President Donald Trump (left) with former president, Barack Obama (right) Author: Tina Nguyen
Date of Publication: October 17, 2017 Category: Politics Tina Nguyen described President Trump’s decision to initiate a bill (Murray-Alexander bill) that undoes his original executive order, which would have terminated subsidies given to insurance companies. These two occurrences happened recently, during a time when the fate of Obamacare was in great question. The fears of many low-income Americans, who cannot afford insurance, came true on Friday when reports came out on the removal of the subsidies. Just three days later, Monday morning, Trump requested that Republican Senator, Lamar Alexander, and his Democratic partner, Patty Murray, add funding in their bill for the reduction subsidies he had just ended. Nguyen wrote this piece to inform Americans, especially low-income Americans who can potentially be affected by this bill, and to stress the lack of knowledge President Trump has on Obamacare, or politics in general. Nguyen primarily utilized formal diction with elegant and polysyllabic words. For example, she did not include contractions unless she was quoting somebody else. She also used specific words, such as “ricochet” instead of “bounce off” or “hyperbolic” instead of “exaggerated.” Polysyllabic words such as “brinkmanship” and “bipartisan” reflect the formality of the piece as well. Her choice in words mirrors one of the purposes of this article, which is to inform. Informative pieces typically focus on important topics, like this one, which focuses on a political matter. Nguyen’s strong choice of words showed that she did not respect the president’s actions concerning Obamacare; the tone of this passage was condescending, which showed her dislike for Trump. She shared her opinion on President Trump’s governance and connected it to his recent decisions, claiming that it “seems to ricochet between brinkmanship, indecision, and ignorance—and his recent two-pronged attack on Obamacare is no exception.” By choosing the words “brinkmanship, indecision, and ignorance,” the author displayed a slight emotional attachment to the subject because it mirrored what seems like, frustration or bitterness towards Trump’s actions while in office. The part that said “seems to ricochet between..” underlined the condescending tone of the passage because it felt like she was poking fun at all of the negative aspects of Trump’s governance. Nguyen also inserted sarcasm into her article stating, “Trump's 180-degree flip seemed remarkable.” Choosing “seemed remarkable” to describe Trump’s decision change sounded like she was not impressed, which induced a sarcastic vibe to the statement - further reflecting the condescending tone of the passage. Nguyen also utilized sarcasm at the end of the article saying, “Nevertheless,Trump gave the bill—which would reinstate the subsidies for two years—his blessing.” The dash, followed by the “his blessing” was placed to mock the president, who made an order that could have caused suffering to many, just to take it back as if it were a gift. These sarcastic hints were also key to reveal Nguyen’s bitterness towards Trump and this bill. In addition to the strong, formal diction, Nguyen appealed to logos and ethos, and applied complex syntactical techniques, to support her message. Nguyen appealed to logos in the article through the quotes by Mick Mulvaney, Lamar Alexander, and Donald Trump. She also used direct reports from Politico, and included information on the background (the previous executive order) and the process of the development of the bill. All of these factual excerpts appealed to logos. One way that Nguyen appealed to ethos in the article was by noting that Mick Mulvaney, the person giving information on whether the president would consider reinstating the payments he initially took from insurance companies, was Trump’s budget director. Mentioning that Mulvaney worked close with Trump made whatever he had to say credible. Another way that Nguyen appealed to ethos is by noting that Lamar Alexander was a republican senator and that Patty Murray was his democratic partner to make the points about their influence on the making of this bill credible, since they are politicians. The logos was beneficial in demonstrating Nguyen’s knowledge on the subject, and the ethos was beneficial in demonstrating the credibility of the sources and the information provided in the passage - two vital factors in presenting news. The author used many commas throughout the piece as a syntactical technique. For example, when explaining the events that had caused Trump’s original executive order, Nguyen stated, “But Politico reported Monday evening that the very next day, Trump called Republican Senator Lamar Alexander to request that he and Patty Murray, his Democratic partner, include funding in their bipartisan bill for the cost-sharing reduction subsidies he had just cut off.” Nguyen placed long sentences with multiple commas, like this one, to add details to the point being made, which further demonstrated her depth in knowledge. Dashes were also visible throughout the piece as a syntactical technique. For example, Nguyen sarcastically spoke good about the new bill, stating “Nevertheless, Trump gave the bill—which would reinstate the subsidies for two years—his blessing.” She placed sentences with dashes, like this one, to also add additional information to the sentence and to allow slight pauses in the passage to take place. The purpose of this piece is to share the news about the Murray-Alexander bill, and to highlight the type of office Donald Trump is running. One of the opening sentences in the article which read, “Last week, the president announced that he would be ending subsidies to insurance companies that help low-income Americans afford insurance, plunging millions of Americans into uncertainty regarding their health coverage,” explained how the creation of Trump’s new bill started. By including “plunging millions of Americans,” the author was able to emphasize to the audience how significant this matter is. The title of the article, “Does Trump Have Any Idea What’s Going on with Obamacare?” greatly reflected the criticism Nguyen has for Trump’s knowledge on Obamacare. She further challenged his logic when talking about Trump’s declaration of Obamacare as“dead” by noting that “the Murray-Alexander bill is explicitly designed to stabilize the program [Obamacare].” This contradiction, as well as the other digs at the president in the passage was used to get the audience to think about whether or not Trump is truly capable of carrying out his presidential duties. The overall goal of this article is to encourage Americans to pay attention to our politics and to our government. The erratic behavior of Trump and the evident lack of knowledge on Obamacare, displayed this past week, is the behavior that we allow in our government - the government that has an enormous influence on the functioning of our country. Revealing flaws in our government can induce further discussions, and further measures to help improve it.
