TOW #7: "Read More" (Visual Text)

(Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/book-ads_n_3671131.html?utm_hp_ref=advertising)

     Steimatzky, a bookstore chain in Israel, created this advertisement to promote reading as opposed to watching television. It is directed toward virtually any audience – viewers just need to be able to read English. The ad depicts a man sitting on his couch apparently watching television. He is rather abnormal-looking, though, as his head is about a quarter of the expected size. The advertisement is captioned only with "Read more." Through irony, humor, and a serious tone from the caption, this ad effectively promotes reading.

     This advertisement achieves its purpose largely through irony and humor. A person lounging on the couch watch TV is a normal, everyday sight in most households. However, it is very unexpected for that person's head to be tiny. While older children and (of course) adults know that watching TV doesn't actually cause one's head to shrink, very young children might not understand that. In this way, the advertisement could have sort of a "fairy tale" effect in that it is a sort of outrageous, made-up story that can scare young children into avoiding a certain behavior – in this case, watching television. The advertisement is also quite obviously meant to be humorous. The irony is laughable – no one's head would really shrink from watching TV. However, it is still funny, and advertisements that cause laugher are often far more effective.

     The inclusion of "Read more." is vital to the advertisement's success. Without it, the ad would make no sense. However, the syntax of the text is also very important. The period at the end indicates finality and a touch of seriousness. Even though the image itself is outrageous, it does have some truth in it: watching television is not very (if at all) mentally stimulating. The serious tone of the text shows viewers that the increase in time spent watching TV is a bad thing and by reading more, it may be able to be turned around.

     This advertisement effectively promotes reading rather than watching TV by using irony, humor, and a serious tone in the text. The irony and humor fit together, as the unexpected sight of a man with a tiny head is quite funny. However, this is contrasted by the rather serious statement "Read more." Through this, the ad shows that reading will be mentally stimulating and may fix the bad effects of excessive television.

TOW #6: "Are Chicks Brighter Than Babies?" by Nicholas D. Kristof (via the New York Times)

     In "Are Chicks Brighter Than Babies?", Nicholas D. Kristof discusses the morality of the way we treat poultry. Kristof grew up on a farm, so he has firsthand experience with how birds are treated, and he certainly is credible as a writer, as he has written for the New York Times since 2001. Since this is an opinion piece, Kristof is writing to virtually anyone. The article serves simply to express Kristof's opinion: just because we are ultimately going to eat poultry doesn't mean that we should treat the birds inhumanely before they are slaughtered. To get this across, Kristof appeals to logos through references to credible scientific data and to pathos through figurative language.
     Kristof's main argument focuses around that fact that chickens (and other poultry) are in fact intelligent creatures, and it is wrong to treat them inhumanely. To prove this, he references specific scientific experiments. For example, he writes, "Even chicks can do basic arithmetic, so that if you shuffle five small items in a shell game, they mentally keep track of additions and subtractions and choose the area with the higher number of items. In a number of such tests, chicks do better than toddlers." By mentioning scientific experiments, Kristof demonstrates a credible source with concrete proof to show the intelligence of chickens. This appeal to logos shows the reader that there is hard evidence to support Kristof's opinion.
     Appealing to logos is not Kristof's only tactic to express his opinion – he also appeals to pathos. He writes, "evidence is mounting that [farmbirds are] smarter than we have assumed, and just because they don't have big brown eyes doesn't mean that they should be condemned to spend their lives jammed into tiny cages in stinking, fetid barns, with bodies of dead birds sometimes left rotting beside live ones." These strong adjectives and imagery evoke feelings of pity in readers. This effectively shows Kristof's audience that we should care more about poultry than we currently do.
     Through appeals to logos and pathos, Nicholas D. Kristof successfully expresses his views toward the treatment of poultry to his audience. His use of scientific data and figurative language effectively demonstrates to readers that he believes it's not terrible to slaughter and eat poultry, but if it is to be done, the farmbirds should at least be treated humanely.

Caged Chickens:

Nicholas D. Kristof would certainly argue that this method of raising chickens for slaughter is inhumane. Caged chickens often don't even have room to turn around, and they are therefore forced to live in constant filth.

