PAPER #3 ROUGH DRAFT

Kayla DiRoma
Dr. Sonia Begert
English 101
24 November 2015
Position Paper
Eighteenth Century B.C. was the first established date of death penalty laws in the Code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon, it then codified the death penalty for 25 different crimes. Britain influenced America’s kickoff of the death penalty more than any other country since the time when European settlers came into the new world they brought the practice of capital punishment. Does it actually make sense to kill people because they may deserve it since they killed people? Aren’t they on the death sentence for killing people in the first place, and killing is bad? The death penalty condescends itself for killing killers when they can just be kept in prison for all their lives instead with no chance of parole. There have been multiple cases of people being charged with the death penalty and even minutes before execution have been convicted of being wrongfully charged and turn out to be innocent, but also there have been cases where individuals have been found to be innocent AFTER the fact that they have already been executed. The death penalty should be abolished not only because of wrongful convictions but it is unjust and costly, and it undermines justice.
A piece written by Sean McElwee on the Huffington Post, he takes a position of the death penalty being abolished or not. Sean states, “The United States needs to 
abolish the death penalty. It’s archaic, costly, ineffective, and most importantly, unjust… The purpose of our criminal justice system is to deter crime, rehabilitate convicts, and incapacitate hardened criminals. Philosophically speaking, life in prison serves these functions better than the death penalty.” Just like Sean says, there are multiple valuable reasons the death penalty should be abolished. Some people believe that God created the death penalty because Genesis 9:6 says, “whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”Which is really just saying that if anyone kills a man, than it would be no other than to kill the killer. But also people say God also commanded “Thou shalt not kill.” Sean McElwee also gives another good point by saying, “However, while it brings no benefits, the death penalty does seriously undermine the criminal justice system for three reasons: racism, false incrimination, and revenge.” With supermax prisons escape is no longer a stable possibility. Death is final and life in prison creates for rehabilitation, it does not mean prisoners are getting away with anything by not getting the death sentence, they still will never see out of the prison gates just like people who have to get killed while in prison. 
140 countries have abolished the death penalty and there are 196 countries in the world if you do count Taiwan, but the United States does not so you can say there are 195 countries. The United States is related with 54 other countries which have a similar commitment to death  including Iraq, Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen and North Korea,that still today provides the death penalty in prisons. 

INCORPORATING SOURCES EFFECTIVELY

1. a.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-mcelwee/abolish-death-penalty_b_3557782.html

b.http://deathpenalty.org/section.php?id=13

c.https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/09/24/pope-francis-tells-congress-the-death-penalty-should-be-abolished/

2. A piece written by Sean McElwee on the Huffington Post, he takes a position of the death penalty being abolished or not. Sean states, “The United States needs to abolish the death penalty. It's archaic, costly, ineffective, and most importantly, unjust.” (Quotation from the Huffington Post online, no page number)

3. On the website Death Penalty Focus they have written 10 facts about working for alternatives to the death penalty. The writers state that there are many reasons that the death penalty should be abolished give examples of better and more effective ways of treating the prisoners. (Paraphrase from deathpenalty.org, no page numbers)

4.(From online, Washington Post, no page numbers)

According to Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church that was elected in March of 2013, told the congress and announced at a meeting that, “I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes.” Pope Francis has called for an eradication of the death penalty before and “spoke out strongly against capital punishment, calling the practice “inhumane” and “unacceptable” regardless of the crime.

