The Limits of Shadows in our Minds

I just finished reading a dialogue written by Plato called "The Allegory of the Cave". The way the story was written was a little hard to follow at first, but as I was reading, I began to understand the point Plato was attempting to make. At first, as he is describing the prisoners in the cave only see the shadows, I understood that he was comparing how they perceived the shadows as reality because they didn't know any different, to how a person comes into this world, with no real knowledge of anything. Once the prisoner is released, he sees the objects that made the shadows he believed to be real. It dawns on him that the objects are reality, and what he previously thought was his reality (the shadows)were false. This mirrors a child starting to discover life, beginning the learning process. The prisoner doesn't know that his new truth is also a miss-truth, but learns this as well when he is made to go out of the cave and look at the sun. Its painful for him to see the light because it hurts his eyes after so long in the dark, but also to come to an understanding that everything he's known so far in his life is untrue, and to find out that the world around him is far greater than his imagination could have ever come up with. This is a comparison to a child growing to an adult, and going out into the world for the first time. There are many painful learning experiences that happen, but each teaches a person something, and allows this person to gain true knowledge.

I think the point of Plato's entire argument is that until a person acquires the knowledge of reality, he can not fully understand the way the world works. If a person isn't given the opportunity to learn, he will always be in the dark, believing everything he sees as truth. Once that person has a means to learn, he should learn as much as he can and use that knowledge for good. Once educated, people have the power to make a change in the world. They also must make the choice whether to use their knowledge for benefit of all or for benefit of only themselves (good or evil). Once he has full knowledge, in order to keep him in the perspective of appreciating the value of that knowledge, the person should be made to go back to where he began, as in into the cave, and teach those who haven't begun to gain knowledge,as in to the prisoners still there, to remind himself of false beliefs he once had. Only then, will this person have achieved the highest form of understanding, and know how to use it for good.

At least this is what I think this story means!

Magic Little Pills... Prescription Drug Advertising

I finally decided on the subject of ads that I wanted to analyze. I was really having a tough time picking just one ad, because there were so many posted on the internet, and so many good ones, I just couldn't make a decision. I finally decided that I would approach it from another direction. I sat down, and just started listing ads and commercials that I could remember off the top of my head. Then I took that list, and broke it down into categories, one of which I titled "Ads that most annoy me".... which is where I found my topic... Prescription drug ads.

There is a drug for every ailment, whether real or imagined. Even if you really don't have a particular affliction, I am sure there is a doctor somewhere that will tell you that you do and write you a prescription for a medicine you don't need. I just wonder if people weren't bombarded with all these drug commercials and ads, if the number of pills taken every day wouldn't decrease. My argument will touch on how big the Pharmaceutical industry is. Also, how doctors have lost touch with patients and really treating illness,but instead pushing drugs in their hands for that big incentive from the drug company. In looking through hundreds of print ads for days, and comparing them side by side, it becomes very evident how this advertising is used and the effects it has on its audience. It is truly amazing how many ads there are out there, so I picked a few that I considered for analysis:

then, I found this one:

then, when I thought I'd be able to start writing, I saw this one, and think its notable for my argument as well:

Ok, so I kept looking at more and I found this one too:

See what I mean about there being a ton of ads about prescription drugs?

Seeing is Believing - Advertisements Doing Their Job

Ads, commercials, public service announcements... they are everywhere. All are meant to get consumers to do something. Buy this car, wear those clothes, don't pollute, vote for this guy.... if you didn't know you wanted it, now you will when you see it. Some ads are funny, some are serious, and some just don't make sense. I think it is funny to watch old TV ads from when I was a kid. I can't believe that what they were trying to sell back then was important, but it must have been. I can remember when all the toy commercials would start being blasted about mid-November.. that was how I learned what I wanted for Christmas. I believed I needed all those toys to be as happy as the kids playing with them on TV. I didn't realize back then that those ads were geared to do just that, using Pathos, the appeal to emotion. I guess they also used Logos, because I perceived from seeing them that if I had certain toys, I'd have as much fun and be as happy as the kids in the commercials. And, guess what? They worked! I wanted a Baby Feels so Real, and Santa brought me one! I wanted a Speak and Spell, and he brought me one of those too!

