How do authors use humor to achieve their purpose?
Read and copy the following definitions, and view all of the examples.
(If you click on the photos, they will enlarge on your computer.)
1.) IRONY: Language which states the opposite of the intended meaning.
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| Think: What's ironic about this? |
2.) SATIRE: a literary genre that uses irony, wit and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity's vices and foibles, intended to change or reform something by ridiculing it.
Click on link below to watch a short clip of satire. And then think: what does the author of this video want to change or improve?
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| Think: What does the cartoonist want to change or improve? |
3.) Epithet: name calling or harsh incentive
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| Think: Why would this be offensive to some? |
Click on the link to hear the discussion about the implications of naming a professional sports team after an Indian tribe.
4.) PARODY: Mockery by imitation
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| Think: How closely the graphics look compared to a real box of Grape Nut cereal. |
5.) SARCASM: A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound
Your Assignment:
Now, visit The Onion website: http://www.theonion.com/ . Select one video or article and respond to the following tasks:
1. Identify the "humor" tool used by the author (using, but not limited to, the above)
2. State the evidence from the "text" that shows use of this device.
3. Next explain how the evidence and the device support the author's purpose? In your response be sure to identify the title and author of the article and/or video.
4. Avoid merely copying someone else's thoughts. The purpose of the blog is to add another lesson that we cannot do within the classroom because there is not enough time. And this should be minor homework for you compared to a math or science class. Remember, the more time you put into "DOING" these assignments to the best of your ability, the more likely you will score high on the AP exam. So there's a reason to the madness:)
Due Date: Tuesday, November 19th. Worth 50 Points
“Humor”
ReplyDeleteIn the article “Cowardly Refugee Running Away From Problems” from the website the Onion, the author writes about a Refugee named Semed from Ethiopia who is undergoing some harsh ridicule from Red Cross worker David Rowe for fleeing to a refugee camp after a violent raid, which resulted in the murders of his entire family. The author uses sarcasm and mockery throughout his article. Evidence of some sarcasm/mockery used is “Semed threw in the towel the second a large, well-armed military regiment raided his village and slaughtered his family,” “Semed, a big crybaby widower who shouldn’t be using the murder of his wife and children as an excuse to just utterly give up”. By using the humor device “sarcasm/ mockery” the author is able to emphasize his purpose in a shocking way. It emphasized his purpose because, it really makes the reader pay attention to what is being said, and realize the cruelty and ignorance of what is happening and has happened to this poor Ethiopian man. There is also some irony in this piece because the person who is saying all these nasty things about Semed is a Red Cross worker, and Red Cross workers are known for all the help and support they provide. This small hint of irony enhances the sarcasm and tone of the piece even more.
Hopes Academy
Autumn Begley
Humor
ReplyDeleteIn the article "5 Year-Old Lets Crying Mother Sleep In His Bed Again" from the website the onion was really an awkward article. In this article the author writes about a five year-old boy who lets his mother that has a drinking problem and who cries every night sleep in his bed. The author uses irony in this short article to show how the 5 year-old boy would comfort his mom in bed by rubbing her back and saying things like "I'm right here see?" and "I'm right next to you". The ironic thing about this is that the 37 year-old mother should be doing this for her 5 year-old son. By using irony the author shows how we live in a very weird society nowadays. Where parents are the ones who are needed to be taken care of and children are the ones taking care of them. The author also uses irony to show that some kids deserve more credit then they get when it comes to family things.
Hopes
Joshua Blaine
The article that I chose is “Location of Newest Mass Shooting Revealed.” This article uses satire to draw attention to the number of recent mass shootings. Satire is the use of irony, wit and sometimes sarcasm to expose humanity's vices with the intent to change or reform something by ridiculing it. It starts off by stating that after two months of waiting, the location of the the next mass shooting was revealed. It says that “federal law enforcement official” stated in a press conference that it will occur at a navy yard in Washington D.C and that citizens should “envision the typical scenes of chaos and bloodshed they’ve become familiar with, but this time imagine them happening in a navy yard.” This is satirical because, of course, no can predict where a tragedy like this would happen. Another example of satire used in the article is when it says, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the next mass shooting happens in an amusement park, or an Apple store, or even an apple orchard in Salem… Maybe it’ll be in a supermarket parking lot because we haven’t had one of those in a while.” This is another great example of satire because it uses sarcasm to show that tragedies, such as these shootings, are unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteMarissa Nikolas
HOPES
On the website www.theonion.com I read the article “American People Lead World In Compressing Big Sandwiches So They’re Bitable.” I identified the tool that they used as: Satire.
