Spotlight on Writing Assignment Option 2
Develop an argumentative thesis for a 5-page essay that addresses consumerism and economics in Chapter 17. Be sure to incorporate at least two essays from Chapter 17 to develop your essay.
Because our textbook has egregiously ignored social media and consumerism to its detriment, we are expanding our essay option to include the growing role of social media and consumerism:
Developing a Newer, Perhaps More Relevant Angle for Your Assignment: Finding the Relationship Between Consumerism and Social Media
In the Black Mirror episode "Nosedive" from Season 3, we see a dehumanizing relationship between consumerism and social media:
One. Consumers are vulnerable to a bombardment of social media ratings. Ratings determine our behavior and privilege. We become imprisoned by ratings.
Notice everything today is a rating or a survey. Rate My Professor. Rate My Student. Rate My Doctor. You can rate everything on Yelp. These ratings affect our perceptions of businesses and individuals. Our credibility is on the line.
We engage in mutual sycophantism and become fawning parasites so everyone "likes" us and we "like" them.
We're lazy. We adapt to path of least resistance. If technology gives us an easy way to rank someone, we will eventually accept that ranking as the common currency. We become therefore a slave to the ranking system.
Two. Consumers live in a hierarchy where desirability, social ranking, and class privileges are all determined by social media metrics. It doesn't matter if the metrics are accurate or not. What matters is that the metrics are there and being used. They are the currency. We have no choice. If we shun the ranking system, we become pariahs.
Three. Consumers find a sort of Faustian Bargain or deal with the devil in that they more they ascend social media rankings the more they become vulnerable, helpless, miserable children dependent on social ranking as a compensation that they have never truly developed as human beings. As Sherry Turkle says, we try to "fill the holes in out tattered selves" with "likes."
Part of the Faustian Bargain is we trade real assessments of people for the instant gratification of a ranking. And we rely on our own rankings for the dopamine rush of being "liked" or getting stars. This reliance on such stimulation infantilizes us.
Notice the show's disparity between the sugary infantilized chirpy talk with the underlying rage and the need to vent real emotion.
Four. Related to the above, consumers find that maintaining a chipper, perky facade or facsimile of happiness eventually makes them crack.
Five. We find that the exaggerated condition in "Nosedive" is analogous to what is going on today with Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. For example, people present a fabricated happiness on Facebook and other social media sites. Worse, people become dependent, on an addictive level, to the social approval received.
Six. We find that "Nosedive" already mirrors social credit rating system in China.
Sources for Your Essay:
Initial Impressions Upon Watching "Nosedive"
One. Technology has created the fear of being a pariah on one hand and the chimerical quest to be a "5.0" on the other.
Two. This desperation to avoid pariah status and to enjoy 5.0 status helps manipulate people in the marketplace and keeps them at the childish stage of development.
Three. Social media ranking systems create social stratification, the Us Vs. Them mentality that exists in many societies including Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" and H.G. Wells' "The Country of the Blind."
Four. As we conform to the insipid images adorned in social media, imitating celebrated "lifestyles," such as making olive tapenade, we become more like technology and less like ourselves to the point that we lose ourselves.
Five. People are so addicted to ranking and sycophantic flattery they can no longer sustain adult, honest conversation.
Six. As a result of holding back their real emotions in favor of the sycophantic veneer, they build up rage that slowly turns inward and poisons their very being.
Seven. Becoming a 5.0 is the equivalent of becoming the Elect in Christianity while the rest of humanity is damned. Even a techno-secular system such as the one depicted in "Nosedive" has a quasi-religious element.
Eight. Getting high ranking, stars, and "likes" becomes a dopamine rush, which in turn becomes an addiction as an entire society is dependent on the instant gratification of social media feedback.
Nine. The more we become addicted to social media feedback the more we perform our sycophantic acrobats for our cloying audience and the more we placate our cloying audience the more we become an infantilized culture.
Sample Thesis
In "Nosedive's" near-future dystopia our obsession with social media rankings reveals the power of technology to make us obedient, conformist consumers, sycophantic lapdogs desperate for approval, ruthlessly Darwinian haters of the low social order, and childish ciphers absent of any core identity to define ourselves when the social media rankings crash and vanish into pixel dust.
Second Sample Thesis
Part of being a critical thinker is being able to discern between authenticity and the counterfeit. A second crucial component of critical thinking is being able to rank things in the proper order. However, as we see in "Nosedive," social media rankings have upturned our critical thinking facilities by creating a false world of security, a false ranking system, and an insidious consumer matrix from which many never escape.
