Goodness Gracious...GREAT BALLS OF FIRE.

Word Count: 542
If you’ve perused any news article, blog post, Facebook status, Instagram feed, or, my favorite example, a YouTube video, you have no doubt seen a slew of belittling or negative comments. Rarely are these commenters even interested in having a productive argument; they simply want to provide their stance, tip their hat and leave the room. Or, perhaps they’ll hang around for a while to keep fanning the flame they’ve just ignited, for sport, maniacally chuckling while tossing back handful after handful of potato chips. At least, that’s what I picture.

What’s likely more accurate is what Forbes contributor Deanna Zandt describes in her article on flaming; that when something annoys us, a switch is flipped. We simply start typing our anger like mad men without pausing to see how who we’re trying to communicate with will react, because they aren’t there.  What I also found interesting in the article is the study that showed that using real names and photos actually didn’t make a difference. I honestly thought that would be the biggest deterrent for spreading hate and negativity. Although, I suppose if a person is predestined to make the choice to flame someone, that’s just who they are, and they’re likely to do it in real life as well. For me, it doesn’t matter if people know my name or see me face, because I simply would feel terrible if I made any flaming comment. Unfortunately, some people just don’t care.

I recently read an article on Endgadget about fake news articles and how susceptible we are to clicking on negative and outlandish titles, rather than positive and sounder descriptions. The author mentions some outrageous articles that painted Donald Trump favorably. Below are some of the comment threads, which honestly, bring up points that have absolutely nothing to do with the article.

Timmmaya day ago

Does anybody else find it troubling the only way republicans can get a president in the White House is to fix the media, 2000 prematurely calling the election, 2016 blatantly lying but calling your opponent the liar?

                Truthseekera day ago

                Ignoring all the media outlets that lean left are we? Laughable at best...

                                technorealza day ago

                                Oh look the Neo Nazi Whitey is here again from his Mom's basement.

                                Plissken77a day ago

                                Oh look another racist progressive that attacks anyone they don't agree with. 

Chris Benoit2 days ago

This website smokes pole now that whiny liberals are trying to act like they're politically aware of anything outside their safe spaces. Snobby attitudes like those witnessed in this comment section are precisely the reason Donald Trump won.

               

                technorealza day ago

                No - he won because white men needed to go back to the time when they thought       

                they ruled the earth.

What I notice most about these back and forth “arguments” is that no one even tries to make a clear point, no one backs it with any evidence. All comment sections seem to be are childish snowball fights, pummeling each other with fired words until someone relents. Do I think these words do any real harm? No, not really. But they're clearly far from productive. 

https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/21/clickbait-fake-news-and-the-power-of-feeling/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/deannazandt/2012/07/31/is-everyone-online-really-angry/#5f3929465fd0

Method of Madness

Word Count: 488

The Toulmin Method was first introduced in the 1958 book The Uses of Argument by Stephen Toulmin (Huillet p. 249). It is comprised of six elements; claim, reason(s), evidence, warrants, qualifiers, and rebuttal. By utilizing these six elements, a writer can create an articulate and thoughtful argument that someone may not agree with, but can still respect because they’ve done the work. Unfortunately, this does not happen in our everyday lives. For the most part, I find that people will institute a claim and reasons, skip right over the evidence, emit an eye roll as a qualifier, and have that rebuttal locked and loaded in their back pocket. Before we even begin an argument, we’re already thinking about our defense. Perhaps if we eschewed a bit more evidence, a rebuttal could be almost an afterthought.

Knowing the elements of the Toulmin method will definitely help me make arguments in the future; I don’t have any examples currently because I’ve just learned the method, and haven’t had an argument to make this week. However, I can say that in the past most of my arguments with my partner looked like this:

CLAIM

                                                                                    

BECAUSE, REASONS!

DEFENSE

I can definitely see how this method will also hinder the arguments people try to make with me. Now that I know the elements, it will be clear what is missing from people’s arguments.

Here’s an example of an argument my co-worker recently tried to make when I mentioned I wanted to stop using shampoo and only wash my hair with water:

Claim: If you don’t use shampoo all of your hair will fall out.

Reason: The hair follicle gets so clogged with oil and dirt that it forces the hair out.

Evidence: I went to cosmetology school.

Warrant: Things cannot be cleaned with just water.

Qualifiers: “I mean guess some people can.”

Rebuttal: (After I mentioned that my best friend has done this for 4 years, and have seen several people on YouTube that also do this) “Oh, well yea if you wash with hot water and massage your scalp that should work.” (How else does one wash hair?)

This argument was flawed from the beginning because not only does she not have a shred of evidence to back up her claim except that she went to cosmetology school, but she is also simply not credible. When I refuted her “evidence” with the fact that the hair industry only exists because of it’s ability to convince us of things we don’t need to truly be clean (like chemically engineered shampoo), and that it was literally their job at hair school to convince you of these same ideals, she shrugged her shoulders. I am more than willing to listen to someone’s argument; but when someone relies on “facts” that have no scientific backing and are simply rooted in capitalism, I’m not interested. At that point, you’re just a lobbyist for the hair industry.

Huillet, M.. (2015). Communicating Online. USA: McGraw-Hill Education.

Images courtesy of Google Images

Tovanna

Word Count: 299

On June 5, 2016, 15 year old Tovanna Holton reached for her mother’s handgun, placed it to her head, and ended her short time here on Earth. The events that led to her death all began online, when a supposed friend of hers secretly filmed her taking a bath and posted it on SnapChat. Soon the image was spread over several forms is social media, inviting a slew of hate speech and criticism of Tovanna’s body. Classmates began calling her names, and eventually it was too much for Tovanna to bear.

In her article covering the suicide of Tovanna Holton, Demetria Lucas D’Oyley notes that “this Florida teenager is the latest example of the perils of social media” (2016). Cyberbullying is clearly a severe problem. Espelage and Holt, in their article “Suicidal Ideation and School Bullying Experiences After Controlling for Depression and Delinquency” note that “Students victimized by their peers are 3.3 times more likely to report a suicide attempt than youth who reported not being bullied” (p.528). It’s sad enough that the youth have to fear predators who may seek them out, but to not be able to trust your own friends? Your own classmates? When I was in my early teens, social media was not even a thing yet. Well, perhaps it was, but it wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous as it is now. Much of the danger that lie in the internet was the very real prospect that people weren’t who they said they were. Now, there’s no hiding behind fake names, but it’s as if they don’t even care. How could one, in good conscience, post something private of another person and feel no remorse for it?

I created this infographic to show the statistics of cyberbullying among teens. All sources are listed below. (By the way, have any of you used Canva? Highly recommend for any graphic design projects you need to accomplish!)

O’Doyley, Demetrias Lucas. (2016, January 10). A Nude Snapchat Video and Cyberbullying Lead

to Teen’s Suicide. The Root. Retrieved on November 02, 2016 from

http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/06/a-nude-snapchat-video-and-cybe

rbullying-lead-to-teens-suicide/

Bullying Statistics. (Updated on 2016, January 15). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from

http://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/stats.asp

Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. K. (2013). Suicidal Ideation and School Bullying Experiences After

Controlling for Depression and Delinquency. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(1).

doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.09.017

Internet Statistics | GuardChild. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from

https://www.guardchild.com/statistics/

Bullying Suicide Statistics. (2016, October 13). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from

https://nobullying.com/bullying-suicide-statistics/