This blog is dedicated to my Ethics class this year. I will be discovering and disscussing the new topics we learn in class each week, as well asking my own questions which I will then research.
Summary of class this week:
The second week of school is always less chaotic than the first. You settle into the rhythm you will stick with for the rest of the year. However, my routine was shaken a little with one of our first assignments. "Write a 20-30 second radio commerical using three fallacies and as much loaded language as possible." We had been learning about loaded language for a few days now: power words, euphemisms and lastly, fallacies. The class had identified the uses of power words and euphemisms in commercials (which is harder than it looks!) and now, was supposed to create their own. My friend and I took a very odd approach to the assignment, creating a product to sell that was catered for cavemen. It turned out well though. The assignments have been challenging for me. Never before have I taken the time to look at the use of language in everyday life, to see the bias and second meaning behind each carefully chosen word.
Identifying bias continued into the last class of the week, with a lesson on Michael Moore. Watching his first show "The Awful Truth" in class was eye-opening. Coming from a very liberal family, seeing people pick apart Michael Moore was a very different perspective. And on some issues, not all, I had to agree with my mostly conservative classmates. Micheal Moore does make his documentaries and other works into very persuasive, and evasive, video. For example, there was one clip in his episode of "The Awful Truth" where he interviews George W. Bush while Bush is running for president by ambush. When asking a question in the middle of a campaign signing, Bush loudly says "Get a real job." Immediately, I thought, "Wow. THAT guy was a leader of our country, how ridiculous! When he was running for office he didn't even have the respect for a man who had influence in the public media. How was he supposed to have respect for so many other U.S. citizens, or just people all over the world in general?" But my class turned it into, "Micheal Moore is twisting the video to only highlight the bad parts of Bush, plus, it was good Bush had a snappy comeback at a guy who was ambushing him!" This presented a very different thought process before me. It took me a minute, and then I decided that neither man was right in the situation. Moore should interview candidates on a more formal basis, in order to support his points with more solid (and less arguable) information, while Bush should never have a disrespected a man like that, especially when running for a presidential election.
Question for Next Week:
Although I have heard much about Michael Moore in the past, I have never had the time to sit down and watch some of his documentaries. My leaning liberal family appreciates his eye-opening documentaries, but with my new found perspective and watch for loaded langauge, fallacies and bias, I want to find out more about Michael Moore. What are his reviews from the general public? Do they sway from generation to generation? Do any politics, even liberal maniacs, support his works? And what is my opinion on him?
Till next time,
Mad
Period 2
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