Beautiful Arguments
It’s Worse than You Think
Heightened Scrutiny
Before you begin to write your own, we’ll want to review the essential qualities of a good Definition Essay.
Includes an In-Class Task.
Name three ways in which LGBTQ Americans are considered a protected class. Answer at the link.
Definition—davidbdale
Includes an In-Class Task.
Answer three questions about the Model Definition/Categorical Argument. Answer at the link.
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Counterintuitive 
Professor started class off by using a fellow students proposal+5 to show us that our sources are not actually the main sources. He wants to see if there is another link that takes us to the original source which is what we should be using and giving credit to. The economy is terribly unfair do to the fact that only 1% of the population owns almost all of our wealth. The people who do all the hard work get next to nothing in money but instead the people who do no work get all the credit/payment. There really is no difference between gender and sex when it comes to laws because both terms really do mean the same thing. Your gender and race are with you forever no matter how hard you try to want to escape it. People in the U.S. are so easy to jump to classify someone by the way look, talk, or even act.
When discussing the Proposal+5 assignments, the proposal and sources were analyzed carefully.
The professor demonstrated how he would look at our sources: he would look for validity and credible evidence.
We then talked about wealth: the richest 200 people own half of the nation’s wealth, and 150,000,000 of the least richest own half the nation’s wealth.
We then saw a video about the ideal and realistic views about distributed wealth- the poor and middle class doesn’t even register on the charts, as when the richest people’s income goes off the chart. The ideal situation was a smooth and evenly distributed curve. We are not even close to the ideal curve.
As for our essay, our arguments must be clear and concise. There needs to be real world relevance and there are often multiple definitions for our arguments. We must clarify not just a certain word in our argument, but also terms related to the argument to narrow it down. The definition itself isn’t the claim of the essay. It helps us be more specific about our argument and we must lead the essay from there.
What happened
Proposal+5
Beautiful arguments
Wealth inequality in america
Heightened security
What I learned
Need to state hypothesis clearly
Do not write about what the author talks about
Need to focus on a specific topic for research paper
Studies conducted on specific topic are great resources for research paper
Need to look for primary source material
Just 400 americans control as much wealth as the bottom half of the entire country
The income growth disparity in American is wider than it was pre-Great Depression
In america the average CEO earns 185 times more than the average worker
The richest 1% of Americans control over 1/3 of the wealth, leaving the bottom 80% with less than 1/5.
Vote on the basis of who you want, not what you guess others want
Some arguments are so well designed their very beauty is their persuasiveness.
Every written document is an argument
You are going to use a term that makes it clear for the readers
Essay will have real world relevance
Make sure you are not just stating things, and instead making actual claims to the hypothesis you are going to be testing
The sources we should be using are the ones that trace back to the summaries and then back to the actual study
The wealth inequality has drastically changed since 2012 and is still changing for the worse
Every written document is an argument, so you need to persuade your argument, so state your facts
Remember that everything’s an argument, it has real world relevance, and you must be specific in what you are saying by defining the terms you are using.
-in 2012, the richest 400 Americans own half of the country’s wealth while 150,000,000 own the other half
-the average CEO earns 185 times more than the average worker
-the 1% owns more than 1/3 of America’s wealth
-check the links for answers to questions
2/26/20- Today in class we made sure that everyone’s proposal+5 was posted correctly with the proposal+5 category. We also discussed a fellow classmate’s work anonymously to help give us some insight about how we should and shouldn’t be writing our papers. We then moved onto what a beautiful argument is, to do this we looked at a picture of a dollar bill that was split in half with one side saying that 400 people own half the nations wealth and the other 150, 000, 000 of us Americans own the other half. The other side of the bill showed pie charts of 1920s, 1960s, and the 2000s showing how the share of income growth was high and then low and high again. Another dollar bill showed the small amount of pay of the average worker compared to the huge CEO pay. The other side of the bill fractioned out the wealthy, the fabulously wealthy, and everyone else. Finishing up with saying unless things change our money will end up in the hands of the op 1% which is the fabulously wealthy. We then watched a YouTube video on how Americans thought the economy distribution is and how far it is from the reality of distribution. 1% of America has 40% of our nations wealth. A CEO makes 380x what an average worker makes. We were assigned two in class assignments, one about heightened security and naming 3 ways in which LGBTQ Americans are considered a protected class by reading an article on it. The other assignment was on answering 3 questions about model definition/ categorical arguments by using a model essay.
