Thursday, February 9, 2012

Romney & The Middle Class

Evaluate the cartoon.  Who is the audience?  What appeals are being made?  What is the significance of the other "crossed out" signs?  DUE 2/17

15 comments:

  1. Keifer Coggin

    In the very first part of this month, Romney may have stated that "I care about the american people, not of the poor, we have a safety net there" and over the past week has been slandered for what he ment. He didnt mean any harm by what he said, hes just trying to get a point acrossed, that there are little government regulated things that help those that need help, but there is nothing to help any middle class citizens, and O believe thats what hes trying to go for.

    The audience is those that watch news and are semi-educated on the situation at hand.

    I think not pathos, but ethos appeals to the format of the picture above. The sighns just show that Romney doesnt care about the homeless just the middle class but he has to have a reason for it. The artist is just trying to applify the meaning of the fact that Romney doesnt care about the poor, his focus is on the middle calss. Thats why he said it, not to be rude, not to be mean but theres things in play to help the poor in times of need that all hes saying.

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  2. Kori Weaver

    The audience are those that are in the middle/working class, those that watch the news, that vote, and those that care enough to pay attention.

    The appeals that are being made are pathos because with elections coming up in November people need to figure out who they're voting for and since Romney is only focusing on the middle class instead of helping those that are homeless, jobless, and poor they need to know that people are out there suffering and if Romney is elected they wont be getting any help from the government.

    The crossed out signs are what the homeless would be holding if Romney isn't elected, the people in the picture are trying to get the attention of the government so they can get financial help, a job, and anything else they can get to get back on their feet.

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  3. This cartoon appears to be directed at potential voters, or more specifically potential Republican voters. the individuals look on at what could be their salvation in the form of Mitt Romney.

    Ethos is established by Mitt Romney's name and campaign slogan. However, even if one was not aware of who Romney was the tour bus painted with the red white and blue stripes would be enough to explain that the bus belongs to a politician.

    Pathos is appealed to by the presence of the homeless citizens on the street. Many a person in these tumultuous time knows of someone who has been foreclosed on or has been foreclosed on themselves. This being a traumatic experience for a family it would immediately strike a chord of sympathy in the minds of the readers. Logos is not prominent in this cartoon.

    The crossed out signs represent the progression, or rather regression of our economy in this recession. The number of homeless or those in need of financial assistance has grown to encompass more socioeconomic classes then ever before. Middle class used to mean a stable household with a steady income. While this definition is relative depending on who you ask, the fact is that people of all backgrounds are beginning to feel the noose of poverty tighten.

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  4. Well, let's start with some background; Mitt Romney has recently been a target in the news because he made a statement saying that he's less concerned with the bottom percent in our economy because "they have safety nets" while the middle class, which he says is the largest percent in our economy, is what he's concerned with for the lack of safety nets... However, looking over his budgeting reports he's going to substantially decrease the government aid towards the poor, and he's going to keep tax cuts that favor the rich.
    That leads to the signs, in order for poor people to get noticed by him they have to be a part of this "vast middle class," not poor. Nearly a quarter of our society is either low or high income, that's not a small percentage like he thinks.
    This cartoon appeals to ethos because one would have to be educated in current political events in order to know why it's the middle class that's being pointed out... But it also appeals to pathos a little bit because no candidate should be implying things they don't mean, especially when it comes to peoples financial stability.

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  5. Recently Mitt Romney stated that he wasn't interested in helping the lower class Americans because they had a safety net that helped them in desperate times. Instead, he said that he wanted to focus on helping the middle class Americans, protected by neither the government (like the poor) or their own money (like the rich).

    The cartoon is directed primarily towards Republicans who may be voting on their presidential candidate, but after that audience the cartoon widens to include any American keeping up with the Republican candidacy race.

    The drawing relies mainly on pathos. The artist wants to make the audience laugh at what the two people on the side of the road are doing while simultaneously invoking feelings of sympathy for their plight. At the same time, I believe that the cartoon draws slightly on logos, as what the two are doing seems like the logical thing to do if that is who Romney is helping, albeit not very effective looking. There are no appeals to ethos.

    The crossed out signs are what other politicians have claimed to be the champions of. The signs show the gradual shift of American concern, at least among the politicians.

