Persuasion

As a journalism major I get to learn about public relations, photojournalism, and advertising. Public relations and advertising especially are both tools companies use to persuade consumers through different mediums that their service or product is better than the competition, and also that they are not faceless corporations and businesses but people like us. Whenever I watch t.v or walk outside i see many ads trying to persuade me to buy their products. This is the result of a the commercialization of American culture. On a lighter note when watching the presidential nominees give their speeches, they might have talked about the issues, like the economy and the war but the underlying message is that they want you to vote for them.

Sexist language

If I had to respond to this discussion I would say that I agree with the last post by sixpounder. I personally don’t see a big issue with the word ‘girl’, and I certainly think it is more respectful than words like h*, or b****, or sl**. Now if these were the words in use I might have a problem but most sites like myspace and facebook (I don’t know much about Flikr) censor derogatory words. It seems like the woman that started this post is making a mountain out of a molehill because I guess her class has made her more aware and now she is trying to use the new knowledge to assert herself. Kudos to her for trying to make a difference but in our textbook Coopman says that we should try to use non sexist or gender neutral terms to tackle that problem. Her idea for flikr to discourage sexist language by educating is commendable however; I doubt it is high on their list of priorities because it is not their issue. It is an issue of American culture, which is unfortunately also filled with sexism in the media.

Speech Buddies

The speech buddies this week were very helpful for me. 10.1 talked about how to shaper your speech to fit your audience. We reviewed the audience-centered approach before so I know how important it is to connect with the audience. 10.2 was very short and unclear, i couldn't figure out the point of it. 12.1 and 12.2 both focused on delivery- vocal and physical. I agree with the speech buddies that delivery is very important because it gives the audience an idea of how credible you are. 12. 3 was about how to practice and I liked the tip about practicing excellent versions of your speech. This was very personal to me because it was a tip that really stuck and that i feel i can use. Unfortunately I can be a very rigid person, so when i practice my speech i try to stick to my outline completely, which in both of my speeches showed. When I misspoke or forget a word or phrase I tried to stop or got vocally angry with myself and some of my feedback from classmates told me not to stop or get angry. I think they were right because watching myself in those moments made me feel less comfortable listening to my own speech.

Tag questions and hedges

In chapter 10, Coopman talks about using language effectively. In the section about language and gender, he talks about powerless language. He uses speech jargon in identifying concepts such as tag questions and hedges. I have never heard of these concepts but I understand when he connects them to an uncertain way of speaking. However, it bugs me that although he references his evidence for his assertions on gender, they are obviously based on some type of survey or statistic which I cant take as a fact. I do think it is important that he talks about these concepts because it can help us as public speakers identify possible red flag phrases that we never thought may contradict from our speeches.