ReplyDeleteThe use of Satire was shown in the Data that was collected in the article stating that America is the number one Country in compressed sandwich eating. Outranking Solvenia 5%, Ukraine 7%, and Germany 13% by 75% in America. America, Ironically is also the number one ranked country in obiesety. The author’s purpose of writing this article was to ridicule the U.S. about the unhealthy habits that people are making for themselves. Not only is squishing your obviously to-big sandwich to fit in your mouth unhealthy, but observers say that people will even pick up the toppings that fall out and eat those too, witch is borderline groose. The “Pew Research Center” also shows the use of satire when describing the actions that happen after receiving their perchase as “diving in, squishing their bread together, and pushing it into their mouth.” The use of sarcasm is used in that sentence to be able to blankly put the discusting steps of devouring a fat sandwich.
Lauren Benson
HOPES
In the article “New Documentary Reveals SeaWorld Forced Orca Whales To Perform Nude”, the humor that was used throughout the writing was satire. The article talks about how the sea life park SeaWorld makes their orca whales perform “nude”. This in itself satirical because whales don’t wear clothes and are not considered naked without clothes. The article says things like “These majestic creatures are required, time and again, to swim naked out in front of crowds of thousands, perform humiliating tricks entirely in the buff, and then expose their bare bodies to men, women, and children by repeatedly breaching their tanks.” In this sentence alone wit and sarcasm are used so that the sentence has an underlying humor in it. The article also ends with “trainers work tirelessly to promote a positive body image for the whales and occasionally allow shyer orcas to perform in jeans”, which of course is a form of satire because whales cannot wear jeans or need to have a “positive body image” promoted to them. The main purpose of the article is to put a funny twist on animal activists opinions. Through the use of satire, the author makes fun of how far animal rights activists will go in criticizing the most insignificant activities animals are involved in.
ReplyDeleteMalia Hickey
IDEAS
In the article " Man Who Drinks 5 Diet Cokes Per Day, Hoping Doctors Working On Cure For Whatever He's Getting", the humor used in this was clearly Irony.
ReplyDeleteIn this article, Derek Cowan drinks five diet cokes a day. He was diagnosed with a horrible, life-threatening disease. Since this disease has never been seen before, doctors yet have a cure for it. In the article it states, " Cowan said, noting that he is counting on scientists to invent a pill, vaccine, patch, or other medical solution in the coming years to prevent people from contracting whatever horrific, life-threatening disease you eventually get from drinking 60 or more ounces of diet coke each day" . Then in the last sentence he stated " Until that day comes, he could really go for another diet coke". The author points out that Cowan is " counting on" doctors to find a cure for people suffering from this disease. This is an ironic situation, clearly because no person would be stupid enough to drink 5 diet cokes a day composed of who knows what. And as Derek Cowan knows these tolling effects and is suffering from this horrific disease, ironically he still is drinking this drink that's killing him! Through the authors use of irony he portrays how idiotic some people can be, one of them being Derek Cowan, and how something so obvious can be right in front of someone but they are to oblivious to notice it.
Haylei Sheldon
IDEAS
I chose to read the article “Drunk Teen Going 100 MPH Down Slick Highway Is Invincible” from www.Onion.com. This article uses satire to describe how teens drive way too fast drunk and how they think they are invincible. The author uses irony to describe satire because although it is only talking about one teen and not teens, this is a problem today that exists. It is using irony because it says that the teen thinks he’s invincible but he’s obviously not invincible. The article ends with “pressed harder on the gas, and approached a sharp bend in the road.” This implies that the teen crashed and possibly died given the article was stating he thought he was invincible, and the opposite of invincible is dead. There was no given author.
ReplyDeleteJenna Stone
IDEAS
On the website www.theonion.com I watched the video “Mariana Trench Once Again Named Worst Place To Raise A Child”. This video used sarcasm to get its point across.
