"The Good Geezer"

From the other side of the stadium I saw as they jumped up and down bobbing their heads, gridding their teeth, and whipping their blue shirts in the air to make sure they were the biggest and most impressive scenery. This all happened yesterday when I went to the match Millonarios-Junior right here in El Campin stadium. It’s important to highlight that this wasn’t any ordinary match, it was legendary because it was the first time in twenty three years that Millonarios had made It to the final and people were ecstatic. I was most intrigued to see “las barras bravas” as they are well known here, and all I could do was relate them directly to Amongthe Thugs and their leader Roy Downes.  Roy Downes was the leader, he was the one that everybody paid the ticket for and ironically he wasn’t the guy that “looked like he was going to spit”. On the contrary he was smarter than the rest of the hooligans, and his status among the rest of the “lads” was can be explained by the simple fact that he didn’t even have to wear red; his face and attitude said it all.  I was later told that Millonarios has a similar character that plays the lead role in “Comando Azul”, one of the mayor and most recognized groups in Millos, and he wasn’t exactly the famous pop star. He was known as Moneda. Obviously he didn’t drive around the block in a car waving his hand like a politician because let’s face it he got more enemies than we can count.

While I was seeing obsessive fans throw their shirts off into the rest of the crowd, and hearing them sing every anthem as if their life depended on it, Buford on the other hand was noticing how the teeth of a true Hooligan looked like. His eyes were locked onto particular ugly mouths and his form of narration was the most picture perfect description of deep brown and mushy green teeth. His comparison to pea soups, to caked brown cakes, and vegetable soft with decay made it very easy for you to immediately relate it to someone’s mouth you have already seen. We’ve all been their where we have to stare right in the face of someone who has “ the raw rim of gum showing where there must have been teeth”(60), or the ones that “appeared to grow up at odd, unconventional angles…”(60). But his extravagant narration shifts into exposition when Buford is now on track to discovering the passing of good tickets between members of the group. This small paragraph not only analyzes a very interesting and abusive process, but it reminds us all that we have done it more than once in our daily routines. Whether it is to bar hop around the city, to cut in line at the snack shack, or to simply obtain immediate gratification of some kind to get what we want NOW. They all start off with the sickness. The fake vomiting, the sickness to the stomach, and all kinds of creative methods are used to slowly pass the good ticket around the crowd. When it gets too tough, they simply act like they don’t understand English and cleverly yet extremely carefully, they will hide the ticket in a sandwich, a cigarette, and even a shoe. You might ask yourself why the police don’t stop the nonsense. Why isn’t there a higher power of authority that ships them back to England and makes them pay for their illegal acts? Buford figured it out pretty quickly and it all has to do with the principles of human nature.

1.      No public functionary wants a difficult confrontation- there is little he can do once the shouting starts and they all just want the job to get over with.

2.      Everyone is powerless against a large crowd that shares the same purpose: they will not obey any rules.

Buford couldn’t get any more truthful than this. It’s true! In order for the audience to understand the gravity of the situation and the position of the workers, he shifts into a more noticeable register between informal and familiar. As I pointed out yesterday in class he starts to sound a lot like The Burn Journals in the way that his diction and tone are equally driven to a closer relationship towards the reader. For example: “You’re there, working by yourself at the ticket booth of an underground railroad station, and two hundred supporters walk by you without paying”(63). His register makes it easier for me to relate to that situation and basically accept the fact that if I were in the store as manager, I would probably just step aside and pray they take everything but me.

The City of Juventus

Buford finally made it to the home of the “Fucking Eyeties”, to the city of “Juventus”,  as a fellow friend of his from the ballistic crowd referred to.  He seems a little more comfortable mixing with the rest of the Hooligans, but once again his  caustic tone gives him away when he is forced to describe  “the murals on the flesh”(48). His corrosive comments about the satanic themed tattoos are already a sign that this guy is borderline freaked out! Still, in the mist of the forked tongues and abundance of flames tracing through their shoulders, Buford can still squeeze in a little humor here and there. An obsessively tattooed person could not be better described than a walking billboard because clearly “you could only conclude that this was what he had decided his function in life would be; it was his career” (49). But wait it gets better! Not only is he making himself extremely sarcastic while describing a situation that could turn into a blood bath (and it will), but he is using satire to make fun of those who are willing to tattoo the name of the mid field player across their forehead: “in the hope, perhaps, that Robson would neither be traded to another football club nor ever die” (49). He even uses a little bit of facetious humor when he describes Tony Roberts skin as the same as Michael Jackson’s…    JA          JA             JA.  Yes people if you got the joke it was supposed to make you laugh.

