Visual Pathetic Appeal

Disability on Prezi

My visual pathetic appeal addresses the negative effects that result from discrimination against the disabled. The main claim in the piece as that disabled persons are a minority group that should not be discriminated against, but should receive the same civil rights as all others.

The presentation begins with an image of a quote, “Attitudes are the real disability,” which introduces the viewer to the setting of this presentation: it will discuss disability and our attitudinal response to it. This claim is provocative and leads the viewer into the argument they are about to observe.

The first three images are of disabled persons, each looking very happy, innocent, and content. These images are meant to invoke some sense of pity and empathy in the viewer. After seeing these images, the viewer should be left seeing these individuals as representative of a group of needy people with whom it is only natural to sympathize and desire to defend.

After the last image of disabled persons, the scene shifts to a picture of a sign that appears to prohibit handicapped persons along with animals and objects. While it may have meant to simply disallow wheelchairs, by crossing the symbol of a person in a wheelchair out, along side inhuman objects, the viewer is led to see the way in which disabled persons are objectified and discriminated against. The impersonal nature of the image, since it is only symbols, further dehumanizes the people that were just seen in the preceding images. Resultantly, the viewer would be led to begin experiencing feelings of indignation.

These feelings progress as the next image appears, right next to it. This image is more graphic and shows a disabled individual being escorted by police officers. He clearly looks misunderstood, and given the context of the presentation, the viewer is led to feel further pity for the man and the other innocent disabled individuals pictured at the beginning whom he represents. Consequently, the viewer’s indignation would be caused to mount at the sight of this image and would likely feel anger and frustration.

These actions of discrimination are then identified with a commonly hated group, the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), as shown in the next image. When seeing this image, the viewer’s indignation about the treatment of individuals would turn to passionate hate since the actions of discrimination against disabled individuals are shown to be akin to the actions of a widely despised group. Also, this image would link the experience of the disabled to that of other minorities who suffer and have suffered discrimination.

At this point, the viewer is left desperate, seeking some form a solution so as not to allow a repetition of the travesties committed by groups like the KKK. After a progressive decline, the presentation shoots upward and the image of Martin Luther King Jr. appears. He is clearly actively involved in some form of advocacy and the viewer feels inspiration, excitement, and joy at the thought of such a hero rectifying the wrongs being committed against disabled individuals. The need is apparent: we need to fight for the civil rights of these individuals just as men like Martin Luther King fought for those of other minorities.

The presentation then lifts even higher, arriving at a picture of the statue of liberty, the symbol of national values such as liberty and equality. The viewer is left seeing the significance of providing these values for disabled individuals as they are enjoyed by other Americans. This image also affirms the sense of indignation that was previously felt since the treatment of disabled individuals is, as of yet, not fully aligned with American values.

The statement that follows sums up this dynamic by describing that the values and rights we hold dear and that many have fought to obtain should truly be for all citizens—including the disabled. The viewer is left with the thought that this statement is a fully American belief, invoking pride and dignity, but yet not fully realized by all Americans. Individuals such as Martin Luther King have fought to make this notion a reality and that fight must continue until it truly reaches all within our borders. Herein lies the key interpretation: the indignation and frustration regarding the mistreatment of disabled individuals, resulting from a pity for them, is linked to a change of attitude that these individuals are worthy of defense and advocacy in that it would be un-American to allow them to endure anything different.

After the viewer experiences this shift in attitude, the presentation moves to one final picture. That of a joyous boy with down-syndrome at a Special Olympics event. This image offers a reassuring sense of fulfillment to the viewer that if change is indeed possible in the way we view and treat the disabled, the benefits are inestimable.

Photo credits (all images accessed March 31, 2011):

Opening title image: http://india.targetgenx.com/files/2008/05/attitudes.gif

First down-syndrome boy: http://www.filteredsoundtraining.net/media/Boy%20WIth%20Downs%20Syndrome%20in%20FST.jpg

Blind children: http://www.scsdb.k12.sc.us/academic/blindSing-s.gif

Boy in wheelchair: http://pediatricwheelchair.org/wp-content/uploads/wheelchair_kids.jpg

Signs: http://www.huminteractive.com/files/e50f6cd29a4c0759a604fdadbfc56166.jpg

Man in wheelchair with police: http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/images/DisabilityRightsDemo.jpg

Klu Klux Klan: http://www.old-picture.com/united-states-history-1900s---1930s/pictures/Ku-Klux-Klan.jpg

Martin Luther King Jr.: http://cdn.babble.com/famecrawler/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/martin-luther-king2.jpg

Statue of Liberty: http://wirednewyork.com/images/city-guide/liberty/liberty.jpg

Second down-syndrome boy: http://www.agd.org/files/specialolympics.jpg

Affects and Human Nature

Teresa Brennan writes about the association of affects with the seven deadly sins. While as time went on, perceptions changed, she describes, “how the affects, while they ceased to be labeled sins, were nonetheless conceived as entities opposed to the integrity of the organism’s expression of its true nature…” (98). She also mentions the idea that, in the past, affects were viewed as “invaders that work against our true nature…” (101).

I find this idea very interesting in light of Plato’s Republic. In the Republic, Plato argued that man is made of three distinct parts: the spirited element, the rational element, and the appetitive element. Plato felt that the appetitive element, or the aspect of desire within us, had to be controlled by the rational part. The spirited aspect formed the passion or drive behind our various actions or reasons (thumos in Greek). Arguably, and in Plato’s mind, our true nature, or a just soul, is one in which these three forces operate in harmony with one another—the rational leading the soul by restraining the appetitive element and the spirited element providing the drive to ensure the rational leadings are followed.

