A day with Gray turns happy again!

Todayness!

Ideology: A set of beliefs, or ideas, that help a person shape/understand the world; feminism, capitalism, conservatism/liberalism, communism, humanism (?), environmentalism, liberalism...

Common Topics: conjecture, degree, possibility; specific procedures/set of questions for generating arguments (heuristics: generating ideas/topics/arguments)

Commonplace: something people can take "comfort" in; "taken for granted", "unstated"; "vague principles/myths/traditional values"; faith in a "vaguely defined God" guides the nation, patriotism, loyalty, national flag/anthem/symbols, frontier; often unstated ideas, statements that help to shape an ideology; unstated premises that help to construct an ideology

Zinn, p. 131--American ideology, commonplaces are frequently resorted to in popular rhetoric; they provide the terms within which American discourse works

Hirsch--how does he think, as opposed to Zinn

Specifics from the text: MANY!

Ideologic--"main street, not wall street"; how do they work?  what are they? ideologic (ideas)--arguments that are made by stringing together commonplaces--p. 141

"Keep Austin Weird"--commonplace is leftist movement

1) An"ideal" city is a "weird" city//the same is boring

2) A weird city has lots of different people, different shots, different ideas, different cultures, heterogeneous=weird city

3) Austin is a weird city

4) Homogeneity is not weird

5) Box stores corporations promote homogeneity

6) Government should promote what is unique in a city rather than what is "the same"

This is the "Keep Austin Weird" movement more than anything else

7) moves it into more specific terms: Austin policy should keep local stores here rather than inviting in corporations

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people"

1) Guns are weapons that claim many lives, due to bullets

2) Guns are incapable of free-will and/or action by themselves

3) Guns are only deadly when initiated by a person at a person

4) Guns are not a major contributing factor to violence at large unless they are wielded by people

5) Guns should not be  the focus of legislation

6) Violent offenders who use guns in the wrong way should be the focus of legislation

Wallsaver widget...

Understandingness...

Something I want to understand better...that is hard...there are many things I don't understand, and just choosing one will be hard...

Let's see...

I would really like to know if the following theory will ever happen/could be true: 

Electronic books will eventually replace paper books

As a person who once aspired to become a librarian/book restorer, I feel quite strongly about this topic.  Using Aristotle's Common Topics argument, though, I will discover the answer, hopefully, in this quandary.  

Common Topics:

1) Whether a thing has (or has not) occurred or will (or will not) occur--conjecture

2) Whether a thing is greater or smaller than another thing--degree

3) What is (and is not) possible--possibility

This be the part where I go through and ask questions/explain items...fun!

1) Paper books are still around, so they have not been forgotten; there are electronic devices, like Kindles, that allow the owner to download books and highlight items; in this ever-developing society, electronic books could still take over paper books.  

2) I believe that paper books are greater than electronic books because you can have the book in front of you, you can see how the writer intended it (not many writers compose specifically for electronic media; ebooks are normally taken from books that were in print on paper before the electronic form).  There are many people, though, who prefer electronic books.  They believe that it is easier to use one thing and have many books on it, instead of having to lug around huge books.  I understand that, but if we completely get rid of it, think of how much history we will be getting rid of!  Thanks Gutenberg, but we didn't need you after all!

3) It is very possible that ebooks will take over the paper books due to the amount of people that use electronic devices.  I have several friends who only listen to audiobooks; they never open a book unless directed to do so for school.  This greatly saddens me; when you have your own copy of a book, you can read at your own pace.  You can put the book down and wait until you understand so you can continue.  When it is an audiobook, though, you have to pause it and you normally lose your place.  But back to ebooks...because they can be accessed from many different places on an electronic device people already own, it is very possible that they will take over the book business.  

There are several more ways in which I can argue for/against ebooks.  I will save that for another time...I was about to say that people are to trees as frogs are to bugs, but the analogy didn't work...so...onward to class!

A day that must needs Gray!

The book?!

Terminology:

Common topics--under inventions

Common Topics--conjecture, greater/lesser (degree), what's possible, set of questions that we can ask and answer in order to begin generating arguments on any topic/in any situation (this is what makes it "common"); special (meaning "specific") topics, make sense in certain topics and fields; questions of conjecture, degree (greater/lesser), possibility,

1) Whether a thing has or has not occurred or will or will not occur: what exists? what doesn't exist? how were things in the past? how will things be in the future? no sort of objective statement;

2) Whether a thing is greater or smaller than another thing: lesser/greater degree; goodness, justness, honor, expediency (insert key terms); what is the most expedient?  what is the most just?

3) What is and is not possible: (present/future) what is possible? (present/future) what can we expect to happen? (past) what is impossible? 

Trying to generate as many arguments as possible in the specific context.  

Common Places:

Ideology!  Shape how you see the world!  Cannot get rid of...helps the persons interpret...

beliefs, attitudes, values, ways of thinking/viewing the world that define a group

Communism, capitalism, feminism, environmentalism, conservatism/liberalism

protecting/preserving families; strengthening communities; think of them as political bumper stickers (plastered all over your car, commonplaces that help to create your ideology)

Statements that circulate in ideologies

Look at his blog...it has links to what we discussed in class...

p. 135

read back through the chapter, think about McC argument...

Paperses!

In case you were wondering, I do make up my own titles for these posts. I don't normally pick words that many people know, but I do try pronouncing them before I type them. If you enjoy the spellings, imagine someone actually sitting and pronouncing it. :)

Anyways! Newspapers!

The main items being debated in the "American public sphere" are the election and the stock-market. These two topics concern all Americans, though the stock-market, nowadays, only concerns certain people. The ways in which the media portray the trials occurring in the US greatly affect the way in which American view their own country. If the media says we are all going to be bankrupted by the failing economy, the public will generally agree. This brings up the topic of "ideological bias". This means, simply, that the certain slant written into the newspapers and magazines is one proposing values, and, in some cases, stating values not felt by the society as a whole.
The ideological bias felt by my hometown newspaper is one that the rest of the state does not share. To protect the citizens of said city, I will not say the city. So...there... The liberal/conservative bias currently felt in America affects the ideology of everyone because, as can be seen from the current presidential debates, not everyone thinks the same way. The ideological biases felt by the people in the book, even, are not the same.
Some ideological biases will be supported, and some will not. This is simple logic. Not everyone agrees on the same issues, and those that do agree on the same issues have various degrees of agreement. This will always be the case, and most newspapers will pull on the biases felt by the larger population. And no matter how hard people protest, this will continue to be the case.

Onward to class!