Opinion Editorial Reflection

I feel that my paper went fairly well.  While writing it, I made sure to use enough Logos to create a solid backbone for my argument.  I did this through citing sources with sturdy backgrounds and bringing professional opinions into my paper.  I worked to establish Pathos as I recounted a story of my own, and also as I brought up passionate points such as rights and liberty.  My Ethos mainly came from the professional sources which I cited, but also in the example that I gave through a personal story.  Generally, I did my best to recall the things which I have gained from past experiences as well as things learned in my current class to apply them to my essay.  I paid extra attention in the section of our supplemental guide that discussed how to format essays.  Another thing which I believe that I did well was going through my paper several times to edit it.  I believe this greatly increased the value of my opinion editorial.  One other process that I took the time to perform was acting on some of the revisions which my peers gave me.

Although I feel that I did well on this assignment, I probably could have improved it in a few ways.  For one thing, I feel like I could have planned out the general theme and structure of my opinion editorial better.  By this, I mean that my process as I began working was to form the general ideas of what I would write down, and then begin writing.  This is a decent process since it helps me to get my thoughts down on the paper, but I also feel that I could have been more effective if I had established main points in each paragraph, and then elaborated and filled in the gaps.  What I would do if I had to do the assignment again is create a more detailed plan for my paragraphs.  

"Faith in America" Analysis

Purpose:  I feel that the purpose of this article was to persuade the general public of America to vote for him (Mitt Romney), and to convince America to believe in committing to a more religious-friendly nation.

            Ethos:  One way in which the author establishes his credibly is through informing the audience of his religious standings.  Along with this, he also is a governor which means that he has been committed to serving his country throughout the years.  Another point that this prominent position provides is that he is at least somewhat trustworthy as well as effective.  During his speech, he pledges to put America as his foremost important duty.  This causes an audience to trust the speaker more.

            Pathos:  Several instances of Pathos can be seen in this speech.  One of the points in which this can be seen is when Mr. Romney mentions the goodness of the United States following World War 2.  He talks about how the U.S. didn't seek for land or treasures among the countries which they had conquered.  These statements bring about a sense of pride to be in this country.  Also, he brings the founding fathers and the constitution into his argument; which most Americans tend to be fairly passionate about.  Yet another thing which he provides to strengthen the emotion in his argument is to seek the support of other faiths by making remarks in which he shows respect and admiration to other denominations.

Logos:  The speaker uses Logic as he brings up the history of the country.  He makes mention to events which occurred regarding religious and physical freedom.  Mr. Romney touches on segments of American colony history in which there was religious persecution against people, ironically, the people coming to escape discrimination caused the persecutions. He also brings up the fact that religion was a huge part of the culture of people in the days of the founding fathers.

"Raise the Millionaires tax"

Jan Schakowsky and Jerry Fiddler argue the helpfulness and importance of raising the taxes of millionaires/billionaires

 
G:  Assumption that audience understands the American economic system and how taxes function in society.
A;  References school and how improvements to it (as well as other sections of our society) can be made.
S:  Author argues that if we raise taxes for the rich, then America can be improved as the middle class expands and modifications to public facilities are made.
C:  Consequences of not taking action are that the top 1% will continue to have dominance over the wealth of the country and that the middle class will continue to shrink.
A:  Jan Schakowsky serves on the energy and commerce committee, and Jerry Fiddler Co-founded "Wind-river systems".  They also discussed he topic with wealthy individuals who agreed with them.
P:  The moral principal here is to create a better world.  The authors argue that by distributing wealth through taxes is the best method to obtain a better country.

Ensign January 2015: Follow the Prophets

President Monson discusses the importance of following the guidance of prophets


G:  Assumption that the audience consists of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that they understand religious topics.
A:  Provides his own experience regarding how his decision to abide by the advise of Harold B. Lee improved his life.
S:  If you want the light of heaven, inspiration, and a knowledge of God, then follow the prophets of God.
C:  Not hearkening to the words of the prophets will cause your life to not be as fruitful as it could have be.
A:  President Monson has had experience religiously... especially since he is the prophet of the church...
P:  President Monson believes that the listener/reader should believe in the vitality of listening to counsel from prophets.

Response to the wrestling article

I found the article "Wrestling's Dirty Secrets" to be super interesting!  I thought the author did a fine job at establishing his point with personal stories as with the usage of Jeff Reese's story.  Along with this he gave examples of various methods of weight loss, describing them in the article as torture.  These were certainly strengths in the argument.  However, I would have preferred more statistics referring to this topic on a broad scale throughout the country.  Regardless, this was a convincing article.

Kill liberty for Safety?

The topic which I intend to write my optional editorial paper on is gun rights.  I feel that in the second amendment of the United States Constitution when it states: “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed” it means that citizens have the privilege to own firearms.  I obviously don’t feel that they should have massive weapons with the ability to kill hundreds to thousands of individuals, but I certainly think that means of defense should be readily available to people.  This subject will have great amounts of information which I will be able to research if I need to.  I feel that this will be an excellent subject to write on, for not only will there be a fruitful search online if needed, but the Constitution supports me.  Of course, others find different interpretations of the Constitution in order to limit gun availability.  I understand that they do this in an attempt to limit the amount of firearms available to criminals, but will this really help?  I don’t believe so, because thinking logically upon it, someone who already has the intention to disobey the law by killing someone else will not simply say “Oh, there’s a law saying I need to turn in my gun… I’ll go do that”.  Instead of depriving criminals of weapons, this idea will instead take away firearms from law-abiding citizens.  Along with this, many of the guns which criminals possess are not registered, so the government attempting to obtain them through a law alone will be fruitless.  These are a few of the main points which I shall use in my optional editorial.  I will not do an enormous amount of research to the point where the assignment becomes a research paper, but I will instead find the facts that I may have forgotten in order to reinforce and strengthen the point which I am standing for.  My passion for liberty here in this wonderful country will drive my paper along.  As Benjamin Franklin once said “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” 

Hello! Here lies a short introduction to your new friend!

Hey there!  Well, my name is Josh Holtry.  I graduated from my high school only a few weeks ago, so this is my first semester here at BYU.  I've lived in California nearly my entire life, so living in heritage halls here on campus has been an entirely new experience for me.

Throughout my life, I have loved sports.  I played soccer for my entire childhood, and then played my first year of high school.  Sophomore year I decided I would begin to play water polo and found out that I was good at it.  I earned the team MVP and district all-league awards for water polo during my last two years of high school. Along with water polo I tried swimming, but found out that it's not a fun sport at all, unfortunately.

Naturally, I am a fan of the Lord of the Rings series, and the most enjoyable series of novels which I have read are the Rangers Apprentice books (I understand that most probably have not and never will read those books).  What makes Lord of the Rings even more fun for me is that I have a cousin who knows pretty much everything there is to know about "Middle Earth".  Seriously, it's kind of crazy.








The only television show that I regularly watch is "The Walking Dead".  It is not only epic, but an excellent display of raw human emotions and actions when there is nothing to govern them.  After getting past the blood and whatnot, it can be viewed as a very deep show.  Some might argue this point against me, but bring it on!




My favorite film currently is entitled The Artist (either that, or It's a Wonderful Life).  The Artist is a modern day black and white film which is beautifully made and just yanks the emotion right out of you!  I highly suggest watching it.