"The Arab People Have Woken Up"- A Rhetorical Outline

"The Arab People Have Woken Up"

By Tawakkol Karman

Purpose: to recognize the conditions currently in the Arab world and necessity for support; to convince the audience to uses peaceful methods of revolting rather than violence; to emphasize the sheer importance of unity; to invoke confidence in hesitant citizens

Audience: Arab citizens who want revolutionary change in government, citizens who may be hesitant to protest and revolt, other Democratic nations (America)

Context: 

• Arab Spring:
• revolutionary wave of demonstrations, protests, riots, civil war throughout Arab world (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Sudan, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Western Sahara, and Palestinian Authority
• began December 18th, 2010
• caused dissatisfaction with rule of local governments, wide gaps in income levels, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty
• Tawakkol Karman:
• Yemeni journalist politician, human rights activist, and senior member of Al-Islah political party
• first Arab woman to earn Nobel Prize

Section 1: Recognizing Current Situation with Arab Spring

Purpose: To bluntly point out the awful conditions in Arab world such as the extreme poverty and unemployment; to express the necessity to support oppressed people and to unite under the same cause--> fight against the unruly government

Appeals: Using pathos in order to show the absolute seriousness and need for unity and support against the government; also using pathos by using emotional diction such as "divine messages ad religions", "all mankind", and "oblige".

Technique: Uses hyperboles to express the immense dependability from mankind on the unity and success of the protests in the Arab world such as "ALL ideologies...ALL divine messages...ALL mankind".  Uses and allusion when referring to MLK.

Effectiveness: Very effective.  Use of emotion and hyperboles puersuade audience to support her.

Section 2: Revolting Peacefully

Purpose: to convince the audience how powerful and effective a peaceful revolution is

Appeals: Uses pathos to identify the positives of peace and her love for her Yemen and their accomplishments during the protests; also builds ethos by dedicating Nobel Prize to entire revolution

Technique: Uses parallel structure to emphasize her patriotism for Yemen-"the Yemen, the Yemen..."  Uses a slight antithesis when referring to "human community"; a community is usually small and comparing to the entire human population makes it extremely contradictory but effective in proving the importance of these protests.

Effectiveness: Very effective.  Establishes the need for a peaceful approach to the Spring instead of the use of violence.

Section 3: Emphasis on Change

Purpose: to reiterate the ultimate purpose of the Arab Spring; to invoke confidence and courage for Arabs to stand up for their rights

Appeals: uses Pathos to create a sense of determination and desire in citizens for their civil rights and freedom from corrupt governments.  Shows true passion for fighting for freedom, building her ethos in the process.  

Technique: Uses active and denotative diction to emphasize and prove her point in a frank manner.  

Effectiveness: Very effective in using confident and firm tone.  Very effective in pointing out the ideal view of a revolution-consisting of weapons and wars.  Does a good job of incorporating thoughts about fear and caution, similar thinking to Aung San Suu Kyi.  

General Evaluation:

Extremely effective speech.  Portrays the devastating state of Arab countries very artistically, incorporating not only the problems, but future steps in order to succeed such as peacefully marching, supporting oppressed people and giving a step by step on how to overthrow the government:

1. topple dictator
2. topple security and military
3. establish institutions of transitional state
4. move towards legitimacy and establish a modern civil and democratic state

Her tone is frank and blunt but also firm and confident.  She carries herself in a very respectful way in her writing.  Effectively persuades her audience on fighting for what is right without sounding desperate.  Build her ethos by showing her true desire for freedom rather than hidden motives (or fists).  Uses sophisticated diction and establishes purpose clearly and concisely.   

WWII Speeches: Churchill vs. Hirohito

In both speeches, "Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat" by Churchill and Emperor Hirohito's speech on the acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration use various rhetorical devices two very different ways  in order to get two different points across.  Churchill has just become the new Prime Minister 3 days before his speech and he is ready for a total war in order to save the entire "human civilization".  However, Hirohito is do the complete opposite.  He is graciously accepting defeat against America and Britain.  But both of them use pathos and logos to convince their audiences.

Churchill is an active user of logos throughout his essay. For example, in his first two paragraphs, he opens introducing the changes he is making, including "three fighting services" and "A War Cabinet of five members".  And because he is using logos to show the evident effort he has put into winning the war, he is indirectly building his ethos, showing the England that he ready to fight for them and bring them to justice. Hirohito takes a different approach with logos.  Since he is surrendering from the war, he uses logos to justify his reasons for withdrawing.  For example, in the fifth paragraph, he tries to explain that "the enemy is employing a new and most cruel bomb...taking toll of many innocent lives".  He uses the bomb and the effects of it to account for leaving the war.  This builds his ethos as well because his reason shows that he is only looking out for the well being of the population.

