Today we briefly discussed the three basic appeals of any argument: appeal to the audience’s emotions, the speaker’s credibility, and the author’s message itself. Tonight, find commercials or advertisements on the Internet (YouTube is a goldmine, but you may be able to find static ads elsewhere—just turn off your ad blocking plugins) and post a link in the comments below. You should include a brief explanation of how the ad works in light of the appeals we discussed in class. For example:

While O.J. Simpson’s plea for viewers to “snap that seatbelt” may have been persuasive at the height of his career as football’s golden child, the events surrounding his trial have since sullied any credibility he might have as a role model.

We will discuss your advertisements and explanations in class tomorrow. As always, email with questions.

If you haven’t watched the video yet, do so.

“Pirates create positive social and economic changes, and understanding piracy today is more important than ever, because now that we all can copy and broadcast whatever we want; we can all become pirates” (Mason 35).

Mason makes a clear argument here, drawing from the history of our country, music, and movies: Nearly every major innovation has piracy in its history.

See Reginald Fessenden, for instance, who made news with his “wireless station.”

Today we discussed the fact that companies have jumped on the DIY bandwagon (and the charity and “green” offshoots of this), understanding that consumers are looking for the feeling that they are “making a difference” or “outsmarting the man” by buying products that give them a feeling of empowerment. Regardless of whether you feel this is appropriate, sneaky, or just a smart move, it highlights the fact that this ethos has gone mainstream.

“The mainstream news media are being undermined by bloggers and citizen journalists offering a wider variety of local and niche coverage” (Mason 49-50).

This is leaking into other arenas, as well. We now have blogs (as Mason describes on 48), youTube (which allows people to get their video out, but also provides a forum for citizen journalists to effect change [think Rodney King]), a general acceptance of “street art,” a rise in superhero culture (ask me about this one), and a general sense of self-empowerment fueled by the free tools at our disposal. Punk isn’t dead; punk went mainstream.

[T]he only way to stay on top is to offer the best content, the most variety, and the latest, most entertaining, and accurate information. . . . [W]ith millions of bloggers vetting each other, inaccuracies in stories on the most popular blogs are usually pointed out quickly. (Mason 55)

We’ll talk about this tomorrow.