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Posted to ACW-L, WCenter, NCTE-Talk,
and TEACH on 4/4/99.
Every time I see a news report or read an
article or some other report on the events in Kosovo, I'm overcome
with my inability to do anything meaningful or useful, especially in
contrast to the overwhelming need. While I'm unsure what I think the
US and NATO should be doing, I do know that the treatment of the
Albanians is inhumane and unacceptable. I can't feed them all. I
can't find them shelter or doctors or any of the other things they
need. Getting weepy when I see the pictures and stories isn't
helpful. So this is my attempt to do something. In many ways,
it feels like nothing; but I thought that if you could do one of
these exercises with your students, even if it were only in a
discussion rather than paper, perhaps we could raise understanding
and help make something good happen.
For my secondary school friends — Perhaps if
you cannot work the projects into your own curriculum, you can share
them with history or government teachers who might be able to use
them.
- [Naming] Take a close look
at the names that are being used for events, people, and things
that are used. As a start, think about who uses the word "war" and
who uses terms such as "military action." Consider the connotation
and the denotation of the words that are used. Choose several
related names that are being used. In your paper, analyze this
diction — what is the purpose of such names? what audience are
they pointed toward? what tone does the writer want to communicate
to readers/listeners? what conclusions can you draw about the
writer's rhetorical strategies? Starting Point: here are some
fairly loaded terms from wars in the last few decades that you can
use to help students understand the ways that words are used:
ethnic cleansing, freedom fighters, peacekeepers, police action,
death squad, and Serbian war machine.
- [Persuasive Technique]
Choose a speech or statement of one of the groups involved in the
war. You can choose a politician, a military speaker, an analyst,
a relief agency, and so on. You need to find a specific statement
by one of these groups rather than quotations from someone in a
newspaper article or on television. Analyze the persuasive
techniques that the author has used: how does the writer use
logical, ethical, and emotional appeals? Has the writer
incorporated any fallacies? How does the author address
objections? How are counter-arguments used? Write a paper that
explains your analysis of the speech or statement and draws some
conclusions about the effectiveness of its persuasive
techniques.
- [Evasion] Choose a speech or
statement of one of the groups involved in the war. You can choose
a politician, a military speaker, an analyst, a relief agency, and
so on. You need to find a specific statement by one of these
groups rather than quotations from someone in a newspaper article
or on television. Look closely at the things that the speaker says
in the speech or statement; then, step back and think of all the
things that are NOT said. What issues has the writer avoided? What
descriptions are missing? Which people are never mentioned? Who
never speaks? What emotions are not dealt with? Write a paper that
explains the absences in the text. Account for the writer's
rhetorical purpose in avoiding these issues.
- [Objective vs. Subjective]
For this assignment, you can focus on a news broadcast, a
newspaper or magazine article, a news briefing, or another speech
or statement. Go through the text that you've chosen, and separate
objective details and material from subjective details and
material. When does the writer use objective details, and when
does the writer rely on subjective details? Write a paper that
analyzes the ways that the writer uses these different kinds of
details.
- [Metaphor] Look at the
metaphor behind a specific discussion of the war. There are a
variety of metaphors that are used frequently — the events might
be presented as business decisions, a gambling, an adventure
story, a fairy tale. Are there profits and losses? bets and risks?
heroes and victims? innocent people suffering at the hands of a
wicked villain? Explore a particular metaphor, and write a paper
that explains how the metaphor works and the rhetorical purpose
that the writer hopes to fulfill by relying on the metaphor. Take
a look at George Lakoff's "Metaphor and War" for more details on these issues.
- [First-Hand Reports] Compare
first-hand reports for two or more different wars. Look at the
things that the writer or speaker says, the things that are
described, the emotions that are expressed, and the explanations
for events that are given. You might even test yourself and your
friends: if you remove place names and other obvious identifying
information, can you tell which war or other conflict the
first-hand report refers to? Write a comparison/contrast paper
that explores the relationships between the reports, and accounts
for the reasons that the first-hand reports echo each other — or
diverge.
- [Picture This] Examine the
way that pictures, graphics, and film are used to communicate
information about the war. What role do these items fill? What
rhetorical purpose do they serve? How do they relate to words
about them — is there a voice over? a sidebar with info? a
caption? Is there any music or sound effect related to the
pictures, graphics, or film? How do the parameters change with the
author and audience for the piece — for example, how are the
pictures that are used in a government briefing different from
those used on the evening news, shown on a newspaper web site, or
on a relief agency's web site? Create a classification system that
accounts for the kinds of pictures, graphics, and films that are
used, when they are used, and the ways that they are used.
- [Making War] You've probably
heard the phrase "It's easier to make war than peace" before. It
was first said by Georges Clemenceau, the French politician who
oversaw the writing of the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War
I — though he was speaking in French ("Il est plus facile de
faire la guerre que la paix.") Look for support for
Clemenceau's statement in public statements on the events in
Kosovo. Do the word choice, the arguments, and the other
rhetorical features of the statement work toward war or peace?
Write a paper that explains your analysis. Based on the evidence
that you have before you, focus your paper on whether it been
easier to make war than peace.
- [Role of Television] ...
ok, an aside: this is a repeat from the previous
list, but as I was filling
this list in—cutting the old question and typing in the new topic
in the square brackets, I realized that this could be revised for
a great question for this topic too....
Edward R. Murrow said, "Television in the main is being used to
distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us." In light of Murrow's
quotation, what role would you say that television plays in a war?
Does television distract? If so, from what, and how? Or does it
delude? Who is being deluded? What methods does television use? If
television amuses, whom does it amuse, and what techniques are
used? If television is insulating us, what is it insulating us
from, and how are we being insulated? Does television fill several
roles? Or do you see the media as filling roles that Murrow has
not allowed for? In your paper, explain the roles that television
fill in time of war. Focus on specific television coverage,
providing examples and explanations from the shows that support
your analysis.
- [Victims] Elie Wiesel, a
survivor of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, wrote "They do not despair.
The proof: they persist in surviving not only to survive, but to
testify. The victims elect to become witnesses." Can you apply
Wiesel's observation to the victims in the current war? In what
ways do they testify? What rhetorical strategies do you see in the
words of victims? When do they appear to logic, to ethics, and to
emotion? Are there fallacies in their testimony? If they are
witnesses, how reliable and persuasive are they? Write a paper
that analyzes the testimony of these witnesses and draws some
conclusions about the effectiveness of their persuasive
techniques.
Originally
Posted April 7, 1999 on the Daedalus
Website.
Posted Tuesday, 15-May-2012 18:59:00 PDT
Copyright © 1998-2011 Traci Gardner, P. O. Box 11836, Blacksburg, VA 24060-1836.
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