http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLTQi7vVsI&feature=player_detailpage

View the fallacy link and post your opinions to our blog.  How are you more aware of the fallacious statements made around you?   Also post two examples of fallacies that you found.  No two may be alike.  Post the fallacy, name it, and describe why.  DUE 5/11

April Scandals

What is the implication in the cartoon?  What other things have made national news that aren't necessarily scandals but still negative?  Weigh in with an intelligent opinion.   How will these scandals and other news items affect the presidential race this fall?  DUE 5/3

Cheney Heart Transplant

Why do you think that this was not covered in the news very much?  What are the underlying implications of the heart transplant and Obamacare?  Is there any truth that liberal media kept it a low profile so as to not make more issues for Obamacare?  Comment on any appeals.  DUE 4/17

High Gas Prices

What are the implications of the cartoon?  Do you agree?  What is your solution?  What reaction or action is the cartoon illustrator trying to invoke?  DUE 3/30

What Say You?

Independent’s Eye by Joe Gandelman
Dear Partisans:
As America hurtles towards the November 2012 elections can you please stop comparing people with whom you disagree to Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin? If you consider my plea irrelevant, then just close our eyes and you might hear men, women, and innocent children butchered by the two regimes plead with you not to make light of those who caused their horrific deaths.

Petar Pismestrovic / Cagle Cartoons (click to view more cartoons by Petar)

The Hitler/Stalin comparison almost always plays out the same. Someone is likened to Hitler or Stalin by a partisan or politico, it becomes a controversy and they usually walk it back but by then the negative imagery link has been made.
Pennsylvania’s Senator Rick Santorum recently got into hot water after making this comment, which he later insisted did not compare Obama to Hitler: “Remember, the greatest generation for a year and a half sat on the sidelines while Europe was under darkness. We’re a hopeful people. We think, ‘Well, you know, it’ll get better. Yeah, he’s a nice guy. I mean, it won’t be near as bad as what we think. This will be okay. I mean, yeah, maybe he’s not the best guy after a while, after a while you find out some things about this guy over in Europe who’s not so good of a guy after all…”
Yes, I know you’ll say this came during the Republican primaries where heated GOP rhetoric is at melting point. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called the GOP’s atmosphere “toxic…about just being able to say ‘I’m more angry at the Obama administration than anyone else.” Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said: “I used to be a conservative, and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective.”
But the use of Hitler Stalin labels isn’t restricted to one party’s supporters.
Billionaire George Soros said a “supremist ideology” guided the Bush White House and: “When I hear Bush say, ‘You’re either with us or against us,’ it reminds me of the Germans.” Moveon.org had an online video contest online that produced a commercial with the Hitler comparison. Some anti-Bush websites and celebrities used the comparison. Google has many images of Bush photoshopped as Hitler. A whole website is devoted to the references.
Obama has been compared to Hitler by Tom Sullivan, Rush Limbaugh, Hank Williams, Jr. and others. A gun company ad on gun control compared Obama to Hitler and Stalin. Sen. Lindsay Graham said the Consumer Protection Agency is “something out of the Stalinist era.” Republican no-taxes activist Grover Norquist compared Obama to Stalin. And, again, Google has many images portraying Obama as Hitler…

Question: has any American President ever arrested families, sent them to camps, killed women and children upon arrival then worked the men to death or gassed them? Has any American President murdered three million Jews in Poland alone? Has any American President seized lands and stuck the former owners in camps where they would starve to freeze to death at minus 40 degrees, or executed millions of perceived opponents by assembly line shots in the head?
Several times before his 1973 death my grandfather Abraham Ravinsky would open his family photo album and show me pictures of men, women and children who had been our relatives in Russia who were among the many exterminated by Hitler. He’d point: “Killed by Hitler…killed by Hitler…killed by Hitler” He’d look at me, then go on, telling me a murdered relative’s name. I still think of those doomed little kids.
So can we leave those two monsters of history in a special class and not minimize what they did by phony comparisons? Can we let the dead lie and leave the truly monstrous to stand out as special examples of the truly monstrous?
—–
Copyright 2012 Joe Gandelman, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Joe Gandelman is a veteran journalist who wrote for newspapers overseas and in the United States. He has appeared on cable news show political panels and is Editor-in-Chief of The Moderate Voice, an Internet hub for independents, centrists and moderates. CNN’s John Avlon named him as one of the top 25 Centrists Columnists and Commentators. He can be reached at jgandelman@themoderatevoice.com and can be booked to speak at your event at www.mavenproductions.com. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/joegandelman.