Later in Churchill's speech, he shifts from logos to pathos, to boost the audience's spirit towards to war more.  For example, in the last paragraph, he simply says that his policy is "to wage war, by sea, land and air,with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us".  His strong, emotional diction such as "war", "might", "strength", and especially "God", provokes the audience to action.  I mean, God has given us the strength, so we must do it, it is our duty!  Hirohito uses pathos a little differently.  Instead of calling his audience to action, he uses the sense of regret and guilt to invoke sympathy from the audience towards his decision.  For example, in the fourth paragraph from the bottom, he says, "We cannot but express the deepest sense of regret to our allied nations of East Asia..."  He uses a hyperbole by saying "deepest sense of regret" to express how hard his decision is and how sorry he is for having to give up on the war.

Both Churchill and Hirohito use similar rhetorical devices to express their decisions and views on the war but in two completely different ways, preparing for war and surrendering against war.

Thoreau vs. Machiavelli- Moral Righteousness for Different Audiences

Henry David Thoreau, author of Civil Disobedience and Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince both have different perspectives on morals and usage of these morals.  Thoreau's point of view on morals is to stick to the principles.  He believes in standing up for injustice, such as the government.  He wants people to stand up for what is "right", whatever that may be to a certain individual.  However, Machiavelli believes that although morals are important for a ruler, they aren't necessary in order to rule over a population.  He believes that morals should be projected on the outside but inside, you should be shrewd and do whatever it takes to get things done.  Furthermore, their different perspectives are evident through their choice of audience.  Thoreau is writing to a population of civilians whereas Machiavelli is writing to rulers of these civilians.  Because of this, it is hard to find comparisons between the two philosophers.      

Audiences in both texts are an important aspect to touch on because Thoreau and Machiavelli are writing to two different types audiences.  Hence, their views on morals will be directed to that specific audience.  Through Thoreau's essay, he rarely mentioned improvement of morals on the government and when he did, it wasn't necessarily how they may be able to improve but simply on stating that the government has no morals.  Machiavelli, on the other hand, only targets princes and only mentions civilians when giving examples on how princes should go about dealing with them.  For Thoreau, his motive is to tell civilians to stand up against unjust rulers.  Obviously, Machiavelli can't say that to a ruler.  He says that rulers should not bind to morals because that may cause citizens to take advantage of them and create chaos.  Obviously, Thoreau can't say that to civilians.  You can't exactly pin point the rights and wrongs of both pieces because they are meant for different people.

Neither of them are wrong because they aren't talking to the same audience.  Machiavelli's ideas are efficient for a ruler, showing that in that particular situation, morals aren't needed as much as cleverness and shrewdness.  However, Thoreau gives good ideas for how a citizen should handle a ruler.  However, despite audiences, it is evident that Thoreau wants people in general to stick to their principles and stand up for something that is wrong.  But Machiavelli indirectly implies that citizens should obey the ruler, no matter what (precisely fear him).  But again, as said before, comparing and contrasting them it difficult because they aren't directed their advice to the same people.        

Proposal

If you were to ask me if I enjoyed high school as a freshman, sophomore, or currently as a junior, I would give you a very frank no.  If you asked many of the other kids, you would probably get the same answer.  I often hear current college students or graduates say, "High school is your worst four years and college are your best four years."  Why?
High school is meant to prepare us for hard, grueling classes in college.  But it seems in the process,  they have lost the essence of education: actually learning something.
As an incoming freshmen, I was scared out of my mind at the sight of a big school with tall seniors and so much homework.  I didn't sign up for this!  And the worst part was sitting in class and not being able to understand what the teacher was teaching.  Taking all Honors classes was not easy and not being able to keep up on top of that was even more difficult.  As a junior, those problems have not magically been wished away overtime.  If anything, they have grown worse.  Now, I have to think not only about Honors classes but also AP classes, SATs, college, and my future.  I'm only 15 (almost 16)!  Oh, but it's not over yet.
I had always be social anxious around people and I had a difficult time trusting them.  And unfortunately, high school brought out a whole new level of anxiety.  I was let down by many people and wasn't emotionally mature enough to handle any of it.  Stupid, I know, but I'm not the only one (even if others don't want to admit it). Social interaction is during teenage years because kids are becoming more mature, physically and mentally. And frankly, we feel awkward almost all the time.  So trying to be accepted and secure with your own self is like climbing Mt. Everest, hard.
This is what the situation currently looks like, from the perspective of a high school student.  That doesn't mean we can't change it.
I believe that the first step to making high school a more comfortable environment for students is by making a smoother transition phase for freshmen.  In order to accomplish this, I want to create a one-semester course for incoming freshmen.  This class would be similar to that of a freshmen seminar in college.  Here, you could learn about the do's and don'ts of high school, learn useful skills on study habits and time management, how to accept who you are and present yourself in front someone or a group of people, be aware of the important things to focus on in high school such as CAPT, SAT, college, AP, and general expectations of classes as a whole.  The class would give you a thorough outline of what you need to know in order to survive and not go completely insane.  Having someone who graduated high school recently would be quite beneficially in making this course helpful to freshmen because they would be able to relate more with someone who just went through high school a few years ago than with someone who might have graduated in the 1970s or 1980s (large generation gap).
This can decrease the anxiety that students face from academics and social interactions, improve their grades, make them feel more comfortable in school and not have them regret getting out of bed, and create a more focused generation of kids.
We have to remember that these kids are going to be the next generation of change for our country, our world.  We have to make sure that they know that there is a future for them.  If they resent high school, they will never look beyond it and look forward to higher education and doing something for the world.      
      