I could never be a salesman. I've tried, and I just can't be convincing enough to persuade someone that they need something. I have been suckered in though, to other people's persuasion talents. I am every ad-man's dream! I can watch an infomercial and become convinced I need the Slice-O'Matic or any of the other kitchen inventions Ron Popeil tells me I can't live without. And don't ever take me to one of those time-share meetings! I went to one once in Gatlinburg for the sole purpose of getting free tickets to take my kids to the aquarium, and those peoples' sales pitch was so persuasive, that I pretty much convinced myself and (almost) my husband that we could figure out how to come up with $26,000 and buy the vacation home of our dreams. Good thing my husband isn't as gullible as I am!

I have been thinking about all these instances, and looking at ad after ad on the internet. I have to admit, the topic for this paper and what I am going to write about has been difficult for me to come up. I want to use an ad that is "beefy" enough to analyze for me to fill a 750-word paper. I also don't want to use one that I will have a hard time trying to sell to the class. I think I'll be more successful in persuading others, if I myself believe in what I am selling, and am truthful about that to my audience. That reasoning (Ethos)is what I think is most convincing in any form of advertisement. If I can tell that the author, or sponsor truly believes in their product or plea, it shows, and then others begin to trust that and then believe in it too. Finally, since I will need to come up with a new, unique way to market the product or service depicted in the ad I choose, I am considering every ad that catches my eye, and really brainstorming. There are so many out there, about any and every subject imaginable. It is crazy how many times a day humans are subjected to advertising, and how much we actually retain of what we see, whether consciously or not. That fact alone seems to make it harder for me to find something and think of a new idea about it. I'll keep looking, because I know I will find the right one, and it will be appealing to me all the way around!

Half way there, yet the hardest is yet to come.

When I think about how long school has already been for this semester, it feels like an eternity sometimes! But, in reality, its only been about 9 weeks! So, a class a week, for those 9 weeks seems like very little time to learn. The funny thing though, in that short time, I've learned a lot! If not for anything else, I've learned more about my spur of the moment writing skills. This blog is a great example. We are given a topic, and we have to write. There's really no rules to it, just do it. I have surprised myself with how varied I seem to write. I tend to be very long-winded, both in talking and writing, and seeing a blog on the screen that's super long really shows me I need to still work on conciseness. I may never learn to keep my verbal "stories" short, but I am determined to get my writing style more condensed and to the point.

I keep saying I want to write more, yet there's always a reason that I don't take the time. Even though I am not entirely thrilled to have to write papers, research, find sources, and cite, at least it is writing. And so far, the topics for our papers have been pretty fun. I'd much rather get to write about something I made up (our ala "A Modern Proposal" paper)than something with a boring topic that's no fun. Learning about different writing styles, genres, voices, those are things that, for aspiring future writers, are good things to know. I know I will start writing eventually. I'll stop finding excuses, just sit down, and start. And I am confident that what I've learned thus far in this class will help me write my story!

For now though,I will focus what time I make to write on to the next paper that's soon to be due, and all that goes with it!

Searching for information....and my lost motivation

So, writing this first essay has been interesting. I knew I was in trouble when the class spent some time in the school library researching ideas for what we were going to write about. My paper is completely satire, with some descriptive/informative information, and I have an argument in there somewhere. Since my "solution" would be awesome in the real world, it is likely to never really happen, so finding the right information to use on the internet was a little strange. I am writing about creating a device that will shock rude people, so piecing together an invention to do this meant searching about tasers and stun guns. I searched for dog shock collars too, and boy is there a lot of argument for and against using those. I was stuck for about 20 minutes reading one website that was nothing but posts from people slamming other people for what they thought was right/wrong with shocking your pet. I looked up how garage door openers work, and that was actually interesting! Then I wanted to research societies and customs that used pain as a form of punishment. You would not believe the suggestions Google comes up with when you merely type the word "pain" into the search bar!! It's really funny. After I sat in front of the computer for an hour, it occurred to me that my search history was very weird, and whomever sat at the computer next and saw all the links in the history might question what the heck someone was doing before them. I thought it was best to clear the history, just to keep things school-appropriate!

