Independence Day - the freedom = one passionate former slave

Fredrick Douglass is saying in “What is the Fourth of July to the Negro,” that he cannot talk to these abolitionists about freedom, and the fourth of July because he as a black man is not free. He cannot vote, or do anything that I white man can. He has no real rights. If a slave happened to be set free, they would have no rights and not be able to survive in a world that thinks of them as inferior.

The way that Douglass refers to logos, is he talks to them in a manner that makes his audience feel almost stupid and shameful. That they could possibly think that he would or could talk about the Fourth of July as a black former slave. He uses an appeal to ethos by using the lists of things that black people can’t be because they aren’t given the chance to. He talks about how he can’t be all of these things because he is a black former slave. He uses an appeal to pathos by using “you” he talks to them as if they are the reason for all of the things that he talks about. He wants them to know that even being abolitionists it doesn’t mean that you are exempt from the people who make it harder for black people to succeed. Douglass uses the three rhetorical devices very well and uses them both subtly and clearly, which is a good balance and gets the point across better.

socialization by surroundings

The socialization process is that you learn what you know from the people that you interact with everyday. You pick up values and create your personality based on the people that influence you. Your friends, parents, peers, teachers, anyone that you interact with, gives you a part of who you are. Its not that you become like them always, sometimes its that you don’t want to be like them, but the people around you socialize you.

I believe that prejudices as well as many other beliefs are instilled in this way. Your parents teach you what they believe and you grow up thinking that that is the right way. Then you get old enough to think for yourself and you listen to other people’s ideas and you pick and choose and combine beliefs until they make sense to you. You learn things from people around you whether you want to or not. These things are what make up you and your personality.

The greatest founding father? or greatest hypocrite

In History and in this picture it portrays Thomas Jefferson as an abolitionist and a good leader. History portrays Jefferson as a leader that does whatever is best for his country and does what he thinks it right. We are taught that Jefferson was this abolitionist that wanted to free the slaves and give equal rights to them. From history class, I know that he wanted to add the abolishing of slavery to the Constitution originally, but knew that it wouldn’t get passed with something so radical in it. He was also a slave owner, even though it was an economic move, and they were not set free until his death.

The picture shows Jefferson’s decedents being a mix of races, both black and white. This also makes you think that Jefferson was all for interracial marriages. You think that he would be proud that his decedents were interracial. When you read Notes on the State of Virginia, you see that Jefferson gears his writing towards his audience. He says that black slaves are inferior and are made to do the work on plantations, because they are athletic, and have the endurance to work all day. He establishes that they are different and that they are so different that they shouldn’t be intermixed with white people, people like him. He knows that slavery is not right, and wants the them to be free, but he doesn’t want them to be free where they can intermarry with whites. He wants them to have their own colony somewhere, so they can be themselves and be free, just far enough away from the whites as to not interfere.

The unattainable dream

Cora Tucker is a black woman, civil rights activist, in a Southern community that is resistant to change and her ideas. Willy Loman is a man with high hopes for himself and his family and he cant attain them because he doesn’t have a real sense of reality. Tucker does have this sense of reality and knows that she can’t change the town in a day. She knows she can only do it a little at a time. Willy, thinks that he can just get everything done in life by being well liked. He thinks that if he is well liked everything else will fall into place and he will be successful as he once was in the past.

The reason that Tucker succeeds in life is because she sets attainable goals. She does one little thing at a time and knows that things just don’t happen overnight. She sets each goal and creates a plan to get it done, and then moves onto the next one. Willy, on the other hand, is not like this and has only one goal in life to be well liked. He can never attain this goal of being well liked and success because it is bigger than him. Because he can’t attain this dream he eventually cracks and can’t take it anymore. If he would have set attainable goals, that might not have happened.

well liked or success?

Willy Loman’s idea of success is being “well liked.” He thinks that when you are well liked that you are successful. Having people know who you are and getting by on how much you are liked is Willy’s idea of success. He used to be a good salesman because people knew who he was and would buy from him just because his name was known. Now that many of his buyers aren’t around, he isn’t “well liked” because he no longer has all of those contacts that keep him successful. He relies on this because he thinks this is what success is. He pushes this idea onto his family. They now don’t know what else to believe and think that they must be well liked too, and then they will be successful. When they move away, they learn that this is not a reality and learn that they have to do things for themselves and cant get by on being well liked.

Willy’s idea of individual opportunity is doing your best to get people to like you. He pushes his son Biff to be this football star and when he struggles in school, he tells his son to cheat off of his smart friend. He doesn’t think this is wrong because Bernard isn’t really well liked, and he isn’t going to go anywhere in life anyway. Biff has a chance because everyone in town loves him, he is well liked, which is all that Willy wants for himself and his sons.

posse ≠ clique

On Wednesday, Maggie, did her presentation on The Posse Foundation. I just thought this was a really interesting organization. It’s interesting because it doesn’t help a large amount of people. It helps about ten kids at a time, make it through high school, and go on to college together. The thing about it though, its effective. These kids that they help really do go on to get good jobs, after they get into a good college and do well no only academically but extracurricularly as well. I liked that she brought up that these kids aren’t brought up together to become a clique, but to be a support system. I think that’s probably why this organization actually works. Support systems help people attain things they wouldn’t think they could otherwise.

