2019년 4월 9일 화요일

WP2 Part 3 & 4



My comment:
I realized that the writer is only focusing on the positive side of the vaping; every problem should be seen in both direction to figure out solutions. Here’s what I found out. According to a study constructed by Maciej L. Goniewicz, which was about comparing the nicotine and toxicants exposure in users of e-cigarettes, combustible tobaccos, and non-smokers. The result was shown that “current exclusive e-cigarette users had greater concentrations of biomarkers of nicotine, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, volatile organic compounds, and metals compared with never tobacco users”, meaning that e-cigs actually do harm your body in significant rates (Maciej L. Goniewicz, 2018). Looking at the statistics and the data, it is proven that vaping is actually not so much greater than the actual smoking. Although it is true that e-cigs contain much fewer toxicants than conventional tobacco, it’s only in terms of the original smokers. To people who haven’t smoked or vaped in their life before, I think it’s always better to refrain them from consuming what would pretty much consume the rest of their life.

Commenting on a comment

The comment: "From the very opening paragraph, the reasons that Ms. Interlandi chose to take up smoking were apparent and not linked to the evil acts of tobacco companies so much as the natural behavioral drives of a teenager.
We could be forgiven for thinking that Ms. Interlandi made her decision before much was known about smoking. In fact, she would likely have begun smoking in the late '80s or early '90s, a time when the health effects of smoking were common knowledge, and advertising was severely restricted by law. To go on to claim that tobacco companies are using vapor products to gain a new generation is fanciful thinking rather than a true representation of facts. Instead, she piles on to the faux moral panic that is itself fueling the rise in teen curiosity about vapor products. [Familiarize oneself with the "Streisand Effect".] While it is convenient to believe that restricting or banning vapor products would bring an end to teen use, such thinking flies in the face of reality. What will result instead is more likely to be a pendulum swing back towards smoking, the same smoking that Ms. Interlandi's knowledge about was insufficient to deter her from taking up? The important ethical question, unasked, is: Should we have a world where the only available product kills half its users or a world where a vastly less harmful alternative is available?"

My comment on the comment:
I do think that you have a really good point. But the thing I think that we should talk about is: is E-cigarettes actually so much better than the actual tobacco? Here, I want to bring up one of the studies I have found–it's about comparing the toxicants of cigarettes and e-cigarettes. They conducted the study by comparing multiple groups of people, including smokers, e-cigarette users, and non-smokers. What they found out was that e-cigarettes are not so greater than the actual cigarettes. The result was shown that “current exclusive e-cigarette users had greater concentrations of biomarkers of nicotine, tobacco-specific nitrosamines, volatile organic compounds, and metals compared with never tobacco users” (Maciej L. Goniewicz, 2018). And one more thing, the research has found out that most of the people who smoke, eventually start vaping, and people who vape, start smoking at the end. And they also found out that if you start doing both, more toxicants ruin your body–"Exclusive cigarette users showed 10% to 36% lower concentrations of several biomarkers than dual users"(Maciej L. Goniewicz). I want to ask you, did you know about this information?

2019년 4월 4일 목요일

Effective and ineffective comments

Effective Comments:
1. "Trump is such an egomaniac that he truly believes that if he wrecks the place, he and he alone can fix it...Except he doesn't know how to fix anything back up. His recent tirade against Obamacare is a prime example...But no worries. Trump is just forcing the issue so he can come riding in on his stallion and save the day. Trump supporters, keep telling yourselves that when you are standing in the unemployment line. Guess what? Many overseas companies have plants in Mexico which they use to produce and distribute goods all over the world. Those will shut down also and create global havoc..."

2. "All this is true- but I believe the analysis does not go deep enough. And as presented here even abets the "punishers"- who punish- but the key question is: Whom do they serve? Who does Trump serve, first and foremost? At one level being clinically narcissistic- himself. Not even his family encroaches on this prime directive. But his allies are the rich, powerful and corrupt who see the legal system as a vehicle for impunity and devaluing of human life- all life actually. Here and abroad...And then there are the racists- who firmly believe they are not (racist), but have remarkable sympathies for White Supremacists, making immigrants their favorite "defenseless" victims (scapegoats). So yes- Trump is a punisher- but so much more."

