Defining The Hoodie

On PBS Idea Channel, Mike Rugnetta host a video called “What Was The Hoodie?”  In this video, Mr. Rugnetta makes a compelling argument and addresses what a hoodie is, and how there are different view depending on who is wearing the hoodie.  Mr. Rugnetta starts out by telling the history of the hooded sweatshirt; sweaters were laborers, later sweater became known as a thick comfy article of clothing to a sweatshirt first made by Champion to keep their employees warm. The movie “Rocky” made wearing hooded sweatshirts popular with athletes. In the early 90’s it was fashionable to wear hooded sweatshirts, by the late 90’s wearing a hooded sweatshirt was synonymous for skate and snowboarding, in the early 2000’s hipsters were wearing hoodies.

He states that hoodies have a tie to hoodlums and gangsters in American slang.  When someone is seen dressed in a hoodie automatically, it is associated intimidation and trouble.  He addresses that “The kids around estate housing and in East London don’t wear hooded sweatshirts, but wear hoodies.  They become the thing that symbolizes their otherness” (Rugnetta 00:06:22-30).  He also addresses the Trayvon Martin case, whereas Mr. Zimmerman told authorities that Trayvon looked menacing, too much over-thought on an article of clothing.

Mr. Rugnetta uses logos, an appeal to reason, for his argument.  Does an item of clothing make someone a hoodlum?  Of course not, Mr. Rugnetta also adds “But neither do I think such a coincidence can be totally divorced from what this item of clothing was and is – – a traditional utilitarian piece with a genesis in working class labor, even struggle and capitalist otherness that’s also worn by billionaire tech moguls.”  Is Mr. Rugnetta bias on his views?  Yes, based on the fact he is wearing one throughout the video.

 

Rugnetta, Mike . “What Was The Hoodie?” YouTube. YouTube, 16 Feb. 2017. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

Being credible versus being reliable

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of credible is – offering reasonable ground for being believed.  So that would mean to be credible is to be convincing, to not be known as one who falsifies information.  But a credible source can be given false information.  In Michael Martinez’s article, we see where “General Eisenhower deployed a false Army” in World War II; this threw the Axis soldiers and spies off as to what was happening.(436)  He even goes on to tell of an airdrop using parachuting dummies to throw off the Germans.  The Germans got false information, these German soldiers and spies were undoubtedly credible, they just gave false information based on what they were seeing.  “So being credible is no guarantee of being a reliable source of good or useful information” (437).

Also, “a credible source of information is consistent” (441).  That seen in “Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity it is true because so many experiments have proved it” (438).  Information can be credible if it has been tested many times by different people and experiments, but it can also be false because new evidence can be found at any time.  “In any given topic you have to allow for the possibility that some new verifiable evidence will eventually turn the entire world upside down” (439).

 

With that, we come to reliable which is defined as – giving the same result on successive trials, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.  With this, we can use Einstein’s Theory and state that Einstein is reliable because others have tried to prove his theory wrong and failed.  With this, you may give more reliability to a source you trust, who would not trust Einstein?

A reliable source such as the Harvard Men’s Health Watch can be wrong. Such as the case of the 2005 article “Help for your Cholesterol When the Statins Won’t Do,” this is a reliable source, and at the time it was published the information given was correct, now that information is false.  That does not mean Harvard’s Men’s Health Watch is not a reliable source of information.

At one point most people would have said that former Secretary Collin Powell was a credible person.  But in his presentation to the United Nations, Mr. Powell was given false information as to Iraq having weapons and a program for building such weapons.  As a result, the UN found only old warheads and no program to develop weapons of mass destruction.  Someone in the chain lied and this false information was given to Mr. Powell.  “You can’t trust anyone” (439).

In conducting your research you may leave out relevant information because it does not support your belief, this will make you an unreliable source.  One has to put their feelings aside and produce factual information.  “You may have clear-cut scientific proof that shows no one has lied in the chain of information leading up to your presentation.  And yet your article may be unreliable” (439).

The fact of the matter is one cannot be too careful in deciding was is or is not credible, same as who or what is or is not reliable.

 

Martinez, Michael.  “Why Citations Do Not Make Wikipedia And Similar Sites Credible.” Practical Argument:  A Text and Anthology, edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, Bedford/St. Martin’s 2017. pp 436-42

Two Annotated Bibliographies

Hinman, Lawrence M.  “How To Fight College Cheating.”  Practical Argument:  A Text and   Anthology, edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell, Bedford/St. Martin’s,         2017, pp 386-87.  In this article, Hinman addresses the increase of cheating and   plagiarism in college, and that as technology advances so does the growth in plagiarism and cheating.  The report also identifies that cheating in college begins in high school.  Plagiarism and cheating have evolved as technology has, from fraternities and sororities having papers on file for students to use, to websites on the internet offering term papers for sale.   With papers being for sale to students on the web there are also websites for universities to check students papers for plagiarism a way to “fight technology with more technology” (386).  Hinman does state that colleges do have other lines of defense.  One is for professors to change up their assignments from one semester to the next and for professors to have more collaboration with their students.  Second, is for colleges to support students in developing a sense of responsibility to their academic development.  Third, to arm students with a responsibility to step up to report cheating and plagiarism.  Cheating and plagiarism have to be addressed now as “it is a short step from dishonesty in schools and colleges to dishonesty in business” (387).

