felt at the time, being a black individual at the time. The metaphor is also used for the audience to gain understanding of how she felt; she wanted to point out how much these stereotypes and discrimination "overswept her," like a huge sea would do to a small rock that had nowhere else to move.

Sharing her experiences being a black woman, Hurston expresses her discontent with society's stereotyping and discrimination through the use of sharp diction and metaphor.

TOW #5 | Written - Martin Luther's "I Have a Dream"

The mid-1900s displayed racial segregation to its fullest--from schools to public restrooms, the United States had separate facilities for whites and blacks. However, a man by the name of Martin Luther King Jr. took the first leap in ending segregation through means of peaceful protests. One of his most influential speeches, “I Have a Dream,” still clings to the hearts of Americans today, reminding them of the powerful message King delivered to the American people in an effort to stop racial discrimination and give African-Americans the rights that they deserve.

Martin Luther King Jr. utilizes a variety of rhetorical devices, but one of the most prominent devices he uses is allusion. In the beginning of his speech, King alludes to Abraham Lincoln, describing him as a “great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today” (2). By alluding to Abraham Lincoln, King brings a well-respected figure that all Americans know and think highly of to support his claim of ending racial segregation. Because Lincoln is a well-known, adored figure that advocated for equal rights for blacks, King uses Lincoln’s authoritative status to build credibility so that the audience is able to find credence in King’s argument from the beginning of his speech. 

In addition to an allusion to Lincoln, King also alludes to the Declaration of Independence, stating that according to it, all men, black and white, were promised “‘unalienable rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness’” (4). Using the Declaration of Independence, one of the speeches that are a major asset to our country, King proves how that the United States was not made to segregate between races, but rather give equal rights to everyone, despite their race. Pulling out such an iconic line that everyone in America knows from the Declaration of Independence portrays how America and the people of America should begin to treat everyone with “unalienable rights.” It further allows the audience to understand the importance of equal rights to the United States and the original intent one of the United States’ most well-known speeches that helped rebuild the country out of slavery.

Being an iconic figure in black history, Martin Luther King Jr. did more than deliver a speech for the American people--he began a revolution that would soon grant African-Americans the “Life, Liberty, and pursuit of Happiness” that they should have been given from the beginning.

TOW #4 | Written - How to Survive the College Applications Madness

In Frank Bruni’s “How to Survive the College Admissions Madness,” he discusses failures and acceptances for top-ranking students applying for top-tier colleges. He uses short sentences, incisive diction, and sets a hopeful tone to the essay; however, he mainly portrays the successes of top students that do not end up in top colleges through cause-and-effect.

From the beginning of the article, Bruni exemplifies a student named Peter Hart. He had come from a very affluent school in Chicago. However, when applying to his top two choices, University of Michigan and University of Illinois, “both rejected him” (4). He then went on to attend Indiana University instead, where he felt that he “was a competent person” (6), succeeding immensely at that university and ending up attending graduate school at Harvard. By using a specific example to show the cause and effect of an intelligent being rejected and attending a lower-ranking college, Bruni is giving the audience evidence that his points are true. The audience is also able to make a connection between his argument that top-ranking students attending lower-ranking colleges will still be successful because Bruni uses Peter Hart’s example to connect the dots and provide substantial evidence.

Bruni, an American journalist who won and was nominated for many prizes for writing, wrote this text in order to highlight the idea that success can come out of failure. He focuses his audience on students that are in high school and college—especially those in their high school senior year, applying, receiving, and being rejected of their applications. Bruni does this to show those students that just because their top choice of college rejected them does not mean that they will not go on to succeed later on in life. Not only does he make his audience as students, but parents of those students as well. In the last paragraph, Bruni adds a letter sent from parents to a student that was rejected from his top two colleges and instead attended his third choice. The letter shows the love and support his parents give him despite his inability to attend a top college. He utilizes this letter to send the message out to other parents that they should support their child to the end—for their failure not does not mean that they will not be successful later.