3. "Apple would be liberated by a big increase in taxes on high incomes and especially dividends. It would reduce the stakes associated with the share price, increase the stakes of producing something new, and reduce the power of the "activist investors" who in reality are hyper-entitled vultures...Apple as a services operator isn't really going to go anywhere without being cross-platform, but the current configuration of the stock market and tax system incentivizes short-term maintenance of their current dividend at the expense of long-term development and locks them into the tried-and-true methods of the recent past."

4. "There’s no reason to keep sending aid to the so-called triangle of Central American countries when the aid appears to be nothing to stem the flow of illegal immigration from those countries. Better that we spend the money that we would have sent to strengthen our border and deal with the costs associated with this tsunami of illegal immigration. I note that even President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary recently acknowledged that we do indeed have a crisis on the border. For those who say that these are asylum seekers, the law of asylum states that the asylum claimant must stop at the first safe country and make his or her claim. Mexico, for purposes of compliance with that international treaty, is deemed a safe country. Instead, these people are being given a fast pass through Mexico (Mexico isn’t stupid) and showing up at our border with mostly non-actionable claims of refugee status. Proof of the latter is that something like 85% of all asylum claims is rejected when they finally come up for review. It’s all a big, coached gaming of our hopelessly naive system by economic refugees who are forum shopping for the sweetest deal."

5. "I don’t really see this editorial offering any solution here to a real problem. I don’t agree with cutting off aid to Central America either, but does it really go to stop gang violence? Has it had any effect up to now? How will these hundreds of thousands of asylum cases ever be adjudicated? Meanwhile, affluent liberals (including the editorial board of the New York Times) continue to see no problem with massive migration, untouched themselves by the continuing strains on the social safety net, on schools and hospitals and housing and wages, and it’s the poor who suffer, not them"


All these comments that I chose as the effective comments had a similar view of looking at the Op-Eds. All the writers of the comments were putting on the lens of critiques while reading the articles. In that way, they were able to make these comments that suggested possible solutions for the issue, had professional background information about the issue and criticized the problem objectively, and supported their ideas with a lot of real-life examples. And I think all those elements are what made the comments effective.

Ineffective Comments:
1. "Why do his followers still support him? They are addicts, and Trump is their drug."

2."The main difference between an architect and an arsonist is patience. It only takes an iconoclast a moment to destroy something that took years if not decades to build. Both want to change, but one is willing to work, create and foster while the other just wants to see it burn. Only fools think this President will leave the country a better place. I think it will be weaker, more divided and threatened than before he took office."

3. "Trump's inability to handle the border responsibly and without undue drama and crises indicates his incompetence and unfitness for the Presidency. The previous President and all others before him have managed it. He's been President for two years and two months have shut down the government three times and is now threatening to close the border. If this is the best he can do he should resign."

4. "Please disregard:
1. Everything the President of the United States says; 2. Everything his White House spokesmen and women say; 3. Everything his Cabinet says; 4. Everything his TV Network says; 5. Everything the Republican Party says;
Because it is all lies and they are all liars."

5. "I’m a software developer for AR in Apple’s Xcode. Just wait until we replace your handheld devices with our magic!"

Finding all these ineffective comments were not hard at all for me. I found that 90% of the comments are actually hardly related to the article from the first place. I found that these comments usually do not have clear points in what they are talking about and do not suggest any solutions to solve the problems about the issue.

2019년 2월 1일 금요일

PB1B - Letters To Editors About Gun Control

    As it is observable in the title of the blog, the topic I want to make an issue about in WP1 is the "gun control". As an international student in America–I think I have mentioned this in PB1A–I didn't really know about the seriousness of the casual gun use here. But not so long, I heard tragic words from my acquaintances about the death of one of my loving people. Connecting to my experience on the topic, I chose to decide my argument as advocating the gun control, meaning wanting more gun control, stricter regulations, and prohibition of the gun in general. 

    There were some moves that the writers used in their text to convey the readers. They were
  • Appeal to pathos by providing actual experiences regarding the gunfire
  • Logically refute against the Second Amendment
  • Make specific suggestions for solving the problem
    For the last part of the prompt, I will have to choose the third letter that I proposed in the last assignment. The letter was posted on "The Salem News" by the writer Seth Mascolo. He started out his story by talking about a recent gun accident that happened in Thousand Oaks, California. Out of all the letters, his letter was more logical and easier to understand. Although the conventions and the genre of all three letters were almost the same to each, how Mascolo unraveled his arguments and suggestions was very impressive and more accessible for the readers.

