The article “When The Media Is The Disaster,” by Rebecca Solnit discusses the accounts that took place with the media and the victims during the Haitian earthquake. People were trapped alive struggling to survive. Many of these victims became so desperate for food and water they began to steal. The mass media interpreted their actions as stealing, characterizing them as “looters”. Solnit does not agree with the media labeling victims as “looters” because victims are being portrayed as something they are not. In paragraph 7 Solnit says “the pictures do convey desperation, but they don't convey crime”. she believes victims should take any alternatives to sustain human life even if that means stealing. As she furthermore discusses that the reason …show more content…
For example in paragraph 10 she says “after years of interviewing survivors of disasters, and reading first-hand accounts and sociological studies from such disasters as the London Blitz and the Mexico City earthquake of 1985 I don't believe in looting”. this sentence is stating Solnit's personal opinion towards stealing and looting. some people might agree with her argument, While others will not agree with it. She furthermore defends her argument by stating that many things go on during a natural disaster many of which include acting out of desperation as she calls it in the article” emergency requisition”. This is a one-sided argument she is possessing, not taking in account the opinion other might have towards this …show more content…
Her argument on the wrong the media is doing by labeling the victims as “looters “ is a biased one sided opinion. She mentions throughout her text that she does not agree with the media labeling victims as “looters” because they were hungry, thirsty, and desperate. She mentions in her text “people were dying on rooftops and in overheated attics and freeway overpasses, they were stranded in all kinds of hideous circumstances on the gulf coast in 2005 when the mainstream media began to obsess about looting.” by mentioning this example in her article Solnit is expressing how people were dying and suffering in horrible ways, while the media only cared about how the victims were
Victimology is the scientific study of the physical, emotional, and financial harm people suffer from illegal activities. A common struggle Victimologists face is determining who the victim is. In general, crimes don 't have an “ideal victim”. The term ideal victims refer to someone who receives the most sympathy from society (Christie, 2016). An example of this would be a hardworking, honest man who on his way to work, had his wallet taken by force. Most people in society would have sympathy for him. He spent his life making an honest living to earn what he has and was a victim of a robbery. Victimologists study the interactions victims have with criminals, society, and the criminal justice system (Karmen, 2015). According to (Karmen, 2015)
I enjoyed how Lydia stayed calm and didn't panic through the tragic disaster she had faced. The rhetorical techniques that Brideau demonstrates are pathos because she displays positive and negative emotions throughout the story. Also tells the story through graphic details. The words “hope” and “determination” seemed most significant because it set the overall tone to the story. For example, Lydia was terrified when she realized she was unable to shut the door against the rushing water, but she was determined to get to safe spot to avoid the flooding of the hurricane. This essay does not remind me of any other essays. If I wrote a letter to Jan Brideau, I would tell her I found the essay Lydia’s Story very inspiring and informative. I admired
Niman, Michael I. "KATRINA's AMERICA: Failure, Racism, And Profiteering." Humanist 65.6 (2005): 11. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Humans are damaging the planet to live comfortably, we must change the way food is distributed worldwide, support local farmers and switch to a healthier diet in order to stop global warming. The current global has been getting better for us humans over the years, from eating bread and eggs 3 times a day in the XV century, now we can eat better than the kings of those times, however the much of the food in not healthy and the global food system still fails in getting food to every individual in the planet and in addition it contributes to the destruction of our world. Ms. Anna Lappe explains how the food system contributes to around 1/3 of the global warming issue in her essay “The Climate Crisis at the End of Our Fork”, while a group of Plos one explains the issues about the export and import of food growth over the last 50 years in the
In Christy Wampole’s “How to Live Without Irony” and Richard Taylor’s “The Meaning of Human Existence” both authors argue how humans ought to live a meaningful life. Wampole tackles the argument in a different way than Taylor but they both have similar positions on the meaning. I agree with both authors in some of the ways that we should dictate our lives to justify meaningfulness but I also believe that meaningfulness can differ from person to person. Life is very precious to us; since humans have had the ability to consciously think, we have always questioning our existence. No other animal on the planet has had the luxury of pondering whether or not their life is meaningful.
2. Eighner’s approach to refutation is seen when he talks about the dangers of dumpster diving, “I do not want to paint too romantic a picture. Dumpster diving
...dibility by mentioning that journalists and television producers defer to her as an authority, but she does not make a case for being an expert. Moreover, she maintains a detached tone for a majority of the editorial, as an appeal to her authority on the matter, but switches to and involved perspective when giving illustration. This would otherwise be acceptable, except that the illustration is given in place of supporting theory or fully supported argument. To that end, Tannen’s argument would be much more persuasive if she had articulated her position with an even tone, and avoided sensationalism when giving examples.
In the Los Angeles Times a feature article “The forgotten victim from Florence and Normandie,” the author, Steve Lopez, explains the main discussion of his article which is about his curiosity on finding what happen to Fidel Lopez, a victim who was brutally beaten nearly to death. This has been broadcast on television around the Los Angeles area at the 1992 Los Angeles riot, also known as the “LA Riots.” Author, Steve Lopez, writes this article about Fidel Lopez to give readers a reason to not forget others, just how the media forgot about Fidel, demonstrating “why I couldn’t find a single story about him after 1993” (Lopez, pg. 2) said author Steve Lopez. Most of Fidel views were nothing but as what he stated in the article as “bright lights”
John Dower's "Embracing Defeat" truly conveys the Japanese experience of American occupation from within by focusing on the social, cultural, and philosophical aspects of a country devastated by World War II. His capturing of the Japanese peoples' voice let us, as readers, empathize with those who had to start over in a "new nation."
