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A Tool in Politics: Syntax
The nation was attacked: Pearl Harbor- along with man other Pacific territories- had been unexpectedly and ruthlessly bombed by the Japanese. Franklin Roosevelt, the nation’s leader in foreign affairs, needed to console the nation with honesty and plans of action. By only using words, the president gave hope to his citizens while employing syntactical elements. He mastered loose and periodic sentences to engage the audience at the most opportune times. Parallelism, although it was barely used reveals Roosevelt’s worries. Meanwhile, sentence variation intrigues the audience and promotes comprehension.
In “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation”, Roosevelt employs loose and periodic sentences to keep the reader involved. Periodic sentences, as in the following quote, create anticipation within the first few paragraphs by not admitting imperative facts until the end: “And while this reply stated it seemed useless… it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.” It also makes Roosevelt seem hesitant to say the worst; and therefore, puts him on an emotional level with his audience. The periodic sentences also make him appear deliberate and solid when he says, “the American people…will win through to absolute victory”: this is something a nation needs in a time of crisis. The loose sentences allow the president to go over the details of the attacks without tension and urgency. Furthermore, loose sentences as in paragraphs three and four allow the audience to swallow the bitter news previously stated in the speech.
Moreover, parallelism is utilized in Roosevelt’s speech to draw attention to his worries. The first example of parallelism, “Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam…And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island,” allows the listeners to absorb the list of violent attacks in a clear manner. Roosevelt is also being economical with his words because it is a short speech. When he says, “There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger,” he is attempting to expose the similarities in all of these attacks so as to unite us in defeating the miscreant.
Lastly, sentence variation keeps the reader in-tune and vigilant. Short sentences such as, “Hostilities exist” emphasize the bluntness with which Roosevelt is responding to Japan. Longer sentences allow the influx of details: details ensure the reader that the government is aware and informed. Readers and listeners also are strayed from boredom by varying sentence lengths. For example, when one comes across, “The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves,” they become startled and alert. This allows them to comprehend the longer sentence to ensue.
In essence, Roosevelt employs wise syntactical elements to engage his reader, appear emotionally connected and solid, and emphasize his plans. Loose and periodic sentences, parallelism, and sentence variation were a few of the choices used in “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation.” Like most great politicians, President Roosevelt knew how to exploit one of a politician’s most valuable tools: syntax.
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A Tool in Politics: Syntax
The nation was attacked: Pearl Harbor- along with man other Pacific territories- had been unexpectedly and ruthlessly bombed by the Japanese. Franklin Roosevelt, the nation’s leader in foreign affairs, needed to console the nation with honesty and plans of action. By only using words, the president gave hope to his citizens while employing syntactical elements. He mastered loose and periodic sentences to engage the audience at the most opportune times. Parallelism, although it was barely used reveals Roosevelt’s worries. Meanwhile, sentence variation glues the audience and content together.
In Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, Roosevelt employs loose and periodic sentences to keep the reader involved. Periodic sentences create anticipation within the first few paragraphs. It also makes Roosevelt seem hesitant to say the worst; and therefore, puts him on an emotional level with his audience. The periodic sentences also make him appear deliberate and solid: something a nation needs in a time of crisis. The loose sentences allow the president to go over the details of the attacks without tension and urgency. Furthermore, loose sentences as in paragraphs three and four allow the audience to swallow the bitter news previously stated in the speech.
Moreover, parallelism is utilized in Roosevelt’s speech to draw attention to his worries. The first example of parallelism, “Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam…And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island,” allows the listeners to absorb the list of violent attacks in a clear manner. Roosevelt is also being economical with his words because it is a short speech. He is also attempting to expose the similarities in all of these attacks so as to unite us in defeating the miscreant.
Lastly, sentence variation does wonders for the audience and the content. Short sentences such as, “Hostilities exist” emphasize the bluntness with which Roosevelt is responding to Japan. Longer sentences allow the influx of details: details ensure the reader that the government is aware and informed. Readers and listeners also are strayed from boredom by varying sentence lengths. For example, when one comes across a shorter sentence, they become startled and alert. This allows them to comprehend the longer sentence to ensue.
