Political Compass
I took a quiz here, and it told me where I fall on the political compass. This is a picture of the chart. I fell at -3.00 on the Economic Left/Right scale and -1.95 on the Social Libertarian/Authoritarian scale.
Mayor Rob Ford and Rhetorical Devices
Alright, so there are two topics that have been brought to my attention in class on Thursday. (For the second part, see my BLOG page.) The first is Mayor Rob Ford getting caught on video smoking crack. We watched a video in which his brother, Doug Ford, was speaking out in his defence. Ford used a variety of rhetorical devices in his statement to the press, but were they effective? The first thing he did was use euphemisms for the video and the crack cocaine. He constantly referred to “horrible accusations” and “ridiculous accusations” without once mentioning what his brother was being accused of. Secondly, he was using a rhetorical device we were told was called a “red herring.” Ford was constantly staying away from the topic and instead speaking about Toronto and the things Mayor Rob Ford has done for the city. This makes me wonder; how effective were these strategies? Personally, I think his methods of dealing with the subject made him seem very untrustworthy. Even though he never said anything untrue or denied the fact his brother was caught with illegal drugs, he looked like he was hiding something. He was arrogant and ignored all the reporters’ questions, reading solely from a script. I’m not sure whether I’m being biased because I already know the techniques he’s using to persuade people, but to me he just seemed like a real cheeseball. Unfortunately, we can’t deny that what he’s saying is true. What does it matter what the Mayor does as long as it’s not affecting his choices? He was probably doing this before he was elected mayor. With all the things he has does for the city, why must the media make such a scandal? Here’s the article with the video.