ToW 24: Paths of Hate

http://www.platigeshorts.com/paths-of-hate.html

     This short film, by Platige Shorts and directed by Damian Nenowis, as its director describes, "a short tale about the demons that slumber deep in the human soul and have the power to push people into the abyss of blind hate, fury and rage." This summarization is fairly accurate, but over simplified. The short film puts on display the ugly side of human nature, and its tendency to resort to needless violence.

     It starts out with what seems to be a fairly normal scene from a WWII film: two aircraft dueling. However, as the scene moves on, each pilot loses their humanity it by bit as time goes by, starting with flashes of red in their eyes, and ignorance of vital warnings, such as fuel,  moving until each pilot is fully driven by hate. Subtle details are added, one example is that one pilot has a picture of his wife in the cockpit, which flies into his face before being whipped out of the cockpit, without him even noticing. This represents the will to return being overpowered by the simple will to kill the other. Meanwhile, in the other aircraft, the pilot has a cross necklace wrapped around his hand. As he squeezes tighter, the chain snaps without him noticing, symbolizing the pilot moving away from anything tying him to his humanity.

     After both pilots run out of ammunition, their skin cracks and peels away, representing their facade peeling away to show their true form of hateful demons. An interesting note is that while before, you could tell the two pilots apart, they look the same in their demon form, showing that both pilots are exactly the same- beings of pure hatred.

     After their transformation, they two demons ram into each other, then parachute to the ground only to continue their fight there, showing how they have both completely given up on survival, and are willing to destroy themselves in order to destroy each other.

     The scene then transitions into a much more abstract work, and the music picks up. Outlined are several known acts of pure hate, such as brawling, executions, and suicide bombing. This final piece both makes the purpose of the film clear- an anti-violence film, and really drives that point home.

     Paths of Hate is an amazing short film that really drives its point home, with its beautiful animation, music, and unique plot direction.

ToW 23: Tragedy in Icy Seas

     In the spirit of the incoming APUSH Unit on WWII, I pulled out an old magazine and found an insightful article on one of the greatest naval tragedies of WWII that nobody knows about: The sinking of the German Evacuation ship MV Whilhelm Gustloff.

     The Gustloff was sunk by a Soviet Submarine, early January, 1945. Carrying anywhere from 8,000 to 10,500 passengers and crew, most of which was refugees and wounded soldiers. When sunk, an estimated 9,500 people perished in the icy waters of the Baltic.

     What the author of the article, Chuck Lyons, discusses is the legitimacy of the Soviet attack, and references several historians who all have different views. Some argue that it was not a legitimate target, and that it should've be considered a war crime because of it's purpose, which was evacuation. The other side of the debate is that, because the Gustloff was not officially marked as a hospital ship and was armed with AA guns, it was a legitimate target.

     Overall, Lyons achieves his dual purpose of both informing people of a naval tragedy that is almost unknown, especially considering that there was more civilian lives loss than triple that of the combine loss of both the Lusitania and the Titanic,  as well arguing that the sinking of the Gustloff was one of the greatest naval tragedies in Naval history.

ToW 22: The 5th Wave Closure

     The end of The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey continues the excitement from the first part, and continues with the themes of trust- as Cassie and Ben struggle to figure out who's to be trusted- between camp haven, Evan Walker, and each other. This also creates several types of conf lice between each of the main characters and other overarching characters and forces, such as the leaders of Camp Haven and the alien invaders- the 'Others'.

     Eventually, a truth is found about Camp Haven's real intentions- to train youth to go an exterminate the remaining human population, making room for the others to inhibit earth. This creates even more conflict in turn- as members of the small band of survivors, including both Cassie and Ben, struggle to figure out who they can trust, especially with Evan Walker- an other who seems to have been more affected by his human upbringing than his keen.

     This ends the book in a cliffhanger, setting up the second book in the series to pick up where the first one left off.

ToW 21: The Fermi Paradox

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

     This article by Tim Urban of Wait But Why attempts to explain in fairly simple terms the Fermi Paradox, which is the idea that, despite there being incomprehensibly large amounts of earth-like planets around sun-like stars in the universe, why we have never discovered any other life, intelligent or non-intelligent. He does this by breaking this complex and large topic down into simpler pieces, using a casual tone.

     One important detail to note about Wait But Why articles is that they have a very specific audience- they are not hosted anywhere and are posted in more of a blog format, meaning that not too many people run across the site by chance, and the site doesn't interest everybody as well, so the people who do stay are often big fans of the blog, and Urban recognizes and makes use of this in order to causally write, and become closer to his audience than a writer might usually

     This combination of casual tone and the style of explanatory writing allows Urban to effectively and extensively explain this complex topic, and in a way that is incredibly fascinating to those who read it. Urban achieves his purpose in this way, which is to spread the knowledge that he had learned for himself out of curiosity to those who also might be interested in this topic.