Third Sample Thesis
Like the dystopia depicted in Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," "Nosedive" is about the ruthless equation of privilege in which one group is afforded high ranking that must be accompanied by a pariah group of low ranking. This privilege system is based on a false ideology in both stories evidenced by _________________, ____________________, _____________________, and _____________________.
Fourth Sample Thesis
"Nosedive" gives us a nasty look into a future in which social media and consumerism merge to dehumanize and destroy us.
Blue Book Exam: Choose One
Choice A: Develop a thesis that explains how Ursula Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (should be online) is an allegory of the moral challenges we face as we are drugged by privilege leaving us indifferent about the sufferings of The Other. Successful essays will connect the allegory to modern day social injustices such as the inhumane working conditions of migrant workers or the incarceration system, to name a couple. You can compare, for example, Le Guin's story to John Oliver's video on child labor in sweat shops.
Choice B: Compare the dehumanization in Black Mirror's "Nosedive" episode with our current obsession with social media as evidenced in Sherry Turkle's "Connected, but Alone?" video or China's social credit score system.
Sherry Turkle's Video Summary
One. We're letting tech take us places we don't want to go.
She's talking about a psychological state, a demonic state, in which we date the angel that turns out to be the devil.
Two. Tech devices change not just what we are but who we are.
Tech is compromising our humanity, our friendships, our ability to enjoy solitude, and our skills at self-reflection.
Three. Crazy, dysfunctional behavior is the new normal.
For example, many text while giving eye contact, a sort of phony connecting.
We text at church, funerals, and sacred places. We take "salvation selfies" as we emerge from the baptism water.
We hang out at Starbucks for five hours and say the next day what a great time we had when in fact we we're "alone together" on our smartphones.
Four. We aspire to the "Goldilocks effect": not too close, not too far.
In other words, we want control of our environment. We prefer control to the messy lack of control from real human interaction.
We no longer want real conversations that take place in real time and that cannot be controlled. Texting becomes the preferred option.
In extreme cases, we're willing to dispense with people and prefer Siri or sociable robots.
Five. We take little sips of tweets and posts and other data bites and the hope is that eventually all these little sips will lead to one big nutritional gulp. But this hope is built on a canard. All we have is nothing.
Six. Our escape from conversation compromises the skills that also help us in self-reflection.
People who converse well also self-reflect well, and the opposite is true.
Seven. We expect more from technology and less from each other.
We need the latest upgrades and refreshes and innovations in tech even as we keep more and more people at a distance.
Eight. We're lonely, but we're afraid of intimacy.
Intimacy requires honesty, loss of control, and vulnerability, but the rewards are humor, emotional completeness, and life fullness.
We're averse to the demands of friendship, which require commitment, loss of control, and vulnerability.
Nine. We suffer from "alone anxiety."
We can't be at a red light without checking texts and Facebook status.
We connect through texting and other ways not as a sign of our fullness as human beings but from a place of fear, fragmentation, desperation, loneliness, and angst (the restless anxiety that results from not knowing who we are, from having no purpose, and from languishing in the existential vacuum).
Turkle says "connection is a symptom, not a cure" for our sense of loneliness.
The more we connect, the more desperate we become, which in turn compels us to connect even more. This addiction becomes a vicious cycle.
Ten. Turkle says, "I share; therefore I am."
This is a delusion. Sharing is an expression of fragmentation and desperation and the loss of selfhood.
Turkle observes, "We're using people as spare parts to repair our fragile and broken selves."
Eleven. Turkle's secret sauce to the human condition is this: Solitude is the prerequisite for real connection.
"If we can't be alone, we'll be more lonely." We need to learn to be alone, and that means not sharing all the time on social media.
Sources
“Gender, Class, and Terrorism” by Michael S. Kimmel
One. What is the author’s purpose for comparing two terrorists, Timothy McVeigh and Mohammed Atta?
He wants to explore both men’s pathology through “the lens of gender” to see what influences misogyny has on their terrorist sensibilities.
Both men suffer a “spiral of downward mobility.”
Both are hostile toward global capitalism.
Both are hostile to “The Other.” In McVeigh’s case, it’s immigrants; in Atta’s case, it’s the infidels.
Both see women as gaining on men, and this must be stopped.
Both feel emasculated as they rely more and more on “a rhetoric of masculinity,” which is the idea that male empowerment is being threatened by all The Other forces.
Assimilating into the system and becoming a middle-class consumer is just another form of emasculation, of “being a softy.”
Both believe masculinity must be restored by showing the world “who’s in charge.”
