FOA Reflection

My Further Oral Activity was a presentation on how sexism can be used in advertising to make a particular gender obtain a sense of dominance. I specifically looked at the objectification of women and how women are lead to be thought out as an insecure figure by the media. I  analyzed three advertisements, one from the brand Del Monté Ketchup, Schlitz Beer and an ad from the brand Phillips. The message and society each advertisement depicted were compared. Before I analyzed the ads I gave out a definition of sexism itself. Sexism, is when one gender appears superior to an other. The aim of my presentation was to show that all three companies present women as insecure and prey on their said, stereotypical insecurities for profit.

Group Presentation - Join The Army Advertisement

I feel that the advertisement's ambience can be described as bold, brave, powerful and fierce. It achieves this overall vibe through the soldier’s facial expression, the environment (war-zone), the gun and the soldier’s actions. The image is meant to portray determination, good judgement and self-judgement (as it is mentioned in the text below). I felt that there was an absence of axial balance, as I feel that the font of the text below the picture, was inappropriate for the context of the picture (as in the font seemed faint and minuscule compared to the intensity of the image). Also, the text aims to explain the picture to the audience, by illustrating information that is irrelevant to the picture for business purposes). There is a lot of ‘white space’ in the middle of the image which makes me feel, that it could be filled with important information in the form of text at the bottom. It uses pathos (as emotion is implemented to promote the ad). The advertisement uses logos, as statistics are mentioned at the bottom text. I feel that the advertisement is aimed at American individuals that have an interest in joining the army. It is sociological and political. The purpose of the ad is to inform people about the army and the qualities required to join it. I feel that this ad was created during the war to promote the recruitment of new troops. The soldier looks determined and brave. There is a lot of white space used and there is an absence of axial balance as the font and placement of the text does not do the picture any justice. The picture looks more like a poster than an advertisement. This is probably because, it is not eye-catching.

Language & Technology

Texting - For Better Or Worse?

Texting began in the late-1990's and at the time, proved to be an inefficient way of communication. Fast forward about two decades later, and it is the most common way of communication. The purpose of this blogpost is to summarize and compare two perspectives on how texting relates to language and how technology in general, can have a negative or positive effect on the English Language and its many speakers. The first article, "Txtng is killing language JK!" by John McWhorter approaches the topic in a slightly less positive manner, whereas the second article, "Texting" by David Crystal, provides a more positive approach.

In the first piece, Txtng is killing language JK!, John McWhorter, the man of this theory believes that texting and technology will not affect the English Language, period. He believes that it will not have a positive nor a negative affect on the language. He also states that the way people text is written in a manner that is similar to 'writing out how you talk'. He does believe that texting is almost its own language, although he strongly believes that it will not have an affect on any of the teenagers, with their homework's or essays. He believes that children are 'intelligent' and want or 'feel the need to' to get good grades. He also mentions that many hundreds of years ago it wasn't simple and people were not able to 'write how you talk'; but these days with the technology available and texting, that has now become possible. He also uses the famous term 'lol' used in texting as an example. In the second piece, Texting, David Crystal describes texting as 'language in evolution'. Just like the previous theory of John McWhorter; David Crystal also believes that texting and technology will not affect the English language itself, but he does indeed believe that texting does affect children and teenagers when it comes to completing school work and essays as texting, like many other things in a teenager's daily routine, is time-consuming. Many teens in the world text friends and family for long periods of time during their time, and David Crystal believes that it will only be worse when it comes to school work as they are used to writing 'r' instead of 'are' for example. As we all know, LOL stands for 'laugh out loud' or 'lots of love'. David Crystal mentions how the term LOL is now only rarely at times used on the context on what LOL truly means. The similarities and differences show that clearly, both authors of both theory have the same General idea about how texting and technology will definitely not impact the English Language at all. John McWhorter thinks that children's grades and essays in school will not be affected by texting and technology as they are 'intelligent' enough to know the difference. On the other hand, David Crystal can disagree with that statement, as he believes that children's essays and schoolwork will be affected since they spend lots of their time texting and will get used to it. John McWhorter's theory focuses more on the historical view of language, while David Crystal focuses on the different terms used by people in texting in the modern day. We can conclude that there are bits and pieces where the two author's have different opinions, but they generally have the same opinion on the topic of texting and technology.

Cultural Appropriation - Imitating Accents

Is imitating an unfamiliar accent to fit in with the locals considered wrong?

Letter To The Editor

Aaron L. Pereira

October 5th, 2014

Dear Jean Hannah Edelstein, 

Upon reading your article on imitating unfamiliar accents, I would like to say that the strong opinions that are trying to be conveyed, are fairly one-sided, in my opinion. I mean to state my personal opinion with the upmost respect, since I feel that your argument was constructed using misinformed information. To understand why accents exist, we must look at how they originated. Accents are more than just words, as you call them out to be. Accents are different contexts of speech that are heavily influenced by one's background (which includes culture, environment, traditions, etc.). Since this is the case, I strongly believe that the use of an unfamiliar accent spoken in a different context (often influenced by a completely different background) can cause confusion among its unsure speakers. I do however understand, how speaking in an accent that  familiar to the locals would be effective, but this would only work in moderation and can only be used to convey simple or basic ideas and messages across. I believe that the most effective alternative to this problem would be, to speak in a more basic constructed dialect of english, while clearly pronouncing words and speaking in a steady pace, understandable to most. To conclude, I do not completely think that your opinion is wrong, but I do think the method in which your argument is presented could be backed up by using socially and ethically appropriate pieces of information which are relatable to this day and age.

