A Rhetorical Analysis of Aashika Damodar’s “The Rise of ‘Great Potential’: Youth Activism Against Gender-Based Violence The article “The Rise of ‘Great Potential’: Youth Activism Against Gender-Based Violence”, appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of the Harvard International Review. Damodar is an artist, activist who has great experiences of working in the hundreds of nonprofit organizations, service providers, and law enforcements. She founded an NGO called Freedom Connect, a non-profit working to develop and extend innovative technology platforms for the anti-trafficking movement (Damodar, par.3). She puts huge ardor on humanity, explores the problem of technology applications and anti-trafficking efforts from her unique view and uses her deeply thinking and explanations to convince her audiences. In this essay, Damodar analyzes the connection between the social media and the youth, the technologies do for youth and youth activities, and how importance of Internet working for the youth. She expound that the wrong action include bad …show more content…
role models like celebrities that teenagers followed and inaccurate information would have possibility to lead youth to escape responsibility and cause many bad consequences in the future via Internet if without any solutions. Damodar argues that it is necessary for people to give up the idea of technology online tools can make a big change for our generation in today’s society. We need to combine the offline action and online action together to help youth stop accepting the negative influence from internet, but do more positive actions in reality life to make them move forward successfully in the future. Damodar convinces the younger teenagers, their parents and the people who care about the future development of youth in the society. She persuades her target audience by making appeals on including real-life examples of logical solutions for the bad social phenomenon of leading the youth to the wrong place, which happened right now, and the positive influence and big change of combining offline and online action together. At the beginning of the essay, Damodar gave the example of the social media frenzy surrounding American R&B idol Chris Brown. She describes that there are still a bunch of people who support Chris Brown after he used sexual violence to his ex-girlfriend. Online supporting action involved many teenagers and it was a lesson to teach them that using violence was irreverent because the only result they saw was there still huge fans and supports online. Chris Brown’s supporters makes the bad influence to the youth because nobody would care about what is right to say or do, people just say and do what they want. As a reader, I was interested in this opening.
The author is smart because she caught the hot issue which is celebrities always can attract people’s light. She also caught all the parents’ attention. The most important thing for parent is to provide a healthy and positive growth environment for their children. All the parents would have the common feelings on hating violence. When Damodar mentioned the example of Chris Brown, parents would fell the things happened around them because maybe one of their kids is the fan of Chris Brown. It must affect their children and would cause very serious consequences by follow the supporters on Internet. Parents worry about this social phenomenon and want to know the solution how to deal with this problem. Besides the parents, teenagers who have the right value on hating violence would want to know the solution of preventing and avoiding the development of wrong online
actions. Damodar uses a clever strategy to open a good start for her next paragraphs. Then she analyzes the connection between the social media and the youth, the technologies do for youth and youth activities. She does a lot of explanations how importance of Internet working for the youth. This is a transition before she gave another example, which supports her main idea of how to solve incorrect online phenomenon. Damodar let her readers know more professional knowledge. It is easier for her to explain the following example. She gave an example of Harass Map and Mensajes of the organization, which connect the offline action to online action for helping the weakness female group against gender-based violence, and makes a great influence. Many people who found this program online and also use the technology in the reality life to work together. This amount of people includes the teenagers and also can bring big influence to the youth. Damodar uses this example to show a direct positive influence of combining offline action and online action together to her readers. It is clear for readers to understand the meaning of her solution. This also is the most believable evidence for her to prove her argument. Next she brings her argument deeply to the conclusion, Damodar uses her strong tone voice that “We must abandon the idea that digital communication tools will bring about radical change to our generation. Successful youth-led movements will be predicated on how new tools and old practices are combined in modular and innovative ways” (Damodar, pg.540). It was powerful enough to convince the audiences with above example. This article Damodar uses her strategy of giving the example of celebrity to attract audiences at the beginning, and then she explains the connection between social media to the youth and introduces some professional and important knowledge. After this breath time for her audiences, Damodar gives a good example of combing offline and online together, and she focus on the positive influence it brought to the youth and society. It was a key point for persuading the readers. She makes logical process to convince her audiences to believe her argument step by step. Finally she gives the conclusion and successfully finished this article.
