AOW 1/30: POTUS Match

This week's visual comes from the ABC News site OTUS, a part of ABC News' website that has full in depth coverage and analysis about the Republican Primaries and the General Election in November. This interactive section of OTUS is called the "Match o Matic." The purpose of the site is to show the various political views of the candidates, and President Obama's as well, and have people select the candidate that best matches their political views. The site is delivered by organizing the selections by topics including key topics in the presidential primaries: abortion, gay marriage, global warming, and immigration. It is written for the voting population who may not divulge themselves in political news. The diction of the choices are equivalent to the views of the political candidates. It also has some of the same words and phrases they have said before, for example: Michelle Bachmann proposing to build a double-walled fence on the US-Mexican Border. The views are also distinctively different because each of the candidates may have different views on certain issues. The site also presents the information in random orders to prevent people from picking the selection in the same spots to insure their suggestion will match the candidate they want based on their prior knowledge. When one completes the survey, the site will use an algorithm and count the number of shared views and produce your top three candidates. Above the cartoon pictures of the candidates is a chart with shaded in boxes that show which issues that match your candidates. If one is to scroll over the issues, it will show what your candidate's stance is and how is compares to yours. This delivery and arrangement helps supports its purpose not only because they show which candidate would reflect your political views, but also educates the American voter on the candidates that are running. This web application is very effective because it is simple to use and educates and helps the users and voters on their voting decisions for the Republican Primary and the General Election.

AOW 1/23: Google+ v. Facebook

This week's article is from FoxNews through Laptopmag.com, a TechMediaNetwork Company. Laptopmag.com is a website that gives insightful reviews on tech gadgets and accessories. They have experience with internet apps and have the experience and knowledge to analyze Facebook and Google+. They compare and contrast the features of two similar and predominant social networks, Facebook and Google+. They breakdown the specifics of each site and compare them with specific rhetorical aspects, simplicity and capabilities, of each feature. They broke down: design, posting, sharing media, managing friends, following people, messaging, chat, and video, entertainment, and mobile. The article says that Google+ is the supreme social media site, but believes that Facebook's volume belittles the capabilities and simplicity of Google+. The purpose was to compare the websites and to show that Google+ is something people should be involved with as an aside of their Facebook account. The arrangement of the piece is very consistent, with a short exposition and conclusion at the beginning and end. In between those sections was analysis of each aspect. They were separated by a break to know when a new section began (Delivery). Within the subsections, the arrangement introduced both sites and followed with a paragraph that listed and explained the extra features that showed supremacy with either Facebook or Google+. In the text, the author qualifies his statements often by saying, "Both have video calling, but..." This pattern comes up very often to show that one site will have better capabilities than the other and explain why. This article was probably written to people who are either new to social networking or interested in creating an account with Google+. The author assumes that most of the readers have a Facebook account because he adds more detail to his description of Google+ to have the reader create and equivalent with Facebook. The author proved his purpose by comparing both social network sites in a simple arrangement that clearly spelled out the basis of his data.

Unit 3 Reflection

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for it." These immortal words from John F Kennedy exemplify the ideal relationship of the government and its people. Both sides enter a "contract," which states that the government protects and serves the people, while the people in return abstain from injustice. In reality, both sides do not necessarily hold up their ends of the contract, but they know what is expected. I noticed this theme throughout the different readings and the rhetoric shows that the government serves the people, but the people must be able to allow the government to be able to rule. I think that principle has lost its value because of the magnanimity of the present government, but many of the other ideals about protecting the rights of the individuals are definitely present in our government. 


In American democracy, people elect representatives to government who will serve in public office to work toward new reforms that will improve the betterment of society. In Patrick Henry's speech at the Virginia Convention and the Declaration of Independence, both authors discuss the course of action if a government has reached a point of injustice where action must be taken. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson states, "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness" (Jefferson). It is the responsibility of the government to keep themselves from abusing their power and abducting the basic unalienable rights of the people. If they fail to do so, the people have an obligation to amend the government by reestablishing their own government that is fair and gives each individual their god-given rights. Due to the possible consequences, the government becomes obligated to dutifully serve their people and make decisions that will benefit and enrich society. In order to ensure the government's status, the people must help society and be able to work with the government to continue to make strides.


The people of the United States have lived under the same principles our founding fathers established over 200 years ago and have been under the jurisdiction of the same government for the same amount of time. The same government has established laws that build the foundation of our lives. It is our obligation to abstain from injustice and obey the laws the government has bestowed upon us. The government is obligated to pass laws that protect the well-being of Americans and with those laws comes an obligation to the people; obey these laws or their will be consequences based on the severity of your actions. "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security" (Jefferson). Jefferson states that the people's opinions should also have input in the implementation of laws, if a law threatens their unalienable rights, they have the right and the obligation to stand up in protest. I have experienced this firsthand. Recently large nationwide protests of the new Stop Online Piracy Act and the new Protect IP Act have began to take national prevalence. Many major websites, such as Google and Wikipedia, blacked out their website to spread awareness and have their users protest the new government bills. It is the people's duties to do whatever they can to prevent injustice of government. 