ReplyDeleteThe authors purpose (or in this case, the narrator), is to say that so many parents are moving to such odd places in hopes of raising their children better, then end complaining about how terrible their first world problems are and how awful their school system is, and yet they don’t even think about the 3rd world countries that don’t even have schools.
The narrator also stated how bad the “deep sea zones poor commuting options” are, and the “complete lack of oxygen”.
They also stated, along with the Mariana Trench, some other terrible places to raise your children would be Mount Everest, an industrial slaughterhouse, and Mauna Loa volcano.
Elise McDonald
IDEAS
The Article I choose was “Man Who Drinks 5 Diet Cokes Per Day Hoping Doctors Working On Cure For Whatever Hes Getting”. How the Author achieved His/her purpose was by using irony.
ReplyDeleteThe Article talks about a man named Derek Cowan who drinks 5 diet cokes a day and has a life threatening disease that he hopes doctors can find the cure for. In the Article Derek Cowan Quotes, “I’m just going to optimistically anticipate that by the time the chronic ailment I’m currently developing fully progresses, a team of dedicated researchers working around the clock in a lab somewhere will have found a cure,”. The Author uses irony because in real life its is very ironic and stupid to have a whole team of Doctors find a cure for your disease when all you have to do is stop drinking Diet coke. How the evidence and humor tool supports the authors purpose is the fact that people are too scared to face their own problems and that they need scientists, pills, vaccines, patches to cure them of something that they can cure on their own.
Camilla Vernon
HOPES
In the article “Dad’s Been On A Parenting Kick Lately” from the website The Onion, is about a father who just recently decides to take the parenting role. This article uses the humor of parody in this to show how the father is taking his job more than serious.“A few minutes ago he stopped by my room just to tell me he was proud of me. He’s done that five times today.” The Parody of that situation is that the dad is either taking his job too seriously or just playing around because five times of telling your daughter how great she is, is just an overkill and he could just be mocking the role of the parent. The father wanted to make up from not doing his job. Het did what he thought a parent was to do and making a mockery of his role. During these time parents don't take their jobs seriously and may want to make up from doing what they haven’t done and over killing it and going full on with the parenting role trying to make up what they missed out on.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Cram
Hopes
I chose the article called "Scientists Theorize Sun could support fire-based life". In this article, I saw how the author (name not registered) satirized the prospect of Mars being able to support carbon or water based life. By using the satirical comment "After extensive research, we have reason to believe that the sun may be habitable for fire-based life, including primitive single-flame microbes and more complex ember-like organisms capable of thriving under all manner of burning conditions", you just know already that this article is a joke, and it is a satire on Mars. As a reader, I haven't heard of the onion before, so I was surprised at all the lies and sarcasm throughout the articles. The author also exaggerates how hostile the sun's surface, it being 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit is to passively tell the reader that no life can ever be supported on the sun. With the excerpt from the final sentence, "...scientists could even begin to entertain the possibility of putting fire-people on the sun", it gives claim to how pointless the Onion thinks the Mars excavations are.
ReplyDeleteJohn Quinlan
IDEAS
I read the article “Pittsburgh Residents Horrified To Learn Ben Roethlisberger Considers City Home”. The piece is directly intended to ridicule the Pittsburgh Steeler’s quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. The “humor” most used is sarcasm. One line reads, “Pittsburgh residents were horrified to learn Ben Roethlisberger considers the city his home.” The author also added a quote from a Pittsburgh resident. “Melissa Galewski, who confirmed that learning the two-time Super Bowl winner has settled down and plans to live in Pittsburgh for years to come is ‘beyond disturbing.’” Through the use of sarcasm, the reader could clearly convey the loathing toward the pro footballer.
ReplyDeleteColby Sargent
Ideas
In the article "Alarming MRI Shows Peyton Manning Has Been Dead For Past 6 Months" the author uses Satire to mock how major sports franchises belittle injuries that could be considered serious and potentially cause them to take such injuries more seriously. An example of satire laced with sarcasm and some hyperbole lies at the end of the article: "Luckily, the rigor mortis hasn’t affected his mobility. And in spite of the news, Peyton’s spirits appear to be up.” While the deceased four-time MVP will be listed as questionable this week, Broncos sources expect Manning to start Sunday." In this instance, the starts out by mentioning Manning's "Rigor Mortis" which would mean he's dead(a serious injury) before saying that he will be likely be playing on Sunday. By clustering these two opposites together, the author successfully pokes fun at the aforementioned Broncos interim head coach Jack Del Rio and any other coach who would play an athlete with an injury.
