This or That? A Comparison of Wikipedia articles

The two articles I chose to examine were both related to public discourse, but as far apart as possible from each other in terms of completion and quality. 

The first article I chose was the page titled “Private Sphere.” As it is related to my class and my class research, I thought it might have some interesting information. However, the page only provided me two paragraphs of information on the private sphere. I have a brief definition of what the private sphere is, as well as an example, and an idea about the private sphere from a philosopher. Despite the little amount of information, it seemed fairly solid and there was no contradiction. Many of the words in the paragraphs were hyper linked to other wiki pages that were useful and could expand more on rhetorical spheres and unknown terms. The information all came from one source, a book by a man name Jürgen Habermas. As there was no information on the author, nor research from any other source, and possibility of this article being a reliable source were slim. However, Wikipedia did mark the article as incomplete so there is a chance for it to be finished and filled with more than one reliable source.

The second artcile I chose was a biography of Martin Heidigger, a philosopher and author. The page is extensive, providing information about Heidigger's early years, his books, his influences his philosophies on religion, and even his associations with Nazism in World War II. There are multiple photos with small bit of corroborating information below to support the information given in the article. Similar to the article on the private sphere, this page had many hyper-links to lead to other pages, and the information was solid and did not contradict itself. Unlike the first article, however, the page on Heidigger had a much more rounded set of sources. The information on the Wikipedia page came from over one hundred sources, many of which were journals, books by well accredited authors, and reliable web sites. The page seemed complete in its entirety and looked to be quite a reliable source of information.

 While Wikipedia does have some unreliable pages, there are others that can prove useful. I think the usefulness of a Wiki page depends entirely on its number of legitimate sources, such as known authors and journal publications.

Time in the News Media

Since the formation and defining of rhetoric, time has always played a crucial part in its creation. Time was used to define various types of speeches, such as epideictic speeches and reports, and is even used in measuring speech patterns. However, Killingsworth states that time in rhetoric is more than just determining what speech types to use, but also for determining what arguments to use and when.
Killingsworth mentions kairos and exigence, kairos being the use of the right argument, and exigence being the idea that topics become urgent at certain points in time. He says that the use of both is determined by the audience and speaker making the mutual decision that a certain moment is the right moment for urgency. I agree with Killingsworth's idea. Both the speaker and the audience must determine the correct moment for urgency, otherwise, there would be a failure in discourse. If the moment is not right, the audience might not find information important, or the speaker will be giving information already known to the audience. Without that mutual decision, there is no discourse.
Killingsworth states that news media use the appeal to time to create value in change. The audience wants to know what is new, thus presenting "news" with its name and purpose. The news is a 24/7 cycle, with new material being discovered and released by the seconds. Without the appeal to time, and what is "new" there is no exchange of information between the speaker and the audience.
From what I gathered at first reading Killingworth's portion on news and time, my first thought was that "without time, there is no news". I believe that in a way that is true. Information is released constantly, but without an appeal to time, there is no way to determine the old news from the new news on a wide scale. If there is no appeal to time, there is no constant need to know what has changed.

In Class Activity 12/14

Question 2:
In the New Yorker's article "Why Cheney and Boehner Don't Think that Obama is Brave", I believe there is a creation of simulated argument. The author presents arguments from both Boehner and Cheney about why Obama should not be in office, but there is no agreement in argument. Boehner and Cheney each have their own ideas. Also, there was no combative argument from members of the Democratic Party in the article. There is no defense for President Obama and therefore no actual argument, rather a statement of opinions from one biased party about another biased party.

Question 3:
Dick Cheney quite obviously violates the usage rule when he is quoted saying "I think the President’s performance, by my standards, in the international arena, the Middle East and so forth, is worse than many of my friends and colleagues deem his domestic policies.” His use of the phrase "by my standards" is vague, unclear, and biased through his opinion. There is no set standards listed to evaluate the performance of the President, so Cheney's use of "by my standards" is not only biased and vague, it is incomparable to anything that might be non-biased.

Question 4:
I don't believe the article I chose has any ideographs in the text. While it does have many key terms with which most of the audience would be familiar, there are no terms acting to inspire familiar association of the audience or that carries ideological assumptions.