Once in Italy, Buford for the first time questions himself about the true meaning of his trip. He finally realized that his whole journey was a little crazy, probably making it a turn point if it weren’t for the story about the Star journalist. His whole purpose is finally clearer than ever and it’s no surprise that he wants to see the action, he wants to experience the sole thing the Hooligans are known for and banned for throughout the world: violence.

Don Juancho Panza

Don Juan and his side kick. That’s all I could think of at first when I saw Mr. Player and his poor lab rat strutting around Mexico sweeping girls of their feet. It was absurd, yet hysterically funny the way that Don Juan’s “friend” was constantly used as a shield against the raging women, and as mediator to avoid the punches and slaps that clearly Don Juan deserved. It reminded me of Candide and Cacambo: his temporary servant during his voyage to America. Cacambo was once again a facilitator between Candide and Lady  Cunégonde. Even if we head towards Spanish Literature we find the one and only Don Quijote and his partner Sancho Panza. This illiterate sidekick can only provide few things to his delusional master, but remains a faithful companion throughout the story. By the end of the play I guess you could say Don Juan had a pretty devoted companion as well, he could be the most comfortable chair any one has ever sat on, he could shape shift into a surf board, and he could withstand the pinches, shoves, and screams of obsessive women.

The play was set out brilliantly from the lights to the actors and the impeccable props. And let’s not forget the key part: it was HYSTERICAL. From the Mexican accents to the mocking remarks, we have to face the fact that it is all too familiar in our culture, “ay whisky para la foto, whisky que se me va a acabar el rollo.” The key factor that made the setting and the ambience look real was the secondary characters that always had a role in the background. Weather it was on the beach or in then wresting stadium, every corner of the stage was purposely made to match the Mexican culture. In the middle of the lifeguard scene (my favorite by far), the actors that were supposed to be enjoying the beach could have been frozen in time as the main scene carried on, but instead they had their own dialogue and skit that made it even more entreating for the audience. Also the way they used the space on the stage was perfect. They were fighting with wooden sticks in the theater chairs and running over Mr. Viscradi for God’s sake!

It's a Thug Story

It’s funny how most of us have all been through that horrific situation once or twice in our lifetimes. Still it seems hard to picture someone who goes beyond borders to write a book about the “thugs” in the Manchester United football club. Sure enough, I must confess that my experiences of feeling crushed to the bone, feeling my shoes crumbling under my feet, and feeling the hot humid air of everyone’s breaths embarrassingly takes place in the high school theater. 

This is the exact reason why I found this book so fascinating. The first thing I realized was that in situations, such as those Buford chose to be a part of, the “supporters were in the position to do anything they wanted” (14). It was such the organized chaos, and the petrifying numbers of people that even the local authorities were having trouble containing this destructive crowd. What’s more ironic is that this huge fan club is willing to do anything and chant as loud as possible in order to get everyone’s attention.  They have their own Star Spangled Banner. All of this energy is focused on one match. Just one match can create an entire business that runs on selling illegal tickets and makes profit off bets and alcohol. Just one match can turn a working family man into a lunatic who pees on the crowd and throws bottles at innocent civilians. But now picture this. Imagine if all of this energy, if all of this patriotism, spirit, and obsession were focused on an actual global peace cause. Imagine if the followers of Kony or the marches here in Bogota against the FARC were composed of people as devoted in body and mind to what they stand for. Mind-blowing.

Can’t wait to keep reading!! Meanwhile I’ll leave you with Taylor Swift’s recreation video called “Thug Story”. As soon as I saw the books title it reminded me of a song Taylor made with Hip-Hop artist T-Pain. Notice how the name Thug is expressed as a type of gangster/bad boy type of attitude and Taylor does a pretty good job considering her songs are always about a small town girl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DFMbLKEjaI

Gandhi Steps Up

Now that we have seen what Churchill has said about Gandhi lets listen to what Gandhi has to say when he heads towards London in 1931. Let’s just say that after reading this speech I realized they didn’t like each other very much…..actually on second thought I think I’ll expand my vocabulary and say it was pure hatred! Obviously it’s not like they were cursing each other through the media, but instead they used our old friend the fallacy.