ReplyDeleteMason Schwarze
IDEAS
“ Humor”
ReplyDeleteIn the article “ Pittsburgh residents horrified to learn Roethlisberger considers city home “ from the online website The Onion, the author writes just as the title says. The author uses sarcasm to emphasize their point. Evidence of sarcasm and/or epithet in this article is seen when the author quotes from a Pittsburgh Native giving her view on Roethlisberger’s choice. She said “ He called himself a Pittsburgher and said he wants to raise his kids here. The fact that he has a child in the first place is already upsetting enough. “. From that quote you can see the intent to wound or the harsh incentive towards Ben Roethlisberger. The Pittsburgh native probably says these things due to Roethlisberger's past decisions or choices what with him leaving the steelers and the rape scandal.
Humor
ReplyDeleteI read the article "Pittsburgh Residents Horrified To Learn Ben Roethlisburger Considers City Home". This article was about how residents from Pittsburgh didn't feel comfortable with the notorious quarterback Ben Roethlisberger living in Pittsburgh full time. The humor that was infused in this piece was sarcasm. Just by looking at the title the reader can feel the sarcasm radiating off it. The author uses the word "horrified" to dramatize the effect of Roethlisberger considering his hometown Pittsburgh. Later on, Melissa Galewski of Pittsburgh describes the fact of Roethlisberger living here is "beyond disturbing". To end on a sarcastic note, the last sentence says "Sources later confirmed that in light of Roethlisberger declaration, property values in Pittsburgh had plummeted by 800 percent". From using sarcasm, the author could clearly express his contempt towards the quarterback for the Steelers.
Marina Mireles
HOPES
Humor
ReplyDeleteThe Article I chose to read was “ Console wars heat up as Zenith unveils GamesSpace Pro” which can be found on the onion. The author talks about the an upcoming new gaming console that will compete with the new Playstation 4 and Xbox One coming up. This product is about $30 cheaper than the other $400 consoles coming out in the month of November. Zenith tell Microsoft and sony to move aside for their new console which would out past sales of the xbox and playstation. The device used in this article would have to be the use of Mockery. Using mockery allows the reader to give the details of both consoles in one,inside and out. Giving it a much more simpler but unappealing look. This basically mocks the technology that microsoft and sony brings up to the table. It also gives a little sarcasm when the Zenith says they have better console to go against the reigning brands Microsoft and Sony. “According to zenith representatives, over 650 consoles were pre-ordered.” This shows evidence of mockery and sarcasm of the article.
Kristian Sablay
Hopes
Humor
ReplyDeleteThe article I chose was “Cancer Researchers: ‘Don't get cancer’ “. In this article the author uses irony to make fun of “experienced cancer researchers” who are telling us to not get cancer, in which we all know that getting cancer isnt a choice. An example of irony from the article “The panel, which consisted of medical experts at the top of their respective fields in cancer research, education, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, addressed the media for 45 minutes, saying that people’s best hope in terms of living a long, cancer-free life is to never develop cancerous cells in any part of the body, ever”. This specific quote from the article shows irony because the author is making fun of the fact that these very experienced cancer researchers, who literally study cancer for a living, are telling us not to get it, even though, they of all people should know that having cancer is not a premeditated choice. Throughout the article the author continuously quotes some of these researchers thoughtless statements to support his articles essential irony.
Aaryn Gray
IDEAS
This response is from Chaz posted by Ms. Carlson
ReplyDeleteHumor
I read the article “Pittsburgh Residents Horrified To Learn Ben Roethlisburger Considers City Home”. This article was mainly about the residents in Pittsburgh not liking the idea of Ben Roethlisburger living in Pittsburgh and calling it his home. It embarrasses the Steelers quarterback by real life residents saying it would be “disturbing” for Ben Roethlisburger to live in Pittsburgh. Resident “Melissa Galewski” confirmed that learning the two time super bowl winner has settled down and plans to live in pittsburgh for years to come is “beyond disturbing”. Through the use of sarcasm the author makes it very clear and obvious to the reader that he feels scorn feeling towards Ben Roethlisburger.