In the words of Wayne Dyer “Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose. Anything less is a form of slavery” (Brainy Quote). Today there are millions of modern day slaves all around the world of human trafficking. Some countries are more troubled with this problem than others, and it’s often accompanied with other crimes. There have been undertakings done to prevent and stop human trafficking, but 20 million men, women, and children all over the world still suffer from being sex slaves (Joseph 1). Programs do exist to prevent and put an end to human trafficking, but their actions alone are simply not enough. Therefore, anti-trafficking initiatives are failing to identify and help their victims.
In the modern age, “one of the biggest impediments to anti-trafficking efforts is a lack of understanding of the issue“(Jesionka). People need to work together just like they did to end slavery, when everyone sees this as wrong there is nothing that can stop the demise of sex trafficking. In many communities “[people] can turn on the TV now and see pimps glamorized in TV shows, music videos, and movies”(Frundt). In the communities, people see the aspects of sexual trafficking as glamorous and they don’t realise that it is a type of slavery and the girls are miserable. If communities can work together to eliminate this issue, this modern slavery can be eliminated altogether because people won’t allow it to continue in their communities.
Human trafficking is the act of coercing someone into working against his or her will. Anyone can be a victim, especially young girls who are vulnerable to the captor’s lies. Victims have been found anywhere from driving ice cream trucks to touring boys’ choir. In her talk, Noy Thrupkaew shares several examples about how people are deceived and coerced into coming to the United States and being forced to work for someone else. She focuses on how close to home human trafficking really is and how the victims don’t necessarily need saving but solidarity. In Noy Thrupkaew’s speech about human trafficking, she not only shares her own story but also the different situations regarding how the crime functions. Because the speaker
The documentary, Very Young Girls, was heart-wrenching, informative, and very hard to relate to these young girls. These girls are daughters, sisters, friends, family, and some are already mothers. However, these young women are treated and seen as criminals, not as victims. Prostitution and human-trafficking happens everywhere and every day, including in the United States. People have this perspective that human trafficking only happens in foreign countries. There’s a negative stigma on prostitution because we, as a society, only pay attention to the sexual acts and services that these women provide. Young women’s dignity, adolescences, and respect is taken away from them. Yet, this was not their choice, but they do not have positive influences
There are many aid projects across the world who claim to help millions of people, but because these aid projects claim to help millions of people, that does not always mean that is the case There are many different aid types, and there can be aid for almost anything an area needs help with. One aid project that not many people know about is called the Polaris Project. After being exposed to a story of six South Korean women being forced to work in a brothel, Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman were inspired to do something about modern-day slavery (“Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman: Fighting Human Trafficking" 3). Fast-forward 13 years and the Polaris Project is the world’s leading non-profit human trafficking aid organization in the country. The Polaris Project is the only aid organization to fight against all forms of human trafficking. Human trafficking occurs when a person is forced against his or her own will to engage in sexual acts. Human trafficking can happen to men, women and children; however, it mainly happens to women 18 years and older (“Sex Trafficking in the U.S.” 1). However, a deeper look needs to be taken into this organization to observe if Polaris Project is working effectively at what the organization claims to do.
Sex traffickers will often train girls by teaching them sexual acts and raping them. Significantly represented as perpetrators, victims, and activists fighting this business, human trafficking is the only crime that occurs across the nation where women can take part in every role. Today, the business of human trafficking is way more violent and organized. A victim that has been with her trafficker the longest and earned his trust is known as the victim. The bottoms perform many jobs such as collecting the money from the other girls, disciplining them, talking others into the industry, and handling the day-to-day business for the trafficker.