Ad Hominem

“That law then which governs all life is God.”

It pretty self-explanatory as to why this would be fallacy. First of all we are talking about a preeminent leader of Indian nationalism who inspired movements of non-violence basically through civil disobedience.  This claim is very controversial after all what proof does he have of God being the ruler of all existence? I could easily write a book arguing on the falsity of the claim. The importance of all this isn’t about God and the law, it’s about the fact that being the role model he was he had to believe in God. What arguments did he have to support his decision? By reading this speech I would say none that actually count, therefore as an audience I just can’t believe what he says right?

Red Herring

“ He who would in his own person test the fact of God's presence can do so by a living faith and since faith itself cannot be proved by extraneous evidence the safest course is to believe in the moral government of the world and therefore in the supremacy of the moral law, the law of truth and love. “

I don’t know about you, but I definitely feel like he is throwing us off topic here! At first he is talking about God’s presence, which I have to point out is a pretty tough topic to argue even though  he seems to be rocking it thanks to the fallacies. Somehow he wraps his sentence up with “the supremacy of the moral law.” Well that escalated quickly! I don’t blame him I mean the basic idea is to “win” an argument, and in order to do this he probably felt he had to lead the attention away from the argument and to another topic.

If Gandhi Steps Down, Then He Shall Lose!

Common fallacy

“Why should these unpracticed, unproved, unrepresentative, self-chosen groups of Indian politicians disdain the immense possibilities offered within the limits of the Statutory Commission's report, and demand an immediate setting up of a United States of India, with themselves in control, and the British army at their orders?”

Just by reading this question it’s already more than obvious that more than two issues are merged into one. Churchill starts off with criticizing the groups of Indian politicians, and then he mentions the Statutory Commission’s report, followed by the setting up of a United States of India, and holy god he finally gets to his final issue about British Army orders! Is it just me or did he just throw in an entire essay in one question? This fallacy is very common, and by using a type of vocal diarrhea in this sentence Churchill is losing his point. What is he finally going to talk about? Which is more important? He does a big NO NO and therefore his proof is disconnected from his conclusion.

When he is referring to the politicians as unproved and unpracticed he is immediately implying that they will disdain the report no matter what happens. Churchill is pretty sneaky in this question because he wants to trick the respondent into admitting that these Indian politicians are absurd.

Straw man

“While any community, social or religious, endorses such practices and asserts itself resolved to keep sixty millions of fellow countrymen perpetually and eternally in a state of sub-human bondage, we cannot recognize their claim to the title-deeds of democracy.”

Awwwww was it to hard? What I think happened was that Churchill realized that if he was going to start talking about how communities live in a responsive environment, he may be faced with controversy from the audience. Instead, he looks towards an easier exit in this case the deeds of democracy and uses it to start a new topic. He was pretty smart in doing so because one thing is talking politically about democracy (something I’m sure he’s good at) and another thing is arguing about people relations and their role in society.

Slippery Slope

“If at the sacrifice of every British interest and of all the necessary safeguards and means of preserving peace and progress in India, you come to terms with Gandhi, Gandhi would at that self-same moment cease to count any more in the Indian situation.”

Well that escalated quickly! Churchill just took the sacrifice of British interests and all of a sudden he’s talking about Gandhi stepping out of the whole situation. I would say that’s a little extreme don’t you? This once again disconnected his whole purpose from his conclusion!

The Fallacy Project

We might not even realize it but as Gabriela Aldana said in her blog,” we use fallacies all the time, and many times we do so unintentionally.” I must say it is really sneaky when we decide to use a fallacy in most of our rhetorical arguments, but  the fact that my audience didn’t notice that there was absolutely no relationship between my choice and my proof is really not my fault. My error in reasoning may or may not be caught because it’s not that I am wrong about the facts, but rather my premise isn’t exactly the best support for my conclusion.  There are a bunch of different fallacies that we use every day in our arguments so I took out my favorite ones so together we can understand what a fallacy is exactly.

