Sarcastic Irony

After reading the article by, Stephen Henderson many things came to my mind. One of them being "why would the Detroit authorities pick on a small, homely, down to earth family like the Quades when there is "real" crime in downtown Detroit?" However, it wasnt until I read the comments of the readers before me that I realized a dominant literary devise in the articles. Upon reading and rereading the article and the comments below it, I concluded that the devise most prevalant was irony with a smart twist of sarcasm thrown in.

The first hint at sarcasm comes from this quote, "It wasn't, and the trash was picked up on time. But their can wound up sitting curbside for more than 24 hours because of the confusion.
The nerve! It was time to crack down." This made me chuckle, but the next part is what really got me on the floor struggling to catch my breath. "In violation of 22-2-45 of Chapter 22" of the city code, scolded the ticket left in the Quades' mailbox by the Department of Environmental Affairs bureaucrat. "Violation of time limit for container to remain at curb." After regaining consciousness from laughter I continued reading only to find that it seems empty garbage cans are more of a threat to the city and enviroment then crazy people running around with guns selling drugs, not to mention the endless mounds of "real" trash that outline the city. So, if it's a one hundred dollar fine to accidentally leave an empty can outside for a day, then I wonder what the fine is for causing thousands of dollars in damage to public buildings and the environment. What about the murderers and drug dealers on the loose? It appears all that happens to them is to get their name in the paper along with a picture (that was probably their goal in the first place).

As for the ironic part, maybe some of these quotes will get people thinking, "Shouldn't the city be working on the real problems in the neighborhood, like taking out the burned-out heaps, rather than hassling responsible home owners with tickets for their garbage cans?" "When I went out to see the Quades at their home last Wednesday, I found their block lined with empty trash cans sitting by the curb. I thought maybe it was garbage day, but Waldemar Quade reminded me that Monday was pick-up day. So what gives?" "Even more strangeness: Last Wednesday, when I visited the Quades, the neighborhood was crawling with city workers: tree trimmers, cutting back branches all over the place, even around the burned-out houses and garbage-strewn lots." If those quotes do not get you wondering what's going on over there, then its time to sit down and take a reality check. Hello!!!, City authorities are picking on the wrong people. This is obviously the message that Henderson is trying to make known. His use of sarcasm and irony strengthen his message because it puts things in black and white. The article makes clear what the city is doing wrong and not only mocks it with irony, but uses sarcasm to show what they should be doing. It's like the police are scared to go and clean up downtown Detroit. It would be wise to get it together soon before it gets any worse and after all, they are the ones with the uniform right? I'm sure there are plenty of people to fine there for illegal garbage can placement. It would be horrible to think that our city's defenders are scared of protecting their own people.

With all the things talked about, one should be able to conclude that Stephen Henderson believes that the authorities in Detroit are cracking down on the wrong people, and the real trouble makers are hardly getting a taste of what they deserve. It should also be recognized that in order to show these things Henderson make excellent use of the two literary tools of sarcasm and irony. Hopefully his writing has had an impact on people in high places, because it has on me.

The Law Written Inside Us

In life there are things we learn and things we seem to just know. One of those things we seem to just no is that "lying is bad". Lying shows poor character and will cause others around you to lose trust in you and think lowly of you. Lying may get you out of temporary trouble, but in the end it could kill you or cost you your career. This seems to be the problem that Kym Worthy is trying to make, that Kwame is one of these people.

This quote contains good examples of logos and pathos. "Even children understand that lying is wrong. If a witness lies, innocent people can go to jail or prison, people can literally get away with murder, civil litigants who deserve money may not get it or may get money they don’t deserve. And lying cannot be tolerated even if a judge or jury sees through it. We ask witnesses to come in and risk their lives in drive-by shooting cases and then return to the neighborhoods they came from; we ask witnesses to testify against multi-national corporations; we ask witnesses to do all kinds of things to support our cases. How can we look another witness in the eye and ask them to come in and do these things if we do not follow the law for witnesses who lie under oath – even if they are parties to lawsuits – and demand that these witnesses follow the law and give truthful testimony?"

