Blog Post #3: Make Baseball Fun Again (#MBFA)

We’ve all heard the phrase “Make America Great Again.” Our recently elected president coined the term a few summers ago when he announced he was running for the president of the United States in 2016. However, most people don’t know that he reincarnated this phrase from the Reagan’s election period in 1980. Since the rebirth of the phrase, there have been many parodies of the slogan that have become popular. Some of these include but are not limited to: “Make Radiohead Great Again,” “Make America Great Britain Again,” and a personal favorite “Make Baseball Caps Blank Again.” Some slogans are meant to ridicule the new president, but many are taking advantage of the fact that the hat has essentially become an internet meme. One rendition of the slogan that particularly caught my attention, though, is “Make baseball fun again.” Sometimes referred to as #MakeBaseballFunAgain or #MBFA on Twitter, Instagram, and/or Facebook, this phrase was somewhat recently popularized in the spring of 2016 by the Washington Nationals Right Fielder, Bryce Harper. Aside from mocking the election craziness, the phrase has its own special meaning behind it. You can find an ESPN article that goes into detail about Harper’s stance. In essence, he emphasizes that there shouldn’t be unwritten rules for a sport that is meant to be so exciting and unpredictable. Harper states, “If you’re up, 8-1 or 9-1, you’re not going to steal second base. And you’re not going to celebrate a homer, up 8-1 or 9-1. But game on the line, huge moment, you never know what you’re going to do. It’s something that just happens. And that’s what makes the game fun. It’s that emotion. It’s that fire. It’s that competitiveness.” Baseball fans everywhere have reciprocated by sharing the hashtag on multiple social media sites to not only shine light on Harper’s argument but to simply share the fun and joy that comes with the sport. Recently, baseball lovers all over the country have turned to social media to share baseball related tweets, pictures and videos with the hashtag #MakeBaseballFunAgain. Check out this Storify that displays some of the examples of people using the hashtag in their posts to share the joys of baseball via their social media platform.

Blog #2: Multimodal Texts & Classic Rhetorical Appeals

The multimodal text that I chose to analyze for the three rhetorical appeals is a wounded warriors commercial from 2015. The commercial starts with the soldiers’ horrific experiences in war and the effects it had on them. Then country singer Trace Atkins talks about the warriors and what most of them suffer from. The soldiers talk about their struggles with PTSD and their physical appearances, and how many people look down upon them for the way they look or act. They explain how much Wounded Warrior project helped them which then leads into Trace Atkins persuading viewers to pledge $19 a month to help people like those soldiers get help and rebuild their lives.

The Wounded Warrior Project commercial portrays Ethos by using a well-known celebrity, Trace Atkins, to appeal to the audience and catch their attention with his distinctive voice. By using Trace Atkins to send their message, the wounded warrior project convinces people to want to watch the commercial, hear what he has to say, and subsequently donate to their cause. The commercial also displays Pathos by showing the emotional pictures and videos of the warriors seeing their families for the first time since the war, and by showing pictures of the traumatic experiences that the soldiers went through. Also, listening to the the families talk about a family member who continually struggled after the war and how Wounded Warriors saved their family appeals to the emotions of the audience. Finally, the advertisement also exhibits Logos by offering different facts and statistics about the women and men who suffer from PTSD and brain trauma. The commercial persuades the audience to pledge money by emphasizing the amount of soldiers’ lives they saved. Through the use of Pathos, Ethos, and Logos, the commercial is a lot more effective and personal and most likely increases the amount of people who donate.

You can watch the commercial right here.

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Blog #1: Multimodal Texts

Multimodal texts are all around us at all times. When I first saw the words “multimodal texts” my eyes were immediately fixed on the word “texts.” I thought, Ok, words with a little something extra to spice it up, like colors or pictures. Upon further investigation, though, I learned that a multimodal text didn’t necessarily have to contain any written words. One example of this is Netflix or any movies, really.

A multimodal text is composed of two or more of the five modes of communication: Linguistic, Visual, Spacial, Aural, and Gestural. Shows and movies on Netflix usually contain gestural, visual, and aural communication modes. Netflix is a great form of entertainment and we rarely think of it as a form of communication, but producers use Netflix everyday to share and communicate their creations in the form of movies and shows.

Another one of my favorite multimodal texts is Snapchat. Millions of people around the world use snapchat as a fun and creative way to communicate with others. Snapchat allows viewers to share pictures and videos paired with a textual caption and several fun ways to customize. This can include (but is not limited to) adding stickers, using facial filters, and doodling over the photo. The customizable features of Snapchat are what make the app so popular and unique.

My ultimate favorite multimodal text, though, has to be iMessage. A combination of four modes of communication, iMessage is in my opinion the best way to communicate with others. iMessage originated as a simple instant messaging application on iPhones with little to no wiggle room for creativity and customizability. Today, as iOS has evolved and modern technology has advanced, iMessage is no comparison to anything else.

Obviously iMessage contains the linguistic mode of communication. It started as a simple instant messaging app without the ability to send photos or anything. Users can send text messages with words and have a conversation with other users from any place at any time.

Another feature that iMessage has added since its initial creation is the ability to send and receive photos and videos. This is an example of the visual mode of communication. At anytime, anyone with an iPhone can enhance their text conversation by adding a photo or video. It only takes three taps to turn the conversation into something way more fun and in depth.

Many users also take advantage of the audio messaging feature on iPhones. This feature is an example of an aural mode of communication. With just the tap of a finger, one user can send a recording of any length to the other user in an instant. As a daily carpool driver and working woman, my mom takes full advantage of this feature. Communication is as easy as holding up your phone and speaking into it. And the receiver can playback the exact voice recording.

The last feature I’ll mention is the newest update to iMessage: the ability to react to messages without words. By holding down a message, you have the choice to like, dislike, emphasize, question, love, or laugh at a message. This is an example of a gestural mode of communication. It’s an expansion of how we can communicate with other people by gestures and natural reactions that aren’t best displayed through words.

I’m sure Apple will continue to update their products and applications and make communicating with others as easy and advanced as possible. By using multimodal text, Apple provides an application that millions of people use everyday to communicate with others.