Hasty generalization

When we tend to make those risky generalizations about groups or samples of people or things we are stepping into a dangerous zone. Stereotypes are a perfect example of a hasty generalization such as saying “Math Club is for nerds” or “Colombians are drug dealers.”

Slippery slope

This happens when you defend your argument by claiming that a type of chain reaction will take place followed by a consequence, but there’s not enough evidence to make such assumption! For example, I might write in my Economy paper about the perks of not going to school,

“If students in the U.S are constantly dropping out of high school they will never get any stable jobs, If they don’t get good jobs they won’t be able to sustain their families, and they might as well end up working in McDonalds the rest of their lives before they realize stealing is an easy escape.”

Appeal to Authority

We tend to refer to sources of high authority in order to make our arguments sound more professional and therefore valid, but the truth is we are just trying to impress our audience with cool and famous names. We try to sound like experts, but instead we are committing the fallacy of appeal to authority.

“We should legalize drugs in all the states. Time magazine and Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper have agreed publically it is the correct thing to do.”

In Gabriela Aldana’s video Harry Styles was trying to make a point about how it is to walk out on the streets being famous and all, but he got kind of nervous and just said, “London’s quite big.” LOL Gabriela is right I mean there was absolutely no relationship between the interviewers question and his answer.

Any way there are a billion (hyperboleJ) videos on YouTube and there are like twenty more examples of fallacies in chapter 15 and 16. I had a bad day so I won’t show all of them because I’m a fearless bastard. Any way I did take my time in finding the coolest video on fallacies because it’s like commercials and political campaigns that use fallacies to persuade and audience.

TIS EPIC ENJOY!

STRIKE 1, STRIKE, 2, AND YOU’RE OUT!

Now we are in the middle of our argumentative journey through the rich pages of Jay Heinrich that leak rhetoric all over your desk. No literally we are in the middle of the book all jokes aside. That blank page called “DEFENSE” IN BOLD AND CAPITAL LETTERS MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A DOOR YOU WISH YOU NEVER OPENED! Actually, it’s one of the best opportunities to walk out of an argument owning the place like a boss (my 9gag friends understand), and feeling good about it afterwards. In Chapter 15 the title says it all. I learned certain foul plays that can catch up to you when you’re gambling with logic. Let’s take the fallacy of power to introduce our weakness of appealing to authority.

Me: Well if the principle thinks “Pro-Kindness” is a great title, then we should put the rest aside.

Typical Wise-Face reply: Are you seriously going to go with it just because the principle likes it? Jesus! I mean have some personality and be original for once.

But wait a second? How can she attack me like that? After all the High School principle is the judge of our work and is probably going to like it just a little more if the title was previously approved. I guess we can go all Hurricane Sandy and mix everything up, but won’t we be risking our final grade?

Another cock-blocker in persuasion is when you start to argue the inarguable. You must really be struggling with your persuasive tequenique because if you start to get rough and abusive, that can lead to a point where your goals are clouded and your words don’t even make sense. Stick with the argument and “remains intent on real persuasion” (158). Looking back at previous lessons I’m sure I can point out other epic fails (once again up top for my 9gag buds) when it comes to persuasion.  In Andrea De La Torre’s blog, she points out that  in many arguments, when you don´t have anything more to say, you start to babble. According to Andrea, “Babbling can be easy to see when you are talking to close friends or to a small group of people, since their commonplace is more likely to be the same or similar.”

Bad Logic

How can you even use bad logic? Is it facts and statistics gone wrong? According to this book (my new holy bible), bad logic is used all the time by the one and only teen enemy: parents. I mean who hasn’t refused to eat their oatmeal when all of sudden children are starving in Africa, and how about the extreme loaded questions that are thrown at the American public during Election Day! And let’s not even get started with syllogisms.

Mayor Premise:  If Johnny is eating sweets every day, he is placing himself at risk for diabetes.

Minor premise:   Johnny does not eat sweats everyday

Conclusion:       Therefore Johnny is not placing himself at risk for
                              Diabetes

I know, I know duh its stupid that’s what we all say, but marketing company stake advantage of such obvious logistics and once set into a Venn diagram it all makes sense. The biggest circle represents Johnny eating sweets every day and placing himself at risk for Diabeties. Place the circle for him not eating sweets inside it, and then a dot for Johnny not placing himslef at risk for Diabeties.

