In light of the current COVID 19 panic it seemed fitting to read an article about Asian stereotypes and societal racism this week. Asian-Americans are at risk of being the target of fear and paranoia. Just because they look Asian doesn’t mean they’re the bearers of the new plague.

The videos in the reading reminded me of a series of “react” videos in which two white guys react to before and after videos of Asian girls putting on makeup. It appears that some of the girls go so far as wearing fake teeth to make the change all the more dramatic.

This video is along the same tune of Asian women being held to western beauty standards as the eyelid surgery video.

Switching topics… with all of the fear and anxiety about COVID 19 I am curious to look more into the rhetoric of fear. I wonder what sort of political/fear based rhetoric is going to be peddled the next few weeks.

P.S. 3/8/20

Just for fun.. This girl does the best videos!
I fell into a YouTube rabbit hole

I have got to say I am so very grateful that class was cancelled on Wednesday. My scratchy throat broke out into full blown misery by Tuesday night. I do not remember the last time I was so sick! I arrived at my grandmothers house in Portland last night around 11pm. I am so scared I will get her sick. I have been using Clorox wipes to clean every surface I touch. My reason for coming is that I bought tickets 9 months ago for Goblet of Fire in Concert... I spent $200+ to take my self, daughter, mother, and grandmother to this concert and no darn cold/flu will ruin it! Luckily the bug is winding down… but I’m having less fun than I normally would here.

I have to say that the memo you brought for us to read was absolutely revolting. I was confused reading it at first but once they said the items would “scream” it hit me like a truck. People?! F***ing PEOPLE. The rhetoric of creating a business document speaking of humans like they are sacks of potatoes is shocking. I can hardly imagine being convinced that another human is an object with less value than cattle. Not to say that slavery is any better, but even that acknowledges that slaves had some value… even if it was the same as cattle. The Nazis treated the Jews like vermin. Captured, imprisoned, and destroyed. What could you possibly say to convince yourself that that is okay?! They’re not human. They’re not like me. Keep it official and business-like so you don’t have to admit they’re human. It’s just… gah!

This week was quite busy for how short it was. Sojourner Truth’s “Aint I a Woman” speech was rather striking. I particularly appreciated the argument that “man” played no part in the birth of Jesus, I had never considered that before. I thought that the alternate version of Soujourner’s speech was less powerful because of the dialect. Which reflects a bias towards eloquence over rural dialects I suppose. My first thought was that the writer was trying to discredit her and make her seem less intelligent. I read Gone With the Wind in fifth grade and remember really struggling to understand Mammy’s lines. I didn’t understand that speakers of that dialect are not exactly unintelligent, it’s just the way they talk. Not sure if I’m explaining that well… I hope you know what I mean. In class it was brought up that the writer of the later version may have been trying to alter the speech to reach a different audience or make a point. This does make sense, but it still seems like a strange move to me.

I thought that Rachel’s presentation fit in well with the two readings since it concerned an African American speaking for the better treatment of people of color. It is sad that anyone has had to defend their status as a human. Reading about the metamorphosis of the wife of Fredrick Douglass’s owner was saddening. Violence and fear are terrible forces.
I was reminded of this reading upon reading Lane’s Facebook post today about Violence when a “Good Man” develops into an evil man by committing domestic violence. As it progresses he still thinks he is a good man and justifies his mistakes. Douglas’s mistress may have justified her actions out of fear and the belief that she was still a good woman; but fear, power, and violence turned her heart to stone.

How are we half way through the quarter?! It still feels like the second week. I enjoyed finally reading a female thinker this past week. Plus the feature that had all of the pictures was so fun! After our Wednesday class I thought it was interesting to think about the motivations of xxxx. In class we talked about how revolutionary it was for her to be published, respected, and remembered. There was also discussion about if she really believed what she was writing about how a woman should be. Was she that revolutionary if she was telling women to be quiet? Was she just saying that to get published? These thoughts lead me to wonder if we are only questioning her because she was a woman and therefore had ulterior motives?

So once again I find my week ending far too soon. This weeks reading was eyebrow raising for sure. Platos Phaedras was a chewy piece. Before my text books came in the mail I went to the library and checked out a book that included the Phaedras and the Symposium, this book was called Platos Erotic Texts (cite later). The title was rather off-putting at first but I didn’t want to be behind on the readings. When I got my book in the mail, I switched to reading from that copy because it was the correct translator. The difference in translation was surprising to me. The Erotic Text version seemed a bit more crudely done. The section of Platos second speech describing wings seemed to be making an extremely phallic insinuation. The translator made the sensation of the wings growing or filling out sound like a direct comparison to the male erection. Right after there was a description of filling ones lover up and the lover wanting to grow wings too. To me it really seemed like the translator was trying to make the section of the speech refer to the male erection and then intercourse. (I’ll have to add the quote in when I’m not at work) The translation used in class did not make me think that this is what was meant. The fact that the same words can be translated in such different ways plays into the topic of style, audience, and presentation that we discussed in class.

When we were discussing the different levels of the soul I was reminded of a section of my textbooks for my College Instruction course that talks about Blooms Taxonomy and the idea of different levels of knowledge and learning (will follow up with quote/citation)

Here goes nothing… my first blog post ever!
The first week of class is behind us and it’s been a long one. Before this class I hadn’t given rhetoric much thought, but after the first day of class I began to start seeing it in many places. I recent news report used the phrase “harsh rhetoric” to describe a certain individual of powers speech. In this class I hope to improve my writing and increase my understanding or rhetoric.
I have begun reading the Phaedras and am on Socrates second speech. I think I will have to read it over again before Wednesday, because not much of it is sticking in my mind other than the fact that old men in Greece really seemed to like having young boyfriends….

I am at work… more to come on my next break