I worked on research a little more throughout the week, and wrote all kinds of ideas in my head, but nothing really on paper. I sat down Sunday morning, and decided I would start to write. Boy was it hard to just come up with my first sentence. I watched football,did some laundry and thought to myself that I was start writing then too, but 3 hours later, it hadn't happened. I knew I had to start, and felt I had enough information to really have some good pages, but I just couldn't find the motivation. Finally, after supper was done, other homework done,all the Facebook games were played and all the other things I did instead were taken care of, I made myself open Word. It was all over from there! I started writing, and in about 2 hours, I had almost 3 pages!! At that point, I quit and went to bed. Monday night, I got home from school, and started right in writing again. At 12:30, I typed my last sentence, 7 1/2 pages full! It sure did feel great!

Now, I know this is just the rough draft, and I am sure I'll get lots of suggestions for changes in our peer to peer review tonight in class, but just knowing that I have the general idea makes me feel like I am ahead of the game, and will get to enjoy a little bit of a break over Fall Break next week...

Suggesting the Unsuggestible

In order to get my English class prepared to write our first essay paper, we were asked to read "A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift. Swift presented his answer to the serious issue of rampant starvation that was caused in Ireland during a period in history called The Great Irish Potato Famine. By his use of satire, Swift suggested a solution so ridiculous and unbelievable, it made solutions that were common sense seem obvious. Since families had too many children, and no way to feed them, Swift proposed that mothers begin "fattening up" their newborns, so that at one year old, these babies could be sold to the well-to-do to eat! As I was reading the story, at first, I was a bit confused as to what he was actually suggesting, but the more I read, the clearer it became to me that he was being sarcastic. He presented valid points as to why his proposal would work, as well as reasons opponents would shoot it down. Take away the whole inhumane part of his plan, and it would actually work. The fact is that people don't normally eat other people though, so to normal people, what he wrote was on the far side of extreme. I enjoyed reading the story, and then dissecting his meaning and the many different types of genres that he used in our classroom discussion afterwords. Swift was trying to get people to understand that if they wouldn't do what was needed to help improve their situation, then he wouldn't put forth the effort anymore to get their help.
Using the idea of a proposal, like Swift did, our first paper requires the topic of an issue, and what solution we'd come up with to fix it. For days, I struggled with my topic, because it can't be something that's been proposed already, and that's pretty difficult. I want to be original, have a good idea, and be entertaining all at the same time, but kept coming up blank. Then one day after work, I was walking to catch my bus, and not once, but three times, I encountered someone who just wasn't polite. For no reason, these 3 people acted rudely, and as a result, it affected others around them. It was at that moment, I found my topic. I want to cure rudeness, or least make people think twice before they are rude to others. Plain and simple. I think that once my idea catches on, everyone will be on board, and the world will be a much more pleasant place to live. I don't want to give too much information on what I'll be proposing here, just that I am sure that its going to be very popular and supported by everyone who is frustrated by rude people!

Don't Swim For 30 Minutes After Eating...Plus Other More Important Rules....

The college curriculum includes MLA-style format as the most-taught format in paper-writing so that students understand all elements of writing style and don't hand in papers that are messy and incorrect. Much like college English students are taught the values of writing essays in the MLA format to ensure uniformity among each of their papers, and to make sure all the rules of "proper" English are followed, i.e. spelling, punctuation, length, citations, rules and formats are applied in society. In life, formats and rules are created as well, so that certain things are done in a uniform manner and the level of chaos is kept to a minimum. Generally, I agree whole-heartedly with having distinct definitions of how things needs to be handled. For instance, traffic laws - even down to the lane lines painted on the roads - have been created so that, while driving, people know where they should be, where they should stop, how fast they should go. Have you ever come to a 4-way stop where the traffic lights are out? If there are 4 cars each going a different direction, without the right light to tell the drivers who gets to go when, either everyone tries to go at the same time, or no one goes. Without defined lanes, cars would just drive all over the place and there would be major confusion, accidents, and frustration. The format of drivers ed, which teaches all new drivers the same rules, is very necessary to the health and well-being of our population. In the U.S. the guidelines for children to receive immunizations has greatly reduced sickness in our country and since these shots are required before a child can enter kindergarten, people are "forced" to comply, which ensures the purpose of immunizations has positive results. Some countries don't have these same immunization rules, and there are illnesses that run rampant in their populations because of it.