Works Cited

Sean, McElwee “It’s Time to Abolish the Death Penalty” Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web 8 July 2013

“Death Penalty Focus: Facts” Death Penalty Focus : Facts n.d. Web 31 May 2013

Berman, Mark. "Pope Francis Tells Congress ‘every Life Is Sacred,’ Says the Death Penalty Should Be Abolished." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 24 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Comparing Our Articles With Spriggs'

When we compared our articles with Spriggs’ essay we all noticed that they all relate in a clear and explicit position that they stood by the whole time. They all had responses to what other people had said about the subject. Some of the differences were that an essay by Sophia A. McClennon was that she made general assumptions of information and didn’t have much specific evidence to support her statements in attempting to argue her position. There was a “straw man” appeal in one part of her text. In an article by Sean McElwee, he took a position on abolishing the death penalty. He had good examples of both sides but had a strong opinion on abolishing the sentence because he feels it is unjust. He used statistics and facts to help him have a strong position and to help us see how he feels. He used a lot of compares/contrasts to other Countries and how there have been a number of people in prison being proven to be killed by the death sentence but they turn out to be innocent. We noticed that the essays that were most compelling were the ones that effectively utilized other sources of information other than their own opinions, and the ethos of these articles were better established by those who did “their homework”.

pg. 100, #1-4

1. I can tell that the topic really does matter to Katherine Spriggs and she has convinced me that it does matter, she has said that with how much gas emissions is going on in the world if it keeps going like this then in 2030, there will be no glaciers left in the Glacier Park. The ways that she establishes the importance is by using facts and statistics and also by using sensitive material like how we could have no glaciers left in 15 years.
2. The counterarguments that Spriggs uses in her writing is bringing points that other people say. She argues that other people say that buying local can have a negative environmental effects and she believes that their arguments about that they add important qualifiers to supporting small local farms. She believes that buying local should really be focused on buying as much as possible from the local farmers. She also counter argues that critics have said that negative effects but Spriggs believes it comes with positive also, she says by selective shopping, the people of the U.S. could demonstrate to the world a new commitment to environmentalism.
3. One of the last parts of Spriggs’ essay I think works effectively on her position. She states what other people say about how buying locally is more expensive but the only thing that makes it a little more expensive is labor costs because it is way cheaper to pay for workers in third world countries and the fruits and veggies grown in our own state are better than having them shipped. She has her own position of it still being better to buy locally even though it is a tad bit more expensive, she has background information about it, and how local farms hire local workers and bring profits to small rural communities instead of immigrant laborers or having the food from third world countries.
4. The photos in her essay help you experience what it really looks like to see both views of buying locally and not buying locally, it helps you take your own position.

ANALYZE A SHORT PIECE OF WRITING

“It’s Time to Abolish the Death Penalty”

Americans are starting to argue about if the death penalty at prisons is just or unjust. Some people believe that “killers deserve to be killed” or other things like that but a Huffington Post writer named Sean McElwee believes the opposite. McElwee believes that the death penalty needs to be abolished.

McElwee states his own explicit position of the death penalty being abolished. He brings up the fact that one of the many countries that has abolished the death penalty is Germany and that their reason was because the crimes of Nazism and how the idea or the state putting people death is too much to countenance. Germany would not reinstate the death penalty because there would be an unjust sentence of there being Jewish and Germans and who gets the death penalty, there would be a widespread accusation of racial preference if the Jewish people got a death sentence and a German did not when they commit the same crime, he says “And yet, without fail, this is the case with America’s criminal justice system.” McElwee states that the problem matters because the death penalty is costly, ineffective, archaic and most importantly unjust. He does not only bring the point that it is bad but he does say that “I used to argue, when defending the death penalty , that if someone could show me a single instance of an innocent man being executed, I would concede. I knew that this would be tough. After all, most murder investigations end when the accused is killed by the state. But there is ample evidence that we have already killed an innocent man.” He has good reasons and also good evidence of his position of abolishing the death penalty. His reasons are that race is part of the problem of who gets the death penalty and who does not, there are instances of false incrimination, and that the death penalty undermines the very purpose of our criminal justice system.

