Finger 20

To avoid economic stagnation faced by nations like Japan, John Cassidy, who is an esteemed economist journalist, suggests that the US should print money and hand it out to it's citizens. He argues this radical viewpoint with logical reasoning and analogies to convince the reader that his unorthodox idea is the best solution. "helicopter drops, or their electronic equivalent, could provide the Japanese government with a way to lift its economy out of a decade-long slump." (Cassidy 2). Money would be injected into the economy, and activity would explode, leading to a stronger and healthier economy. This idea, at least to many people, would have the opposite effect, but Cassidy uses facts and logic like this to prove them wrong. The economic issue can be solved by printing money, and this story shows the side of one that far too many people neglect. This devil's advocate is not totally out of his mind, and offers the insightful perspective of the opposing design. The author also uses analogies to strike fear into the hearts of the reader. When reading about Japan, the reader will most certainly not want the United States to experience the economic stagnation that they are subject too, so the reader may consider actively trying new and innovative economic methods. The author was overall quite successful. I went in strongly against this idea, not for any good reason that he did not disprove in the text. The convincing nature of the article makes you want to sink in and accept the unique idea instead of utterly rejecting it out of closed minded fear. By opening the perspective of the reader, he has completed his cause. The author never wanted to hand out thousand of dollars, but wanted to find a better medium in between what our current system is. This method can truly revitalize the economy.

Finger #19

With the elections coming up and all, I had the undeniable joy of listening to countless arguments on presidential candidates. To escape this political frustration, I turned to one thing that I beilived to be a safe space- Buzz Feed. Hoping to find another article about 'Sephora hacks' or '10 things we love about Leonardo Dicarpio', I was sadly greeted by yet another Trump article. However, this article was anything but ordinary. 

A filmmaker, no- visionary, had created a spoof of Donald Trump in which he flawlessly placed Trump within sense of Game Of Thrones. Within the video, they have Donald Trump saying quotes with the characters of Game of Thrones reacting to it as if they were indeed having a conversation. 

This video is indeed successful in highlighting the absurdness of Trump was saying by playing off his words and invoking humor.  For example, at one point they placed Trumps head onto a king, and inserted Trump saying his big speal on building a wall. The cast looks at him in utter disbelief- and shows the ridiculousness of what he’s saying.

In addition, they only place trump as characters were are antagonist within the plot series. From greedy kings to medieval terrorist- these comparisons make the Donald seem corrupt and downright diabolical.

All and all, I am thoroughly in satisfied in everything this video had to offer. It may not have been informative, but I guarantee that it will become hUGE as an internet phenomena.

PLEASE WATCH IT 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lGH_DvtBEM

TOW #17

IIn “Black Guy Asks Nation For Change” from the Onion, the author uses a humorous homonym and an obvious understatement in order to ridicule Americans that do not pay attention to politics by satirizing people’s view of Obama’s campaign.
     The most blatantly obvious and funniest strategy used to satirize is how the author takes advantage of the multiple meanings of the word “change.” An integral part of Obama’s campaign, here the word means “the act or instance of making or becoming different,” whereas in the Onion article the author uses the sense of the word that means “coins as opposed to paper currency.” The way the author takes advantage of this homonym allows him to make the article humorous and funny by making fun of the Americans that do not pay attention to politics and therefore do not understand Obama’s campaign.
     The author of “Black Guy Asks Nation For Change” also implements an understatement in order to mock those that do not pay attention to the news and politics. As seen in the title of the article, the author repeatedly calls Obama “the black guy” and “the black man.” This understatement exemplifies how out of the loop and blatantly ignorant some Americans are, since they do not even know who Obama is. By satirizing this ignorantness, the author achieves the effects of humor and therefore exposes the absurdity of those who do not know what is going on in the world.