Toulmin Analysis on "Social Change Using Ethos"

The argument begins with introducing the main idea/problem, that freshmen are not prepared for the new high school environment and social stress.  It continues by stating personal experience with social and academic anxiety and stress, building the author's credibility and ethos.

"I entered high school with PTSD, Anxiety Disorder, and Clinical Depression."

This indicates the author's personal relation with high school and mental illnesses and the authority they have on presenting this issue. 

Later, the author builds their ethos even more by relating with other freshmen and high school students.

"As a current high school student with similar issues, I know what it feels like to take one step forward and ten steps back." 

By showing that the author is currently in high school, they are implying that they know what high school life is like and how freshmen can adapt to the environment.  In the same paragraph,  the author uses parallel structure to further emphasize their point and build their ethos.

"I know what it feels like to take one step forward and ten steps back.  I know what it feels like to not be able to speak up in class.  I know what it feels like to be misunderstood and rejected."

Warrants in the article are not clearly stated but somewhat implied throughout the passage. 

·         Stress and anxiety can cause mental instability.

·         Bullying and suicide can be caused by stress and anxiety.

·         Confidence is lowered when put under pressure and stress.

The ultimate claim does not come until the middle of the paragraph about the author's motives. 

"If they take this class in their first year, they will be prepared for coming years in their high school career."

The reasoning comes in the second to last paragraph.

"We will have a more inviting school community.  Students will be able to get along with each other because they know that they are all in the same boat.  Bullying and suicide will be cut down because students will stick together, knowing that they are all going through the same process of anxiety and stress.  Students will be more confident about themselves and be able to present themselves with pride."

The claim and reasoning effectively go hand in hand and the warrants also show the thought process between the reasoning and the claim and displays valid assumptions on the issue.

However, qualifiers and rebuttals are not identified in the article.  To build the character of the author, presenting counter claims and not generalizing the population of students may have been helpful.  In addition, specific data and statistics may also increase the validity of the passage and be accepted more by the audience, which seem to be the students as well as the school administration.

Audiences.

1.       High school students (generally)

2.       Freshmen

3.       Teachers/Administration

4.       Guidance counselors

5.       Students with academic/social anxiety and/or other mental illnesses

6.       Parents of freshmen and/or troubled students

7.       Potential state government/Board of Ed.

1.       Freshmen---> They have not been exposed  to high school culture and expectations.  If freshmen are already exposed to skills helpful in high school in their first year, they will be prepared for upcoming years. 

2.       Parents of freshmen---> Parents of incoming freshmen should also be informed on skills and ways to cope with a challenging environment such as high school.  This way, they help their child if they are ever in distress.

3.       High school students---> Upperclassmen (10, 11, 12th graders) can also benefit this course.  It can be open to any students older than freshmen that need skills in order to deal with heavy coursework or making friends.

Freshmen would benefit most from this program because they will gain skills to handle high school right from the beginning.  They will be able to have someone guide them through how to handle friend-making, school work, etc. instead of having to figure it out by themselves, the hard way.  Even though it is open to all students, freshmen will get the most out of it because they don't know anything about high school.  Upperclassmen have already adapted to the environment in some ways and coping by themselves by sophomore year.

Social Change using Ethos

                Social anxiety is not new.  Academic pressure is definitely not new.  But freshman are new.  New to the environment.  New to the expectations.  And despite that, they are expected to cope with it all and still be mentally stable.