In order to avoid the boredom, Aristotle edited the rhetorical logic into a neatly packed enthymeme. Basically what I does is it takes a commonplace (we learned what it was in my previous blogs) in the

Audience’s mind, and uses it to support a choice. By taking out the middle line and emphasizing on the “if-then” part, then we have a perfectly used example of logic. Let’s take his own reasoning to explain this.

All men are mortal

Socrates is a man – The enthymeme would skip the obvious line

Therefore, Socrates is mortal

There we go! Suddenly it’s not all that bad right? Another useful figure is the paralipsis. What it does is it mentions something by saying you’re not going to mention it. It may sound once again plain old stupid, but you will be surprised by how much we use it in our daily lives.

• I surely need not remind you to get your Christmas shopping done early (Now you are actually reminding him!!).
• I need not mention that everything should be done within the deadline.

I don't have to remind you that it is really urgent, right?

 This video is the perfect example of how commercials use enthymemes in order to get a clear message across. The commercial starts off with a simple argument about an extremely annoying brat who wants candy at a supermarket. His dad refuses and the kid just goes shananigans! At the end a simple text is displayed saying “Use Condoms”. It’s no surprise this video was banned because it really makes it seem as if kids were just sent from hell to ruin your life. Apart from that it uses a commonplace, in this case the belief or value that people should use condoms to avoid pregnancies and diseases.

Get Off Your High Horse

Socrates believed speech towered over thoughts and actions, so why not use this philosophical point of view in our daily arguments?

The first thing you must understand is that entering a new art of persuasion requires you to get off your high horse. By that I mean you will put your audience first. In other words, give them what they value most, and by the end you will have hypnotized them into believing your choice is the advantageous one. Watch and learn.

Me: Jules hurry upstairs I need help fixing the TV! You are the only person in this whole house that can work this thing! 

Jules: I have no idea how it works call someone else I don’t have time.

Me: please it’s the premiere of the walking dead in 5 minutes!

 Jules runs up the stairs, flies over the couch and is fixing it in no time.

Sneaky me! As you can see in order to manipulate his actions I started with something me audience (in this case Jules) believed in or wanted really badly: The Walking Dead.

Sure, I could have told him I had to watch the presidential debate for my English class so I could come prepared to class, but what does he care about my grades in English class? Is it going to be useful for him in his state of short term satisfaction? I think not. 

Still there might be an issue when you use this kind of persuasion technique. Babbling is the brick wall that keeps you from changing their point of view, and sure enough one of the symptoms of this incurable disease is the tendency to repeat the same rationale over and over. Houston we have a problem. Yes this is what we call an unpersuadable audience.

Me: Jules it’s way better to take the highway and then cross the bridge so you can get to the gym.

Jules: No we always take this route it’s the fastest way! 

Me: But the newspaper said there was going to be traffic jam!

Jules:  I don’t care we always take this route it’s the fastest!

 Now that’s a bummer, but it’s not over because persuading on my own terms is finally here! Chapter 12 has introduced to me an easy escape to the type of arguments that somehow get you cornered in a wall with no escape. The persuasive strategy of definition is what will allow you to stack everything in you favor. We have a pyramid of choices that will sooner or later give you a final win.

1.      Facts

When you’re in the middle of a heated conversation, your top priority is to seem smarter and wiser than your opponent. This is why we have facts. They can not only completely turn a conversation to your favor, but they make it really hard for someone to answer back to you. After all, facts are facts. Still, there may be that awkward moment when you don’t really know much about the natural habitat of sea lions, and your argument about claiming to do the project with no help suddenly seems hanging by a thread. NO need to worry help is on the way!

2.      Redefine terms

The teacher may be accusing you of being irresponsible by leaving all the work up to your classmates (as many of us tend to do), but why should you accept the fact that she is labeling you based on first impression. Don’t give up so quickly because you can redefine this term in your favor.

You: If “irresponsible” means staying afterschool in the EVL for an entire week, and interviewing my uncle who happens to work at the aquarium in Cartagena, then yeah sure I’m as irresponsible as can be. Go ahead and just praise the rest of the group without giving credit to an underachiever.