Weigh in with your opinion.  With such a politically correct world (as said by Eric and the media) what do you think?

MI primary

Who is the target audience?  What are the implications?  Who is the cartoon NOT intended for?  How do you think it will effect the primary race?  Explain any appeals.  DUE 3/1

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

Mental Insecticide

What is the implication of this cartoon?  Who is the intended audience?  What are the appeals? DUE 2/3

GOP primary voting

What does this cartoon imply?  Name the audience and any appeals.  DUE 1/19

Blagojevich

What is the general interpretation of this cartoon?  What are the appeals?  Add any related comments.  DUE 1/9

US Politics

Explain the cartoon.  What do you think the artist is trying to convey?  Comment on the appeals.  DUE 12/12

Occupy Basement/Trickle Down

Respond to the cartoon.  Talk about any appeals that are made by the artist.  Be thorough.

Respond to the appeals. Compare the two cartoons, are they both appealing to the same audience?  How do you know?  DUE 11/30

Waiting for Superman

Questions for Waiting for Superman

1.    Who is the intended audience of the documentary?

2.    What is the purpose of the documentary?

3.    Is it successful in its intended purpose?

4.    What is the presentation that is made about public schooling?

5.    Where are most of the schools featured located?

6.    What is the ‘defined’ purpose of public schooling?

7.    What is your definition/purpose of public schooling?

8.    What is the assumption with the statistics?

9.    Were there any significant differences among the students featured?

10. The documentary says that students were separated or tracked based not just academics but obedience, discipline, effort and response to authority.  Are these worthy characteristics by which to judge students?

11. Are you being prepared for college?  2 year?  4 year?

12. If you had to go to one of the failing schools, would you try harder or would you give up?

13. Do you think that other students in big schools are being prepared?

14. What is the draw to these big schools?

15. Is college the only option for students of good schools?

16. What is Bill Gates’ interest in schools?

17. What made some of the featured schools sought after for parents and students?

18. What is the biggest obstacle to change?

19. How does the National Teacher’s Union explain the issues?

20. How do they impede the process?

21. Do you think that they intend to?

22. Is it really true that teachers can’t be fired?

23. What was the solution(s) offered for students?

24. What is your experience with school?

25. Was there any student responsibility or accountability?

26. Should all schools run the same?

27. What do the increased hours and Saturday school insure?

28. What did you notice about the alternative schools?

29. What are the pros and cons of tenure?

30. Why did Rhee come up against so much opposition?

31. Did her lack of experience help or hurt her and the things that she wants to do?

32. What is the difference between a student failing and a school failing?

33. What is the advantage of a lottery system?

34. What is the disadvantage of a lottery system?

35. What do you think will happen to those featured students who did not get into a different school?

36. Do you think that they will still be successful students?  Explain your answer.

Best and Worst of Times

What is the meaning of the cartoon?  Explain any background necessary for understanding.  Write about any appeals that the cartoonist uses.  DUE 11/10

Occupy Halloween

Explain the cartoon to the best of your ability.  You may need to do a little research on "occupy wall street" to better understand the cartoon.  Explain any appeals and the rhetorical elements.  DUE 10/28

Respond to the cartoon in terms of appeals and ethos, pathos, and logos.  DUE 10/20

Class Warfare

Who is the audience?  What are the appeals made?  Offer your very important opinion.  DUE 10/4

Ground Zero - Economy

Give your educated opinion on the cartoon.  Explain the significance and the effectiveness.  Also discuss any appeals.  Posts due 9/23

9-11 Anniversary

Give your feelings on the cartoon and the observance of the anniversary.  DUE 9/15

Government Spending

Analyze the cartoon in terms of the rhetorical triangle and appeals (logos, pathos, ethos).  Is the cartoon effective?  With which audience?  Posts DUE 9/7 by midnight.