Summary & Analysis of Video 11/12

Summary & Analysis of Drinking and Driving Video

The makers of the video clip about the two young girls who died in a drinking & driving collision used a heavy emotional appeal by using sad music in the video, including close family and friends to tell how great of people they were and how they had such a bright future. Also,by using an ethical appeal by adding in “The Murphy Sisters Foundation”that has been created about having a number for teens to call when they need a ride home and also donations send teens to a driver training safety school. By using an emotional and ethical appeal to the video it hits at home to feel sorry for what happened and also to feel glad that a great foundation has been made from the terrible incident.  

THINK ABOUT YOUR WRITING pg. 70

The English 101 paper that I just wrote takes a position in a way. My paper was about gender roles and I took a position about how big companies use gender roles in their advertisements and they obviously do it for a purpose. I don't think that it is a good idea for the companies to do that because it really does offend people and I don't think it is very professional. Gender roles have always been a big issue and with companies even contributing to the issue it really does make it a bigger problem.

Exercise on page 69

Since the video uses music, voice-overs, written words and images of singers and of Obama delivering the speech, it contributes to the power of the argument because it emphasizes the importance and power that all these different people have. "Yes, we can" is such a great phrase they use, the people are not acting as individuals and trying to contribute to the issue they are acting as a team and all putting their own ideas into one video. I think having all different people and words and also the speech from Obama himself is super powerful and it really made an impact on me seeing all different people coming together and representing someone.

Think about the genre

Times I've had to take a position in the last few days

• Telling someone to watch a show I like
• Who will win the football game
• Choosing to go out to eat with someone or eat at my house
• Positions on sexist situations

Other people's positions:

• Whether their clothes look good to themselves
• Whether it is okay to hit people
• Going early to class or sleeping in

Paper #2

Kayla DiRoma

Dr. Sonia Begert

English 101

3 August 2015

Gender Roles Textual Analysis

Gender roles have always been an ongoing and giant issue. “Men are from Mars and women are from Venus.” Obviously everyone knows that women and men are not from different planets, but it is said that the two genders are so entirely different in many ways that then they are from different planets. Women and men are both humans, they have a brain and a heart and they have hopes and dreams just alike. Women are seen in different ways in different cultures, their roles in the workforce, in the family and overall in the culture varies and it doesn’t help when companies big and small make the issue bigger by involving gender roles into their advertisements obviously by doing it for a reason. Feminists and even meninists are real and people have strong beliefs on how all genders should be treated, how they are treated and call to action when a gender is treated or seen in a way they personally do not agree with. Cleaning products, cooking utensils, home goods stores and beer are just a few advertisements that have been found to stereotype whether they are from last year or fifty years ago. The advertisements have a heavy appeal to ethos or trying to convince someone of character or credibility.

 Mr. Clean products released an advertisement that says “This Mother’s Day, Get Back To The Job That Really Matters.” While a little girl is pointing at a dirty spot on the window that the mother is cleaning. This advertisement is wanting people to buy the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser but it portrays a stereotypical role of women as being solely housewives. The woman on the ad has a cheerful smile on her face as she

is cleaning with the magic eraser, which makes it seem like she enjoys to clean and that is why she is smiling.  This advertisement is a persuasive appeal by using pathos to appeal to the audience’s sense of identity and self-interest. Mr. Clean appeals to a woman’s identity and self-interest by having a woman and her child in the ad and they are both cheerfully cleaning, it shouts out that women love to clean and even in the text Mr. Clean thinks that the “Job that really matters” for a woman is for her to clean. Going back to the words that is used to portray this cleaning product the ad is made essentially for Mother’s Day, a day for everyone in the house to even more than ever, remember to appreciate their mother, but Mr. Clean would rather point out that the only job that matters when looking at women is them being a housewife, i.e. cleaning and staying in the kitchen. This advertisement is intended for the audience of women, it shows a lady cleaning, is talking about mother’s day and says that the only job that matters for women is to clean.

