The Presidential Debates
A picture is worth a thousand words. Get that picture played repeatedly over the news and it’s worth more than a thousand words; you gather the entire eyes, ears, and minds of a nation. The “great debate” of the Presidential Election for 2004 was well aware of the media power, understanding that there is a 24-news cycle available through TV, newspapers, and Internet. Those who wanted to remain ahead only had to use the media as their guinea pigs to twist out their favorable outcome. President Bush may be incumbent but his team behind the debate is not; John Kerry may be long-winded but his team behind the debate knows how to attract attention quickly. Both candidates may not have known what stage was being set October 4, 2004 but their campaign aids and analysts knew that in order to turn an American audience onto their side they knew manipulation of the media would turn into manipulation of the public.
For those watching the first debate it was easy to see which candidate was better prepared and over-all more likeable. While John Kerry spoke on point, direct, and quickly, President Bush was defensive, angry, and often repetitive; idiotic remarks such as, ''Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us -- I know that,” stuck out like sore thumbs amidst a debate of intelligence, and cool comebacks (New York Times). The use of the split-screen by some cable networks such as Fox Network News, presented the debate with a split-screen allowing “... several shots of Bush grimacing and looking quite hostile during Kerry's criticisms of his Iraq actions” creating the effect that “Kerry was aware of the camera’s gaze and Bush perhaps did not” (The Los Angeles Times). The overall effect of the split-screen was favorable to Kerry and unfavorable to Bush, allowing for the Democratic and Republican parties to try and convey their opinions of whether this was fair. Kerry officials were ecstatic over the results, comparing the President to Al Gore’s reactions in the 2000 debate “memorable” and “counter productive” (The Los Angeles Times). While Kerry officials were gloating the Bush campaign tried to play if off coolly, acting as if the reactions of the President did nothing more than a man who showed his emotion and conviction last night in answering questions and listening to someone de-credit him in the American Public (The Los Angeles Times).
The Korean War , although successful in preventing the spread of communism, was one of the first tests of communism in Asia. North Korea was strictly communist while South Korea was democratic. As usual, the United States supported democratic South Korea and the Truman Doctrine was applied to the Korean situation. The North Korean forces crossed the dividing line (38th parallel) and invaded South Korea. Thus, they provoked a war over communism. With the possibility of democratic South Korea falling to the communistic North, the U.S. stepped in and supplied aid mostly through troops. The U.S. then urged the United Nations to support South Korea and fight against the communist North. Once the North Korean forces were defeated at Inchon, they eventually got pushed back to the 38th parallel. However, against President Truman’s word, American General MacArthur decided to keep pushing back the North Korean forces by crossing the dividing line. This caused more trouble because the People’s Republic of China (Communist China) now sent troops to aid the communists against the pro...
Bush opens his speech by acknowledging the events of September 11, and those that lost the lives of loved ones and to those that gave their life trying to save others in the buildings. He appeals to those that remain strong by saying that, “These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.” His use of pathos helps Bush to calm and control the public in order to keep the country together. This
It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political campaign commercials of the 2008 presidential election reveals the different informal fallacies utilized to gain support for one of the candidates or misguide the public about the opposing candidate.
There is one book that can, and does affect everyone that reads is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. John Steinbeck is a very interesting person, and one that did not even graduate from college. New York seems to be the city of new beginnings and for Steinbeck it was just what he needed. He got a big reality check when he tried to become a free lance writer and that did not work out the way he had hoped it would. He then went back to California and published both short stories and novels. Steinbeck got heavily critiqued on his first novels and considers his best work The Grapes of Wrath by far. Since this was such a successful novel and one that needed to be shared with more people they made a movie based on the book, but left out some key parts at the end of the novel. They left out these last chapters because of some key reasons and when you read the book you begin to understand why they could not have put these words into a picture. John Steinbeck creates a picture and feeling at the end of the novel that is almost unbearable to read and leaves you with a feeling of dread but, that is what The Grapes of Wrath is all about.
“Everybody wants a little piece of lan'. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It's just in their head. They're all the time talkin' about it, but its jus' in their head.” (Steinbeck) The Grapes of Wrath is most often categorized as an American Realist novel. It was written by John Steinbeck and published in 1939. As a result of this novel, Steinbeck won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and prominently cited the novel when he won the Nobel Prize a little over twenty years after the text’s publication. This text follows the Joad family through the Great Depression. It begins in Oklahoma, watching as the family is driven from their home by drought and economic changes. Within the introduction of the novel the living conditions is described, “Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: The walking man lifted a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as the fence tops and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it.” (Grapes, 1) This novel is and will remain one of the most significant novels of the Great Depression. Despite its controversial nature it is timeless. In fact, the ending of this text is one of the most controversial pieces of literature written during the time period, and has never accurately made its way into film. The ending to John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath is the most significant portion of the novel due to its historical accuracy as well as its message about the American spirit.
