The People We Always Forget

For the third unit of Rhetoric, we learned how the use of language and ideas can unite people. Although this was an extremely short unit, we briefly analyzed different historical periods that follow this main idea. For this Action Project, we had to make an artistic piece that represents something that we feel strongly about. My partner and I decided to make a voice over of the CTA train announcer to make people realize both who is actually on the train, and how the city changes around them. It’s called ‘The Voices Of The Lost”. I produced the audio clip and my partner (AL) did most of the writing.

         

"The Voices Of The Lost", (2016) LS. 

Our main rhetorical appeal in this piece is pathos. Throughout the audio clip, the main focus was getting people to feel like they were on a train and then make them reflect upon the questions being asked. While not as obvious as pathos, ethos plays a large part in the piece as well. If some random person were to come up to people on the train an repeat what the piece is saying, it would not have the same effect. The fact that it comes from the intercom, a place they've always gotten factual information from, makes a larger impact.

When hearing this recording we want the listener to think about all the different people that struggle through life around the city. In the making of this piece, we are trying to unite those that are separated by race. If you look at any demographic map of the city, it is obvious that there is a strong divide between where the majority of the racial groups live in Chicago. Many of these segregated people may even feel that they live in a completely different city as those that have higher incomes. In most cases, people that live up north aren't even aware that segregation still happens in their city at such a high frequency. This is why that instead of attacking the people that simply are unaware, we aim to make them question themselves and not feel attacked. When I first recorded the speaking part, I thought it was too short. However, after recording more, I realized it just turned into what sounded like an infomercial. This is what prompted the shorter and more question filled version.

While this was made primarily with the idea of race in mind, it can also been interpreted as people ignoring the presence of homelessness on the CTA. Often, we don’t care to think that there are homeless people that live on these trains. When we do see them, we complain behind the safety of our computer screens about them sleeping on the seats of the train. One well known homeless person is Freddie the homeless man ("Forgotten"). He sleeps on the Redline all day until the beds at a shelter open up at night. There are 2,055 people that live on the street or public transportation and parks in 2015 (Rianne). 

While not necessarily inciting action, our hope is that after listening to our piece, people reflect upon their own thoughts and actions. We want people to want to get involved on their own accord, not because they got ideas shoved into their head.


Citations:

Coale, Rianne. "As Homeless Numbers Rise in Chicago, CTA Is a Place of Refuge | Transit Diaries." Redeyechicago.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

"The Forgotten Passengers." A Red Line Project Special Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

Donald Trump: The Rhetorical Challenger

For the second unit of Rhetoric, we investigated what it means for an idea or person to challenge the status quo. Throughout our internal and external investigations, we looked at many examples of current and historical figures and how they stood up to certain ideas or oppressive figures. For our Action Project, we were asked to choose a person that we thought was a rhetorical challenger. For my project, I chose Donald J Trump. While I do not support him in his candidacy for the President, I thought it would be beneficial to put on a new lens to see him in a way I hadn't before.

Rhetorical Response to Gun Control

In the first Unit of Rhetoric, we learned how to use and classify different rhetorical devices and appeals. We looked at many modern day and past examples as well as imagined situations to find the context, speaker, and audience. On our field experience to the history museum, we gained further knowledge on how ethos, pathos, and logos can be seen and applied in unique objects. For this action project, we were asked to respond to a political question rhetorically. My question was: How should the issue of gun control be handled in the US?

Script:
One of the longest debates in US politics is the issue of gun control. The premise of gun ownership dates all the way back to when the 2nd amendment was ratified in 1791. Even though this amendment was agreed on over 200 years ago, it’s still often used today as an argument to oppose the idea of stronger gun control in the US. However, some people fail to accept that the amount of violence since then has only gone up. While the US does have laws in place to try to prevent gun violence, it seems they are doing almost nothing. “From 1998 to 2008, about 96 million background checks for gun purchases were processed through the federal background check system. Of these, approximately 681,000 or about 1% were denied.” Just last year, 244 people on a terrorist watch list attempted to purchase a firearm. 223 of these attempts were successful. By these numbers, you’d think that going to buy a gun is just as easy as going to buy some milk. Not only are we handing out guns to former criminals, but now also people that the FBI recognizes as potential terrorists.It seems like just in the past few years, we’ve seen another civil war. Countless killings such as Sandy Hook, where many small children were killed, and the Orlando Massacre. The shooter in the Orlando massacre had previously been on a terrorist watch list, but had no problem purchasing guns when he wanted to kill tens of people. In order to prevent the meaningless and horrid murder that happen daily, we need laws that prevent all criminals and and potential terrorists from buying guns.