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  6. The cartoon shows the typical homeless person soliciting money on the streets, however when the homeless person sees Willard coming toward him he, decides to change his sales pitch from jobless to middle class, in hopes Willard will stop and give him some money. The reason for this depiction is that Willard recently made a statement that he has been heavily criticized for, saying that we need to help the American people in general, more than we need to help the poor. I think the intended audience is voters in General, more specifically Republican voters. I think that it appeals to pathos because its depiction of the homeless man begging for money as a middle class man is supposed to draw out some emotions. I also think this applies to Logos because it is based off of something that Willard said that he does put the general American public ahead of the poor.

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  7. Mitt Romney has stated that helping the poor americans wasnt in his intrests, due to the safty net that was over them. Recently Romney's focus has been on the middle class americans because, they dont have protection by the government or their own money and this is where many americans stand today.

    This cartoon is focused on many who will be voting for a republican presidential canidate because, this desplays Reomney's plan on helping the vast majority of americans that need help and protection.

    The appeals made in this cartoon begin with pathos primarily due to the fact that the crossed out signs show that the poor and the jobless are of little sugnifigance to Romney's campaign. Aslo Pathos is appealed to the mass of americans in the middle class who need help. Ethos is also highly appealed to, because Romney has acctually stated that he is only interested in the middle class americans because there is no safty net for them to fall on in a time of need. Logos is'nt appealed to as highly as the others.

    The significance of the other crossed out signs is the fact that Romney's focus is not in the poor american population, but on the middle class. The crossing out of the signs may indicate that focusing on the poor population may be a dead end aswell.

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  8. The cartoon is showing two people on the side of the road. Holding a sign that reads "Middle Class Please Help". Basically saying that the middle class is taking the place of the poor people. Then you a bus with Romney's name and saying "Believe in America." The thing is Romeny has never worked a single job in his life and yet his a rich person. So he doesn't understand what being in middle class is like.
    The audience is aimed for people in the middle class. And them dealing with the fact that the middle class is disappearing. The disappearance of the middle class correlates with pathos and ethos. Pathos because its going to be gone and people will either be really poor or really rich. Ethos because with there being only being really poor and really rich people is Romney is a really person and never exipernced working a day in his life. So him being able to catorgize people between poor and rich just cause you feel like it. Thats not right.
    The other signs that have been crossed out are the things that slowing dissappeared. First the jobless dissappeared and then the homeless, then the very poor and the working poor. They are the things that presidents worked on trying to get rid of. But if Romney goes into office, then you can say good bye to the middle class.

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  9. This cartoon is a reaction to Romney's recent statements that he is not concerned about the poor, but instead with the middle class, because they are "hurting the most." The author of this cartoon is trying to appeal to voters, showing that the poor are in fact, the people that need our help the most. The author tries to show that Mitt would be an unfitting president, so he is probably a Democrat, or supporting another Republican candidate. The cartoon appeals to pathos because it evokes a feeling of pity for the poor, who are being ignored. It also appeals to logos because it is a reaction to a quote by Romney himself.

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  10. Forget the poor, Mitt Romney has said. Those words have come out, unintentionally and taken out of context I'm sure, out of Romneys mouth over the course of this past month. His intentions in office were stated clearly as well that day, as he said that recently the middle class in our society deserves the most attention and support since they have no "safety net over them". The poor, who are sitting on welfare and financial aid has the government behind them while the rich have the money and power to back them up. Where does that leave the middle class? According to Romney, no where. This cartoon portrays a run down neighborhood with "protestors" from the middle class arguing their point and asking for help. The crossed out signs about the poor show that their problems have already been fixed, but the middle class remains to wait.

    The audience would be the well-educated, interested in politics, and intellectual crowd. The appeal being made is pathos I believe because it leaves you feeling sorry for the remaining classes of society.