                I entered high school with PTSD, Anxiety Disorder, and Clinical Depression.  Within the first five months of freshman year, I was pulled out of school and admitted into a psychiatric hospital, Silverhill.  I was there twice and at a partial day center twice, St. Vincent's for 3 months all together.  Once I was discharged, I completed my requirements for school from a community center that was my temporary "school".  I was put on hundreds of anti-depressants and met with a therapist every Wednesday (and still currently do).  I switched schools my sophomore year, making a fresh start.  However, I was sadly faced with the reality of social anxiety and academic pressure all over again.  Now as a junior, taking Honors and AP classes, I still have not learned how to manage my mental health.  I'm just surviving.

                As a current high school student with similar issues, I know what it feels like to take one step forward and ten steps back.  I know what it feels like to not be able to speak up in class.  I know what it feels like to be misunderstood and rejected.  But I also know people who have hit rock bottom and come back up, higher than ever.  And that is why I have hope for change in future years.

                So here are my motives.  I want to start a half year course for freshman that is directed explicitly to ways of coping with high school stress.  It should be a requirement for all freshman and is offered by teachers fresh out of college who have experienced high school recently.  It should be offered either first semester or second semester and taught by multiple teachers.  If they take this class in their first year, they will be prepared for coming years in their high school career.  This course should offer study skills, test taking skills, what requirements they need to fulfill in order to achieve a specific goal.  They also be exposed to CAPT/SAT examination practice.  I know, from personal experience, that if I knew how to prepare for it earlier, I would have been a lot less stressed out.  In addition, this course should teach kids how to be confident, how to face your fears, how to talk to people without stuttering.  This can make students a lot more secure about their personalities and their intelligence.

                Think about the rewards from this.  We will have a more inviting school community.  Students will be able to get along with each other because they know that they are all in the same boat.  Bullying and suicide will be cut down because students will stick together, knowing that they are all going through the same process of anxiety and stress.  Students will be more confident about themselves and be able to present themselves with pride. 

                I may not be a professional but I am a high school student who deals with stress every day.  Students of future generations should not have to deal with that either.        

Social Change using Pathos

I grew up, sheltered and protected, for most of my life.  So naturally, when I entered high school, I was a nervous wreck.  I circled the school at least 5 times, trying to find my Biology class and found myself eating lunch in the bathroom multiple times.  In addition, I would come home to piles of textbooks and notebooks, waiting to be filled with homework due the next day.  Also, I had to juggle my intense dance classes and helping around the house as well.  I didn't know what to do!  As a result, in my freshman year, I became stressed out and anxious about everything in my life including school, dance, family, and my social life.  This was not helpful at all because not only did my grades go down, but my mental health was jeopardized, too.   Not every high school is like Rye Dell High (for my Grease lovers).  Now, as a junior, I have begun to realize how beneficial it would be to have a special class offered to all students that encourages ways to cope with school and social interaction with peers.  This class would offer useful study habits, techniques to control anxiety and stress, and help students gain more confidence around other students.  If I was a freshman, I would have loved to be able to take a class like this.  I believe it would have given me skills that would help me later on in my high school career.  

I had a friend who I used to go to middle school with.  Smart kid, athletic, good looking, basic definition of popular.  However, he had underlying issues that seemed to never be resolved.  When he entered high school, he was met with the harsh reality of high school life.  He wasn't prepared or guided by anyone on the basics of High School 101.  As a result, he started beating himself up over low grades and sacrificed his social life by having little confidence.  He started having serious mental issues and became immensely depressed because of the lack of support.  If he had had this class, he may have been more aware of the expectations of high school and may have been able to reach out to someone who was an expert at high school life for help. 

                Think about the future of our generation.  If we were to not support our young adults through a crucial, developing time in their life, how do we expect them to create an advanced, modern world in 20 years?  Let's give our kids hope for the future, make them see a light by making them feel comfortable on home ground.       

Sentence Imitation

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich-Pg. 151

Room 133 contains a bed, a chair, a chest of drawers, and a TV fastened to the wall.  I plead for and get a lamp to supplement the single overhead bulb.  Instead of the mold smell, I  now breath a mixture of fresh paint and what eventually identify as mouse droppings.  But the real problems are all window and door related; the single small window has no screen and the room has no AC or fan.  The curtain is transparently thin; the door has no bolt.

High schools have math and science, social studies, history and English, and a short period of lunch.  But they don't offer classes on how to be a teenager or yourself.  Instead of being guided, students are required to know how to handle tons of homework and social interaction between peers.  Students should be given more opportunities to reach out for help; classes centered around social acceptance and support groups on handling school work or making friends.  Students would be more successful; in their career or social life.  