...ying to take cover from the storm. On the Daily Show hosted by John Stewart had some video depicting how certain news station was covering the aftermath on Katrina. Fox News, ABC news, NBC was depicting white people as victims, when they were looting stores the news station anchors call it finding or they are surviving. But when the same imagery was on African Americans they depicted as looting. According to a statement from Travis L. Dixon a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles he said “The news continues to create fear of blacks.” Some local news station continues to link African Americans to unlawful acts and portray a stigma that African Americans are the bad people. YAAMS(Young Africans Americans Against Media Stereotypes) had discuss how the news media use negative representation to can lead emotional problems in the black community.
She uses a string full of rhetorical questions throughout her article, as well, to make us contemplate whether people do deeds out of compassion, fear, or something else. She uses rhetorical questions such as “Was it fear or compassion that motivated that gift?”(6), “...what compels this woman to feed this man? Pity? Care? Compassion? Or does she simply want to rid her shop of his troublesome presence?”(9), and “Could it be that the homeless, like those ancients, are reminding us of our common humanity?”(14). These questions make the audience think and contemplate why these people did these acts of kindness. Ascher includes some of these rhetorical questions at the end of both of the narratives to force the readers to quickly analyze the situation and decide what the motivation was. As a result, I can conclude that one woman did it out of fear while the other did it out of compassion; therefore, this proves that people are not born compassionate, but they develop the quality later on in life. This is more effective instead of just expressing how she personally feels about each
Some people decided not to evacuate prior to being told of the disaster heading their way. Other Americans chose to leave as early as a month in advance. Thousands of people had to be evacuated. You could see on the news reports of people on top of their rooftops, being swept away in the flooding of waters, sitting and waiting on help from responders or those that could help evacuate. Thousands of evacuees where African Americans who chose to hold on to faith beliefs, or riding out the storm, because they survived other hurricanes before. With these particular issues, some of the responses to Hurricane Katrina started to become racially motivated.The media focused on African-Americans and people in poverty. One proof that news medias were biased against African-Americans—one image showed a black person carrying supplies labelled as ‘looting’, while a white person in an identical situation was labelled as ‘finding’ supplies (Wiley & Sons 2007).
Even though it is the responsibility of the federal and state governments to aid citizens during times of disaster, the people devastated by Hurricane Katrina were not effectively facilitated as according to their rights as citizens of the United States. The government’s failures to deliver assistance to citizens stem from inadequate protection systems in place before the storm even struck. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security were the two largest incumbents in the wake of the storm. The failure of these agencies rests on the shoulders of those chosen to head the agency. These directors, appointed by then president George W. Bush, were not capable of leading large government agencies through a crisis, let alone a disaster the magnitude of Hurricane Katrina. Along with the federal government, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans did not do enough to lesseb the damage caused by the storm, and forced thousands of poorer citizens to remain in cramped and unsanitary conditions for extended periods of time. The culmination of federal, state, and local government’s failures in suppressing and repairing the damage of Hurricane Katrina to a level acceptable for citizens of the United States is a denial of the rights citizens of the United States hold.
Misconceptions created by media over sensational crimes also deal greatly with race, as much of the reported crime in recent news does. Sensational crimes reported in the news are exaggerated forms of reality, the worst situation that could possibly happen. The public assumes because this is what is presented to them that these crimes are happening as often as they do on the news, perhaps even more. The public assumes that because murder, even multiple murders, occur in every crime show episode that big cities must be full of killers and dead bodies are everywhere. It is not just news and media outlets reporting crime in the real world. Crime is everywhere, including fictitious items such as a best selling book, the top rated television show. Crime is not just on the front page of every paper, and every night on the six o’clock news, it is engrained in our entertainment as well. However, this blatant yellow journalism with the motto, “if it bleeds, it leads” was only created because the public is more interested in such stories of violence, gore, inhumanity, police triumph, and errors. The public wants to hear about what the real crime is to compare to the fictitious nature of shows, books, movies, and more. Such as previously stated, a serial killer is more interesting than a purse snatcher to the general public looking for entertainment. Small crimes, petty crimes, even unsuccessful crimes are not worthy of news coverage because it does not hold a candle to the elaborate schemes and gore of crime television. Sensational crimes like murders get more attention from the public but are much less likely to occur than the common domestic violence call. Dubbed “Tabloid Justice”, the act of reporting crimes for entertainment is prevalent, and often details are dissected and analyzed by all forms of media in a
QUESTION ONE: Hannah Arendt argues for a crucial distinction between politics, which she takes to be the realm of speech, conversation and debate, and violence, which she suggests is ‘speechless’. Others we have studied this term propose something different – that politics and violence are inseparable, and that one invariably entails the other. With direct reference to at least one of that authors considered in Theories of Conflict and Violence, consider the relationship between politics and violence.