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  11. This political cartoon is showing one of my boy Willard's buses and it has a middle class person holding a sign saying that he needs help. I also see a bunch of poor signs and I think that there are poor people cowering behind the signs. These people are cowering behind the signs because Romney said that he wasn't worried about the middle class and people took it as his saying that he didn't care about the poor and that he hated the poor. When, in all honesty he said that wasn't too worried about the poor because the poor have safety nets that the government has set up to catch them when they fall and the middle class aren't lucky enough to have a net to catch them when they fall.
    The audience is for people educated enough to know about the whole Romney not caring about the poor think that Gingrich, Santorum, and non-Romney supporters jumped on. The audience I think is also the poor and the author is trying to convey that Romney doesn't care about them. I also think that the author is also trying to reach Romney supporters and try to show them that they are in fact supporting the wrong candidate.
    I think that this political cartoon mainly appeals to pathos. It is bringing up that Romney supposedly doesn't care for the lower class Americans which stirs up a lot of anger in people's hearts. The cartoon also appeals to logos by being about Romney who in fact is a real candidate and being about a real issue that some people say that Romney doesn't care about poor people. I don't really see an appeal to ethos.
    If I was wrong about people cowering behind the poor signs earlier, I thought I saw hands so I thought people were cowering but I'm not sure because I can't see the cartoon too well, I think that maybe it was just one poor person who made every sign in the cartoon. He wasn't getting any luck by holding the poor signs so he thought that he would hold up a sign that said that he was middle class and thought that Romney would help him out. VOTE ROMNEY 2012 so I win the bet with Mr. Hinkle and he buys me T-Sweezy tickets!

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  12. Although the disparity between America's social classes, is, and will always remain, a National constant... Mitt Romney offers hope to America's middle class. Although it holds true that the middle class is obviously not the poorest or underprivileged class in America, it is slowly becoming somewhat comparable to that of America's poorest class.

    One of Mitt Romney's core positions on the middle class issue would be pertaining to that of job creation. Mitt Romney also promotes ceasing the substantial amount of money borrowed from China each year, while also making a point that Obama, has "crushed" the American middle class.

    I feel this political depiction centered around that of pathos, this cartoon fostered a plethora of emotion... while also providing ethos, in the personal representation: Mitt Romney. Logos was also present in the form of logical assumption supported by the cartoon itself: the middle class is slowly diminishing as well as the American economy. Although I can't help but feeling like every politicians present their empty vows... :c

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  13. This cartoon is based off of comments that Mitt Romney has made regarding the low- and middle-classes during his campaign. Romney has stated that "he doesn't care about the poor" because there are safety nets in place to aid them, such as food stamps and other aid (as represented by the crossed out signs). He instead wants to focus on the middle class and helping them out in dire economic times. Even so, his comment regarding his plan for assistance to our 99% has been taken negatively by most people in that Romney really doesn't care about the poor and is unwilling to help them.
    The audience is mainly towards the voters, especially those in the lower and middle classes. The cartoonist is trying to educate the population about Romney's opinions on the issues, and let them know that he either doesn't have his priorities straight, or at the least, his plans aren't as "equal opportunity" as they seem.
    The main appeals are to pathos; those appeals are seen in the subject matter of the cartoon: the fact that Romney doesn't care so much about the poor, and supposedly cares most about the middle class. This would likely upset the working class, and potentially the middle and upper classes as well because of sympathy towards the poor (also part of the appeal to pathos!) Another appeal is to logos, because to the majority of people, it doesn't make as much sense why Romney would pay more attention to middle class citizens who are getting by, versus working class citizens who are barely surviving on food stamps and financial aid that continues to decrease.

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  14. This cartoon is showing a recent statement Mitt Romney has made. He said that the poor people do not need help because they have a safety net, and instead we should help the middle class people. That is the significance of the crossed out signs. They cross out the words "please help poor," "jobless," "working poor," and "homeless."

    The audience is the American voters, specifically Republicans at this time.

    An important appeal is pathos, because many Americans can sympathize with the poor and poor working class. Ethos is established because most people can relate to this cartoon, and they know how factual it is. Many people agree that Mitt Romney's statement didn't make much sense, appealing to logos.

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  15. This cartoon portrays a man who is homeless and poor considering the signs that have been crossed out. The reasoning for those signs being crossed out is because Mitt Romney recently stated that homeless people don't need any help because they have a "safety net". On the other hand though, Mitt Romney does believe that we should help stimulate the middle class people.

    This cartoon appeals to ethos because most people in our society today know what it's like to be low on money. I'm not going to say poor because many are not poor, but they would definitely like more money. It also appeals to pathos, because a lot of people in the upper working class feel bad for these people on the side of the road asking for money to feed their family, when in most cases... it's probably not true.

    Also, the audience is for voters.

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