STUFF THAT KIND OF SUCKS.

• Paul Karmiryan and Alexis Juliano didn't win Season 10 of So You Think You Can Dance
• Contemporary, jazz, and ballet are pushed more than ballroom, hip hop, and tap in modern society
• Losing an hour during daylight savings
• Jet lag
• Over-excessive propaganda on make-up and clothes
• Stressing test-taking more than learning
• Mass production of skimpy clothing in America
• Starting school before Labor Day
• Shorter Christmas and Summer vacation
• 2 years of Gym
• Sterotypical relationships 
• Lack of response and action against bullying and suicide
• Unrealistic movies about high school
• "Happily ever afters"
• "My printer broke"
• Hazing 
• Cliques
• Screen protectors not made for older iPods
• Wastage of resources in the states
• Wars
• Music on the radio nowadays
• Loss of the disco
• George Zimmerman being a free man and having a right to own a gun!
• Lack of public transportation 
• Mid-season breaks in shows (Pretty Little Liars!)
• being too feministic and hypocritical 
• Airport security and getting body checked for looking Muslim
• Stereotypical view on Muslims
• Not considering Indian holidays in America
• Over-craze on Bollywood dancing and losing touch from Indian classical dancing
• Corruption of Disney Channel and former Disney actors (MILEY CYRUS)
• Lack of self-respect in women
• Instagram
• Romeo and Juliet
• low budget schools
• comparing One Direction to The Beatles
• Justin Bieber
• Not enough tabla players in America

Perverts, Pandas, and more...

"Pervy Panda".  "Uhh..um..here."  That was my constant battle on the first day of school every year for 12 years.  It all started in Kindergarten.  My teacher, Mrs. Cutter, was calling my classmates names out and when she came to me, it took her an unusual 13 seconds to figure out my name.  "Pervy Panda?"  My mom was quick to correct her, "It is pronounced POOrvi PUndYa" (uppercase letters for emphasis).  My teacher had such a problem with it that she basically just changed my name to "Pervy".  Every year since then, that became my name.  Now, as a junior, I am finally realizing how stupid is really sounds.  I am basically an open book of sexual thinking.  Might as well just call me Perverted Panda (but please don't).
"Purvi" comes from the Sanskrit word, purva, which means "the East".  Hence, "Purvi" means "girl from the East" (not because I live in Northeastern America but because I'm from the eastern part of the world, India). Whenever I explain what my name means to friends or teachers, they seem to always be disappointed, expecting something like "strength" or "God's gift".  Sorry to upset you, take it up with my parents.
Also, in Indian culture, the child always take their father's name as their middle name.  Since my brother, Ruchir, already had my dad's name as his middle name, my mother decided to put her name as my middle name, Kalindi.  She chose Purvi because it had almost all the letters of my dad's name, Pravir (minus the "a") and wanted to make sure that I have a little of my mom and dad in my name.
In addition, in Indian classical music, we have 108 ragas, or melodic modes or tunes.  Two specific ragas relate to my name, Purvi raga and Purvi Kalyan raga.  My mom's side of the family were huge music fans and ended up wanting to name me something musical.  Since we believe that ragas are a gift from God, my mom thought it would be like a blessing from God, whoever that may be.  
I'm glad that they gave me the name Purvi comparing to the alternate choice, Panchali.  It just sounds so, uncanny.
My middle name, as I mentioned before, is my mother's.  "Kalindi" is the name of a holy river in India.  Most people usually seem to like that part of my name the most.
My last name, however, is a doozy.  The Pandyan dynasty was an Ancient Tamil dynasty in Pandya Nadu (now called Tamil Nadu in South India) around 600 BCE. However, I am not Tamil.  I am from Gujarat and I'm assuming that generations after, they must have immigrated to Gujarat for business or better living.
Nowadays, however, whenever someone sees my last name, they instinctively ignore the "y" to make the name easier to say.  I don't see why, though.  When spelling my name to others, I usually just say "Panda with a y between d and a".
My grandfather, Dr. S. P. Pandya, linked our last name with science.  In 1956, he published his work on calculating how to extend nucleus shell models (how many protons and neutrons go into the nucleus).  It is called the Pandya Theorem or Pandya Transformation.

I don't hate my name.  I appreciate that it isn't something generic like Betty or Emily (not to say they are bad names).  Having an authentic Indian name brings me closer to my culture and religion.
Every name is going to have their pros and cons.  There is no perfect name so might as well be happy with what you have.