Traffickers and potential purchasers of trafficking victims are increasingly using Internet websites, social media, and many other forms of technology to recruit and sell women and children into the sex trade. The rise of these forms of technology has given the ability for those who use computer systems to exploit women and children a way that they can conduct their illicit business while remaining hidden from law enforcement agencies. The borderless nature of the Internet allows criminals to exploit women and children from around the world, without regard to domestic law or domestic law enforcement. On the other hand, the internet and social media can be powerful positive forces in the hands of the right people and organizations. Technology can and is used by law enforcement to rescue victims of human trafficking and by service providers to increase awareness of the issue and use the Internet and other technologies to combat human trafficking. We must continue to be ever vigilant in the fight against human trafficking, never forget that if we stand by and do nothing, then we are only allowing this horrendous crime to grow and flourish. The internet has provided us with a unique opportunity to combat human trafficking in ways that were never possible before and has made joining the movement to end modern slavery easier than ever. It has also opened new and fighting dangers as well, many of which are hard to fight against, yet we must be prepared to do our part whenever and wherever we can. Whether the technology is an ally or an enemy to the practice of human trafficking is a question remains to be answered. What we do know is that technology in and of itself is not destructive or dangerous to humanity; indeed, the
Sex trafficking is a world wide epidemic. It targets unknowing victims such as women and children enslaving them and exploiting their innocence. Human trafficking is becoming one of the biggest money making organized crimes in the world. The sex trade is one of the most profitable of all current slave trades. Through the age, gender, class, and race many are trapped in a never-ending cycle of coercion and abuse in order to survive in the corrupt society around them. In order to stop this monstrosity in the world, we need to start at the root of the problem. We must bridge the barriers between gender, class, and race in order to respect one another and live in harmony
It is the world’s fastest growing global crime. It is also the world’s second largest source of illegal income after drug trafficking. According to the United Nations Office on drugs and crime (2012),”Women account for 55-60 per cent of all trafficking victims detected globally; women and girls together account for about 75% and as many as 161 countries are affected by human trafficking.” It is also believed that the victims arguably come from the poorest countries in the world. One of the main causes of human trafficking is vulnerability. For example, children are more vulnerable to trafficking because of their lack of understanding and experience. Additionally, in certain societies, women are less empowered than men thus resulting in gender inequality both at home and in the workplace. Gender inequality then leads to easy exploitation through the use of force or
How the social networking influents young people’s psychological well-being? Since the World Wide Web appeared in the world in the year of 1991, the internet has significantly changed people’s life on almost every level. Especially when the social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, became popular during the last decade, people’s lifestyles have greatly changed by this form of communication, which consequently brings many psychological effects on the young people. As the result, according to the recent researches, the teenagers and the young adults in this era are bearing many mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and addiction, due to the social
This report describes the impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. The author, O’Keeffe presents that the benefits of children and adolescents using social media; he also presents the rise of youth using social media. A few examples of the benefits include: growth of ideas, expansion of one’s online connection, and enhancement of individual and collective creativity. Some examples of the risk include: cyberbullying and online harassment, sexting, and Facebook
The correlation between the development of youth and social media has become blatant. Although few of the consequences are favorable, the majority have displayed a negative impact. The drive social media can implement on youth is exceptional. The pressure and strain social media can place on our youth is an enduring force which leads individuals to question themselves as a person and feel inclined to fit a norm expressed in media and social media of our society. The underlying force social media can play in the lives of the youth is astonishing and is a force that must be dealt with and controlled, for it not only holds the power to give an individual strength, but also to break them down.
As in real life, teenagers are very shy of what is coming out of their mouth, but in social media, it’s the opposite, “Social media is preventing us from standing up for ourselves the way we should be” (Thaiatizickas). Facebook is a convenient way to contact a long distance relative or friends, but teenagers are depending on it too much that make them lacked face to face communication. Social media such as Facebook limits the face to face interaction between humankind. Technology has a huge impact on human life and some may take them as an advantage and disadvantage. Many believed that the digital world is their real life and they can meet and talk to whoever they want through messenger and video calls. Teenagers often say the things that they wanted to say through social media, “they are sending messages and content that they would never share at school, often using language that they would never say to someone’s face, a language that, if used with classmates at school, would lead to disciplinary action” (journal by Steiner-Adair). Compare to the previous generations, the younger generations have the effects on social networking that cause them to grow up differently. Social media are now destroying teenagers’ social skills as well as the future
Internet is good for us and has helped us a lot to make a better world. We need to find a solution to stop inappropriate use of the internet or our teenagers will be the first victims of this phenomenon. If we can stop these improper usages then we can guarantee our future society with a powerful source of knowledge. Teenagers can use internet in future to improve human technology, But if we do not solve this issue now, then today’s teenagers will be the ones who have to pay and we cannot have a bright future for them.
Social media and the internet has become apart of the culture of this generation. Many people turn to social media for various reasons such as news, networking, games, and other time wasting activities. Social media and the internet has affected the development of people of our generation by contributing to less social interactions, strengthening communication skills, and online harassment.