The logos part of this quote should be fairly obvious, lying is bad and that "Even children understand that lying is wrong." If Kwame would have just told the truth at least he wouldn't have been known as a lier on top of everything else. Unfortunatly, he did what most people do, lie and hope it goes away. Sadly, that's not how it works here on the planet earth, here; you pay for your actions and accept the consequences for those actions. Like the logos portion, the pathos part stands out as well, "If a witness lies, innocent people can go to jail or prison, people can literally get away with murder, and civil litigants who deserve money may not get it or may get money they don’t deserve. And lying cannot be tolerated even if a judge or jury sees through it.
We ask witnesses to come in and risk their lives in drive-by shooting cases and then return to the neighborhoods they came from; we ask witnesses to testify against multi-national corporations; we ask witnesses to do all kinds of things to support our cases." Most of this quote appeals to pathos. Kym reaches out to the audience and touches them by stating that when people lie is causes pain and suffering in another innocent person's life. She also talks about how wittnesses can be put in danger with lies. The point she is trying to make is that in all cases, for the good of all people and if you have any character or morality whatsoever, tell the truth, you might just take an innocent person off the list of suspects.

Crazy Kwame

The two rhetorical stratgies most prevalent in Mr. Kilpatrick's speech were definatly pathos and diction. He begins by addressing the issue in which threats are being made to him and to his family. It seems like he's playing the old "You can take me , but don't hurt my family" trick. This sneaky use of pathos pulls people away from all the bad he has actually done. Its like he's making the people the bad guys even though he's the reason people are even saying these threatening things in the first place. "I've heard these words before but I've never heard people say them about my wife and children." This line right here is key to his distraction. By saying this people forget what the real problem at hand is and he can then use their own guilt against them. This is just another attempt at wriggling out of the major issue and bringing up another.

The other strategy that pops up in his speech is diction. The best example, also used by my fellow blogger (Mena) is his use of the words "I humbly ask" (By the way Mena, he uses this phrase six not five times). Again, this strategy is used to his advantage by shifting the blame for all the problems from him, to the people. He may have even done this on accident or it may have been on purpose, but either way it leads people astray and makes innocent people look mean. The point trying to be made here is that Kwame needs to first worry about what he did to the people of Detroit before he worryies about what the people of Detroit are going to do with him.

Who says that?

This article by Larry Elder is mostly about the liberal's extreme hate of conservatives, particularly, the current president. Larry has a conversation with a very interesting individual about some of the things the president "did". The man was convinced that Bush was the mastermind behind 9/11 and that he did it to kill black people. What the man didn't know, was that most of people killed were white. However, he refused to give up and rambled on that "They were in the way." The man clearly did not know what he was talking about.


I believe the main point that Larry is trying to get at here is that liberals (no offence) express extreme hatred to conservatives. They gave Saddam Hussein a higher rating than Bush on the "temperature scale". I agree with Larry that liberals, at least in this case show some ruthless hatred towards conservatives. It is hard to believe that some of these people actually believe the president is out to get them and is a mass murderer. Well, at least Larry can defend himself, and he does a pretty good job at it too.

One of the most noticeable ways that he mocks liberals is by throwing out their own comebacks before they even say them. He even shows why it's wrong with proof, so they can't even use it against him. "Explain to me why people like Bush and Cheney run for public office in order to commit murder." "Because that's what they do." "For what reason? To get rich?" I asked. "They already were." I found this quit amusing, this guy obviously didn't know what he was talking about and Larry made that crystal clear. He puts out the liberal's excuse and shoots it down before the guy even has a chance to defend it, that's skill, and for on the spot thinking, impressive. Not only did he shoot down the question, he made the guy look like a complete idiot because he didn't have any proof. He never gave one example with adequate evidence. "How do you get up in the morning thinking that somebody in Washington, D.C., wants to murder you?" He couldn't even answer that question, so how could he possibly know what he's talking about? Basically, the guy was talking out of opinion and decided since he didn't like Bush, he was going to blame the end of the world on him. Larry Elder is truly quite skillful in the art of "they say" "I say".

Comics

The comic strip I chose is one from the FoxTrot series, authored by Bill Amend. This comic portrays a young boy trying to teach his pet iguana how to download music using BitTorrent, which is a download provider. His older brother warns him of the danger of downloading music illegally but the young boy believes he has an idea that will work. Since the iguana isn't a real person, he will teach it to download the music for him. He believes he cant be sued because, "who would sue and iguana?" The next slide shows a recording association executive delaying his appointment with a doctor because he sees someone is downloading music illegally.



The message here seems quite obvious. It is showing that the recording industry doesn't support illegal music downloads and will punish people for trying to do so. The young boy foolishly believes that as long as he isn't downloading the music himself, he can't get in trouble for it. The truth of the matter is, the recording industry doesn't care who downloads the music, if they find out it came from your computer, they may choose to sue you regardless of who you are. The comic shows this by having the recording executive concerned over noticing that someone is downloading Metallica. To further prove that this concerns the industry, the executive has his psychiatrist put on hold just to track this download.