I look forward to hearing from you.

With regards, 

Aaron Leo Pereira.

An Executive Interview with Kendrick Lamar.

(Fictional) Interviewing for SOURCE Magazine, on Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, born in Compton, California on June 17, 1987. Kendrick is an American songwriter and rapper. He became a  professional rapper at the age of 16. He became world famous in 2011, with over 250,000 albums sold within the first week of the release.

Interviewer: Kendrick, my man how's it going?

Kendrick: It's all good b.

Interviewer: Now since you're the most talked-about figure in the game right now, how would you relate your success with your background?

Kendrick: Well, first off my life has always been about music. I professionally started writing it, producing it and reflecting upon it when I turned sixteen years of age. Music to me has always been more than just something to listen to. Sound in general is very important in life. Cuz without it there ain't no communication, just leading to plain chaos. Music uses sound as its mean and elevates it, taking it to a whole another level. It's a crucial part of everyday life, as people spend billions upon billions altogether upon the production of music, listening to music and buying it. Tho, I feel that the mainstream social media buzz has truly disintegrated the main reason it exists. I just like to keep it real, no bs, real talk here at it's finest.

Interviewer: Tell me about your control verse and why it needed to be heard.

Kendrick: I really felt that music had fallen into a downwards spiral over the past decade or two and I personally wanted to let the unaware audience know the truth. I decided to spit the lines, " If Phil Jackson came back, still no coachin' me. I'm uncoachable, I'm unsociable. F*ck y'all clubs, f*ck y'all pictures. Your Instagram can gobble these nuts” for a reason. I wanna tell you that most rap today is all about non-important sh*t in life like status. The type of sh*t that ain’t got nothing to do with community.

Interviewer: I feel you man, what were your other major inspirations while writing the verse?

Kendrick: My dad, man. Cuz growing up my dad, well he the type of n*gga that get into fights round the block all day. When I was about four he decided to move to Chicago to start a better life for his family. During this process, music for him, was kinda like a mental getaway from all the violence and the guns. The sorta sentimental value he had for music eventually got to me. I started listening to 2pac, NAS, Jay-Z and Eminem. Now these are rappers. They don't got to be fake to get fame. They spit out a  part of their life, whenever they on the mic. That's just some of my inspiration.

Interviewer: That's deep. To finish off, what are your main words to live by?

Kendrick: Stay true to your self. And if all else fails take I-Cube's advice, "Check Yoself Before You Wreck Yoself." Thank you for this interview.

Interviewer: It's been an honor. Thank you for your time.

Mother Tongue

Today in class, we had to read over and analyze the essay, Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. The text is about how society interacts best when the content of the speaker is presented in a formal manner. In this essay, Amy Tan describes her mother's english as being broken, fractured and ultimately, limited. She provides real life experiences, faced by her mother who communicates with what society would call "broken" english. In one of these experiences, Amy Tan (who speaks formal english) would have to speak for her mother in order to be taken seriously, as she found out that most people tend to show more respect if you present yourself in a relatable manner. This leads us to the most profound issue faced by her mother in the text; the lack of respect. Amy Tan mentions how the way someone spoke would affect how people reacted to them. In the case of Amy's mother, most people failed to take her seriously, presumably because of her ethnicity and her so called "broken" english. I feel that most people tend to treat something they are familiar with, in a respectable manner. Since Amy's mother had a different way of speaking to the majority of the people around her, she was not taken seriously. I personally believe that people need to accept and encourage different variations of language.

About Myself

My name is Aaron Leo Pereira. I am from India, but was born in the United Arab Emirates on the 8th of September, 1998. Like most teenagers my age, I enjoy getting myself involved in a plethora of both indoor, and outdoor activities. Out of these, my favorite activities would definitely be football, kayaking, tennis, biking, driving and going to the gym. During the course of this year, I plan on being a dedicated, hardworking and respected member of this school, and also learning how to professionally play a musical instrument. Being a teenager in the 21^st century, language plays a major role in defining who you are as a person. With the invention of social media, language is getting more and more universal as time goes on. Language, like many other crucial things in life, evolves over time, inspired by the latest trends, creating slangs. Language to me is all about communication. It plays a role in sharing information, (either publicly or secretly) through various methods. Talking would probably be the most common, as humans have never been more intellectually capable with words. This allows us to express ourselves like never before. We can convey more feelings and contribute new ideas with such precision using just, words.  Language is a universal social binder, even though it varies from culture to culture. I would say that culture would be best defined as an ethical group, sharing the same ideas and beliefs amongst each other. I am bilingual, as I speak both Tamil (the national language of Tamil Nadu) and English fluently. This gives me an opportunity to see how language and culture define one another, and how language is used on parts of the world. I have sometimes felt excluded from certain ethnic groups. This is because I had little to no understanding of that particular culture and the specific language being spoken. Over time I quickly became used to it, allowing me to fit in and share my ideas with ease. Cultures can vary around the world, but we must always respect them to learn more about them.