(Source: http://www.earthintransition.org/2012/07/bird-flu-strikes-mexico2-5-mil-chickens-killed/)

TOW #5: "What's Right With the Autistic Mind" by Temple Grandin (via TIME Magazine)

     People often only see the bad parts of autism. Temple Grandin writes the TIME magazine article "What's Right With the Autistic Mind" to combat this belief. Grandin is a livestock expert and animal science professor who has autism, so she is able to effectively write about the strengths her autism gives her. Her article is directed to virtually anyone interested in science, specifically neuroscience and autism. By using examples from her own life and a personal tone, Grandin is able to effectively show readers that autism often comes with strengths, and identifying and facilitating those strengths can often be life-changing for an autistic person.

     One of the topics that Grandin discusses at length is what she calls "bottom-up thinking". This is a strong attention to detail that is often categorized as a deficit because "autistic people ... can't see the forest for the trees." However, Grandin has found that this so-called "deficit" is actually one of her strengths. When designing a cattle chute, Grandin was able to "immediately spot the paper cup or hanging chain that's going to spook the cattle, while the neurotypicals all around [her] don't even notice it." By using personal stories, Grandin is able to show that the autistic mind is not necessarily a bad thing, and that many "deficits" may actually turn out to be strengths. These life examples also contribute to Grandin's personal tone.

     The entire article is written in first person voice, which makes it immediately personal. To further this, Grandin uses her own experiences and insights into her mind to help back up her arguments. These all contribute to the article's personal tone, which allows Grandin to connect with her readers. Through this connection, she can truly show them how an autistic mind (or at least how hers) works. And this insight ultimately shows readers that there are often positive aspects to autism that need to be focused on.

     In "What's Right With the Autistic Mind", Temple Grandin is very personal – she constantly uses personal experiences as examples to support her arguments, and she establishes a personal tone through those examples and a first person voice. This connection that Grandin creates with her readers successfully shows them the strengths an autistic person can gain from their autism. Playing to these strengths, Grandin says, can allow autistic people to "cultivate their dreams."

Temple Grandin:

Grandin is best known for her work with animals, since, she has said, she can think like them. One of her most well-known projects was designing a cattle chute that wouldn't create stress in the animals before they were to be slaughtered.

(Source: http://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/speech-therapy-techniques/autism-advocacy-how-temple-grandin-conquered-her-diagnosis/)

TOW #4: The Invisible Thread by Yoshiko Uchida (IRB)

     In The Invisible Thread, a memoir, Yoshiko Uchida recounts her life as a Japanese American during WWII. She begins with her years in school and then moves on to the time she and her family spent in the internment camps. Uchida writes to a broad audience – the diction is not too complicated, so a middle schooler would likely understand it. However, many of the topics discussed in The Invisible Thread are rather heavy, such as the cruelty of the internment camps, so in that sense, it may be more directed to an older audience, such as high school or college and above. Uchida's purpose in this memoir is to show just how terrible the Japanese internment was (since many history books gloss over it) and to share her personal experiences of being an outcast.
     Throughout the entire book, Uchida appeals to ethos. Many of her memories from her childhood reflect her feelings of being an outcast. She discusses the way she was excluded at school because she was Japanese and how shop owners would ignore her to help a white customer first. These stories show Uchida's audience that she understands what being an outcast feels like, and this makes her very credible on the subject. Also, she discusses her time in the internment camps in detail, and this firsthand experience gives her a rarely-shared view of the Japanese internment.
     Uchida uses imagery liberally in The Invisible Thread. When writing about her family's first night at an internment camp, she writes: "It was dark now, and the north wind was blowing into our stall from all the cracks around the windows and the door. We bundled up in our coats and sat on our prickly mattresses, too miserable even to talk" (Uchida 76). This use of imagery appeals to pathos and allows readers to empathize with Uchida. Through this, she further achieves her purpose of revealing the atrocities of the Japanese internment.
     Through continual appeals to ethos, Uchida is able to share her experiences as an outcast. She also uses imagery to appeal to pathos, which allows readers to empathize with her. This effectively demonstrates to her audience how cruel and irrational the Japanese internment was during World War II.

Topaz, Utah:

One of the internment camps that Uchida, her sister, and her parents were sent to was in Topaz, Utah. It was located in the Sevier Desert, a barren, empty place. This isolation was intentional, and was specifically to keep the Japanese Americans from acting as spies for Japan (which wasn't happening anyway).

(Source: http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/nikkeialbum/albums/182/?view=list)