I chose the article “Washington Redskins Ease Tensions With Native Americans By Adding Bottle Of Booze To Logo” from The Onion. The article uses satire as well as epithet. Evidence of this is seen in the last sentence: “According to team sources, in a further attempt to mend relations with the Native American community, the Redskins have elected to donate thousands of smallpox-infested blankets to the nation’s Indian reservations.” As well as “ franchise owner Dan Snyder told reporters at a press conference in which he unveiled the newest iteration of the team’s emblem, which now features a 1.75-liter plastic jug of Black Velvet blended whiskey alongside the Redskins’ traditional Indian head profile.” Now for those who don’t know, Native Americans have a long history of alcohol abuse. Also, if you didn’t take AP U.S. History last year (some of my own humor), Native Americans were also given blankets containing smallpox during the slow European takeover of The Americas. This somewhat macabre humor uses epithet and satire when speaking about alcohol and a smallpox epidemic. The purpose of this article is to speak on the annual “Redskins is a racist name” month that never seems to go away. This article was as offensive as it was humorous.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Steinohrt
IDEAS
The article I read was "How Facebook is trying to retain users." The article uses the satire to exemplify it's humor. This is an example in th bullet, "Attracting young users by creating fake profiles for such teen idols as Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Rodney Mullen, and Bucky Lasek." This uses irony, used to give a purpose to join. This is ironic in the sence that young users of social networking sites are told to not interact with fake profiles on social networks being as it is dangerous. In other bullets is is examples of pointless useless things that have no relivence to the actual use of Facebook, for communication. Such as the bullet, "Adding a fun 15-second Facebook jingle that plays on a loop as long as the page is open."
ReplyDeleteNoah LaMadrid
IDEAS
I read the article titled “Area Woman Thinking About Doing That Thing Where She’s Mean To Other Women She Meets For No Reason”. This article talks about many womens natural behaviors around other woman. It makes fun of how they act the whole time while pretending to be a serious article. This article uses a lot of satire. It ridicules women for being such harsh judgemental beings while making fun of their cruel habits. Evidence from the text where satire is used is “Local woman Jillian Lauretta confirmed to reporters Friday that she was thinking of doing that thing where she acts incredibly cold and unfriendly toward other women she has just met for absolutely no earthly reason whatsoever.” This supports my statement of the author using satire because it acts as if it is big news where they know that everyone who reads it is going to find it hilarious because they know that women do that. It points out a human flaw and makes fun of It in order to show people how ridiculous it is.
ReplyDeleteMegan Devin
IDEAS
The article I read was “Report: Kanye West, Bill Gates, Tom Hanks All Currently Reading, Enjoy this article.” The author was unidentified.
ReplyDelete1. Parody
2. “To think that so many cultural luminaries are happily consuming this one piece of news content at the exact same time, it’s astonishing. And at the exact same time as you, too, reader. Isn’t that wonderful?” At press time, Barack Obama had just reached this article’s last sentence.(which is that last sentence of the article)
3. In the article “Report: Kanye West, Bill Gates, Tom Hanks All Currently Reading, Enjoy this Article,” the author (unidentified) using sarcasm and satire to mock people when they use connections to famous people to make themselves seem more impressive or higher classed. The evidence in the text is relating the reader to famous celebrities that are also apparently reading the text at the very same time! The author is mocking the people who brag about their connections, because having connections to famous people is just wonderful.
