Propaganda

Emeril Lagasse
Type of Propaganda: Glittering Generalities, uses words like "good" and "best"
Fallacy: Red Herring, changes the subject to how hard the people are working from the devastation of the spill.

Lolo Jones, Bryan Clay
TP: Testimonial, Uses well-known Olympic athletes to demonstrate that setbacks can be overcome.
LF: Argumentum ad populum, does not give facts about oil spill but instead the commercial is just music and black-and-white images of the athletes at work.

BP Commitment to America
TP: Card Stocking, focuses on jobs, not devastation of spill.
LF: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc, The ad implies that the spill cause the 250,000 jobs, therefore it was not so bad after all, which it was.

BP Promoting Tourism
TP:Band Wagon, says a lot of people have been there, says that you should too.
LF: Band Wagon Fallacy, says a lot of people have been there, says that you should too.

This Land Is Your Land-Woody Guthrie

Guthrie thinks of "this land" as a shared piece of property that should be taken care of and loved. It is demonstrated that Guthrie thinks that America is shared through the repetition of the phrase, " This land was made for you and me." This line displays his emotion both towards the "land" and towards the word "you." Guthrie also questions America and what it says it stands for vs. what it actually stands for in the line, "And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin' If this land's still made for you and me." This shows his and others' doubts of America. I agree with his premise as though this was written in the 1930's Guthrie's words still ring true today. This is due to America saying one thing yet turning around and doing the complete opposite.

"Where Have You Gone Charming Billy?" by Tim O'Brien

The setting of this excerpt is an attack during a war in the mid 1900's. The setting is most likely possibly from WWII. This is infered due to hints like, "resting on the black plastic stock of his rifle." This suggests an old war as rifles are not used in modern wars. Another line suggesting that the setting is an attack is, "Their leader knelt down, motioning with his hand, and one by one the othere soldiers squatted in the shadows." This again suggests the previous theory that they are in the middle of an attack. This quote also suggests it is not only an attack but a stealthy ambush perhaps.

The mood in this excerpt is mysterious, suspenseful, and depressing. This is due to the word choice and sentence structure of the piece. O'Brien uses many commas and periods to create pauses in his writing which makes the reader wait for what is coming next. This creates anxiety in the reader and a mysterious and suspenseful mood. The mood is also depressing in the word choice that O'Brien uses to describe the setting. Phrases like, "slowly in the dark, single file, not talking," creates a mood that is mysterious and therefore makes the reader want to continue in the story.

Ads #2

Country Cornflakes:
Appeal: This advertisement has pathos because the animal was not shot which gives the audience a happy and relieved feeling.

Fallacy: The people who are dressed up like that famous painting "American Gothic" by Grant Wood which shows an appeal to tradition because that is a very traditional picture.

Alka-Seltzer:
Appeal: This is pathos because there is a joyful song playing in the back ground.

Fallacy: This is a red herring because there are a lot of things going on in the commercial that distract your attention from the message.

Delk:
Appeal: This is pathos because of the word and word phrases choices such as "great" and "ward off trouble."

Chain Gang

          The message in this song is people working hard but are not going anywhere because of the lack of civil rights. This is a reference to many women and African-Americans working hard in low jobs but cannot do any better than dirty entry level jobs that were so awful it felt like being a part of a chain gang. This message is shown through lyrics like "workin' on the highways and biways" which were places that were often places where you would find African-Americans and women looking for work. They were often there as in that time period there was not equal job opportunity for those African-Americans as well as women, so many walked "the highways and biways" looking for work.

Communist Utopia

The dark and dull colors convey communism and conformity. There is no individuality in those colors. He does not like it because if he did he would not use the depressing colors he did in the painting. The artist named the painting "Communist Utopia" because it is the best communism can be.