Month: November 2019

Hi everyone– rough drafts of unit three are due on Tuesday, December 3rd. Remember these are worth two homework assignments. Please post to Open Lab and also bring in a copy to class.

For details on the assignment, please look under “Units.”

Also, please note: you will have time to revise Unit 2 for your final portfolio. We’ll also talk a little more about the conclusion for Unit 2 when we talk about revision– I feel like almost everyone could’ve written some more there.

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!

Script on How to Introduce a Third Party in American Politics?

*anything in bold is actions to be done, anything unbolded is lines

 

Introduction
The screen fades from black to the scenery of me behind a table with a backdrop of my wall.

Hello and welcome to my first unboxing video that was sent in by a follower of mine.

I pull out my hobby knife and start opening the box. Then I’ll open the box and peek inside.

Wow, we got some interesting items here, some things I like and some I don’t.

I then position the box and dump out the contents of the box while exclaiming “M-m-money shot!”

Contents coming out of the box would be an elephant stuffed animal, donkey, porcupine, and a leaf.

Here we got the Republicans, a bunch of useless “conservatives” that back down from any debate and make a fool of themselves. You got the Democrats who are a party is the epitome of jackasses who plan to limit rights and exclaim anyone who disagrees with them is a white supremacist, nazi, sexist xenophobe, etc. Now here you have the Libertarians who run on a belief of absolute right and no type of government can maintain the integrity of such rights. Good in theory, but the party’s filled with morons. Lastly, you have the Green party who are a bunch of environmentalists and align the same with the Democrats, however, they care a lot more about the environment realistically.

I’d notice I forgot an item in the box and then I’ll dump it on out the table revealing nothing.

And here you have centrists, people who are supposedly “independent”, yeah there’s nothing there because they lack to add anything to the table.

 

First Point
Now, third parties definitely exist within American politics, however, they’re barely heard of because they ultimately lack the capability of representation.

The screen would reveal information on how some parties are left off the ballot in some states. (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/nyregion/election-third-party-ny.html)

Here you got coward tactics by Cuomo to attempting to limit third parties and completely neuter them in any hopes of even showing up on the ballot for state elections.

This could definitely help out the Democrats in NYS, but this could also help out conservatives within NYS, but that’s not the point, both parties suck.

I’d show more words from the article revealing how it’ll be difficult for third parties to even meet a 250,000 voter threshold.

Now to you watching this, you may not get it whatsoever, but this limits room for debate for an attempt at definite victory for Cuomo.

 

Second Point
Introducing a third party to American politics wouldn’t be impossible, however, it depends on how many people would want to back other parties on a major scale.

I’d reveal Wikipedia’s listing of current third parties active in the United States. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States)

My favorite here is the Constitution party, now they’re actually something I can get behind other than the now progressive Republican party.

More screenshots would reveal registrations/votes within each top 3 popular parties.

As the years go by, registration would increase or stagnant by decreasing, but due to recent years, it may skyrocket.

 

Third Point
A poll shows that Americans since the early 2000s want a third major political party.

A screenshot would reveal the exact poll I am referencing. (https://news.gallup.com/poll/244094/majority-say-third-party-needed.aspx)

Half of Americans within the United States want a third party introduced into American politics while around a quarter of that say the two-party system is obsolete and insufficient.

Another screenshot would reveal percentages of popularity for a third party and disagreement of the two-party system.

Americans are beginning to realize that both parties suck and are starting to want a third party to open up room for debate and for a party people can get behind instead of choosing Democrat or Republican.

 

Fourth Point
(https://www.nbcnews.com/video/why-can-t-third-party-candidates-win-1348512835713)

Here are a few clips of an interview conducted by an NBC interviewer on an NYS Libertarian Candidate for Governor.

I’d go through the short interview by pinpointing important information from the interview and reacting to it by no script.

 

Conclusion
The backing behind a third party ain’t impossible, it’s just sure as hell difficult to obtain a big backing for a third party when die-hard Democrats or Republicans don’t give a shit about any other choice. You got people pledging undying fealty to Trump and on the other side of the spectrum, you got an unstable party that can’t get any backing.

 

I used to consider myself a Republican and have certain beliefs to be affiliated with the party, however, I felt abandoned as I’ve educated myself more and more about policies and how similar both of the two parties are in American politics, just one will destroy the country slower.

Christopher Chan

Prof. Hall

Youtube Video

For unit three, I want to do a YouTube video discussing my topic question. It would be a short 5 -8-minute-long video giving the audience insight into why one should oppose the death penalty.  My audience would be teenagers and maybe even fixed minded adults. I want to target the young community more because we are the future and it’s better to put these ideas into their heads before they reach an older age and don’t care about it. The death penalty is a very serious thing and everyone should understand how outdated and unethical it is to still abide by these punishments. Being that my audience are teenagers and millennials, I had to choose a genre that would best fit the description we teenagers use and see every day. YouTube was the best platform that came to mind because everyone knows YouTube, who doesn’t? For a lot of people, YouTube is their source of salary and for others it’s just a hobby to inform others. There are a lot of no-profit, non-partisan channels on YouTube that provide videos to inform viewers of a lot of topics. For instance, one of my sources was a YouTube video, made from Jubilee that talked about the death penalty, and it had more than 2.4 million views. While the average teenager spends about 5-7 hours looking at their screens, so its fair to say that it is the best way to reach out to the audience. For my video I plan to do an illustrated sort of “PowerPoint” presentation but with background music and clips from other videos as well as a voice over. My title would be “Legalized murder.” Along with an overly exaggerated thumbnail because that’s what Youtubers do nowadays, they clickbait.