Noelani Cassidy
HOPES
The article I chose was “Cancer Researchers: ‘Don’t Get Cancer’”. The use of irony in this piece is almost constant. First of all it starts off with the “American Association for Cancer Research” urging people not to get cancer. As if they had a choice right? Then it goes on to say that the top medical experts in cancer research told the general public that the key to living a long cancer-free life is “to never develop cancerous cells in any part of the body, ever.” Automatically the sarcasm in my brain and makes me think “Oh really? I never knew that, thanks!” Not. Throughout the whole article it is almost as if the author wants to make you mad. Somebody who gets cancer obviously doesn’t have a choice, but in the article it makes it seem like all cancer patients have a choice. The textual evidence supports the authors purpose to elicit an emotional response by constantly throwing irony at the reader, which makes the reader think sarcastically. It’s almost like a cat and mouse game of irony-sarcasm, irony-sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteMyah Post
HOPES
Humor
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was "Report: Kanye West, Bill Gates, Tom Hanks All Currently Reading, Enjoying This Article". The anonymous author leans on the technique of satire heavily throughout this article. It's also pretty ironic that the entire article is just a list of celebrities who are supposedly reading the article, and their "thoughts" on it, with no actual information or topic. This, if the article was serious, would make one ponder why the celebrities would even be reading it in the first place. It's a sort of commentary on how people will do anything to be like celebrities. People just want to sound cool, and want to do everything that celebrities do.
An example of this is “I would like to add that I am also currently reading and thoroughly enjoying this article, as are many of my most powerful and influential colleagues,” said actress Meryl Streep, 64, who the report indicates is—right now, as your eyes graze these very words—reading this news item on a laptop at her Connecticut estate". They want you to feel similar to a variety of celebrities
Paul Oyama
HOPES
Humor
ReplyDeleteThe article i read was "Most Used Words In The Gettysburg Address". This article uses parody to highlight the most used words in the Gettysburg Address. The largest of the phrases was "I am invincible", this meant that it was most used. I think by doing this it highlighted the fact that President Abraham Lincoln really wanted to get the message across that we are invincible.
Naea Oda
Hopes
Humor
ReplyDeleteThe article "BREAKING: Authorities Currently Racing Down Highway To Arrest You For Crime You Didn’t Commit" was a parody. Throughout the article you are supposedly being chased by police and are going to be arrested for something you didn't do. The article opens with "YOUR LOCATION—According to late-breaking reports, a police squadron is currently tearing down the highway at breakneck speeds with the express purpose of arresting you for a crime you didn't commit" which is humorous because obviously that isn't happening (or is it?). I am not sure what the purpose of this article was other than to have a laugh. In fact I am almost certain that this article was written purely to make people laugh. It may have been a commentary on action movies but I think that is a little bit of a stretch.
Victor Sanchez
IDEAS
Satire
ReplyDeleteThe article that I read was called "Terrified Obama Trapped Inside Healthcare.gov Website." This article places President Obama inside of the insufficient Healthcare.org, it details his journey through out the inner workings of the web site. On Obamas quest to find his way out of the “digital infrastructure’’ of the web site, he battles loneliness, fright, “Several lines of text guaranteeing coverage for preexisting conditions” as well as “terabytes of random eligibility notifications and policy cost estimations”. The authors use of satire in his/her writing attacks the need for a reform of the Healthcare.org web site. This is done by hypothetically placing President Obama inside of the websites workings. President Obama is lost, acting for those actually lost on the web site. The author creates the tone to seem urgent, serious, as well as mocking while suggesting that a reform is needed. “Goddammit, I don’t know what to do!” Obama said, banging his hands in frustration against a wall of binary as the entire healthcare.gov mainframe suddenly froze, forcing all previously flowing lines of code to come to a complete standstill. “I can’t fix this! Get me out of this place!” This quote shows the mocking seriousness of president Obama. By treating this as if it were an actual happening, “At press time, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had assured reporters that engineers are working around the clock to free the president from the healthcare.gov site by the beginning of December.”, the author continues the theme or tone through out this entire article, being satirical from beginning to end.
Sincerely,
Kai Chase
IDEAS
In the video “The Onions Tips for Succeeding as a Women In the work place” from the website The onion. With the use of sarcasm and satire, the video talks about five tips for succeeding in a male dominated office environment as a woman. Evidence of sarcasm and satire used is when the author advice women to take precautions to avoid sexual harassment and let them know you’re not available by displaying random images of kids on your desk and mimicking the western African cobra by spitting instantly shooting venom in to the eyes of any potential predators, meaning males. Another evidence of sarcasm/satire used is when the author says women should always wear a burqa, so they can feel safe around the office with men. With the use of sarcasm and satire the video emphasize and exaggerate the tips of how women can succeed in the work place.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Zhaira Agrade
Hopes
The article that i read was "Cancer Researchers: ‘Don’t Get Cancer’." The author was not stated.