Goodwill good clothes, good prices, good idea....

Alex Meregaglia went first in our presentations on Tuesday. He just wanted to get it over with, but going first is a big deal.
Alex’s presentation of Goodwill was really good. He explained the background of Goodwill, and their services. He told us how we could help in “real life” as well as donating with our donor bucks. I personally thought he was very persuasive, and you could tell he knew his facts. He used an appeal to ethos with all of his stats, and an appeal to pathos with the success story. I also like that he picked Goodwill because it helps people in more ways than just giving them items. They help give job training, and skills to help them find jobs for themselves. Goodwill also sets their users up with job interviews if they need assistance finding a job to interview for too. Then of course all of the Good will stores that you can buy anything that may be needed for a low cost.
I think that the organization was strong to begin with, and Alex’s presentation made it even stronger.

I think I can, I think I can

Emerson believes that you become self sufficient and successful when you become self- trusted. His ideas are that when you believe in yourself, and think that you can do something, you will be able to attain it. If you think about failure you will fail, but if you think about what you know you can do, and what you are capable of, you are more likely to succeed at more things than before. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who will? Of course there is always someone who cares about you, but does that person who cares also believe in you? Does the fact that they care mean that they automatically believe in you. With Emerson’s ideas, this doesn’t matter. You don’t have to rely on others to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself.

I do agree with Emerson and his idea of self- trust. I think that there isn’t always going to be someone there for you, and you have to help yourself and have faith that you will succeed. I think that believing that you can do it is a big part of succeeding. I also think that just doing this isn’t enough. Its not this easy to just believe and you succeed. It all still boils down to luck and timing and what you are capable of. The believing in yourself just gives you an advantage at finding those moments and getting the timing right.

Noble of Indiana

Noble of Indiana is a non-profit organization that provides people with developmental disabilities with training and eventually jobs, to make them successful and contributing members of society.
They also help children with disabilities and their families with therapy sessions.

Approximately 400 people with disabilities work in the community through our School-to-Work and employment services.
Individuals hired through Supported Employment average 3½ years in their jobs.
We partner with over 150 organizations and employers to open opportunities for people with disabilities.>
- noble website

Noble helps children with mental disabilities, by teaching them with new innovative ways that help children with developmental delays. They also help inform the parents as to what is going on with their children and how to help.
Noble of Indiana partners with Noble Industries, to create jobs for the developmentally disabled people who have now been trained in a job. Noble also sets about adult days, where developmentally disabled adults come and go to classes that teach them skills that will help them in the world.

Isn't it dead yet?

The only way to really bury a myth is to expose it to everyone. You have to prove that it is only a myth to everyone. As long as one person believes it, it is still alive. Dalton talks about the four messages that Alger sends in his writings. Two of the four are relating to race. Alger says that even if you are black, you can just push passed that, and that there are no racial differences. He writes that there are no racial issues to really overcome, and that even if there were, you can just pull yourself up by the bootstraps and everything will be ok.
The way a myth is challenged is by people who know the reality and having them tell personal experiences to debunk the rumor. The only way to get rid of the idea is to prove it wrong. Its like the TV show Myth Busters. They find random myths and then they test them to either prove or disprove them. The way that you test a myth like Alger’s is to try to live like he says you can, and see where that gets you. Obviously its not going to get you anywhere, and when more and more people prove it wrong, the credibility of the myth declines. It is robbed of its mythical power once people start to realize that it is only a dream and a rumor. It can’t really happen, and they can’t live like that and expect great things to happen. They end the myth by living according to reality, and not the myth.

Anyyyyyy minute now I'll be rich

In Ragged Dick the image that the author portrays is false in its entirety. He basically tells everyone that if they just work hard at whatever they do, eventually something will randomly happen to them and they will become rich. This, however is not true. That does not happen. If you work hard and work your way up the ladder, you can become successful and maybe become rich. Just working hard doesn’t get you there. You have to have some luck and talent.

The author says that if you just stay in your own little place in the world something will find you. This is not true, because usually opportunities don’t find you, you have to go and find them. It’s not likely that you are going to end up on a ferry where a little kid falls over the edge, his father can’t swim, and you happen to be an expert swimmer. You jump over the edge and save the kid, who’s father happens to be a very rich man, and in return gives you a job, the very same kind of job you were wanting to get. He also pays you three times more than what you could get somewhere else.

Things like that just don’t happen. Sometimes, a random event could occur, but the likeliness is as small as the littlest doll in a Russian nesting doll set. I find this piece annoying because, I’m sure the author knew as he wrote it, that it was no where near reality. People are also naïve enough to believe him, and it’s people like that that end up poverty stricken, because they are just waiting for something to happen.