The movie , “The Great Debaters”, was produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Denzel Washington, the movie was written based on a true story, the movie revolving around the efforts of a debate coach and his team to be recognized among white debating teams, such as Harvard University. In a time, when the Jim Crow laws were common in the South and lynching mobs were around, the debate team coach Melvin B. Tolson, helped raise his debate team of young black students to the top.
U.S. participation was centered on America’s foreign policies at the time. Although the War did not break out until June of 1950, several conflicts brewed over the attempt to take over the entire nation under one rule for several years after World War II. The majority of these conflicts took place at the 38th parallel where Korea was split. Decisions influenced by President Harry S. Truman and his doctrine, which was essentially the policy to contain the spread of communism, gave the United Nations an opportunity to prevent global domination through communism (“Teaching with Documents”). The fear of international communism from the powers of The Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China was the main reason that caused the United States to intervene.
...nt that democracy and communism could not cooperate with one another as shown in the United Nations Security Council after the Soviet Union boycott. UN initiatives often faced a stalemate, as the Soviet Union would many times prove difficult to the other members of the Security Council because its representative would constantly veto acts that favored democracy at the expense of communism, while other powers such as the United States would veto and shut down any proposals that benefited communism. The Korean War proved that democracy and communism could and would not get along, adding fuel to the imminent Cold War. What started as a civil war in a small Asian country quickly erupted into an international division between opposing powers backed by incompatible political systems. The Korean War has left its mark on surviving Koreans as well as others around the world.
Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a realistic novel that mimics life and offers social commentary too. It offers many windows on real life in midwest America in the 1930s. But it also offers a powerful social commentary, directly in the intercalary chapters and indirectly in the places and people it portrays. Typical of very many, the Joads are driven off the land by far away banks and set out on a journey to California to find a better life. However the journey breaks up the family, their dreams are not realized and their fortunes disappear. What promised to be the land of milk and honey turns to sour grapes. The hopes and dreams of a generation turned to wrath. Steinbeck opens up this catastrophe for public scrutiny.
John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath in response to the Great Depression. Steinbeck's intentions were to publicize the movements of a fictional family affected by the Dust Bowl that was forced to move from their homestead. Also a purpose of Steinbeck's was to criticize the hard realities of a dichotomized American society.
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel by John Steinbeck that exposes the desperate conditions under which the migratory farm families of America during the 1930's live under. The novel tells of one families migration west to California through the great economic depression of the 1930's. The Joad family had to abandon their home and their livelihoods. They had to uproot and set adrift because tractors were rapidly industrializing their farms. The bank took possession of their land because the owners could not pay off their loan. The novel shows how the Joad family deals with moving to California. How they survive the cruelty of the land owners that take advantage of them, their poverty and willingness to work.
The Korean War was seen to be a turning point for the cold war but the world is still left in confusion and the tension is still strong between North and South Korea present to this day. On June 25th of 1950 the Cold War had turned hot and the involvement of the two major superpowers the US and the USSR contributed to an increase in tension. The Korean War was the one of first big steps America took in enforcing the new policies of Containment. The Korean War was thought of as the ‘forgotten war’; though it had been thought of forgotten it had a large influence on the cold war world wide, communist growth and modern Korea.
In the US, mass media plays a significant role in politics. One of the key roles mass media plays in politics includes the airing of the platforms of various politicians. The media influences the view of people on politics and politicians. As the opinion of individuals is affected, the results of the votes are consequently changed (Holden, 2016).
Before engaging in the debates with Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln was relatively unknown in the political world and was just beginning his career in politics. Abraham Lincoln’s reputation was just starting to grow, and his life was about to make a drastic change. The Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 were a turning point in Abraham Lincoln’s political career.
All candidates that run for office for any branch of the government know very well the impact of the media. They campaign, they endorse, the fight (not literally) other candidates on the media to show their dominance over the other candidate. In fact, without the media, most people would know little or close to nothing about the candidates that run for office (“The Media). Without Presidential debates aired on every single channel, t...