An older advertisement that came out in 1961 was for a kitchen or cooking tool called a Kenwood Chef. This advertisement pins women as being housewives again, in big black letters the ad says “The Chef does everything but cook- that’s what wives are for!” The husband is being hugged from behind from the wife who is wearing a chef’s hat and they are smiling so happily with a Kenwood Chef sitting right in front of them. In the bottom corner the ad states “I’m giving my wife a Kenwood Chef.” When the word Kenwood is presented the K is huge and a man and wife are sitting on top of the letter arm in arm.  The ad targets married men and women, maybe the wife wants a break from cooking her husband meals all the time and

wanted a Kenwood Chef. The couple in the advertisement is white, and of course in this era being in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, American culture was portrayed as being white and middle class with the husbands working hard and the wives staying home, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or just being a housewife. Kenwood’s slogan primarily calls out the duty of the women being in the kitchen, having it say cooking is what wives are for. The purpose of this text is to appeal to men and women to buy the kitchen appliance that has so many different functions to help with cooking tasks. The main focus of the picture is the Kenwood Chef appliance that contrasts with the couple’s attire of them both wearing all black and the appliance is all white. The background of the picture is bland and really has no color so the couple and the Kenwood Chef really stand out from the boring and dirty background. By convincing their audience of having wives to cook for their husbands the Kenwood Chef is successful for using the words and picture because back then white men and women would see the advertisement and appeal to it by also being white and having the woman doing everything around the house and having the man be the suit and tie man he is, and go to work and come home to a warm home cooked meal by his wife, or if you are lucky enough by the Kenwood Chef.  This ad is practically saying that the Kenwood Chef can do really anything.

An advertisement made in 1952 from Schlitz a brewing company based in Wisconsin also has a stereotype of men and women. Like the last advertisement I talked about this ad is even older but it still has to do with the stereotyping of not only men and women but also white and other races. In this ad, there is a man and his wife in the kitchen, the woman has a burning pot in her hands with scorching black smoke coming out of it and she is wiping her eyes from crying and feeling bad about burning her homemade dinner. The dinner table is set for two with two empty plates and empty glasses, but the only thing that is not empty on the table is a bright red plate with two Schlitz beers sitting on top of it proudly. In bold black text underneath the picture it reads “Anyway, you didn’t burn the Schlitz!” Which implies that the woman is upset and feels bad for burning the food but the husband lets it slide since, she didn’t end up burning the great American beer. In fine print under the bold print it writes “There’s hope for any young bride who knows her man well enough to serve him Schlitz Beer. For what man (or woman) can resist the taste of Schlitz Beer.” The reference to woman who cannot resist the taste of the beer either, is in parenthesis unlike the reference to the man which is not. This advertisement is calling out to men and also women, and in different ways. It calls to woman by saying that there is hope for any young bride, which is saying if you want your marriage to last then you need to make sure to get your man Schlitz Beer. The ad is directed to men because the men are not in the parenthesis like the woman are, because “what man (or woman) can resist the taste of Schlitz Beer.” By doing this is shows that women are not of equal status than men. When the ad states there is having hope for a young bride to ‘serve’ her husband Schlitz Beer it then again brings woman down to a different level than men. Schlitz uses logos in a way also, they state “A taste millions prefer to the taste over any other beer. No, we’re not just saying that. Here’s the simple proof: Schlitz tastes so good to so many people it’s first in sales in the U.S.A.” They use their own statistic of saying that it is the first in sales over any other beer so just saying that, you have to buy it. Schlitz is also the “Beer that made Milwaukee famous.”

Sexism is an ongoing issue that will probably never go away, without the help of big brand companies maybe gender roles wouldn’t be as big as it is. Advertisements use the help of calling out one gender to appeal to their audience and help themselves get more views and products sold, they use ethos and try to convince people of a certain gender and character. Famous people even add to the trouble by calling themselves feminists and there is a trending twitter page of one million followers titled “meninists” which sells shirts and adds posts about whatever they feel like including posts about men being better than women, people take sexism as a joke and some don’t but whatever side they are on they are still adding on to the issue.