Entry Zwölf - Offensive!?!?

 I'm sure it's safe to say we all know what a political cartoon is, it is simply a form of political opinion that is expressed through a different medium. These are also know to incorporate the use of humor to bring some comedy to the political world. If I can recall correctly, I think political cartoons were more common when I was younger when compared to today, due to the fact many people seem to be "offended" by what is expressed in the cartoons. I put offended in quotations because I don't find myself in this situation nor can I exactly comprehend how other people are upset with them. Though I will admit that I have seen some pretty messed up cartoons from before I was born but during the time that the cartoon was originally released it was all in good fun, if you will. I'm pretty much unaffected by political cartoons, a joke's a joke, if I think it's funny I laugh; although I'm not afraid to admit most of these cartoons go right over my head.

I think people have a problem with political cartoons because they require less effort than reading an editorial or article expressing the same opinion. The physical dimensions of cartoons are relatively small, letting the reader get the artist's full opinion in a matter of seconds. To adequately express this
opinion the artist needs to blow actuality out of proportion, this is where I can see people getting offended. If you were to compare an article and a political cartoon with the same purpose, views, opinions, etc., someone will most likely find the cartoon offensive and not the article. This is just reiterating what I stated, the artist has less room to convey their opinion; they must be bold and unrealistic to prove the point.

The prompt asks if we have ever been offended by a political cartoon and I think I can honestly state no, at least not by anything that is in my time; what was considered to be normal and okay in the past can easily aggravate me. So I guess if the prompt is speaking about my entire life then yes, the racist cartoons of the past will constantly offend me.

As an author in this section stated political cartoons are becoming extinct because the world, or at least the U.S., is too afraid of angering the people with them. The ways of caricatures and "witty" remarks are becoming a thing of the past. I honestly won't miss them much, but some people get a good laugh out of these cartoons. If at least one person like them though, why stop? Because it makes some people angry? Who cares they need to get a sense of humor, laugh it off and move on.

Entry Elf - Writing Improvements

Throughout this time in the class I think I have learned a bit of how to look at works and think more critically about it and come to more intellectual conclusions concerning them. I unfortunately don’t feel that my writing has improved much from what it was, that being said I do think it has become more relevant and better constructed. It seems that these blog journal things are helping me the most, by having an assignment that gives me something to talk about while having the freedom to explore the content in my own way. Although it may not be the best way to improve the way I write academically, I usually actually enjoy writing these things up even though I’m not a fan of writing.

The work that we do as a group also seems to be helping me, by comparing what I think about our assignments with other people really helps me progress with my critical thinking skills. Having the chance to evaluate my thoughts with others without the element of doing it in person lets me get a better understanding of information than in other classrooms; being incredibly shy doesn’t help in real life group situations.

In terms of critical thinking the reading questions really help out. Sometimes I find the questions on the harder side which is good; if everything is easy I wouldn’t learn anything. I don’t usually think on a higher level so having an almost weekly task to use this part of my brain is really assisting my development in terms of English classes.

Although the prompt this week was to examine how we think our writing has improved along with the development of the class, I feel that my critical thinking skill has become stronger than my writing. With everything we read and what we are asked about the subject I think the process of thinking up the answers has come farther than how I write said answers.  For me this class is helping me learn, just not writing as much as thinking.