Little Brother

I finished reading Little Brother this past weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the story very interesting and engaging and it was one of those books that I wanted to read again immediately after finishing it. I thought that the main character Marcus was created in a way that made it easy to relate to him. I felt sympathetic towards him throughout his struggles in the book. Even faced with extreme opposition, the U.S. government, he accomplishes something that no one could imagine a teenager capable of. I also appreciated how even though he accomplishes all of these amazing tasks, he still leads several aspects of a normal teenage life. These include going to school, having a girlfriend, and playing video games.

I did find comparing my high school with Marcus's somewhat disturbing though. We may not have had gate recognition soft ware, but we did have cameras that were constantly monitored for strange faces. We also had bars on all of our windows and were subject to constant car searches when we chose to use the schools provided parking lots. Finally, we were subject to a dress code. This made outsiders stick out like a sore thumb but also crushed our creativity and further suppressed our freedom. When I look at how close some schools are to becoming like the ones in Little Brother I worry about my 12 year old brothers high school future. Perhaps he will have a restricting computer and facial recognition software in the hallways.

Contextual Analysis

For my contextual analysis paper I chose to keep the same topic from my first paper. This was the texting video that was banned in America due to its graphic nature. For my contextual analysis I discussed the bias shown in picking all young, female actresses. Seldom have NOT heard that "men are better drivers" and "teenagers can't drive", so by casting young females in the role of the crash instigators I thought that the PSA was playing to an unfair bias. In fact, women tend to get in less wrecks than men and even have lower car insurance rates because of it.
I also talked about how in today's society violence has become so prevalent that we are desensitized to gruesome images. The police officers who created this commercial used this fact throughout the making of the film by adding in overly violent and dramatic scenes around every corner. Had this video been aired twenty years ago people would have been so shocked by the violence that they would have missed the point that the PSA was trying to make. But when people watch it today they hardly notice most of the violent scenes. Yes people still find it disturbing to see brain matter splattered on a windshield, but not as much as they would have in the past.
Another key point in my paper is the advance in technology that cell phones have seen in the past few years. It is now easier than ever to text, especially while on the move. Even with "no texting while driving" laws in place many people still choose not to follow them. With the result being an increase in the number of automobile accidents and deaths.

Chidren of Men

This is the second time I have seen the movie Children of Men and I have enjoyed watching it both times. In my opinion it is one of the more interesting "end of humanity" movies, all females becoming infertile is a unique idea. Though I wonder if that could ever happen so completely in real life. It is possible to create "test tube babies", so I would think that when women everywhere began miscarrying the government could take action and harvest as many "potential" children as possible. With that and the future advances in cloning I think that the human species could survive, though our gene pool would be seriously depleted. (Anyways...)
I found the society portrayed in the movie to be very interesting. The fact that the United States was in a complete stage of chaos was shocking. Because Britain was the only safe place left, according to them, they basically quarantined their people. Immigrants were rounded up and placed in refugee camps. In my opinion these camps were quite similar to those America placed the Japanese in during World War 2. Both had very harsh living conditions and were set against an innocent people. Finally, I would like to address my favorite scene in the movie in which the group is on their way to the refugee camp (on purpose) and they stop at an elementary school. This visual image of the abandoned school, with all of the childrens' art decorating the walls really made the complete loss of adolescence in the world hit home for me. When the movie is taking place in a city it's easier to overlook the lack of children present. But when you are in a place that is meant to be happy and filled with young life and it's not, you truly grasp how important children are to our society.

Lowering the drinking age to 18: Pathos,logos,and ethos.

(Pathos) Every year thousands of parents receive that dreaded phone call involving their underage child and alcohol use. These calls range from police informing parents that their 17 year old has just been arrested for DUI, to hospital calls informing a worried mother that her only child has just died on the way to the prom because they were drunk and driving. By lowering the drinking age to 18 both of these situations could be drastically reduced. Having myself lost a friend to a car crash while they were driving under the influence, I now realize the importance of understanding alcohol and its effects. Being able to drink at 18 would give parents time to teach their children how alcohol works and the safe ways to use it. When a person reaches 21 they are no longer in the safe environment of their home and their parents hold much less influence in their life.

(Ethos) Would you rather expose your 16 year old to a glass of wine with dinner at night or find them at the police station with DUI charges when they are 21? Many people today don’t realize that by forbidding alcohol use by your child until they are 21, you are only influencing them to break the law in order to obtain this “mysterious” substance. By making it completely off limits for so long kids have to resort to desperate, and often illegal measures to obtain it. This increases the amount of crime among children and young adults. If the drinking age was lowered to 18, then teens wouldn’t be as interested in drinking and would be less inclined to commit crimes to acquire it.

(Logos) Lowering the drinking age to 18 would be extremely beneficial to young America. By cutting off teens from experiencing alcohol, we are increasing their curiosity about it, how much they want to consume it, and we are increasing the time it takes for them to find out how it effects them. America is one of the few countries that has a drinking age of 21. In places like Mexico, Italy, Germany, and the UK teens are allowed to consume alcohol far before 21. This means that by the time they are 21 they no longer have such a strong urge to go out and consistently drink and they know the effects of alcohol and how to stay safe. This drastically reduces the amount of alcohol related deaths and arrests in these countries.

Topic For Rhetorical Analysis Paper

For my Rhetorical Analysis paper I chose a very controversial public awareness commercial that is shown in Britain but not in the US. Its purpose is to prevent teens from texting while driving, and it is composed of very graphic images that are meant to really influence people on an emotional level. The scene begins with a girl in the car with her friends, she is texting while driving on a highway. Soon after she gets in a terrible multiple car pile up that occurs in slow motion. The video was created by the British police department to really get the message across to teens, but many people, including me, feel that it is simply too graphic to show. I found the video effective yes, but only for a certain age group. If a young child (14 and below) saw this commercial they would not grasp the meaning and only perceive the violence. For many young children it could even prove to be emotionally scarring. If the violence was toned down, for example; removing the images of the dead infant, the small child telling his dead parents to wake up, and the brain matter all over the windshield, the commercial would gain influence and it could even be shown globally. I found it somewhat unjust that only teen FEMALE drivers were shown as being responsible for the wreck. If they added a male it would demonstrate more equality and make it seem more realistic for teens.