Both believe that manhood is expressed through Rambo-like military operations.
Both believe that God sanctions their violent missions.
Both see the world as hostile to their manly supremacy, so it is better to start from scratch, from a place of nihilism, or nothing, and such a leveling of the field requires mass destruction.
Both see the power of The Other as a form of humiliation and emasculation. The Taliban, for example, saw Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan as a humiliation.
Men must be “remasculinized” and women “refeminized” by going back to the Old Order of things.
The Taliban would not let women, The Other, be educated because educated women compete against men and thus emasculate them.
Two. What problem do I have with all these explanations of McVeigh and Atta’s evil?
Whenever we explain evil, there is an implied excusing of it. We somehow lessen the virulence and magnitude of the evil by giving it some tidy psychoanalysis.
Even if I concede that some of the above is true, resentful, envious, anti-social people who seek power by hurting others are odious, evil human beings who hardly deserve the dignity of a tidy psychoanalysis.
I am morally repelled by the naïve proposition that “If we just understand people better, we’ll be able to make peace with them.”
Three. What do McVeigh, Atta, and Hitler have in common?
They all seethe with a sense of masculine entitlement.
They are all failures in their earlier aspirations and these failures inflicted them with a sense of humiliation.
They were all misfits.
They all suffered from a deep-set emasculation, which compelled them to perform acts of self-aggrandizement even if those acts entailed violence, or I should say, especially those acts that entailed violence since violence was their fuel for feeling powerful.
For all three, it wasn’t enough to get mad; they had to get even.
Essay Writing Option 4
In a 1,250-word essay, support, refute, or complicate the contention that Chapter 14's essay selections persuasively show that one of America's central, ongoing conflicts is between the advantaged and those who are categorized as "The Other."
Suggested Essay Outline
Paragraph 1: Summarize Kimmel's essay.
Paragraph 2, your thesis, argue how convincing, or not, Kimmel is in his assertion that a culture that emasculates males makes them feel like Misfits or "The Other" and these male misfits act out in violence and sometimes even terrorism. The only solution is a new model of masculinity. Sample thesis:
American males, like the Middle Eastern terrorists, feel emasculated and this emasculation causes anti-social behavior rooted in misogyny, fanatical allegiance to a dangerous ideology, and a sense of betrayal from society's institutions. As a society, we must replace men's old model of masculinity with a new model based on the type of feminism Kimmel describes.
Paragraphs 3 through 8 would support your thesis.
Paragraph 9, your conclusion, would be a restatement of your thesis.
“The Rise of the Rest” by Fareed Zakaria (816)
One. What are the three tectonic shifts of the last 500 years?
Fundamental shifts in power are what we are referring to when we say “tectonic shifts.”
The first is the rise of the Western world in the fifteenth century, which ushered modernity, science, and technology.
The second, occurring at the end of the nineteenth century, was the rise of the United States, the greatest super power since imperial Rome.
The third shift is “the rise of the rest.” Economic growth has now globalized. The tallest building is now in Taipei and will soon be overtaken by Dubai, we read. Further, the richest man is from Mexico, the largest publically traded company is from China, the largest plane from Russia, largest refinery is from India, largest factories from China, largest gambling casino in Macao.
London is becoming the largest financial center.
This is a huge shift in self-image. We used to be the biggest cowboy in the saloon; in fact, the world saw us as a giant John Wayne.
Worldwide, the amount of people living on a dollar a day has gone down from 40 percent in 1981 to 18 percent in 2004. It should fall another 12 percent by 2015.
We are “entering a post-American world.” However, Zakaria doesn’t mention our worldwide dominance in entertainment, computer games, movies, TV, music, dance, etc.
Two. What is Zakaria’s thesis?
He intends to answer the question: “What does it mean to live in a post-America world?”
There will be less international cooperation to solve international crises because America no longer calls the shots. Everyone will do what they deem is in their self-interests first.
Zakaria points out that while Americans take for granted their own patriotism and nationalism, they are shocked when faced with the same patriotism and nationalism in other countries. We can infer from his statement that power has made us narcissistic over the years perhaps.
Also America’s narrative, as the principal character in world history, is now challenged by other countries that resent being “bit players.”
American Workers Will Suffer But the 1% Will Continue to Get Rich in Globalized Economy
Essay Writing Option 8
In a 1,250-word essay, support, refute, or complicate Fareed Zakaria's contention (816) that the American-centered Economic Dominance Myth is becoming replaced with a global reality. What is this alleged myth of American dominance? Is it a myth at all? Explain.