Downloading music illegally is risky and should be avoided at all costs. I personally know people who have been caught and have been lucky enough not to get sued, but let off with a warning. Remember if you get caught, they aren't just going to sew you, they are going to sue your whole family partially because they are your parents and you are under their care. Also, unfortunaly, you wont be able blame it on your dog either. In the words of P.B. "Don't be a rascal"

Marion Jones: The needle, the Lying Done By: Mitch Albom

In this article, Mitch Albom discusses the negative effect that steroid use can have on your life, especially if you are a professional athlete. Marion James just admitted to steroid use and had all her Olympic Medals taken away and is banned from all track and field games. She will now be serving six months in jail despite her plea to the judge for mercy. Mitch discusses the difference between Jones and the other athletes who get caught. Jones openly admitted to it and confessed while other professional athletes tend to fight it all the way to the end, and still lose. Roger Clemens. "The star pitcher was screaming his innocence all last week, despite charges in the Mitchell Report that he was injected with steroids numerous times by his personal trainer, Brian McNamee." Mitch points out that this guy can scream and cry all he wants, that deosn't change the fact that he was being injected with some kind of substance, most likely steroids. Hopefully we can all learn a valuable lesson, at least athletes can, that steroids aren't worth it, and that you can only cheat yourself by using them.



I agree with Mitch completely on this matter. Steroids not only cause other athletes to look down on you, they also have side effects and long term results that are bad for your health. Part of the thrill of competitive sports is for it to be a challenge, a time for you to reach deep inside yourself and give even more when you have nothing else to give. Using steroids totally does away with that challenge and though you may excel faster, its not really you, and if anyone ever finds out, you will go down as just another cheater and will eventually be forgotten. If you have trouble believing this, just look at all the athletes who have used them and have completely ruined their careers and popularity. It's a no win situation, and one that you cannot recover from if you happen to make the wrong choice.



This article could easily be altered to address a high school football team. In high school, kids tend to get more obsessed with athletics and will do anything to get to the top. Sadly some even resort to steroids. One thing about this column I would change, would be to show more of the health effects of steroids. Mitch does a good job showing the financial and moral effects, but I would also cover some health issues. High school kids, especially football players want to get bigger. As I'm writing this I can still hear our high school coach yelling at us to get in the weight room, and "get huge." However, our team knows that our coach does not mean to use steroids, but to merely get in the weight room and to push yourself. Kids today want everything fast, and they think taking steroids will give them muscles fast. This is somewhat true, however, they will also receive multiple health risks, and most kids will look down on these athletes (cheaters). I would also go into more details about how these people who have done them feel afterwards. Almost all of them regret it and if given another chance would have never done it. After covering these topics I would encourage kids to eat healthy and if they feel they have to do some kind of supplement, to just take vitamins. Eating the correct combination of foods and minerals can give you natural results, and you will be better for it. Finally, I would end it with some kind of catchy saying, like the one used by our coach, "Now go get huge".

Christmas Cartoon

The point of this holiday cartoon is to show that Christmas has become something it was never meant to be. It has become just another big week of shopping and sales. People today seem to neglect the true meaning of Christmas; they should be giving thanks to God for sending His Son instead of looking for the next sale sign. However, in this cartoon it is hard to say if the artist is a Christian or not, but at least they acknowledge the fact that something is missing. The artist is trying to saying that there should be more focus on the family in the whole Christmas season and that getting gifts for people is not the proper method of showing how much you love them. With this being said, I completely agree with the artist. People are forgetting what Christmas is all about and really need to sit down and think about it.

There are many visual elements that support the artist's point. However, there are two elements that stick out the most, the lady who is shopping, and all the sale signs that surround her. The sale signs support the artist's point because it's exactly the kind of thing that he or she is speaking out against. It shows that the lady has been drawn to the store because she sees all the sale signs and is looking for a good gift for someone. People see the signs and think they are getting a deal, but few are actually smart or care enough to notice that they are not. This leads to the next visual, the lady herself. She is loaded with presents and has already whipped out her visa card to make the next purchase. She is the perfect example of the typical Christmas shopper, thinking that she has to buy that sweeter because if she doesn't get a gift for everyone someone is going to be angry. Again this shows that there is something wrong with people's view of Christmas. If your going to get upset because someone didn't get you a gift for christmas, then your spoiled and don't deserve one anyway. All this things agree with the artist's purpose for making this cartoon. CHRISTmas doesn't come from a store, CHRISTmas means more, much more.