Tow #25: China and the Toll of Smoking

This informative editorial was about China's tobacco problem. "More than 300 million people in China are smokers, and about one million of them are killed each year." That is a high number, showing the devastating effects of tobacco. This editorial talks about the World Health Organization urging Chinese authorities to use graphic warnings of the harm cigarettes cause, right on the packages. This was written in context of China's problem with tobacco, urging that something must be done in order to help reduce smoking and all the health risks associated with it.

This editorial, written by the New York Times Editorial board was extremely informative, considering it was written by a group of highly educated and well-rounded journalists. This editorial really provided a lot of statistics and that served the purpose of illustrating the severity of the tobacco problem in China. "Cigarettes kill about one million Chinese each year. That number could reach three million by 2030, if the rate of smoking is not reduced." This statistic alone attacks the audience's logic and emotion because it helps the audience, (Chinese authorities), to really understand the crisis in their country, urging them to do something.

All of these statistics mainly appeal to emotion because Chinese authorities can see the high numbers of smokers and understand that they need to do more than just write "Smoking is Hazardous to Your Health" on the box, they need to physically put vivid imagery of oral cancer, lung cancer, heart disease, in order for the Chinese to think twice about buying a pack of cigarettes. If these images would be put on the packaging, the Chinese would be disgusted and chances are they would restrain from buying cigarettes. 

This editorial also targets the Chinese authorities, calling them out on the fact that although they are making money on selling tobacco products, the money that they are spending on medical costs for tobacco related illnesses, outweigh the revenue that they are making. "7 percent to 10 percent of total annual central government revenues" does not make it okay for a million people to be dying each year. It also doesn't make it effective in terms of the costs that Chinese authorities will have to pay in treating these people.

I personally think that this editorial had a good central argument and backed it with a lot of evidence and statistics. I think it really drove home the point of all the negative effects of smoking and why there should be graphics on cigarette packaging to prevent smoking.  

Tow #24: Unbroken section one

I started reading my IRB, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. This book starts with giving a detailed account of Louis Zamperini and goes through his whole childhood. Louis was a kid who started going down the wrong path, but his brother, Pete, caught onto this and reversed his life for him. Pete knew that Louis had a lot of potential in him, so he set really high goals for him. Louis became a track star, and soon he joined the United States Air Force.

I think the purpose of this first section of the book was for the author to introduce to the reader Louis Zamperini, a World War II hero and show how his childhood changed him and shaped him into the hero that he became. It made the audience, war veterans, or anyone interested in reading a biography of a true war hero, understand better Louis's life and how he got into the Air Force.

However, in reading more about the author, the real purpose that Hillenbrand wrote this book was to show a parallel between Zamperini and herself. Hillenbrand suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and when she was diagnosed, it was one of the hardest things she ever had to go through. Doing every day activities such as walking up and down the stairs, or even walking to the mailbox and back, Hillenbrand found herself extremely tired and needed to rest. At this point, she was just about ready to give up. She then heard the story of Seabiscuit and wrote a book on it because of how inspired she was. Unbroken reflects the same idea of survival, resilience, and redemption. In writing this book, Zamperini becomes an inspiration for Hillenbrand, giving her an example of faith. Her writing is a coping strategy for her disease.

The first section of the book uses many rhetorical devices, such as vivid description. Hillenbrand does a good job describing Louis Zamperini and his childhood, providing events in his life, and giving a good description of the people and influences in his life. This is really effective in the sense that this really helps the reader understand and picture Louis and his life. The first section also includes many pictures of Louis and his family. This is really effective because even though the author provides many descriptors, these descriptors are made more powerful when the author provides real life photographs of Louis and his family. This really helps the reader understand that Louis is really and this is really empowering because this is not just some made up story, but a true story of a real hero whose pictures are provided in the novel.

This book was written in the context of remembering war heroes and I personally think that so far from what I am reading, Laura Hillenbrand has done an amazing job introducing Louis, really giving the readers a sense of who he was, writing a great chronology of his life events starting from birth. I also think that this book's diction is really empowering and the pictures in the book because they really show the virtues that Louis poses of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

IRB Intro Marking Period 4: Unbroken

For the final quarter, I want to read the biography, Unbroken. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is a non-fiction account of a story of Louis Zamperini, a World War II hero who survived in the middle of the ocean on a raft for 47 days, only to be taken in into a prisoner's of war camp by the japanese. This is a story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
I am very interested in reading this book because I have never read a story about World War II and this seems really interesting and I also love history so this is going to be really interesting.
By reading this I hope to gain appreciation for those who sacrificed their lives fighting for this country, and I hope to learn the virtues and values that Louis displayed. I want this book to teach me that there are worse things in life than my small problems and that really I need to look at the bigger picture in life.