ToW 20: Raise the Legal Age for Cigarette Sales to 21

     This article that appeared in the New York Times from their editorial board, and outlines an argument for raising the legal cigarette purchase age to 21. Some of the main points are that it would help to prevent cigarette addiction from taking root in a still-developing brain, as well as prevent those under the age if eighteen from gaining access to cigarettes, as they usually get them from sligtlynolder friends and relatives, who would be old enough to purchase cigarettes for minors, but still too young to recognize the damage it may cause. It's estimated that this law would prevent over 200,000 premature deaths due to cigarettes, as well as collectively add over 4 million years of life, claims the article.

     The use of hard facts in the article helps with its purpose, which is to convince the general population that raising the legal age is a good idea. It also utilizes counter-argument by bringing up arguments against itself, such as the idea that this law would infringe on young persons' rights, and then countering these arguments, such as by stating that there was clear public support.

     Overall, the article argues very well that the higher legal age would be a very good idea, and that it should be implemented and enforced, and even brings up states such as Hawaii that have already done so, and improvements that they've seen.

ToW 19: WOW!

     In WWII, many men were sent to the war front in order to fight. However, this created a major issue for them: not enough men were at home in order to manufacture the aircraft, ammunition, and other warfare essentials to support the war effort. The solution to this problem came from the homes of the soldiers- the Woman Ordinance Workers. In order to gain support, propaganda such as the one show here were used in order to garner support for the war effort from these women at home. The 'She's a WOW' posters and others like it fulfilled their purpose in alerting women at home to the opportunity of switching, taking on, jobs in order to support the war effort, and strengthen America's production efforts. The campaign turned out to be a success, with women flocking to the new jobs created by the war.

     The clearest reasoning as to how successful the campaign was is seen in who was working for the manufacturies during WWII, where nearly 40% of the overall workforce in America at the time was female. This is an especially staggering number when you consider that the role of the women at the time was thought to be a stay-at-home one, where the man in the family would be the one to make the money. However, with the men gone, women filled in their place.

     The reason why the campaign was a success was because of the emotion created by the poster. The poster displays a woman working on a rifle in the foreground, with a soldier in the background, presumed to be her significant other, using the same rifle. The text states ""The Girl he left behind" is still behind him. She's a WOW". This appeals to pathos in that it proposes that if you care for your significant other, one way you can help is by working in a factory to help him win the war. Another method used is by using a term heard a lot during that time, "The girl he left behind," mostly because many soldiers did leave their wives or girlfriends in order to fight, so that creates addition emotional attachment to the poster. These reasons certainly grabbed their audience's attention, and made a huge impact on the war effort.

   The posters did fulfill their purpose in alerting women to the opportunities in the new fields, and the benefits did the rest. With opportunities such as 40% better pay, after the posters made the opportunities known, the jobs themselves did the rest.

ToW 17: Is Humanity Getting Better?

     This article by Leif Wenar in the New York Times examines the overall trends in humankind, in order to answer the question that the title presents. It looks at many details, but closely examines war and violence as an example as how humanity is getting better over time; and takes a look at evidence that humanity is on an overall upward trend, at least compared to how the media likes to show it.

     The rhetorical devices used in this article do an excellent job in assisting in its purpose. The article opens up with a narrative about the Black Death, and how the first solution to it was killing all the dogs and cats. The article continues the narrative, referencing how that we know in modern times that this act was a meaningless slaughter of innocent animals, and it shows that in some ways, humanity is rid of the plague of ignorance. This makes the concept much easier to grasp, rather than outright saying that 'Humanity is no longer ignorant.'

     Another example of rhetoric used in an incredibly effective manor is when it compared Humanity to a starfish through an extended metaphor, comparing humanity to a starfish crawling over a sharp reef that it damaging it, but the starfish is learning to to transverse the reef as it heals and regenerates, as well as picks up pace at it travels. The reason why this metaphor was so effective was also because of its placement, which was in the center of a discussion about wars, and how the total losses in wars was dropping from millions to hundreds of thousands to just thousands, clearly displaying humanity's success at winning the 'War against Wars.'

     Wenar graduated from Harvard University with a P.H.D. in Philosophy, and now holds the chair for Philosophy and Law as a full professor at King's College in London, making him an incredibly credible source for this type of article, which requires a bit of thinking. He fulfills his purpose entirely, which was not only to answer the question 'Is Humanity Getting Better?', but to also warn that while Humanity may currently be on an upwards trend, it'll require work to continue on this trend, and to not fall back down.