How to stop addiction to Bejeweled Blitz in FB

Alternatively, you can also do this....

Cheers!!




--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Life is not like a drama; Life IS drama (Part II)

3) Guilt-Redemption Cycle – The root of all rhetoric

The ultimate motivation of all public speaking is to purge ourselves of an ever-present, all-inclusive sense of guilt.

Guilt is Burke’s catch all term to cover every form of tension, anxiety, embarrassment, shame, disgust, and other noxious feelings that he believed intrinsic to human condition.

Man is ....

the symbol-using inventor

of the negative

separated from his natural condition by instruments

of his own making

goaded by the spirit of hierarchy

and rotten with perfection

Man is	Burke acknowledge our animal nature
the symbol-using inventor of the negative	Emphasize this uniquely human ability to create, use, and abuse language It’s only through man made language that the possibility of choice comes into being
separated from his natural condition by instruments	Human as a tool using animal
of his own making	Our technological inventions get us into trouble
goaded by the spirit of hierarchy	Hierarchies, bureaucracies, and other ordered systems that rank how well people observe society’s negative rules. No matter how high you climb on the performance ladder, you’ll always feel a strong sense of embarrassment for not having done better. A doctor always rank higher than an artist.
and rotten with perfection	Our seemingly admirable drive to do things perfectly can hurt us and others in the process. Our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness. Both our success and our failure increase our desire to find someone whom we can dump our load of guilt.

Burke believe that getting rid of guilt is the basic plot of the human drama. At its root, rhetoric is the public search for the perfect scapegoat (religious themes of guilt and purification).

He views rhetoric as a continual pattern of redemption through victimage.

The speaker has two options, depending on which he/she chooses.

Mortification   - To purge guilt through self-blame.

Victimage       - It’s much easier for people to blame their problems on someone else.

Victimage is the process of designating an external enemy as the source of all our ills. The list of candidate sis limited only by our imagination – eastern liberals, Al-Qaeda, the Columbian drug cartel, Communists, Jews, chauvinistic males, rich capitalist, and so forth.

Burke was not an advocate of redemption through victimization, but he said he couldn’t ignore the historical pattern of people uniting against a common enemy (“congregation through segregation”). We’ve already discussed his claim that identification is the central strategy of the new rhetoric. The easiest way for an orator to identify with an audience is to lash out at whatever or whomever the people fear (“My friend is one who hates what I hate”).

Further point of reference, click here. Which option did this speaker pick? Mortification or victimage?


This blog is written based on my own understanding of Kenneth Burke's theory - Dramatism, extracted from the book - A First Look At Communication Theory by Em Griffin.


--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Today I don't feel like doin anythin

Today I don't feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in my bed
Don't feel like picking up my phone, so leave a message at the tone
Coz today I swear I'm not doing anything


I'm gonna kick my feet up then stare at the fan
Turn the TV on, throw my hand behind my head
And nobody's gonna tell me I can't

--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Lie down to cure your ails

My yoga pose of the month – Legs up the wall (Viparita Karani)

This month, my feet and legs went through hell as we participate in the MetalTech Show for 5 full days in PWTC. Standing for long hours in our working shoe is no joke. By the time I get home, my calf and feet would be extremely painful and numb beyond words at the same time.

To ensure that it gets proper treatment at night, I soak them in a pail of warm water with epsom salt for 10 - 15 minutes. 

After which, I will then rest them up on the wall like in the top most picture. This pose is designed for undoing, repairing and restoring. It is a restorative pose with a mild inversion.

Viparita Karani pose improves our circulation, calms our nervous system and supports the back.

Benefits

1) Relieve tired or cramp feet

2) Gently stretches the calves, back and neck

3) Relieves mild backache

Try it, it feels heavenly...

--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Life is not like a drama; Life IS drama (Part 1)

What goes on when people open their mouth to communicate? This theory is to figure out why a writer or a speaker selected the words that were choreographed into the message. The task is ultimately one of assessing motives.

Language is a strategic human response to a specific situation. Verbal symbols are meaningful acts from which motives can be derived. Clusters of words are dances of attitudes. The task is to find out their motives.

In Burke’s methodology, he uses 3 perspectives to analyze public address :

1) Identification

2) Dramatistic Pentad

3) Guilt Redemption Cycle

1) Identification - Without it, there is no persuasion

Burke is concerned with a speaker’s overall ability to identify with an audience. Identification is the common ground that exists between speaker and audience. Substance is a person’s physical characteristics, talents, occupation, background, personality, beliefs and values.

The more overlap there is between the substance of the speaker and the substance of the listener, the greater the identification is (perceived similarity). Audience sense a joining of interest through styles as much as through content.

2) The Dramatistic Pentad

Persuasion – the communicator’s attempt to get the audience to accept his or her view of reality as true.

This perspective is a tool to analyze how the speaker tries to do it. This method is deceptively similar to the standard journalist practice of answering who, what, where, when, why and how in the opening paragraph of a story.

Burke recommends that a content analysis identifies key terms on the basis of frequency and intensity of use. The pentad directs the critics attention to 5 crucial elements of the human drama : act, scene, agent, agency, purpose.

By evaluating the ratio of importance in the content, the critic can determine which element provides the best clue to the speaker’s motivation. The pentad offers a way to determine why the speaker selected a given rhetorical strategy to identify with the audience. When a message stresses one element over the other four, it reveals a speaker’s philosophy or wordview.

Look out for my next post for continuation…

­--moon

Blog name – carrot head and applemint

Ironing day

I thank the Lord I no longer have to go to work. I just get out of bed in the morning, and there it is, all around me - Anonymous


I think housework is the reason most women go to the office - Heloise Cruse


My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance - Anonymous


One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries - A.A Milne


The best time to get creative is while you're ironing - Moon (that's me!)


It's Labour Day, and I'm doing ironing chores...? Geeez...


--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint

I spied...

Saw this lovely white gold pendant in Tiffany's, under the brand Elsa Peretti. I think it is so beautiful and exquisite. They have it in platinum too. Personally, I prefer the platinum.


Here's another one.. 

Just want to share something that's worth sharing.. :-D




--moon


Blog name - carrot head and applemint