Smokey the Kind vs Smokey the Vengeful

We all know what happens when we are going camping with the family over the upcoming weekend, Smokey the Bear appears all over our television screens to remind us to be cautious. Whether or not we pay attention to this ad doesn't matter much when our small camp fire bursts into a raging inferno that spreads faster than the thought of Smokey the Bear appearing at your side to say "I told you so." How Smokey dishes out these consequences is not as clear as his original message which leaves imagination to fill in the gaps.

Shown above is a twisted version of a Smokey the Bear ad. This may have come from the mind of some paranoid teenager that accidentally started a fire once, or it comes from the mind of an ad artist trying to appeal to the emotions of a viewer. Two major emotions can truly be deriven from the ad itself, the first of which can be noted as sympathy. The viewer may see this as an equivalent punishment due to the forest being Smokey's home. This would probably be the typical reaction if Smokey were not put into a violent twist of a character. The sympathetic emotion comes from Smokey's original character, the caring one. With the twist of credibility, noting the viewer's original take on Smokey's image, the emotion coming from the ad is a vengeful one. A once sympathetic viewer now see's Smokey as a type of mercenary. He no longer asks politely but instead decides to take matters into his own hands. With the cigar lit and gasoline container in hand, Smokey now walks a way with a more content state of mind when he would normally walk away in disappointment from a burning forest. Although the ad is slightly humorous, it speaks with a sense of reality while appealing to the emotions (pathos) of the reader and the credibility (ethos) of Smokey the Bear.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publishing.

Editorial Cartoons: Funny or Serious? Or Seriously funny?

Many times in a government based class, a teacher will present a cartoon. The cartoon has familiar faces and familiar places, however, some aspects of the cartoon seem foreign. While one can't help but laugh at the skewed and sometimes bulbous depictions of out country's leaders, when we read the text underlining the cartoon, unique thoughts fill every individual's mind. For example, when analyzing a cartoon of a snail racing to put out the fuse of a bomb, no immediate reactions come through our mind. When introduced with names, things tend to make a little more sense. Written on the snail is the word "Congress" and written on the bomb are the words "Tax Cuts Expire Dec 31." Above the snail, a thought bubble appears that ties the entire situation together. "Now for my famous burst of speed." emits from the snail's thoughts and the time to decide on an emotion has come. Whether or not we decide to chuckle or fully bellow out a bold laugh tells how serious we take this comic. Sure, everyone knows Congress is much like a snail in the fact they take forever to act. The main point of perception, however, comes from the word "famous." Does Congress actually know how slow it is yet places the sarcastic "famous burst of speed" into their arsenal of reassurance? Is Congress in such an arrogant, oblivious state that they fail to recognize their people's true outlook on their speed? Either way, the fact of Congress being notoriously slow brings a grin to any reader's face. I personally love the brutal statements that are made within editorials because they are practically visual euphemisms, yet no one argues the fact.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publication

Attached is the URL to the cartoon I analyzed.
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/gfo/lowres/gfon637l.jpg

Daily Examples of Rhetoric

Everyday students like myself are influenced on many levels. How we see each piece of persuasion or if we see it at all really doesn't come to mind often, yet it plays a huge role in daily decisions. Being a college student at a major university, I feel as though I have a larger list of things that can affect my choices. For example, the 2012 election campaigns have started swiftly this year and are being displayed in many different forms. Of course campaigns are intended to make us think about the election decision, but when I see certain claims being made about different pieces of our society, I tend to look in retrospect to analyze my own decisions. This appeal to the logos portion of rhetoric persuasion is abundant, yet rarely recognized. I myself seem to be most vulnerable to ads or pieces pertaining to the ethos portion of rhetoric. Since I grew up in a small town where hospitality reigned and moral values were heavily taught, I sincerely care about the actions and feeling of the people around me. When I see an ad of how a certain activity is affecting others, I tend to react on a personal level. The fact that I was always taught how to respect other's emotions and reactions makes me more vulnerable to these styles of persuasion. It doesn't necessarily change my outlook completely but it may alter a particular way I respond to a situation. Long story short, rhetoric studies are in use all around us but it just takes a little extra motivation to notice it.

This is CJ Perkins and I approve this publishing.