3.      Claim the discussion is irrelevant

If you still find yourself loosing points after all the strategies, then you have no choice but to claim the discussion is irrelevant

You: I really don’t know where this is coming from Mr. Sinisgali, I mean we already presented to the class and they seem to have got the message. Sea lions are an endangered species and that’s what this whole assignment was about, therefore I believe my grade should reflect that.

New Cartoon Vocabulary

I'm getting tired of vocabulary? I hate vocabulary don’t you hate vocabulary? Its as boring as reading a dictionary. This is why I have decided to revolutionize the meaning of words in my blog by picking out the coolest cartoon because let's face it, everyone loves cartoons they are A-MA-ZING!

Belief: To stir an emotion, use what your audience has experienced and what it expects to happen.

Storytelling: A well told narrative gives the audience a virtual experience-especially if it calls on their own past experiences, and if you tell it in the first person.

Patriotism: Attaches a choice or action to the audience's sense of group identity. You can stir it by comparing the audience with a successful rival.

Emulation: Responds emotionally to a role model. The greater your ethos, the more audience will imitate you.

Rules Get in the Way

Finally we have landed on my favorite part of rhetoric: ethos. I use to just overlook the meaning and simply categorize it in a long complicated chain of emotions.Basically to fool your audience into mesmerizing upon your presence. Turns out thanks to Heinrichs, there are three argumentative tools in any situation that can make anything seem good and proper, and I mean anything. Clearly Bluto was in fact a knucklehead that lacked in every aspect of common leadership skills, in every aspect of emotional intelligence, and in every aspect of logistics when it comes to decision making. Who on earth would follow a guy who finally figured out that “when the goin’ gets tough…and the tough get goin!”(66). What the fudge is that even supposed to mean? Where exactly is tough going?

Anyhow, he needs a lesson on earning trust. The exact moment when practical wisdom steps in. It’s really not that complicated because once again it is clear that everything is complete and utter bullshlagen. The real secret is to lead your audience into thinking you know how to solve the problem at hand. According to author John Bradshaw in his book Reclaiming Virtue: Practical wisdom “is the ability to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.” We can take any historical moment when humanity is at its most vulnerable point such as dictatorships and even wars. This is where desperation takes over any emotion, when “leaders” (Pinochet is an example) take advantage of the situation and manipulate the people through phronesis as Aristotle might say.

Still I am not 100% convinced with Aristotle. Please do correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that my environment has become more complex, competitive, and specialized that the opportunity to persuade using practical wisdom is getting annoyingly hard! John Bradshaw believes that “unbending rules eliminates the importance of context in our decision making.” High five Bradshaw rules have become brick walls these days. Take for example curfew rules in boarding schools. Students have been seriously punished for getting late and I can vouch on it. This summer I went to Columbia’s summer program and we got on campus at 1 a.m. instead of the regular 10:00 curfew. All hell broke loose. No matter how much sense our explanation made the counselors had no choice but to follow whatever the rules said and punish us for three days. The locker system broke down in Six Flags, so how on earth were we supposed to control the situation!? How on earth are we supposed to “make the right decision on every occasion” (68) when rules and regulations cloud our sense of judgment by turning reason into a yes or no answer?

Sneaky Andressa

After reading chapter 6 I realized I can argue a few things that this book has to say about ethos. First of all I read Lina Merizalde’s blog about the essential qualities of persuasiveness. I believe that the first step to approaching your audience is by making them focus their full and undivided attention to you as a speaker. As Lina said, lying is not necessarily crucial in your process of persuasion, but reputation is. I see classic examples in school assemblies and fashion shows. If you have a reputation of being outgoing and insanely hilarious, people will most likely look forward to hearing what you have to say about MTV night. The humble and shy people don’t exactly share that same type of luck. If they want to be heard, they are going to have to step out of their comfort zone without plunging into the dark waters of social suicide.

Another strategy I love but somehow can never actually get it right without sounding sarcastic is the tactical flaw. The secret is to reveal a defect (in my case ego becomes a brick wall) that can later be used to reason why you did what you did and sound like Prince Charming at the same time. Let’s say I got in huge trouble for getting home drunk from a party and I am facing big time consequences.

Me: I know mom I’m sorry I feel so alone and left out of the group that I can be strong enough when it comes to peer pressure.

This not only dodged me the classic “YOUR’E GROUNDED”, but it also took on pathos in order to play with my parents emotions and make myself sound like all I really need is love and attention. If I would have gone with the more aggressive response well then lets just say I would be facing the door of rehab.