Plan#2- I would continue to make the YouTube video and upload it on YouTube etc. However, Since Im presenting to the class, I feel as it would be better if i did a youtube/ted talk mix, pausing at certain points and explaining to the audience.

1. My genre is writing a magazine article about autism. To be more specific, I will be doing an article for teen vogue. When writing a magazine article you want to catch the reader’s attention. Therefore you need a good hook! When looking at the articles teen vogue had to offer, I was amazed by the hooks. It made me want to read the article even if it was just about what Miley Cyrus thinks about green dresses. That’s when I realized one of the most important formula is a great and shocking hook to get people interested in reading your article and what you have to say. As I kept reading the other articles I saw there was suspense like they didn’t tell you what you were looking for right away. They just hit you with details and facts and feels like forever to get to the point but it is information that Honestly would be good to know. After noticing the hook and the suspense that comes right after I immediately compared it to my topic on autism and what type of Audience I’m seeking to grab attention with my hook right away. Since my topic is not about a celebrity or something trendy it is in fact something informative finding a catchy hook for that will be hard but it isn’t impossible! After finding my hook, I will ease my reader with information that’s not boring and too scientific but I will write it in a way they feel I’m speaking to them directly face to face. I think that is a good tactic to keep the reader engaged in the reading and actually taking something out from it. I do need to be careful with the information I share and not make it more interesting than what the actual hook. When I get to my main point of the article I will ask questions to help the reader relate to a person with autism and see where people with autism are coming from or dealing with on a daily basis. Finally, I will end my article with a little sentimental conclusion and one fact that will get them thinking more than they did throughout my article to care on with them in their daily life.

Topic Question- What should be the limitation or changes to American foreign policy?

I want to make a speech about American foreign policy and I want to grab the attention of young Americans who probably don’t know nothing about what’s going around the world. The main objective with this speech is too give these readers a better understanding on American involvement in world affairs.  So first I want start off by introducing myself just like in any ordinary speech. So I want talk about first about the events that’s going with American foreign policy and the effects that are having to other countries. Also go into more meaningful explanation about the effects and are the results good or bad? I would also ask my audience the question which is ” what do you see on tv or have you read anything about American involvement in foreign countries ?” So I would also give a brief explanation of how did we get here or in other words what have we’ve done in the past that would make the United States into a world superpower spreading our influence around the world. We talk about events such as both world wars and the cold war which was during the peak of American involvement . My audience should also understand of the political decisions that were made that would determine the military activity. I also want to address the concerns people are having with America’s current foreign policy or if there has to be any changes or changes that are necessary that we  would hopefully see improvements to American influence on foreign soil.  At the end of my speech I would basically summarize everything and hopefully give my audience the information that they want to know about Foreign policy.

 

Aisse Tounkara

Professor Hall

11/21/2019

                                Genre How To (How To Make a Ted Talk) 

 For my Genre i’m choosing to do a TED Talk video. I feel like TED TALK Videos are very useful especially when it comes to this topic. Police Brutality and implicit bias. To make a TED Talk I would need to find an idea that I would like to discuss. I already have an idea on what I’ll be discussing with everyone. I would then need a great starting point to keep everyone engaged. When doing this TED Talk I need to be specific one specific topic. Implicit bias has to do with a lot of things. I don’t want to have my audience confused. Also in order to even do a TED Talk you have to have confidence. That plays a major role. Your speaking out into the audience and that’s very important.Speaking into the audience isn’t easy because you may get nervous, start shaking and other things. You have to make your TED Talk videos very interesting and not boring. If the audience is bored they are going to tune out everything that you are saying. You have to always have their undivided attention. It would be a waste of time to go up and make a speech but not anyone learned a single thing or understood the point you were trying to get across. People often do TED Talks to get their point across and to educate us on things we may have very little knowledge on. I’m not a shy person so this TED Talk will go pretty smooth for me overall. Basically TED Talk is public speaking but with an idea in mind. That idea is what you will use to guide you throughout everything. You may also want to see if your audience is engaged by asking questions. 

 

I want to start off the whole video by doing some form of unboxing that shows off the political parties and gives a brief history of them. The actual script will be included within this writing, however, the whole video will try to add some satirical moments to keep viewers interested. I’m fully aware that somebody who doesn’t give a shit about politics won’t care for what I have to say, or die-hard Democrat/Republican voters, however, I plan to reach out mostly to undecided voters who don’t like either party or felt abandoned by the aforementioned parties.

 

Script:

 

Now look, I ain’t no youtuber but I’m boutta do an unboxing for y’all. Here we got a package by [insert some stupid ass name] from [random place].

 

*here I would open the box and dump the content of the box by exclaiming “money shot!”*

 

Contents within would reveal some funny, appropriate, items but what would be highlighted are the two major political parties, Republican in the form of an elephant and Democrat in the form of a donkey.

 

Wow look at these pieces of shit, you got a conservative backing up leftists views by losing roots of conservatism and being more progressive, and you have a literal jackass of a party that can’t get behind anybody and ultimately destroy this country with its policies and fantasy laws.

 

Yes, both parties suck.

 

A porcupine representing the Libertarian party, a leaf for the Green, and the US Constitution representing the Constitution party.

______________________________________________________________________________

Most of my script, however, will be improv and me going on and on with facts and details, however, I know exactly what I want to do when I start this video. That’s the introduction for now and I plan on actually filling the video with satirical moments along with adding facts about third parties and giving a short history of third parties. Mainly in regards to the election of 1968 where George Wallace of the Independent Party gained electoral votes, registration amongst third parties, the rise of popularity for a third major political party, etc. All this would conclude with my question, how do we introduce a third major party in American politics?