Course Journal

By completing the three course journal entries—all of which came from reading assigned historical articles—I learned about individual perspectives on important issues.  The first article, Keogh’s “Terministic Screen and Sexist Language,” gave me new insight into how sexist language creates harm in male/female relationships – something definitely to avoid.  In Burke’s “Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle,”  I gained an awareness into a dictator’s evil actions by learning about his use of purposeful language (rhetoric) to bring about human destruction.  Lastly, Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” explained how one American citizen’s civil disobedient action showed that government “by the people” can be achieved by reasonable, but calm, active citizens.  These articles were written by educated authors knowing the effectiveness of rhetorical appeals to bring action and understanding by using ethos, pathos, and logos.