The first thing Professor goes over in class is beautiful arguments. He explains that in 2012, the 400 richest Americans owned half of the money in the country, while the bottom 150 million people could come together and make up the other half. After talking about beautiful arguments, Professor then talks about Heightened Scrutiny. Professor explains that you need a good definition and a categorical argument. Professor gives us two small in-class assignments, one about why members of the LGBT should be considered a protected class and the other is about the Model Definition/ Categorical Argument.
Feb. 26th Notes:
-Looked at someone’s proposal +5 which helped to clarify how the proposal and sources should be laid out, and how the paper should stick to one idea and not branch off to others that have no relation. Also, it was a reminder of what language not to use when discussing what your sources are about (ie. talks about).
-Look among your sources to see if that is the primary source or if the source was just summarizing using that primary source. Make sure to keep an eye out to see if that primary source is mentioned throughout.
-Discussed the wealth inequality in America. The richest 1% own 40% of America’s wealth while the bottom 80% own only 7%. The actual chart compared to what the majority saw as an ideal is mind-blowing with how different the two are.
-Completed two in-class tasks that help to work with and understand definition and categorical arguments. For definition arguments, the actual dictionary definition usually will not help. Sometimes, you’ll need to clarify other terms and not just one.
NOTES:
Looking at a Proposal +5:
– Do not say “this source talks about.” The Talks about does not give enough information for the background.
– Always try to lead yourself to the original primary source if the source found isn’t already.
– Focus on one topic, not multiple. Get specific.
Beautiful Arguments:
– Arguments can be so strong in few words.
– Occupy George shows the distribution of wealth throughout America. The top 1% vs. the bottom 90%.
– The 1% controls the majority of wealth compared to everyone else
It’s Worse Than You Think:
– The argument of Wealth Equality in America.
– The argument was made through comparing charts. What people think the wealth distribution is, what their ideal is and what the reality is.
– Just the comparisons alone send a strong message to the viewer just as a long research paper would deliver.
Heightened Security:
– Don’t use dictionaries to define words. Figure out your own definition. Definitions in the dictionary change throughout the years, so which definition do we use? Ex. The definition of marriage.
-we discussed about wealth inequality in america and the some people have to fight over money -while the 1 percent doesn’t have to fight.
-bottom 40 percent barely has wealth in america
– worked on tasked about lgbtq laws
Today’s class discussed the nation’s wealth and how it is distributed. We saw a picture of a dollar split in half by a red line. Half of that dollar, as of 2012, is owned by the 400 richest Americans. The other half is everyone else. It’s quite insane to think about. I think this could easily be fixed. If I was in the top 1%, I’d be giving my money back to the community and nation to better spread out the wealth. I’ll take what I need because it still is my money and I worked for it, but everything else can go back to the nation. I don’t know much about politics because people I’ve come across that are invested in politics can’t understand that others have opinions and can’t agree to disagree. I don’t really know, but I think rich people should put money into the country to go to the regular people and not just give money to charities so they can make a headline. Charity work is still great, but the wealth distribution is a serious problem that can hurt more lives. The class also went over heightened security for LGBTQ+ people and how they are part of a protected class. It’s interesting to think about. One side can see it as entitlement, which I’m sure all of the anti-gay believers are thinking, and one side can see it as a way to more easily handle specific legal issues on a difficult topic.
NOTES
2/26
REMINDER
– You will never get feedback if you don’t place work in feedback please
– Make sure all your work is in the assignment category as well as your author category (double check)
– Get rid of ALL “Talks about” and keep away from using them because that interprets a major topic rather than a focused topic
WEALTH
– The wealth in America is so lopsided that the top 400 are richer then the other 150,000,000
– The money system here is terrible and not fair for the countries citizens
– America has no ideal thought of what the money distribution is like and its actually insanely worse
HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY
– Definitions from many years ago were nothing like what they are today
– LGBTQ is stuck as minorities and are stuck in a uncontrollable society that is high in discrimination
– Wrote 3 ways LGBTQ members are protected and how they are discriminated on
– Definitions can completely change in years just like the definition of gay marriage as before it meant nothing close to same sex marriage
Davidbdale is looking for the question and the hypothesis in our research pitch.