Citizen's and the government's duties act like a contract and a balance, they both must contribute to ensure that their livelihoods are protected. They also have obligations to mend any wrongs that may arise from the opposing side. By reading these pieces and understanding the rhetoric of the content, I notice that many of their ideals are based off checks and balances. If the government is wrong; the people fix it. If the people are unruly; the government must intervene. This helps society understand the principle that people must be cooperative and the government must ensure the safety of their people. With these established documents, both sides must understand the contract they have entered and must keep up their end. 

AOW 1/16: Moneyball 3

In the last section of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair game, Michael Lewis examines the details of the foundation of the Oakland A's unheralded success. He also brings in his own experiences from observing Billy Beane and the Oakland A's to show Beane's erratic personality. One component of the Oakland A's success was their ability to find players who are undervalued. One player mentioned was submariner Chad Bradford, who was stuck in triple-A and was not going to be in the big leagues because people doubted his motion. Billy found that his unique submarine motion got hitters out and produced outs, so he traded for him and depended on Bradford heavily. Lewis also examines the history of sabermetrics and discusses Voros McCracken and FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching). Lewis effectively uses logos and ethos to show a strong connection between McCracken's statistic and Bradford's performance. Lewis is able to bring together his data/grounds to support his claim that the 2002 Oakland A's exhibited great success despite their limited payroll by using advanced statistical means and unorthodox scouting methods to build their roster. Lewis' awareness of Toulmin is evident because all of the data and grounds connects to his claim and are able to support a warrant: teams/persons with limited funds must look for alternative means to survive and succeed. Using the Bradford example, Lewis showed that Bradford's motion turned off teams from acquiring him despite his mind boggling numbers. Lewis connects the warrant to the Oakland A's and Billy Beane by concluding that chapter with Billy trading for Bradford and then promoting him to the Majors and giving him a key role in the bullpen. This connects to Lewis' warrant because Billy had to take a chance on him because he was a cheap and productive pitcher that was easily available. The Bradford story was an anecdote placed by Lewis, which comes in the middle of the story of the A's attempting to win their AL-Record 20th consecutive victory. By using Toulmin, warrant, appeals, and anecdotes, Lewis is able to show the uniqueness of the 2002 Athletics.

AOW 01/09: TARP Monolouge

This week's visual comes from a Daily Show with Jon Stewart, a satirical news show, segment that discussed the bank bailouts in 2008 and TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). He discusses how recent news of another bailout program had surfaced and how it compared to TARP. Stewart shows clips from Bloomberg News who help explain what happened in 2008. This helps Stewart establish credibility by using sources who gave raw numbers to support his position. His purpose is to show how the banks and the government made these bailouts a large scandal and that the government lost money and the banks made a large profit. He made this piece to people who did not fully understand TARP and to those who want to know more about the bank bailouts and the Wall Street collapse in 2008. He uses logos to explain how the banks made a large profit as a result of the federal bailouts. Near the end of the segment, he explains step by step how the secret bailout program was done and the audacity from the entire situation. He uses pathos to in the segment's title and his feelings towards the government in this situation. He explains how the bank withheld information of this secret program with the Federal Reserve while Congress was constructing bailout programs such as TARP and the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform. He also shows through his emotions and actions how outraged he is with the secret program. This secret program gave $7.7 trillion to the banks at 0.01% and then borrowed it back in 3% treasury notes, then the banks gave bonuses to their employees who were "OK" with the situation. Stewart uses the warrent of how people are supposed to make a profit and said the government failed completely and this whole situation epitomizes the entire financial crisis. Stewart is successful in achieving his purpose because of his use of emotions in simplifying the banks bailouts.

AOW 1/2: Moneyball 2

In this section of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, Michael Lewis begins to chronicle the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics. He describes the different events throughout the year from a day of trades to the end of the season with the playoffs. He shows Billy Beane's thought processes and how he is able to negotiate far-fetched trades and insert himself into a trade and make money to be able to pay a player. He details the history of sabermetrics and how they connect to his players. Throughout the story he shows the progress of the team how they steadily improve from a below .500 team to a 100 win team that put together a record setting 20 game win streak. Throughout the section Lewis uses the appeals to show the development of the Oakland A's new statistical approach to managing a low budget baseball team. He uses logos to show the difference between different players within the team. He uses statistics from different references and shows how they support Billy Beane's logical process and how they are able to justify the radical trades he made earlier in the season. He uses ethos to justify most of the moves that Billy Beane did throughout the season to manage the Oakland A's to over 100 wins and was able to do it the way he wanted to. The usage of ethos shows how Billy Beane is effective in running a team without money. When describing the players and staff he uses pathos to describe their fear and confusion with the entire system and operation. He gathers player's testimonies from that season and they say that Billy would congratulate them for odd feats such as taking more pitches even though they may go 0 for 4 that game and would criticize them even if they go 3 for 3 with 4 RBIs because they did not take pitches. With his usage of the appeals, Lewis effectively shows the radical system that overtook the Oakland A's and how it transformed the team into a winner.