Tow #16 - Chris Christie Politcal Cartoon

If you have been paying attention to the local news this past couple weeks, you will have most defiantly heard about the George Washington Bridge scandal. The conspiracy goes that political appointees of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie schemed a plan to create traffic jams near Fort Lee, New Jersey, at the entrance to the George Washington Bridge. The problems started on September 9, 2013, after two toll lanes at one of the toll plaza entryways were closed to local traffic from Fort Lee and surrounding communities and used for traffic from state and interstate expressways instead, resulting in massive back-ups in Fort Lee. Due the scandal the polls for the approval rating for Chris Christie have been down, as seen in the political cartoon above.

This cartoon shows the negative view of Governor Christie through exaggerated imagery and sarcastic diction.

 Firstly, Christie is shown as a round almost ball-like figure, and this is to show Christie’s weight problems. Christie is nationally recognized as America’s “fat Governor”. Everyday people criticize Chris Christie not only about his political agenda, but his health issues as well. People argue that in order to lead, especially if he decides to run for presidency, he needs to show that he is disciplined, which is seen symbolically through physical fitness. As seen in the cartoon, the cartoonist shows his obeseity satirically through his shape of Christie as a very round man.

Christie’s words in the cartoon are shown as strict, or mean to reflect on Christie’s tone as a Governor. Chris Christie is seen as a blunt, straightforward, brutal person. One instance, during hurricane Sandy, he told Atlantic City mayor Don Guardian, that he was not going to send help to the hugely populated city because the city did not advise evacuation during the warnings of the storm. This is a huge reflection on Christie’s bully nature that people view him as. And by stating in the cartoon, “how soon do I get to start yelling at people again?” is the perfect symbol of Christie’s common conception as a mean politician.

This cartoon is a great satirical piece to entertain any citizen who has negative feelings for the Governor.

Tow #15 - How Not To Blow It With Financial Aid (article)

The article "How Not To Blow It With Financial Aid", written by Rachael Lousie Ensign is a perfect article to analyze because it seems to be full with logical fallacies. It starts with the sentence, "what do last year's bonus, your kids straight As... Have in common? They all hurt your chances of landing financial aid [for college]" firstly, the author is generalizing too much about the topic. One college may have a tight lock on their financial aid, but not all colleges do. For instance, University of Colorado in Boulder, or CU gives out scholarships for many things including straight As, or good grades relative to one's school. Ensign is commiting a logical fallacy. She is making hasty generalizations about all colleges when some colleges may not apply. This will cause her audience, people who want to know how to get as much financial aid as possible for themselves or their children for college, to immediately no longer accept her crediblity as an economic author. Another fallacy she commits is the worst case scenario fallacy. Everytime she mentions something a family can do wrong with financial aid she immediately only offers the worst possible outcomes. There is no middle ground for her explanations which would make the audience think the article is too radical. Her logical fallacies take a huge toll on her credibility, ethos is no longer a good quality of article. This is however a good article and very informative, it just includes some fallacies that hurt her argument rather than improve it.

-written on an iPhone