Presidential Hunger Games

This Presidential Debate was definitely far more heated than the last one. The tension and the emotion of both candidates was no secret as they zoomed in to their faces. The faces said it all. Obama, unlike last time, seemed much, more secure about his position and didn’t give Romney much room to attack his proposal and criticize his government during the last four years. It all started with the question about Libya and the Middle East. Obama was not hesitant in accusing Romney when he publically spoke that the best option was to leave troops in Iraq because Russia was their mayor threat. Here we see Obama using decorum by agreeing with the people that Romney was sending mixed messages about his action plan, and this meant that he was taking on the role of the American Citizens by questioning the Republican candidate and making him sound indecisive.

When one of the questions referred back to the Egyptian turmoil, the mediator asks Obama if he has any regrets on taking down Mubarak. Skillfully Obama not only positioned himself towards a peaceful approach, but he also quoted one of the most famous American presidents in the history: Kennedy. This was very tactful because he now stood on the “good side” instead of mentioning President Nixon which would have probably had a disastrous outcome.

Apart from analyzing the debate itself we should also focus on the big picture, in other words the scenery where the debate took place. American colors red, white, and blue illuminated the stage and so did the presidential ties. I don’t mean to go all fashion police on Romney, but his tie was red with silvery purple stripes….eek! Obama on the other hand went for a more neutral color such as blue. A few months ago our president Juan Manuel Santos used that same color in his speech about peace negotiations with the FARC. This color represents neutrality and is basically a color everyone can relate to as being pretty. Even though Romney lost points in terms of Project Runway, by the end of the debate his whole family was there to support him. IM not sure they had a choice. Basically it was his way of showing the American people that he is a man of family, and I must agree I mean the dogs and maids were the only ones missing!

Hold Your Horses

After reading chapter two, I have to accept I lowered my head and thought to myself “oh god my most important arguments have no potential what so ever because apparently all I do is fight.”
If I want a new cellphone: fight
Refuse to go running: fight
I’m sick and want to leave school: fight

Clearly I tend to be more aggressive than passive and no wonder I lose most of my arguments. I learned that I have to stimulate emotions, so basically I can use pathos in order to hit the soft spot of my opponent. I can be more wistful and manipulate my opponent into changing his opinion and finally carry out my plan so that it actually works.
I decided to practice right here right now on my beautiful blog. I think I’ll go with classic arguments I have with my dad because if I go with previous arguments (fights) with my mom, it will just take this to a whole other level of complicated.

Ok, so this past year I have been in a midlife crisis when it comes to my equestrian life. I have had no accomplishments what so ever because my horse Native decided to go shenanigans every time she walked into the competition arena. We found out it was this huge medical problem in her hooves. Any way I was devastated and for me the only solution was..... A NEW HORSE OF COURSE! My mom was a lost battle from the beginning, but my dad is a little easier if I want to apply what Heinrichs has taught me.
Let’s start from scratch.

Changing his mood: I make sure he notices how much it hurts seeing Native stand in her stable for 6 months of recovery, and meanwhile I get watery eyes every time I don’t get to compete. This makes him feel sorry for me and therefore more vulnerable to my arguments

Changing his mind: I have to convince him that the only way I can keep pursuing my dream is if a new horse joins the family probably mentioning certain ones I have seen and are pretty cheap. He can hopefully see that buying a champion horse is the best chance I have in winning the Nationals and South American championships next year

Desire to act: Now I can make my epic puppy face just to make sure he still knows I’m devastated and then start acting on my own by doing my own research and calculations about shipping and expenses if we were to bring a horse from Brazil or Europe. This way he sees I am already doing my part and hopefully he will pitch in and feel a desire to act in order to solve the problem.

I will put this master plan into action and on my next blog I might tell you if the mission was a success or failure!!

But Dad!

If you must know my master argument in getting a new horse is already in motion! It has gotten to the magical moment where I even have support from my mom, and she is not easy to confront. Anyway, luckily I have had time to read chapter 4 and now I have even more information in order to make my best arguments in this long process of getting my horse. We will now focus on Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. This is not new information for me but I had never considered it to be part of this context. The first step as I read is Logos. It all starts with concession meaning I can use whatever my dad skillfully says and just use it against him to win points. Just like Aristotle said, every point has its flip side. Last night it was all centered on two options we had. The first was I could go to Germany to ride and pick out the horse that best suited me. Second, we could send my trainer to try the horse or just see a video and decide if she was really worth just bringing here without riding her beforehand.