Analysis of My Editing Process

While I was editing Fish's article, my first goal was to clear up any vagueness. Multiple times, Fish alludes to previous subjects, but with vague wording such as "this" and "it". I felt that this could lead to misunderstanding as defined by Kaufer. I thought that not specifying what Fish was refering to created a Level 1 misunderstanding. The reader would not properly understand the intended reference of certain statements. By changing wording to specify which previous argument Fish was trying to use, the content was clarified and easier to understand.
I also wanted to make sure Fish used proper grammar and punctuation. Multiple sentences began with conjunctions, sentences ended in prepositions, and unnecessary wording. Using Style's methods of grammar, I removed any improper grammar usage. I also removed any unnecessary pieces of information, such as Fish's descriptions of Maloney and Moore.

Binge Drinking: What College Students and Parents Need to Know

One of the popular methods of social interaction among college students is binge drinking, the act of consuming excessive amounts of alcohol at regular intervals. College life presents students with multiple opportunities to party and drink. While all drinking can be dangerous, binge drinking can be even more harmful to your body and to those around you. Throughout this blog, I will explain exactly what binge drinking is, what behaviors it can lead to and consequences it has, as well as what can be done to help someone who suffers from binge drinking.

Binge Drinking: What is it?

Binge drinking, as defined in a study by Dr. Henry Wechsler, is when a man consumes five or more drinks, and woman four or more drinks in a period of roughly two hours (922).  When a person binge drinks, his/her blood alcohol concentration is at or above 0.08 grams percent, which is the legal limit. Currently, it is the most common form of excessive alcohol consumption, with about one in six adults claiming to binge drink at least four times a month. It is most common in adults between the ages of 18 and 34 (CDC).

Who is most likely to binge drink?

In Wechsler's study, 44 percent of those surveyed fell under the classification of “binge drinker”. Of that percentage, half were male and 39 percent were female. One of the most significant determinants of binging was a person’s social status in college. A large number of men who qualified as binge drinkers were white male students who had a grade average of a B or lower. Also, student who are "part of campus life" such as living in dormitories, having multiple friends, and having roommates could increase one's chances of binge drinking (Wechsler, 923). As well as engaging in campus life, students who engaged in risky behaviors also showed higher risk for binging. Activities that qualified as risky included smoking marijuana, having multiple sexual partners, and smoking cigarettes (Wechsler, 923).

Consequences of binge drinking

Binge drinking is linked to and can be the cause of multiple health problems. Alcohol poisoning, liver damage, neurological damage, heart disease and stroke have all been linked as possible results to heavy drinking. Excess drinking can also result in the shutdown of the body’s organs and result in death (CDC).
One such incident occurred at Cornell University in New York. Sophomore, George Desdunes was pledging a fraternity, and was told to ingest large amounts of alcohol during an induction ritual. He drank so much alcohol that he vomited and eventually passed out. He was found dead the next morning. An autopsy revealed that Desdunes’ blood alcohol concentration was four times that of the legal limit (Kaminer). Desdunes’ death is not the only one caused by binge drinking. In fact, in a report from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, it was reported that roughly 1700 college students died from binge drinking in 2011(Lucier).
As well as resulting in personal bodily harm, binge drinking can also lead to harming other and engaging in criminal acts. Hundreds of thousands of people are injured, assaulted, or sexually abused by other students who have been drinking. Over 3 million college students who binge drink also drive while intoxicated, and about 5 percent of incidences involving college binge drinking lead to police involvement (College Drinking).

Preventing Binge Drinking

Wechsler’s study showed a huge correlation in binge drinking and engaging in college activities. However, colleges cannot simly cut out all the campus acivities and organizations that might lead to a higher risk of binge drinking. In fact the risks will always be present, but students and parents can work to prevent binge drinking. Methods for preventing binge drinking is for parents to speak with their children about drinking, to remain involved in their lives as they proceed to college, and to research campus alcohol policies. Student who suffer from alcoholism and binge drinking can usually cind resources on their college campuses, such as counseling and medical help.

Works Cited 

Analytical reflection