Speaking of school, the format in the U.S. for children to attend school was put into place to give the opportunity of education to every child. Since the format of school is kindergarten though twelveth grade, a person is deemed fit for society after having fulfilled the school requirements. As I said, I agree that regulated "rules" are generally very necessary for society, because, let's face it, not everyone in this country has the best common sense. Most people need to have direction. If there were not laws and guidelines created for the protection and advancement of society, people would just do whatever they felt like, whenever they wanted, and we would fail at being a productive society. The next time you go to the store, stop and actually pick things up, and read the warning labels on them. Some of them are so hilarious, you can't believe that someone would ever need to be told NOT to do what they are showing not to do, but since they need the warnings, its obvious someone did. The most obvious are the scariest - plastic bags with stickers showing not allowing children to use them as toys, lawn mower directions showing how NOT to use for trimming hedges, and so on. Its very discouraging to think that in this day and age in our country, that people need to be told these things instead of just using common sense.

On the flip side of good rules, sometimes I feel the disguise of "keeping people safe" rules and laws go a bit far. Although I feel I am of sound mind to make the best decisions for myself and my family, at times, lawmakers decide for me what's best, while limiting me in my decisions, and that makes me mad. Unfortunately, because so many people do need to be told how they need to live though, rules can't be made only for a specific few. What applies to one, must apply to all, so to speak. Recently, in an attempt to curb obesity, NY tried to pass a ban on large drinks served throughout their state. To me, this law was an absurd waste of tax-payer money, and useless at that. People who drink those big drinks would just buy more smaller drinks in order to drink the same amounts, and people who don't drink them don't care either way, but would have had their choice taken away if they wanted to. This type of regulation is unnecessary, and the same effort put forth to pass this law should be used for enforcing laws already in place, such as child abuse and neglect laws and drunk-driving laws.

I've been discussing actual laws, and guidelines that must be followed to avoid punishment of some sort, but sometimes, there are unspoken rules that everyone follows as well. These tend to make for a better, more civilized society and although not everyone adheres to them, I am proud when I see someone using one. Many times, while riding the bus to or from work, I've seen a young man give up his seat so that a woman wouldn't have to stand. When people hold doors for others, say "Please", "Thank you" and " You're Welcome", and be considerate of those around them, they are following a certain format. These "rules" must be taught, and usually children learn them by example. If parents behave appropriately and abide by these unspoken rules, their children will learn correct behavior and grow up doing the same!

“Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Be Polite, Always Cite!

As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, plagiarism is : the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person : the act of plagiarizing something. A person who takes something that someone else thought up, and attempts to pass it off as their own, usually does so because they think it will be easier than actually putting the effort forth for an original thought themselves. Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is stealing, and, if caught doing so, the offender will face consequences. Generally, writing papers is the primary avenue for plagiarism, so affects college students in greater numbers than anyone. In college, a student could be expelled of the offense is severe enough. The pressure to receive a good grade prompts students to write papers that they've copied from a source, neglect to state their information is from that author, and present the ideas as their own. Not only does this action affect how much the student has actually learned from having to do the actual research on a subject, but, if caught, that student's college career could forever be marked.

In my time in school, both grade school and college, I can't say that I've ever intentially committed plagiarism. I am sure though, that when writing papers, I may have read paragraphs and changed words around just enough to not "copy" word for word. Since this practice is considered plagiarism at some level, I suppose I am guilty. I am aware while writing papers, however, that I must use my own ideas, or give credit to those I've taken my information from, so I have been very careful to proof-read, and proof-read again anything I've written before I turn it in. Not all people are so consciencous of that though, and I've actually been in a class where someone turned in a plagiarized paper and was caught and dismissed from class. I think the repercussions are greater in the college setting, but it still doesn't deter people from doing it, becasue its easy and they think they can get away with it.