My dad thought it was extremely unnecessary to travel all the way to Germany and that just by seeing the video it would be enough. It was hard not to lose all control and just snap at his ignorant remarks that once again proved he obviously knows nothing about the sport. How on earth does he want me to pick my next dream horse, my next partner in crime without being able to see her face to face? Instead I thought back to the book, calmed down and looked at my options. First I was going to go for the easiest: Logos.

Logos: Look dad it’s simple, from all of our friends that have brought horses from USA or from Europe, when have you heard of them making such a huge investment that is based on a forty second video? What if the horse gets here and oh what a surprise she hates water jumps and bucks when she feels threatened? Taking such a risk is unreasonable and excuse me for what I am about to say, idiotic on so many levels!

Now it is time I sympathize with my dad. This does not mean I share his reluctant mood when we talk about the issue, it just means I will play along to whatever he says and step by step I will change my emotions towards the situation hoping he does the same.

Pathos: Dad you can’t spend all your money on this one horse they sent a video on. Think about it, you work non-stop and travel non-stop in order to financially support my passion for horses, and yet here you are throwing your money up in the air and hoping nobody catches it. You deserve a great deal on our next horse, we as a family deserve a horse that won’t break after every competition because expenses just keep accumulating.

I have only gotten this far, but as you can see by sharing his views on the situation he actually seemed to relax and actually consider my proposal. I even went straight ahead and mentioned the whole awkward part of the conversation which was the cost of the damn horse! I knew he felt it was all too much, so I just agreed 99.9% with him making sure I gave him full credit for his effort.

Now that I’m in Africa

Now that I’m in Africa it’s no surprise that I have a handful of words that when I read I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Sure we have the advanced vocabulary English words that clearly my intelligence has not raised to that level of comprehension, but on the other hand I also thought it would be cool if I took my time in defining the cultural words.

Kapenta:  a type of fish also known as small fresh water sardine, has several chemical compositions that help reduce the risk of various diseases including prostate cancer.

Boerewors: type of sausage, popular in South African cuisine. The name comes from the Afrikaans words boer ("farmer") and wors("sausage"), and is pronounced [ˈbuːrəvors]

Veldskoen: Southern African walking shoes made from veg tanned leather or soft rawhide uppers attached to a leather footbed and rubber sole without tacks or nails.

Badza: Zimbabwean football striker. He has been capped for the Zimbabwean national team. He was in the Zimbabwean squad for the 2006 African Cup of Nations.

Croon: To hum or sing softly.

Paraffin:  A waxy white or colorless solid hydrocarbon mixture used to make candles, wax paper, lubricants, and sealing materials. Also called paraffin wax.

Bilharzia:  an infestation with or a resulting infection caused by a parasite of the genus Schistosoma; common in the tropics and Far East; symptoms depend on the part of the body infected

An Accepted Fact about Africans

While reading off page 66 in the memoir I noticed a unique way she saw the Africans around her. It’s like she had this mental notebook page that she titles An Accepted Fact about Africans and even though it’s pretty discriminatory, stereo typical, and just full on racist, she still felt like it was a detail on her childhood worth confessing. It’s good that she did because after that I was able to understand why and how she treated the workers around her house and how her levels of fear and anxiety rose when she was able to relate someone to one of her side notes. So you know what I’m talking about I will share a few.

·         If you spoil them they got cheeky

·         They were good at singing and dancing( Wikipedia makes it very clear)

·         The men were useless at weekends( alcohol might have something to do with it, just throwing it out there)

·         You’ll never hear a black baby cry (up until now I will agree to disagree)

·         They were heavy-handed with cleaning products

·         They were riddled with worms and bilharzia( heads up it’s a vocab word)

Up until now it can only explain one thing. Lauren looked down on them, and therefore the terrosrist were going to look down on her family and on her race as well. History repeats itself and this just exaplains the massacre at the beginning of the memoir, or  atleast it all adds up together as to why they would break into her house and kill her family one by one.