Sample Essay Outline
In paragraph 1, summarize Zakaria's essay.
In paragraph 2, your thesis, analyze the effects of globalization on America's middle and working class. For example:
Globalization, as described by Zakaria, will undermine American democracy in major ways, including ______________, _______________, ___________________, and ____________________.
Paragraphs 3-7 are your supporting paragraphs.
Paragraph 8, your conclusion, is a restatement of your thesis.
McMahon Grammar Lesson: Mixed Structure
Mixed construction is when the sentence parts do not fit in terms of grammar or logic.
Once you establish a grammatical unit or pattern, you have to be consistent.
Example 1: The prepositional phrase followed by a verb
Faulty
For most people who suffer from learned helplessness double their risk of unemployment and living below the poverty line.
Corrected
For most people who suffer from learned helplessness, they find they will be twice as likely to face unemployment and poverty.
Faulty
In Ha Jin’s masterful short story collection renders the effects of learned helplessness.
Corrected
In Ha Jin’s masterful short story collection, we see the effects of learned helplessness.
Faulty
Depending on our method of travel and our destination determines how many suitcases we are allowed to pack.
Corrected
The number of suitcases we can pack is determined by our method of travel and our destination.
Mixed Structure 2: Using a verb after a dependent clause
Faulty
When Jeff Henderson is promoted to head chef without warning is very exciting.
Corrected
Being promoted to head chef without warning is very exciting for Jeff Henderson.
Mixed Structure 3: Mixing a subordinate conjunction with a coordinating conjunction
Faulty
Although Jeff Henderson is a man of great genius and intellect, but he misused his talents.
Corrected
Although Jeff Henderson is a man of great genius and intellect, he misused his talents.
Faulty
Even though Ellen heard French spoken all her life, yet she could not write it.
Corrected
Even though Ellen heard French spoken all her life, she could not write it.
Mixed Structure 4: The construction is so confusing you must to throw it away and start all over
Faulty
In the prison no-snitch code Jeff Henderson learns to recognize variations of the code rather than by its real application in which he learns to arrive at a more realistic view of the snitch code’s true nature.
Corrected
In prison Jeff Henderson discovered that the no-snitch code doesn’t really exist.
Faulty
Recurring bouts of depression among the avalanche survivors set a record for number patients admitted into mental hospitals.
Corrected
Recurring bouts of depression among avalanche survivors resulted in a large number of them being admitted into mental hospitals.
Mixed Structure 5: Faulty Predication: The subject and the predicate should make sense together.
Faulty
We decided that Jeff Henderson’s best interests would not be well served staying in prison.
Corrected
We decided that Jeff Henderson would not be well served staying in prison.
Faulty
Using a gas mask is a precaution now worn by firemen.
Corrected
Firemen wear gas masks as a precaution against smoke inhalation.
Faulty
Early diagnosis of prostrate cancer is often curable.
Corrected
Early diagnosis of prostrate cancer is essential for successful treatment.
Mixed Structure 6: Faulty Apposition: The appositive and the noun to which it refers should be logically equivalent
Faulty
The gourmet chef, a very lucrative field, requires at least 10,000 hours of practice.
Corrected
Gourmet cooking, a very lucrative field, requires at least 10,000 hours of practice.
Mixed Structure 7: Incorrect use of the “is when,” “is where,” and “is because” construction
College instructors discourage “is when,” “is where,” and most commonly “is because” constructions because they violate logic.
Faulty
Bipolar disorder is when people suffer dangerous mood swings.
Corrected
Bipolar disorder is often recognized by dangerous mood swings.
Faulty
A torn rotator cuff is where you feel this intense pain in your shoulder that won’t go away.
Corrected
A torn rotator cuff will cause chronic pain in your shoulder.
Faulty
The reason I write so many comma splices is because the complete sentences feel logically related to each other.
Corrected
I write so many comma splices because the complete sentences feel logically related to each other.
Faulty
The reason I ate the whole pizza is because my family was a half hour late from coming home to the park and I couldn’t wait any longer.
Corrected
I ate the entire pizza because I’m a glutton.
In-class exercise: Write a sample of the seven mixed structure types and show a corrected version of it:
One. Verb after a prepositional phrase
Two. Verb after a dependent clause
Three. Mixing a subordinating conjunction (Whenever, when, although, though, to name some) with a coordinate conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
Four. The sentence is so confusing you have to start over.
Five. Faulty predication
Six: Faulty apposition
Seven. Incorrect use of the “is when,” “is where,” and “is because” construction
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