SELFIES SELFIES SELFIES: We're obsessed. Let me tell you all about it. But first, let me take a selfie.

So I have a bit of an obsession... Not with selfies, but with analyzing them.

Yes, I would consider myself super interested in the advancing technology in our day- and how it is affecting people and their relationships with each other and with the world in general. I find it a super interesting subject. So when I started considering topics to research for this paper about teen church attendance dropping, it wasn't long until I started considering technology's role in this.

I thought about my teenage church experience and how it seemed to be filled with teens constantly on their phones. I had a flip phone in high school. But most of my friends had smartphones and, being on the outside of the tech world looking in, I noticed a lot of phone use during church, including text messaging, Facebook, Instagram, and... Snapchat.

I honestly got super sick of seeing people make stupid faces at their phones during Sunday School. Later on, I got a smartphone and I fell into the same selfie trap. I was Snapchatting all the time. And I noticed something- I was getting so caught up in the virtual world that I wasn't growing Spiritually. I went to church, but I was so addicted to my phone that I couldn't concentrate on or really learn from the world around me- which leads me to believe that this Selfie World is causing teens to fall away from religion. When we seem to have it good, everyone is liking our posts on Insta, we're everyone's best friend on Snap, and we virtually have the world at our fingertips, who honestly would want to give religion a second thought?

I know that when I had my smartphone, I thought the Gospel was good, but I wasn't about to miss out on something "important" on my phone just to pay attention in church or read my scriptures.

Is this what is causing this so-called Teenage Apostasy?

Mitt Romney and Faith in 'Merica

Mitt Romney's point in this speech he made was that open religion is very essential to the success of America. He isn't suggesting that it be imposed on people, but he is stating that the nation was indeed founded with the influence of our Creator, so faith and religious toleration is something that America is losing, and we are hurting because of it.

Romney gets the audience's attention by using pathos at the beginning of his speech, describing how Americans have always been willing to fight for their freedom. It tugs at our heartstrings and is very effective.

He uses logos throughout the speech, as a support to the emotion he compels in us. At the very end of his speech, he describes the First Continental Congress. He uses this as a final fact to support his point- that America was founded on religion and needs to remain tolerable of religion.

As far as ethos goes, Mitt Romney was running for president. He commanded a lot of attention and had authority just because he was on the one speaking. It also helped that he knows history and politics well, and is also a man of faith, so he was knowledgeable about most everything he was speaking of.

Well this is awkward, because I totally have the physical capability to stop reading those Mormon blogs. Something must be wrong. Have you tried seeing a doctor?

Although I am not addicted to these Mormon housewife blogs like so many other people are (all I do is read my sisters' blogs everyone once in a while), Matchar's argument is very effective. I had not thought deep into this subject before, though I have thought about how perfect some of them seem to be. But I definitely read this article and was pretty convinced of Matchar's argument.

She uses pathos throughout by describing these "Molly Mormons'" lives so accurately that the audience can't help but envision exactly what Matchar is talking about- and this maybe even causes a few Mormon mothers we personally know to come to mind. We see this description especially in the first paragraph when Matchar talks about "husbands [that] look like young graphic designers, all cute lumberjack shirts and square-framed glasses" and "kids [that] look like Baby Gap models." We all know families in our wards and neighborhoods like this, which is why Matchar's spot-on description is so good from the pathos standpoint.

For me, Matchar commands attention and therefore establishes ethos when she describes herself as a late 20 year old, "childless overeducated atheist feminist." If this article would have been written from just another Mormon's point of view, it would have been interesting, but so much authority comes from Matchar. Her lifestyle is so opposite of the women that write these blogs that when she speaks of being addicted, you can't help but listen to what she has to say.

I though logos was used the least in this article, but it still was used effectively. Matchar makes a good point when she states the fact that Utah has the highest rate of anti-depressant drug use- quiet possible because of the amount of pressure women in this state (in particular, Mormon women) feel to be the "perfect Mormon."

It was very interesting to hear an opinion from an atheist with so much knowledge of the Church. There are definitely counterpoints I could make, but I really liked how Matchar was not just ranting about her opinion, but had logical points that often leaned a bit to the sacrilegious side, but they really were pretty interesting. 

Style Academy- Dang it, I thought we'd be learning about fashion!

I liked the two lessons that we had to watch on the Style Academy. I have learned about both sentence imitation and sentence combining in high school, so these lessons were a review, but I enjoyed them because they were fun and interesting, and the guy doing the videos was a real human. I'm glad I didn't have to listen to a robot.
Sentence combining is a really useful skill to have because the syntax of a paper or argument is CRUCIAL. You can have the best ideas in the world but if you only use simple sentences, few people will be very interested.
When I was a sophomore in high school, our teacher would have us do warm ups before English class started. I wondered why It was relevant, but I now realize that the practice helps us as writers to add to our "bag of tricks." The more we read and attempt to imitate, the more our own style will develop. We discover what we like in others' writing, and then we imitate it and cast aside what we don't like, and it makes us stronger writers.
Both these writing techniques are going to help all of us write stronger opinion editorials.
If you read this far, you're a saint. Thank you.

GASCAP is an awkward acronym.