Cheating on any level is wrong, both morally, and ethically. Plagiaizing a paper, cheating on a test, taking credit from something you didn't do, for whatever reason, impacts everyone. I will admit it, when I was in grade school, I know I tried to cheat on tests a few times. Writing on our palms in ink was a popular attempt at cheating among classmates, so when I tried it, it proved to be fruitless since all the words were smudged by the time I had the test. Without the aid of cell phones like kids nowadays, we relied on little "cheat sheets" with vocab words, defitions, whatever we thought we needed to know. More times than not, though, nothing we took the time to write out was included on the test, so it was all for nothing! By the time I reached junior high, the stress and lack of success steered me on the path of just studying and using my brain for tests. I can remember when I was in the 7th grade, there was a boy who sat next to me that cheated off me for every one of our tests. He played football, was always practicing, and claimed he just didn't have time to study. He begged me to let him look at my answers, and being the push-over that I am, I allowed him to. The risk of both of us getting caught and punished was always on my mind, and I know that because I was trying to keep from being seen by the teacher, make sure he could see my answers, and actually answer the questions for myself, I didn't always have the focus I needed to get the best grade. I finally got the courage to tell him I wouldn't allow him to copy anymore, so the very next text we took, he came in to class with all the test answers written in blue ink across the bottoms of both his size 10 white high-top tennis shoes! He apparently would go to any length to pass, except actaully study!!

People work hard and should be given the credit they deserve, no matter what. Most people aren't looking for a pat on the back for everything they accomplish, but recognition for a good idea that they came up with is important. Now that I have been in the business world awhile, I see daily what importance giving credit where it is due has. Thankfully, I no longer work with a person who didn't have a brain in her head, knew how to manipulate those around her for her own advancement, and was just down-right annoying. When she came to my office, we worked together daily, and bacame friends, or so I thought. Little did I know, everything she and I discussed about work, the ideas I had about things, and just my general knowledge about our job, she was talking to our boss, relating those ideas to him without my knowledge, and passing them off as her own! It was very frustrating watching her get recognition for my work, and since she had passed them off as her ideas, I couldn't figure out how to take my due credit for them without sounding catty. That was when I learned not to share anything with her, and without my help, she stumbled. Our boss left for a new job, I wouldn't help her any longer, and it became very clear to everyone that she wasn't as smart as she had portrayed herself. The "story" she created fell apart, and when it didn't work in her favor any longer, she left the company. The only benefit any of this served was that it compelled me to speak up with my ideas, which got me recognized for what I know, and allowed for me to be promoted to a higher position with more responsibility.

Plagiarism, cheating, stealing ideas at your job, cheating on your spouse, fudging your taxes, all of these things affect society in one form or another. If someone cheats, and gets away with it, they make it alright with their conscience, and when they cheat again, each time it is for a bigger result. If guilt alone could curb cheating, no one would do it, but since some feel the reward is greater than the risk, there will always be people out there taking what doesn't belong to them. If it's not yours, its not alright to use it, unless you recognize who's it is. End of story!

I before e, except after c.... the beginnings of my latest class... English 1020

Hello! Welcome to my blog! This first entry is supposed to be about what I've learned thus far in my college English II class, but I can't find where I put the notes I took for directions and pages in the book to read, so I hope what I do write will be appropriate. As I prepare for the newest semester of my on-going college career, I eagerly anticipate my English class on Tuesday nights. English as always been one of my strongest subjects, especially the writing part, but I don't always make time to explore and improve my writing abilities. Having someone tell me actual topics that I need to write about, and getting a grade based on how well I write, well, will help me to get with it, and write! Already this semester, 2 weeks in, we've had assigments for writing a letter, or essay, twice. Keeping the correct format was basically the only requirement, so I got to write about what I wanted, which is much easier, in my opinion, than trying to write about, say, a class-assigned topic of the invention of the light bulb. I tend to write too much, and that is a fault that I hope to improve in this class. I want to be able to get my point across, descriptively, while not boring the reader with un-needed "fluff". The essay I wrote was to show my teacher what writing skills I have, what I need to improve, etc, and I'm hoping I did a pretty decent job with it. I'd like to think I am good at writing, so we'll see! Another project I am truly excited about is this blog! I have wanted to be a blog-writer for as long as there have been blogs, but I just never had anything to motivate me into creating one. I love reading blogs, and would love to share my life and experiences and/or experience in something with other like-minded readers. Our task was to create this blog for class assigments, but I am really hoping that is only just the start to my blogging career, and now that the seed has been planted, I can make it grow into a bean stalk! I will keep my dreams of being an award-winning novelist on the back burner for now, focus on my class, and my blog, and eventually, learn all the skills to master this blog. After that, who knows? New York Times best-seller list... here I come!