While I definitely think it is a stretch to say that affects are sins, I tend to think that affects, as Brennan describes them, would fall into the category of base desires that Plato describes. Emotions, or feelings we are cognizant of that have some rational connection, would likely fall into the spirited category. The view of affects that Brennan describes, in which affects work to defy our true nature, is surely incorrect in itself. Our affects/passions/desires that we experience are necessary to maintain our lives and stability in a certain sense. Without them, how would we be driven to eat, drink, or reproduce? However, when these affects operate independently of our reason and overcome us, then, perhaps one could say that this expression is not consistent with our nature, since not all the forces of our soul, as Plato describes, are working in harmony.

Yet, perhaps a more accurate way of describing this dynamic would be to say that, actually, the expression of our base desires or affects, is the most accurate expression of our nature, but not necessarily the most healthy for society, thus needing direction or guidance. In a way, our nature is what produces the drives that direct all our actions; our reason restrains them and the spirited element works alongside them. That’s why, as Brennan describes, with James’ help, these affects are actually operating within us all the time, bringing us pleasure and pain, and based upon them, we act to either mitigate or accentuate what we are experiencing; according to Brennan, “…judgment is the attempt to expel what is painful while enhancing what is pleasurable” (106). In Plato’s terms, these drives fuel everything we experience; our reason is constantly functioning to interpret and direct these drives and then the spirited element works to confirm and execute these conclusions with conscious emotions. As Brennan explains, this is also the function of Freud’s “ego”—managing these drives (111).

So, Plato can help us explain how we manage or relate to these drives, but what, exactly shapes the drives themselves? Clearly, they are the result of nature. But are we just programmed to experience certain affects , or can they be altered? Or would altering them be altering our nature and thereby creating internal dysfunction or disharmony because we are tampering with the source forces that make up our humanity? If they are truly all the same by nature, why are humans so distinct from each other?

It seems that our actions, since they are based upon our drives, etc. would work in conjunction with our drives, since they result from them, and would not alter our drives. Brennan explains that action “is defined in terms of actuality, actually realizing one’s potential by realizing one’s form and hence fulfilling one’s purpose” (102). However, there are other affects or drives that might be stirred up within us. These could work to alter our drives. Brennan calls these “passions” or “passive affects.” She writes, “one could suppose that the passive affects hinder us from realizing our form and acting in accord thereby with our natures…” (102). These passive affects are not formed purely within us by our nature and the drives operating in us, but are the result of our reaction to people and events around us. So, our reason and spirited elements not only operate to manage the affects that are within us but also to manage our responses to the affects outside of us.

Interestingly, it seems like we all have the same drives operating in us by nature, and acting on these would be the purest expression of who we are. But, our reason operates to manage these internal affects as well as all the affects that are coming at us from the outside. And this process, which varies from person to person, and, probably, from culture to culture, etc., is what makes us distinct (103). So, affects really shouldn’t be considered sins or the root problem, since they are the forces all around us that form the base of human experience. The part that is different for each individual, and, arguably, for which people can be accountable and/or try to control, is how they respond to these various affects. If Plato is right, reason is key to this process, but even this is worthy of further exploration.

Brennan, Teresa. The Transmission of Affect. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005. Print.

Visual Analysis FINAL

In this final revised draft, I have changed some of the major tenets of my argument regarding this Coca-Cola advertisement. Originally, I had argued that the ad inspires negative emotions and leads the viewer through an emotional cycle to then, ultimately, inspire the viewer to buy Coca-Cola. Now, I have removed most of the arguments regarding the negative emotions, since this was a bit of a stretch. Rather, the analysis focuses on Coca-Cola's ability to provide the highest form of relief in situations of discomfort. Essentially, I tried to improve this draft by focusing on the clearest elements seen in the ad, instead of inferring other levels that may not be there for most viewers. The final revised draft can be viewed here.

Written Pathetic Appeal FINAL

In my written pathetic appeal, I describe the dynamics that face students with psychological disabilities (specifically bipolar disorder), especially due to the stigma associated with them among professors and peers. I work off of knowledge I have gained regarding these issues both from personal experience and advocacy work I have done with Student Government at UT. I make the argument that these students struggle immensely as it is in order to succeed but even more so since professors frequently are unwilling to help them or give them the accommodations they deserve and because of the persecution the receive by the doubts of their professors and peers. I use enargeia to describe the struggle of the disabled student, illustrating the apprehension and fear he faces, in order to invoke mercy, and then turn this to produce indignation by using analogies, metaphors and describing the struggle these students face and the part professors and peers play in it. My goal is for professors and students to consider the needs of their fellow human beings more than they do currently on the basis of human decency. The basic interpretation is that because of their struggle, these individuals are well deserving of aid rather than scrutiny or persecution; as humans we should feel empathy for them rather than complacency and we should adjust our treatment, as we are able to, accordingly. For more, click here.

Written Pathetic Appeal (Rough Draft)

In my written pathetic, I describe the dynamics that face students with psychological disabilities, especially with their professors (they are the intended audience). I make the argument that these students struggle immensely as it is to succeed but even more so since professors frequently are unwilling to help them or give them the accommodations they deserve. I try to use enargeia to describe the struggle of the disabled student, to invoke mercy, and then turn this to produce indignation by using analogies, metaphors and describing the struggle these students face and the part professors play in it. My goal is for professors to consider the needs of their students more than they do currently on the basis of human decency. For more, click here.