The LGBTQIA+ community is protected because they cannot protect themselves from discrimination.
Today in class we revisited research and how to better find sources. We then moved on to discuss how to avoid making vague arguments and how to be more direct with our writing. As we progressed into the day, we took a view of wealth inequality in the U.S. before moving on to in class tasks.
The first in class task was the “heighted security” task with link provided in the day’s agenda. In this task we were instructed about the basics of a good definition or categorical argument. We learned that even when defining a topic that we will still need to argue our point. To complete the task we were instructed to give our own examples to define why we thought LGBT members could be defined as a group deserving of heightened security.
At the end of class we were introduced to model task and instructed to complete it before the end of the weekend.
Class Notes 02/26/2020
-When categorizing, you can check if you are in the feed by clicking someone else’s “assignment name” category…look for your name under the list of other posts from that category
Proposal+5:
-Look for the primary source WITHIN the source that you found (if available)
-Reflect, in a clear manner, what the source stated in your “How I Intend To Use It” paragraph
Wealth Inequality in America:
-Bottom 40% has nearly no wealth when compared to the top 60%, but especially the top 20%
-1% of America has 40% of the nation’s wealth
-15% increase in percentage of nation’s wealth from 1960s-2009 in the top 1%
-With the ideal curve, the poverty line almost does not exist
–Class Assignments–
Heightened Security:
-A good categorical/definition argument is an argument, has real world relevance, and it often requires several terms to be defined
-e.g. for the essay above, you cannot just define marriage, you must also define social relationship, legal relationship, family, etc
-A definition argument is not set in stone, or fact…
Also answer the 3 definition-davidbdale questions
COMP notes 2/26/20
What Happened…
Did some housekeeping with analyzing a student’s Proposal+5
Beautiful arguments – dollar bill
It’s worse than you think
Heightened security (in-class task)
Definition (in-class task)
I learned that…
You must state your claims and hypothesis clearly
Creating an argument that may at first be simple but represents a bigger picture
The wealth inequality in America
How the U.S. divides their responsibility between the rich and “the rest” of the population
Average worker pay and an average CEO pay comparison
How wealth is divided between classes
1% of Americans has 40% of America’s wealth
Every written document is an argument
Using terms that make the most sense to you might not make sense to the readers
A good definition or categorical argument sounds better because it is more defined and states facts to the audience.
Definitions change with time (i.e. the definition of marriage in 1930 and now)
Making the argument as specific as it can be and it is made up of several different claims
Notes 2/26
Beautiful Arguments
– Some arguments are so well-designed that their beauty is itself a rhetorical tool of persuasiveness.
– A dollar with the message, stamped-on and in red, “property of the 1%” is incredibly simple but brilliant because it is clear, brief, and beautiful as an argument.
It’s Worse Than You Think
– A popular YouTube video shows the disparity in wealth between the rich and the poor. It also shows the disparity between what people think wealth inequality looks like versus what it actually is.
– In short, wealth inequality is much, much worse than what people think.
– This video is another example of a beautifully designed argument that gets the message across clearly. It presents a major and complicated problem in America by using dollar bills and one hundred people to represent America’s total wealth and the percentage groups, respectively.
– It also presents a ginormous-but-thin tower of dollar bills, belonging to the 1%, going off the screen to show how ridiculously good the rich have it compared to the majority of Americans.
Heightened Scrutiny
Qualities of a Good Definition/Categorical Argument
1). It’s an argument.
2.) It has real-world relevance.
3.) It often requires defining several terms.
Why are the LGBT+ considered a protected class?
1.) Their sexuality is a fundamental part of their identities.
2.) They have indisputably been discriminated against.
3.) They cannot protect themselves from discrimination in a political process governed by the majority.
Definition
Why is Mister David’s essay on polio vaccination a definition essay?
1.) It gives a lengthy definition of polio and describes the negative ways in which polio affects people.
2.) It explains that polio is invisible compared to smallpox and thus harder to detect.
3.) It asserts that polio and smallpox are two completely different viruses and should thus be treated differently.