Mencken vs. Kroll

I find Kroll's essay to be more persuasive because of his heavy use of ethos, and narrative structure, which leaves less room for him to supply false logic. Mencken used flashy examples and beautified his opinion, while blatantly discrediting the opposing argument, but without supplying any legitimate or even logical reasons for it's incredibility. Kroll reads to the audience his personal account of a hideous and disgusting experience, obviously showing his opinion on the matter through his depiction of the scenario, but decidedly leaving the audience to make their own judgements.

Race for the Prize- Flaming Lips

The theme, as I interpretted it, is that as humans, we have to take chances and make sacrifices to make forward steps for mankind. The lyrics suggest that we are all just infintesimal humans taking chances for the greater good. It is all just a competition of who can rise above the rest, who can do the most good for the species. The morbidity and sadness contained in the words is a strange mix with the upbeat, lively sound of the song. That odd combonation suggests that we are all caught in a sad perpetual struggle for success, and it is covered in aa blanket of good deeds and happiness and pride, but in the end we are all just small humans.

Destination Earth

Overt: Oil is a great, useful product that helps keep America running, and with the competition of the oil industry, Americans can be free of oppression.
 Covert: If Americans partake in the competition in the oil industry, we can help divert the country from the road to communism.
Propaganda- There is obviously a covert message hidden in the video, promoting oil and and competition in the market as patriotic and anti-communist.

WWII propaganda

-Overt message is that eating less bread will help America win the war.
-Covert message is that it is each and every American's patriotic duty to make sacrifices for our country, and for those of us not serving in the army, a way to do that is to consume less of the products that the soldiers need, and to buy war bonds.

Clampdown

1. Clampdown is about "the man" and the oppression, humiliation and conformity it imposes on the people.
2. The steady, simple  beat that the drums lay down and the excited, bouncy, yet simple guitar riffs add to the powerful, rebellious effect of the lyrics, which are sung with force and unwaivering solidity. The drums beat out the march of the rebellion while Joe chants with confidence and aggression that he is not "working for the clampdown".
3.The part where he says "We will teach our twisted speech to the young believers" refers to propaganda.

Propaganda quotes

824, 815, 801, 806, 807, 810. I couldn't decide. I only read through the P's!
812:
Doubt is an uneassy and dissatisfied state from which we struggle to free ourselves and pass into a state of belief; while the latter is a calm and satisfactory state, which we do not wish to avoid, or to change to a belief in anything else.
-Charles S Peirce
I have spent hours pondering this subject. Our need to create and maintain the illusion that its all under control, cause we "know what happens after death, we can explain the unknown. See? we have proof." is so prominent in our lives. the natural human craving for knowledge led us to this unquenchable thirst to discover it all, and we can't give it up. And thus religion takes center stage in humanity's focus. Of course there can be no concensus on what goes on, because there is no concensus on what we think "should" happen. But as long as there is unknown, we are covering up the black holes with movie screens and projecting what we "know" to be there waiting for us. Anyway, I know that that was a tangent and I am suppossed to be discussing propaganda, etc. Religion is full of propaganda. "Join ours and you'll go to heaven" etc. I'm sorry. I'm really tired. finishing this will have to wait.