2019년 1월 24일 목요일

PB1A - Letters To Editors About Gun Control

     As a foreigner of this country, I found a bit hard connecting with the gun control problem until I recently heard that one of my acquaintance was killed by a gun accident a few years ago. Since I was able to find a lot of letters to editors about the gun control, I decided to pick some of the letters and analyze them.

     Here's the first letter to editors about the gun control.
The writer, Scott Wales, throws a heart-breaking story to the audience. It was about a gunfire accident that happened right in front of him 2 days earlier he wrote the letter.

     The second letter was written by Bill Huntington; he wrote about the catastrophe that happened in Florida recently.

     Last, but not least, the third letter was posted on "The Salem News" by the writer Seth Mascolo. He also started out his story by talking about a recent gun accident that happened in Thousand Oaks, California.

     As I was reading all three examples, I was able to come up with multiple genres of the letters. They were:
  • Introduction of themselves: Names, background, etc...
  • The purpose of the letter: WHY they are writing for
  • Aggressive tone: They were STRONGLY asserting for a serious gun control
  • A recent case of a gun accident: Their MOTIVATIONS for writing such letters
  • Mentioning the inconsistency of Second Amendment
     Breaking down more specifically by each pieces–the first letter was again written by an actual victim of one of the gun accident that happened in D.C. He also described how terrifying it was back in the days when he had to fight a robber for his life. His goal/ purpose of the letter was direct and precise. He wanted all the guns removed from all men's hands. It was hard to say that he was convincing or using a persuasive voice because it felt like to me that he's almost disgust at the fact that nothing is actually being done for these happenings. It was very obvious that this writer is angry towards the people and also the government. He ended up his letter by mentioning how the Second Amendment is a contradiction, and it shouldn't be kept if innocent people keep dying. 

     The second letter was also within a similar context, but he focused more on proving the reason why the Second Amendment is wrong and that it should be corrected. He was using much more of a persuasive tone than the first letter's writer. His goal of the letter was to persuade the audience to agree with him in regards to the contradiction of the Second Amendments. He explained how the guns back in days and nowadays are completely different–the guns back in the days took an experienced soldier at least 2 minutes to reload but nowadays' guns shoot 30-50 rounds per minute–and that changing condition should've made the restrictions of the arms much stricter.

     The third letter was very similar to the second letter; his purpose of the letter was matching with the second letter's purpose. However, the difference was that his words were more logical and much more easy to understand. He first highlights what it says on the Second Amendment. To quote his words, he said, "The Second Amendment says, 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'" Later on, he adds, "The person who went into the Borderline bar last Wednesday night was not part of a militia. He was clearly not regulated, and his goal was not providing security. This was an unstable individual whose goal was to kill and strike fear into the hearts and minds of those affected and those who heard about this tragic and senseless episode." He logically explained to the audience what it is wrong and because of those reasons, the Second Amendment has to be re-examined in such context.

     Overall, I was able to witness how each writer was reacting to the tragic gun accidents and their attitude towards the Second Amendment. By telling the audience about the real cases of the gunfire outbreak, they were trying to persuade the readers by appealing to pathos. As a reader myself, I was able to recognize the urgency of this ridiculous problem, and I'm hoping that the gun control would be handled by one's good hand one day. 

2019년 1월 9일 수요일

About ME!

    Briefly introducing myself, my name is Byungjun Kim; most of my friends call me either Jun(pronounced the same as the month "June") or BJ(initial for Byungjun).
    I was born in one of the coolest days of the year, October 22nd, 1998. After 8 years in Korea, our whole family moved to America for my dad's master's degree. We stayed in Denver, Colorado for 2 years and went back to Korea. This time of my life was when I learned most of my English.
    After coming back from America, I went to public middle and high schools in Korea. Because of the surrounding circumstances that our family was in, I had to move a lot; I went to 2 different middle schools and 2 different high schools. Now I understand that all situations had highs and lows but at that time of my life, I really didn't like being parted from my close friends.
    At the age of 16, my dad was given an announcement to serve Korean Embassy in Japan, so again, our whole family moved to Tokyo, Japan. There, I attended an international school which followed the American education system. I stayed there for the last 3 years of high school and was able to graduate from that school.
    Now here I am as a freshman in Pennsylvania State University--Abington, looking forward to what special events will happen in my future life. Because my life had always been spontaneous, I honestly don't have any specific life goals since I have learned that not everything you expected won't happen in your life and everything you didn't expect might happen in your life. I'm just looking forward to living happily whatever I end up doing.