We were asked to find examples of each GASCAP principle. I am going to be completely honest with you, I have to leave for class in 5 minutes and there is no way that I have time to read a thousand articles just to find examples of each principle. So instead, I am going to give you my own examples. This is how I remember each principle:
Generalization: This principle is a hard one to use as support without statistical evidence. I could not just say that because my dog has fleas, all dogs in my neighborhood has fleas. Now, this is a better claim than saying that all the dogs in the world have fleas because maybe fleas are being passed around in my neighborhood. Either way, Generalization must be supported by running statistical tests in order to become arguable.
Analogy: Like Generalization, I personally find analogy to often be weak because so many lurking variables come into play. However, on a very general scale, this principle can be used to a certain effective extent. Details, though, must be used in order to argue with Analogy effectively. For example, I could say that because Communism oppresses the people of China, so therefore it would also oppress America. Probably true because Chinese and Americans are all human beings, but in order to make this an effective argument I would have to do a lot of research for support because the people of China and the people of America are very different.
Sign: This principle is one of the better ones because it uses common sense, which many readers will understand and believe. It will be true more times than not (depending on what the claim is). I can observe that the HFAC is closed, and assume it is because it is a holiday. I could be wrong, but odds are, I am correct. However, the validity of this principle does depend on the situation. It is much less reliable to assume that the reason Professor Spooner didn't come to class is because she is sick. She could be on vacation, or at a meeting, or dealing with an emergency.
Causality: There are so many lurking variables that this principle, similar to Generalization and Analogy, needs statistical backup. I cannot just claim that a war caused students to do worse in school. Therefore, not only do I need statistical evidence for this principle, I need an X and Y (cause and effect) that are closely related.
Authority: Being an expert on a subject holds a lot of weight, and whether that expert's claim is true or not, many more people will believe a claim made by an experienced, respected, expert. If Dr. Oz tells us that soymilk will give us cancer, many women, especially those in love with Dr. Oz, will believe him. I think the Authority principle is usually pretty reliable, especially when backed up with evidence.
Principle: Because this one involved morality, it can be very debatable. Some claims like this are less debatable than others, like saying cannibalism is wrong is not often going to be countered. However, saying gay marriage is wrong also involves morality for many, but it is much, much more debatable.

After studying all of these principles, I have realized that all of them are very conditional, and they almost all require statistical backup in order to truly be effective. In conclusion, this just goes to show how deep and involved arguments are, and that just claiming things will not convince an audience.

Thesis: The Death of Respect

              In this opinion editorial, I plan to argue how people of all ages have lost respect for themselves and others. In today’s world people no longer respect other people and their self, but instead they bow down to possessions and ideas, such as modern technology and the world’s presentation of ideal self-image.

            Technology has been used for good and evil. A lot of humans are convinced that the virtual world they always carry in their pockets is much more important than the real interactions around them. This is obvious as even small children get to play with their parent’s phone or iPad, and grow up attached to technology. The loss of respect for others and oneself starts young and keeps growing, as I have seen how adults will constantly be on their phone during a date or sitting on their laptop during family movie night. People have become obsessed with this not-so-social Social Media, which starves our perception of real life and makes it so much harder show respect for others.

            Now, about respect for ourselves. As I was considering this, at first I though, “people have lots of respect for themselves. They are constantly trying to improve how they look and are perceived, and always trying to get attention. They love themselves, so they are trying to show respect for themselves.” Then I realized that these type of overly self-interested people do not actually have respect for themselves. They have respect for the images the world cranks out of “perfect people,” and the ads that we constantly see for products that will make us so much more desirable.  Technology makes unreal standards for appearance unavoidable, and people are not only losing respect for others, but also themselves when they submit to the ridiculous ideas that the world has about who we “need” to be.

            Considering 21^st century technology and the ease of access that humans often have to it, it is easy to lose sight of what is real and virtual. Too many people let the virtual world overtake them, and therefore slowly disintegrate into a disrespectful, and therefore unrespectable disrespectable, human being.

Respect: What Happened To It?

            When I was a child I was taught to respect others, especially adults. I was taught to listen to my parents and not talk back, obey my teachers, and tolerate the opinions of my peers. Now, being a typical kid, I didn’t always necessarily do these things, but I was taught them and I knew they were right. However, as I have gotten older, I see the children growing up around me and even people who are my age who seem to have never been taught about the concept of respect.  Even the respect I was taught as a child is weak compared to what my parents learned as kids.  Whether it is obeying your parents, being courteous to a teacher, or opening the car door for a lady, I see a serious lack of respect in our world today and it is not something that should go unnoticed.

            Kids nowadays are so rude. I cannot believe the number of children I see who show utter disrespect to their parents. Now, I’m not talking about temper tantrums (those are inevitable with the Terrible Twos). I mean when children are so greedy, when preteens somehow convince their parents to buy them a new nine hundred dollar smartphone because they smashed their old six hundred dollar one after reading some dramatic middle school text message. Kids who flat out say no right to their mom’s eyes when she asks them to clean their room. This is ridiculous; however, it’s not all the kids’ faults.

            Adults don’t show respect either. I have been on very few dates when a guy has actually opened the door for me.  It seems as if all people want these days is sex, so finding a clean person to date that will show respect for me, my standards, and God is hard to come by. And men aren’t the only ones wrong here. This is also the death of chivalry also goes for women, who have sadly lost respect for themselves and lost sight of their divine nature. People are only concerned about themselves these days, not about showing care for others. Parents may believe they’re showing love for their children by buying them anything they want, but really they are just raising a generation of greedy, self-centered robots.

            If you look around at any public place on any random day and time, you can see the loss of respect people have for others. And because people have become so obsessed with their personal appearance, this shows the lack of respect they have for their own divine nature and self-worth. It is sad to see a world of people so dependent on what others think of them, yet so proud as to reject the welfare of others.