MON APR 09
Link to the Daily Class Agenda
- Examine an Argument: Ag-Gag Laws
- Review Portfolio Requirements
- Mechanics of Portfolio Building
- Mechanics of Linking to Sources
- Portfolio Assignment P12: Self-Reflective Statement
- DUE MON APR 16
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Rowan Counterintuitive 
– portfolio information
– the animal video was was persuasive
– gave insight on factory farms
– by naming animals gave an emotional context
– farm abuse
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The deadlines for the portfolio documents is flexible, but every assignment must be finished by April 25th. Animal activists and reporters go inside of animal production plants and video tape the conditions of the animals on huge farms. Cody argues that because we buy meat and animal products, these animals suffer. The practice that some farms use is inhumane and horrible for the animals. His rebuttal is very short and states that we can live the same life we want to without eating meat. He only showed the brutality and the horrible treatment of animals.
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Class started today with Prof. showing us how to put files into our portfolios (8 files). We looked at how to create our Self-Reflective statements. Each core-value should be ~125 words in each paragraph, and each core value should have a link to one of our works (optionally in portfolio) that represents how we used that core-value. That’s due Monday, April 16.
Next we went over Ag-Gag Laws. Many reporters tried to get into the meat industry to open the atrocities that take place in them to the world (prof. tried for years to get in as a reporter and failed).
Movie notes (points: 33/53):
-needlessly references his family and his life (doesn’t provide emotional impact) (-1)
-references his past with the topic (effective) (+1)
-animals are animals (pointless statement) (-1)
-effective visual rhetoric (+5)
-statement given about meat industry in reference to production rates without evidence (-5)
-more effective visual rhetoric (+5)
-chick named after me died so chicken companies can just go screw themselves (+10)
-real visuals taken by him (+5)
-Ag-Gag laws (+1)
-more animals are animals (-1)
-real story of a calf that didn’t survive a day (+10)
-fish are animals (-1)
-effective visuals (+1)
-more pointless references to his family (-1)
-offers solutions to the issue with steps (+5)
Discussion got off-topic but in a fun kind of way. Many companies are lobbying to prevent people from bringing cameras into their factories/farms to expose them. Companies are also trying to say that people who expose them are considered “terrorists.”
Class today was very good, and I enjoyed the debate we had in-class.
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The chick had the same name as me, not specifically named after me.
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Are you sure? 🙂
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We went over a counterintuitive article talking about the debate between agricultural farms and food activists/ animal-human activists. We watched a video linking this argument against the animal cruelty named, “What Cody Saw.” We debated the rest of the period about our viewpoints and discussed the subject more in length.
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For our portfolios, we will simply be putting our assignments under the category for portfolio, and all of our eight works will eventually appear there. Our reflective statements will be due in a week.
Prof. explained the conditions under which we farm today; animals are kept in less than ideal conditions, often indoors, and are given hormones to make the greatest output possible. It is difficult to discover whether or not these animals are being neglected and abused, but companies refuse anyone from entering. Reporters posing as employees work at large meat-packing industries and report their findings. We analyzed the arguments of one of these reporters. His argument was almost purely emotionally charged, with little basis in fact. He cited no sources and presented the information in a way so as to elicit a certain reaction. However, it cannot be known whether all farms treat animals in the manner shown in his video.
We then analyzed an article explaining the Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act. It mentions that reporters are banned from their practice of posing as employees and reporting their findings. Yet, they are required to report any animal abuse to law enforcement within 24 hours.
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To begin class we discussed adding items to our portfolio. We would need to edit the post and add it to your portfolio category on the website. We also discussed the self-reflective statement which is due in one week. The professor has given us an outline to copy and paste, that we will fill in. In the video viewed in class, it was persuasive Cody was just a normal person; that if he can make a change so can everyone else. It was persuasive because of how the visuals were selected. He gave an emotion standpoint but adding a story to certain animals. The only thing I did not feel was persuasive was there were no facts. There was not anything about how many of these farms perform acts like this. The argument behind this can be multiple things. It can be to fights the ag gag laws, or even to sell his own product and change the way you eat. It seems counterintuitive that you cannot investigate animal cruelty, but at the same time you must report it if you see it done.
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Today we began class with a lot of discussion on our portfolio. Professor was explaining what the self-reflective statement was and how it was done. We watched a video about animal farms. It was extremely disturbing. We had a long discussion on the claims made in the video and what the actual claim/argument was. The strengths and weaknesses of the video were something we talked about for awhile as well. (Ag-Gag)
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There are no true “Deadlines” for the portfolio contents, professor just wants to make sure we pace ourselves so that it is easier for us when we turn it in. Professor explained how to create a self-reflective statement. We then watched a video that made me never want to eat meat again. It was disturbing and awful and stomach-turning, but it was good information and a good video to watch. We couldn’t, however, find the claim or the argument of the video. It was hard for me to decipher, then, if I had just been brainwashed for 8 or so minutes by these poor animals without the use of real facts. (It worked).
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