Josie’s Blog

Out of all of the types of bias in the article, I feel that Veterinarians are not effected by any very much, however if one has to be chosen I’d choose commercial bias. This type of bias is media wanting new stories all the time, and veterinarians are hardly ever included in news or media. This could be due to the fact that the News feels that a majority of people wouldn’t be interested in new Veterinarian findings or new animal medicines. If anything, vets are only represented by patients that overcome extreme cases. For example, dogs in ‘wheelchairs’ because they had hind legs or front legs amputated. Often, these stories are on the News, but the veterinarian and the actual case and treatment is not the focus, the news tends to focus on the cute dog in the wheelchair rather than the actual veterinarian work behind it. I think the work veterinarians do should be portrayed more, vets are just as important as doctors and without their work, our beloved pets could not live as happily and healthily as they do. Everyone loves cute dogs, but without vets these dogs would maybe not be healthy and able to live as long as they could. The bias in the media does not give vets the credit and appreciation they deserve.

In today’s society, there’s so much media available at the tips of our fingers all the time, but how much of it is really true? It’s difficult to distinguish between the actual facts and the false information that is available through the various types of media. I personally tend to believe the information that I see from reliable sources. Sources that I believe are reliable are sources that have been correct in the past and have not presented false information. Typically I look for qualitative information as well as very detailed information. One example of a time I needed to be sure I found a reliable source for my information was when rapper Pop Smoke had apparently been killed. I wanted to be sure it was true, since I originally heard from an article on TMZ, which I know from past experience is not always correct. I waited until I saw detailed reports from more credible sources such as Rolling Stone or NBC news.

I find the more anecdotal/narrative sections to be more convincing because, personally, academic lessons and ways of teaching do not usually work well for me. I feel that speaking academically is similar to only showing the theoretical way things should work according to the steps and if everything works the way it should, however in real life things don’t always work out like that. I believe the narrative/anecdotal section is more convincing because it is real life and stories that make more sense to me and are easier to understand, without complex words or methods or meanings.

I believe that ethnographic research is preparing me for other types of research by teaching me how to collect my own data from a general population. For example, Instagram is a huge social media platform so I have to be very attentive to what accounts I see and pay attention to the posts and accounts I see and interact with. Collecting data in biology lab is typically very different, most data is collected during class, meaning it’s short term and definitive, like watching a test tube to see if it reacts with another chemical and turns a certain color. This ethnographic research will prepare me for collecting broader data as well as creating my own experiments based on patterns that interest me.

You can evaluate the rhetorical devices people use as well as how these can enhance their meaning and communication by paying attention to the purpose of what the person is saying as well as the form, audience and constraints. The purpose is the reason the person is saying what they’re saying, it can also include background information. The form is how the message is conveyed, in person, on FaceTime, by a call, or by text. The audience is who the message is targeted to and the constraints go hand in hand with this because the constraints are things the person cannot do or say. Gee says that someone can speak with perfect grammar and be “wrong nonetheless”, meaning that even using perfect grammar, a person needs to learn how to properly and effectively get their message across to the designated audience. I think both proper grammar and effectively conveying the point of what you want to say were always taught in school and so I am not surprised to see both becoming very important as I advance in my writing.

Brooke Gladstone writes about how everyone has a ‘media diet’, which is essentially the type of media you see and are surrounded by every day. This media influences you and what you believe in. The main media I ingest is from Instagram and Snapchat. On Instagram I mainly see posts about horses and training techniques as well as the things my friends are doing. I think this type of media influences my perspectives in the ‘horse world’, I see many different ways of thinking regarding the ways to train horses as well as communicate with them and understand them. Many people have different views on how to do these things with horses; some take a more aggressive standpoint and others take a more gentle approach. After seeing several posts regarding the benefits of taking a gentle, kinder approach when teaching horses, I’ve decided that it seems to be the best fit for me as well as the most effective. Seeing my friend’s posts often influences my views on what is considered ‘cool’ and sometimes gives me ideas of what to do with my friends. I recently saw a post from a friend at Playa Bowls. I had never been there so I decided to go there with another friend of mine who’d also never been there. Instagram has influenced my beliefs regarding horses, which are a large part of my life as well as how I spend time with my friends. Snapchat on the other hand has influenced my views on society because Snapchat often contains stories that go over the news and current events. There is one story called NowThis which posts quick overviews of the main stories in the news. I personally do not keep up with the news so this story is where I get my knowledge of current events from. I like watching this Snapchat story because I understand that current events are important to keep up with but I also don’t like watching the news or watching long detailed reviews of them, so by watching this I can stay updated and do so quickly. Overall, I believe my ‘media diet’ influences my knowledge of current events, horses and influences what I do with my friends. Media diets are important parts of how people view the world as well as the issues in it today.

I feel that I know horror and comedy very well, these are my two favorite genres. Comedy and horror are very different however both use similar rhetorical devices. Both involve the use of pathos, they both use different emotions to convey the message to the audience. Both also use hyperbole occasionally, exaggerating things for comedic purposes or exaggerating horrifying things in order the make it scarier for the audience. Black Mirror is a TV series that consists of a collection of short films regarding the dark truths about humanity, technology, and the way the mind works. This show is considered a horror, it is unsettling as well as graphic and terrifying at times. In one of the short films the show explores how one woman becomes a serial killer. She begins when her and a friend hit someone biking on the road and kill him and end up getting rid of the body instead of reporting it. After this, the friend comes back years later and wants to confess to it so she kills him to prevent him from telling anyone. This leads to her killing witnesses to her crime. This episode exemplifies how horrific and unsettling this show is, it shows how a normal person can do horrible things just to save themselves.