ReplyDelete1. Sacrasm
2. "In addition, researchers confirmed that if it comes down to having terminal vs. non-terminal cancer, both are undesirable, but non-terminal is recommended."
3. This example really gets the author's tone of sarcasm clear for a few different reasons. The first is is when the author says, "both are undesirable". This is very sarcastic because nobody wants cancer, it's a disease that tons of people die from so of course having terminal or non-terminal cancer is going to be "undesirable". The second is when the author says, "but non-terminal is recommended" as if we have a choice of what kind of cancer we want to get! The way the author says "recommended" is very good word choice for this situation because it is like people are trying to pick out certain kinds of cancer to get but is is recommending one over the other.
Kai Harrison
IDEAS
HUMOR
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Cancer Researchers:'Don't Get Cancer'" there was the use of irony and sarcasm. In the beginning of the article it states that getting cancer is "not good" which of course isn't. Everyone knows that. "Dr. Robert Bertino, who specializes in molecular biology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. “If you are going to contract a harmful illness, get diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, meningitis, or even Type 2 diabetes. Anything but cancer. Cancer is just the worst.”" (paragraph 3) But cancer of course is not something you can really prevent and neither are any of these diseases. They can be transferred by genetics. Irony and parody help the author achieve his purpose by giving the reader a sarcastic tone. The sarcastic tone then helps the reader by connecting to their logical mind set.
Keisha Aki
HOPES
In the article “Psychiatrist Deeply Concerned for 5% of Americans Who Approve of Congress” on TheOnion.com the author presents the idea that national psychiatrist are concerned abou the mental health of people who aprrove of Congress. The specific number refers to a poll about how congress is handling the government shut down and what actions they took to get there. The throught out the brief paragraph that makes up this article the author uses epithet and irony to help convey their message to the reader. The author presents one of their uses of epithet when they say that anyone who approves of congress must be “We’re not entirely sure who these people are or where they come from—perhaps they are psych ward patients, or unstable recluses living in remote huts on the outskirts of society” The fact the the author says that anyone who approves of the government is from a psych ward shows how outlandish the thought of approving of Congress was at that time. By making everyone who approves of Congress seem crazy or out of touch the author was able to convey to the reader how much Congress was lacking any solid approval from the American public. The author uses irony in at the very end of the article in the sentence. “Psychiatrists added that because a number of mental health services are currently furloughed, many respondents would just have to “sit tight and hang in there” until the shutdown is resolved.” This irony is that people need help but yet they aren’t able to get it because the government they are approving of is not able to stay open. This piece of irony doesn’t only end the article on a humorous note but help the author show the reader how the government shutdown if affecting so many things even the mental health of its citizens which should be one of its top priorities.
ReplyDeleteIDEAS
Wylie Barker
Humor
ReplyDeleteThe article that I chose to read for this assignment was called “Columnist Getting All Self-Righteous About Rape Epidemic In College Sports”. The article from TheOnion cleverly uses a satirical title to draw the readers attention to the work, as most readers likely would not click on the link if the title was more serious, as nobody really wants to read about crimes or tragedies. To offset this, the author uses satire for both the title and the rest of the work to draw the reader in with humorous criticism of a columnist (Lucas Durbin) who “stood up on his soap-box”, which is the articles way of saying that he was making a statement about something, in his editorial which went into detail about how collegiate athletics were able to get away scot-free when faced with rape allegations due to their careers. TheOnion continues to use a satirical tone of speaking when it takes “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette subscriber James Gillespie[s]” opinion of Dubrin’s article, which is really just a fictional quote with Gillespie criticising Dubrin for being too moral, and proceeding to go into a long-winded ironic statement that said how there was a problem, but how dare Dubrin bring it up, who does he think he is? The Pope!? Nobody wants to hear about problems anyways.