 

 

 

Minkel, Elizabeth.  “Too Hard Not To Cheat In The Internet Age?.”  Practical Argument:  A Text and Anthology, edited by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandel, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017, pp393-94.  Minkel addresses in her essay an article from the New York Times that states “Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age”(393).  Students are doing as some have done for years, plagiarizing another author’s article, journal or book.  But this time they are stating that they are confused because of the internet.  Minkel goes on to tell of a student from the University of Maryland being in trouble for stealing from Wikipedia, and the student’s response was that “he thought its entries-unsigned and collectively written–did not need to be credited since they counted, essentially as common knowledge” (393).  It seems as though these students do not understand plagiarism, more of them are stealing lines and not willing to cite the original author/work.  The essay goes on to tell of another student who states “In the digital age, plagiarism isn’t and shouldn’t be as big a deal as it used to be when people used books for research” (393).  There should not be a difference in using books and using the internet; if it is not yours, cite it.  She goes on to say that by letting students get away with this as some excuse that this is the digital age, a new generation of students, we are not teaching them to have original thinking.

 

 

Response to Dylan Byers’ Plagiarism Article

In the article, “Plagiarism and Buzzfeed’s Achilles Heel” Mr. Byers tells his readers about writer Benny Johnson (former employee of Buzzfeed) and his bout with plagiarism. In his article, he mentions a couple of different views about Buzzfeed and their style of journalism.
From Farhad Manjoo, his opinion is that Buzzfeed finds articles and retouches them for their site, and then makes it difficult for the reader to find the original information. To Adrian Chen who believes Buzzfeed has a problem with plagiarism and questions the ethics of the journalists. Then you have Jonah Peretti founder of Buzzfeed that cries no fowl “because few things on the Web are really original.”

From reading Byers’ article, it looks like riding the fine line between what is plagiarism and what is not is the business Buzzfeed is in, and not real journalism. It is agreeable that Byers makes a case that Buzzfeed is committing plagiarism, The humanity article that Buzzfeed ran that could be traced back to a site named Nedhardy, blatantly is plagiarism, they even used pictures Nedhardy has used.

The most compelling are that the editor-in-chief did not take the first issue seriously, but instead stated that the plagiarism would be corrected. Byers’ says that Buzzfeed is conducting an internal review, but since the editor-in-chief did not take the first instance of plagiarism seriously, leaves one to believe that the investigation will not be taken seriously either.

Essay on Betsy Devos Confirmation

In Kelly Field’s article, Betsy DeVos Survived a Historic Confirmation Fight; we find that VP Mike Pence gave the deciding vote on Ms. DeVos’ confirmation as Secretary of Education. The article goes to suggest that Republicans may demolish former President Obama’s rules on higher education. Kelly Field notes that “Ms. DeVos hasn’t said much about her plans for higher education” which has led others to believe that Congress will be making the decisions. (Field, Kelly. Betsy DeVos Survived a Historic Confirmation Fight. What’s Next for Higher Ed?, The Chronicle, February 8, 2017.) In general, universities would not grieve the demise of guidelines set forth by the Obama administration, which some saw as difficult. However, by not speaking up and letting both parties know what she stands for Ms. DeVos is leaving everyone to make up their own conclusions as to what she will do for higher education.

Two Logical Fallicies

Two logical fallacies occurred just this week.   An expectation bias, putting greater trust in expectations and dismissing earlier results.  The first was at work, we have had a recent transition in Administrators.  Our last director, Renee was fired by corporate.  Renee had a background in business and marketing.  Our new leader Robert has an extensive background in Radiology.  My co-worker, Wanda stated this week; “things will change for the good around here, our new boss has a background in radiology and will know how to run this place.  Our last administrator didn’t know what she was doing because she only had a business background”.  Wanda is putting confidence in Robert because of his radiology experience.

 

The second occurred while speaking to my father, my daughter Bailey plays softball and is currently taking batting lessons from a former Ole Miss Softball athlete named Mallory.  My father stated, “Bailey will be great in softball this season because she is taking batting lessons from Mallory.” He has committed a false analogy, by taking to two unrelated items to make a point.  Mallory being a former softball athlete does not mean Bailey will be great in softball.

Rhetorical Analysis of Rajeev Ravisankar’s “Sweatshop Oppression”

Ravisankar begins his essay by stating the people like to get more for a lower price. The problem he identifies is sweatshops treating workers inhumanely with longer working hours, less pay and gross working conditions. Ravisankar assumes his readers are sympathetic to the problem. His purpose in this essay is to educate consumers and human-right activist. In order to accomplish this purpose, he appeals mainly to the activist that criticizing sweatshops and bringing attention to them only hurts the workers. He also appeals to the companies to change. In his essay, Ravisankar addresses the main argument against his thesis, the idea that activists are raising awareness of sweatshop which in turn make companies pull out of areas of protest thereby creating an even worse economy for that region. He refutes this argument by saying the blame should be on the companies for wanting to give lower wages for lower prices. Finally, he concludes by making the point that Universities are using companies that do not use sweatshops for their apparel. Overall, the argument Ravisankar makes is effective because it employs us to look at both sides of the equation to understand why there are sweatshops and what has to be done to help dismantle them.

Response to Dr. Bridget Terry Long’s article on College Worth

Long’s thesis is that to determine if college is worth it, you must first think of which college, what will be your field of study and lastly will the financial burden be worth it in the long run.

In Long’s article, she agrees that college is worth it all, but points out that all three phases should be researched. I agree with Long, the college attended must hold good quality on their academics as well as add worth to the student. The field of study must be one that will be a good long-term return on investment. As well as the area of study must meet up with the right college, one would not attend a college that spends more money on their cosmetology department for a degree in engineering. Debt must be taken into consideration, graduating with a degree in music with $30,000 of student loans would not be a good decision. However, graduating with a physics degree with $30,000 of student loans is a good choice, investment return in years would pay off.

I don’t believe Long has left anything out of here article, and I do wish that she had included more on the benefits of counseling for students in their field of study and the amount of debt they could expect.

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