Three Research Topics

1. What does literature "say" about how medium's are able to talk to people that have died?


2. What does literature "say" about how horoscopes are determined based on when your birthday is and how does it effect one's personality?


3. What does literature "say" about how cell phones are ruining communication between people?

Editorial Bias

               In the article, Why Should Animal Testing be Banned, by Shashank Nakate, the author seems very bias towards people who are in agreement for animal testing.  Nakate is a feels strongly against animal testing and believes it should be stopped immediately.   She shows many different types of bias throughout her editorial some I picked up on include: essentialism, availability cascade and the ostrich effect. 

                Initially, essentialism is demonstrated throughout the editorial.  Shashank Nakate categorizes people according to their essential nature.  If you think animal testing is good because otherwise humans would get hurt, she would say you are wrong:   “The results obtained from animal testing are used to check whether a particular medicine or cosmetic product would have any side-effects on human beings.”  For example, if someone was to use a medicine or cosmetic product that was tested on an animal you would be categorized as a bad person.  Though this may not be true, or you may not even had known you are using a product that has been tested on an animal, you will be placed in a group of oblivious selfish people.  The author shows essentialism in this point about products being animal tested.

                Subsequently, availability cascade pops up in this article a couple of times. Availability cascade is a self-reinforcing process in which a collective belief gains more and more plausibility through its increasing repetition in public discourse.  Over the course of the editorial Shashank repetitively says how awful animal testing is and gives reasons to back up her beliefs:  “The practice of animal testing should be banned, considering that it is harmful from the ethical, environmental as well as the economical point of view.”  After saying that animal testing should be banned many times the reader starts to believe the authors opinion.  The author not only says that animal testing should be banned directly but also in virtually every sentence there is a point against this horrible act.  Availability cascade really helped the author to get her point across to the reader.

                Additionally, the ostrich effect was seen throughout the editorial.  The ostrich effect means that you ignore an obvious (negative) situation.  Nakate is very bias and eliminated the fact that people have other opinions on the subject.  She does not consider other’s point of view.  Other people may believe that animal testing is a good thing, for it decreases the number of humans that are hurt from unsafe products.  Shashank may use the ostrich effect and not even know it.

                By and large, in the article, Why Animal Testing Should be Banned, by Shashank Nakate, the author shows bias to people in agreement with animal testing.  Nakate is totally against animal testing and wants it to disappear.  Some major forms of bias that I found in this editorial: essentialism, availability cascade and the ostrich effect. 

Bucketlist: Detention✔️

         On September 30, 2014 I crossed off detention from my bucketlist.  I sat in the cafeteria from 2:10-3:40.  It was not at all what I was expecting.  I was hoping it would be like in the movies when the rebels sit in desks in front of a green chalk board and a teacher is at the front of the room sitting behind her desk slapping a ruler in her hand.  Instead, we just sat there doing homework in silence for a whole hour and a half while the teacher corrected tests.  Overall, I am glad I got to check off detention from my bucketlist but I am not looking to get another detention anytime soon!

Interview

                  I did my interview with John Munger and learned a lot about him.  The first question I asked was: "If you had one wish what would you use it on?" After he thought long and hard on this tough question he came to a conclusion, "My dad" he exclaimed "for him to live back at home instead of living in Virginia for work and only coming home on the weekends."  When I asked John what he likes to do in his spare time he replies with:  "I like to watch TV or hang out with friends." His favorite TV show at the moment is How I Met Your Mother but his all time favorite show would have to be The Office.  I then asked John what his full name was, "My full name is John Kenneth Munger."  His first name came from his uncle and his middle name is from his father.  If you ask John what the best day of his life was he would tell you: "The day I hit my first homerun."  This amazing day was when he was twelve years old.  John has only broken one bone in his lifetime, "Broke my pinkie last year" he said "I was sliding down an enormous hill in my neighborhood with my brother going head first and things just went downhill from there."  His favorite type of movie:  "Either action or comedy."  His favorite movie ever is Borat.  John has lived in Norton his whole life just not the same house, "I have always lived in Norton but I used to live over by the yellow Dunkin Donuts when I was younger."  His thoughts on sports are all positive, "I love them" John tells me "My favorite sport to watch is either hockey or football and my favorite sport to play is tennis."  Next, I asked him what the weirdest thing he has seen is.  I was not prepared for this answer: "In New York City a hobo was pooping in a box on the subway."  If John could have dinner with any celebrity dead or alive "I have two people in mind" he says "either Hugh Jackman or Will Ferrell."  John also has no pets, "allergic to dogs and cats" he exclaimed "and do not want to have to deal with caring for them anyways."  Overall, I know a lot more about John after having this interview.