All in all, the article uses satire to convey a message about the problems within the american society where the perpetrator’s image is valued as more important than the victim simply due to their chosen career choice, in a sport no less. TheOnion conveys this information using satire so that the reader will not be hesitant to read the article in detail due to the subjects disturbing nature, the nature of the humor could also be considered “black humor” if you think about it, black humor being when a person makes a grim and dark situation or event humorous using either satire or simply making it so bad its good. Which is exactly what this article accomplished.
Ryemin Liddle
HOPES Academy
P.S Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://www.theonion.com/articles/columnist-getting-all-selfrighteous-about-rape-epi,34620/
This was posted by Ms. Carlson on behalf of Amada Thayer
ReplyDeleteHumor (11/19/13 Blog)
In the article, "Cancer Researchers: 'don't get cancer'" from the website The Onion, the author writes about how you should "steer clear from cancer." To get the authors purpose across, he uses satire. Some evidence of that is when he said, “After years of closely studying this illness and learning about how it grows and arbitrarily attacks vital organs throughout the body at an uncontrollable rate until one eventually dies, we have concluded that not having cancer is the best way to go." Satire is used by the author to make it so it's showing "sarcasm, mockery" yet in a way it's still making the piece funny. He added little pieces to this essay that you can just hear the sarcasm. Like where he says, “If you are going to contract a harmful illness, get diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, meningitis, or even Type 2 diabetes. Anything but cancer. Cancer is just the worst.” “A lot of people die from it,” he added. “It’s bad.” Buy adding stuff like this he's trying to make a point across that, you don't just "want" cancer. It's not something that you can pick and choose, and by trying to say that he uses a little bit of humor. He ended his essay saying, "and they said that, for the foreseeable future, if there is any way I cannot have cancer anymore I should do that.” He says this once again, to get his point across on how we can't, "choose" our illness.
Amanda Thayer
Hopes Academy
I watched the video titled “Hostages Freed After Tense 7-Minute Standup Set.” This video is about thirty-five “hostages” stuck listening to a stand-up show for 7-minutes. This is obviously satire. First of all, none of them were held against their will; they weren’t tied to their chairs or gagged or anything, they just sat there in the room listening to the (terrible) comedian for 7 whole minutes. The purpose of this video was to let the audience know that we are never forced to do something we don’t have to do. Even if it seems as though you’re trapped in a room listening to an inexperienced comedian and there’s no way out, the door is right there and you’re always welcome to leave.
ReplyDeleteErica Cabalona
IDEAS Academy
The news website, "The Onion" Draws attention to the overly intrusive conduct of police using the humor strategy parody. The video "Bloomberg Defends NYPD's Controversial Stop And Kiss Program" displays men dressed as police officers stopping male civilians to kiss them as a type of investigative strategy. Parody is a technique described as mockery by imitation. By paralleling situations in which the typical argument of non-Caucasian individuals being randomly searched by police officers to the fabricated scenario of being kissed by them, shines a light on the presumptuous behavior of the police force. Numerous black males are interviewed in the skit describing the humiliation they have endured and discrimination they suspect."Goin' through my pockets, throwin' my stuff on the ground, kissin' me on my neck and face- then he pushed me up against the wall, and started nibblin' on my ear!" the first man states. "You don't see none of these cops stopping to kiss pretty white ladies." another man explains. This exaggerated plot mocks a real life topic by imitating the situation and embellishing it with the addition of a kiss, to emphasize the immoderately invasive policies of the New York Police Department.
ReplyDeleteThe article I chose was “Black Friday Specials” from the website called “the onion”. The author uses satire to describe the event that everyone gets more excited about than spending a nice dinner with the family at a relatives house. The article gives you a list of stores and one of the many things on sale.One example is Target and what it says is eighty percent off for any customer willing to be hunted in the aisles by manager. Since people tend to ignore the managers when in a “Black friday frenzy” mode to get in line for the items they want while at their lowest price. Another example is Sears with free receipts for kids because parents who bring their kids need to keep them occupied while in lines so they don’t get bored, and shopping can go faster with little complaints. Last example is Bose store where they’re offer is to play full price. This article is very accurate to how people now look forward to real life “Hunger Games”(by Suzanne Collins) called Black Friday, instead of enjoying the presence of visiting family members over turkey. This article even being just a list of stores show how people crave the new rather than the practical things.
ReplyDeleteKassandra Iloreta
IDEAS