PP-Conspiracy Theory about Area 51

Outline- Conspiracy Theory about Area 51

Conspiracy - Oklahoma City Bombing - Toolbox

Reality vs. Authenticity Others Unknown explores the possibility that Timothy McVeigh was not the only person involved in the Oklahoma City bombing. The public’s reality is that McVeigh committed the attack alone. Israel, the author, questions the authenticity of this reality. He addresses the possibility of other people including a mention of the dismissal of a John Doe #2 as a suspect. Along with two others that are mentioned by name. Israel also states that a phone call about the bombing was made thirty minutes before the bomb went off. Israel believes that Timothy McVeigh manipulated the investigators to protect the others that were a part of this attack. There was a manhunt for John Doe #2 according to Israel. They believed that John Doe #2 was actually Todd Bunting, but he had an alibi for when the witnesses claimed to see him. The dismissal of Todd Bunting as a suspect was used as evidence that there was not a John Doe #2 at all. The phone call that was placed at 8:32 am, Oklahoma time, was made by an unidentified person. This call was thirty minutes before the bomb in Oklahoma went off. The caller said that they were currently witnessing the destruction. Obviously, this could not be the case because the bomb had not yet gone off. McVeigh was very manipulative according to Israel. He admits that an article written by the New York Times was an example of how McVeigh manipulated him. Israel explains that he and a colleague had visited the prison to talk about the case and McVeigh had explicitly said to speak to the reporters. Additionally, one of his things that he wanted was “that after all the evidence is heard, the case remains a mystery.’’ Method Israel uses his experiences and access to evidence as proof that McVeigh may not have been the only person involved in the bombing. Due to Israel being McVeigh’s defense attorney, Israel had access to all the evidence that was collected along with direct conversations with McVeigh.

Conspiracy - Oklahoma City Bombing

Toolbox- Conspiracy Theory Area 51

Conspiracy Theory- Area 51 Rhetorial Devices

Hope Ranch Poltergeist PPT

 

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INFO SLIDE

Outline Hope Ranch Poltergeist

 

Hope Ranch Poltergeist

Kronk- represents the forms of rhetoric that contribute to the overall persuasiveness of the story.

                Good arguments and claims

Yzma- represents the forms of rhetoric that detract from the overall persuasiveness of the story.

                Bad arguments and claims

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X- Yzma

                Misleading vividness- an example of this from the story would be the overall vividness of descriptions of the house, the weather, the things in the house and not the vividness of the poltergeist or situation in the home.

                Appeal to misleading authority- “But Mrs. B_____ was adamant that I drop what I was doing and come at once.” We don’t know who Mrs. B is, there is no mention of credibility to back up the authority she is given in the story.

                Post hoc- the fallacy of attributing a causal relationship between a past and present occurrence simply because one happened before the other. The example of this from the story is “she broke up with her boyfriend” the stress and negative emotions that came forth after her breakup were considered the cause for the appearance of the poltergeist.

                Hasty Generalization- “The thing seems to dislike horses” The hasty generalization and reasoning behind the poltergeist being present is that it doesn’t like horses. On two occurrences a horse figurine and a horse picture were both moved thus generalizing that the poltergeist is targeting horses because it does not like them.

T

x- Kronk

                 Appeal to emotion- “I could feel the underlying tension and fear.” After the writer steps into the house, they make note of the tension and fear that they could feel coming from the women in the ropom. This was a good example of Emotional Appeal because it backs up the idea that there is something bad in the house that is causing negative feelings and emotions.

                Slippery Slope- (1) The dislike for horses and (2) the breakup with the boyfriend caused the poltergeist to appear. There were two instances where slippery slope was present within this story. The dislike for horses is what caused the poltergeist, and the stress and emotion from the daughter after her breakup also caused the poltergeist.

                Appeal to consequences- “Most poltergeist phenomena last only three weeks or so.” “You mean this thing could leave of its own accord?” “Yes, and never come back.” The example of this from the story is a conversation between the owner of the house and the author where the author states a poltergeist only stays around for 3 weeks. The appeal to consequence was the strongest persuasive argument here because believing in the poltergeist would mean that it would leave within three weeks. Where not believing that it was a poltergeist would mean that they were stuck in a worst-case scenario situation.