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Cardi B at the 2017 BET Awards Author: Kenzie Bryant Date of Publication: September 29, 2017 Category: Celebrity Popular culture has such an immense impact on our society, so I decided to focus my first blog post on a significant achievement made in the entertainment industry: Cardi B has become the first solo female rapper to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in nearly two decades. Kenzie Bryant describes this accomplishment to musical audiences of all genres in order to emphasize its importance as a historic breakthrough. Rap artists, specifically female rap artists, have not been able to obtain this number one spot for years. Controversy surrounding the “unfair” appreciation for female rap artists has unraveled and lingered for a long time. Cardi B’s success with her hit single, “Bodak Yellow,” has eased these debates.
Kenzie Bryant uses informal diction in the article to help create a casual and reverent tone. Standard language and vocabulary, such as “little” as opposed to “minuscule,” or “good” as opposed to “exceptional” were visible throughout the piece. Many contractions, such as “it’s” and “aren’t” were substantially visible as well. These generic words and contractions elevated the casualness of the article because the language was not complex or elegant, and was easy to read. The article was written in a way where it felt like it could have been a discussion, which also greatly mirrored this tone. Bryant honored Cardi B’s achievement and evidently had respect for her, which induced a reverent tone. She added comments such as “Cardi B bested them all,” “One Bronxite to rule them all,” or “The rush to welcome Ms. B to the club of female all-stars was, well, swift. As it should be,” to show her admiration for the artist. Bryant did not have a profound emotional attachment to the subject, for her primary job was to simply cover the story; however, hints of pleasure or satisfaction due to the news was apparent. These feelings were revealed when she stated, “And, finally, something got "Despacito" out of all our heads.” Including the “finally” in the statement showed that Bryant was relieved that the attention surrounding Luis Fonsi’s chart-topping hit, “Despacito,” was dying down. Bryant utilizes multiple rhetorical devices in the article to better convey her message. Appeals to logos and ethos were used hand in hand throughout the piece. For example, when discussing how Taylor Swift, the former number one spot holder, sent Cardi B flowers for dethroning her (logos), Bryant inserted a photo of Cardi holding the bouquet these flowers from her Instagram (ethos). Bryant also mentioned that other female rappers, including Missy Elliott and Nicki Minaj congratulated her (logos), which was reassured through a photo of Cardi B confirming this on her twitter (ethos). Proving that Cardi B was receiving praise from other respectable artists reflects the significance of this accomplishment. Metaphors were also utilized in the article. Bryant included a metaphor which compared a “warbling dove exploring her dark side” to Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift’s newest single,“Look What You Made Me Do,” was considered her way of showing the world her edgier side. Bryant used this metaphor to demonstrate this new phase in Taylor’s musical career and to show its connection to her record-breaking single - the same single Cardi was able to knock off the top of Billboard. This metaphor was able to further validate Cardi’s achievement. Hyperboles were also spotted in the article. When thanking Cardi B for stealing the spotlight from Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito,” Bryant added, “There aren’t enough flowers in the world to thank a person for that service.” The author was implying that there was widespread, long-lasting popularity surrounding “Despacito” through the use of this hyperbole. Stressing the song’s dominance in music allows the reader to see how important the news about Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow” is. The success of a single from a solo female rapper, like that of Cardi B’s, has not been seen from an artist since Lauryn Hill in 1998. This ground-breaking record has stunned many, which has prompted the creation of this article. The purpose of Kenzie Bryant’s piece was to explain and demonstrate the impact of Cardi B’s single “Bodak Yellow.” This was directly expressed in the beginning of the article when the author announced the news of the single reaching number one on Billboard, calling it a “historic coup.” Bryant mentioning all of the praise and the support Cardi was receiving because of her success underlined the purpose as well. Artists, such as Taylor Swift, Missy Elliot, and Nicki Minaj -all prestigious veterans in the industry- congratulated an artist who was considered a rookie. By including the stunning effects of “Bodak Yellow” on the charts and the remarkable reactions it has received from other respectable artists, the author was able to show how meaningful this song is to music. This news especially hits home to rap music, and the struggles females have faced to obtain their place in this genre. This article reassures hope to other female rap artists fighting to make their mark in the business. Encouraging the development of more female artists in a male-dominated industry can lead to increased diversity and gender equality. |
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