In essence, Roosevelt employs wise syntactical elements to engage his reader, appear emotionally connected and solid, and emphasize his plans. Loose and periodic sentences, parallelism, and sentence variation were a few of the choices used in Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation. Like most great politicians, President Roosevelt knew how to exploit one of a politician’s most valuable tools: syntax.
Promlems: underlining the title of the speech and note putting it in quotation marks, not enough examples, and vague words.
Learned: speeches are in quotations, lots of examples to PROVE point, and vague words make me seem like I am attacking the subject in a superfical manner.
Future Plans: use quotations, use examples left and right, be straight foward.
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Diction
Latinate vs. Anglo saxon
The humble man came to the trashcan: he bent over and puked up the mix of chocolates stolen from the neighborhood duck. After the unwelcomed scene, the man was tired.
The unconceited man approached the trashan: he leaned over and regurgitated the assortment of chocolates stolen from the neighborhood flat-billed waterfowl. After the unwelcomed scene, the man was wearisome.
Explanation
The first sentence could be found in any elementary level text because it uses simple anglo saxon diction: puke, mix, and tired. Yet the second one takes a larger lexion or memory bank to understand. The occasion, audience, and purpose would determine which type of diction to use.
Figurative Language
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Page 43, “…us got tuh incorporate lak every other town. Us got tuh incorporate, and us got tuh have uh mayor..” Page 44, “Unh hunh, it is uh little dark right long heah.” Page 45, “And when Ah touch de match tuh dat lampwick let de light penetrate inside of yuh, and let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.” Page 49, “Whut make her keep her head tied up lak some ole’ ‘oman round de store? Nobody couldn’t git me tuh tie no rag on mah head if Ah had hair lak dat.” Anaphora, Verbal Irony, Allusion, Symbol
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Imagine
According to Webster’s Dictionary, war is defined as “a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.” Now if one scrutinized that definition to the bones or stretched it from here to Hong Kong, it turns into a broad term used for armed conflict. Those arms can be various weapons like guns, bombs, knives, libel, manipulation, or weapons of mass destruction; and therefore, I have grounds to evaluate two armed conflicts, the War on Terror and that of The Crucible, to make you question the logic behind any war- leaving politics aside. The shockingly numerous similarities include the covering of motives, the knowledge of the few, and the extremes of religion.
Unmistakably, persons with power often veil their unpopular motives with shocking accusations. For instance in both The Crucible and the War on Terror, prime players have been exposed. George W. Bush claimed the government had evidence of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, but some swear this was just a cover for trying to reign on an abundant oil supply. George himself said, “It is clear our nation is reliant upon foreign oil,” and it is his job to keep the nation supplied with necessities. Others believe he wanted to conclude his father’s work. Similarly, Abigail’s motives were uncovered to the audience by her cousin Betty, “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (13). To prevent the town from grasping this imperative detail, she led the girls to scream witchcraft at the top of their lungs. This proves a war is never one-reasoned. It is the afflicted who have to decide if the reasons are credible.
Furthermore, it is the afflicted’s duty to question the ones who claim to be knowledgeable about the circumstances in any clash. In both the play and the war, people declare to have information unknown to others that can facilitate in the process of correcting inconsistencies. Hale was said to be a “specialist whose unique knowledge,” (18) had at last been summoned; when in fact, he had been deceived upon his arrival. At other times in The Crucible, the accused deceitfully revealed false information that captivated the insular town; in the mean time, the girls’ necks were spared. Our government, who is represented by George W. Bush, asserted that our intelligence agencies had enough evidence of supreme weapons to initiate a war. The U.S. is looking for them: today. The U.S. government also guarantees that the reconstruction period in Iraq is going to be a superb start for the defeat of terror; when in fact, the Jihad’s (Holy War declared by Extreme-Islamic Factions) perseverance will not decay with only a gun at its head- ask any member of al-Qaeda member- we just do not need statistics to prove that.
Generally speaking, any extreme form of religion is dangerous to its surroundings. Americans have this sewn into our history because of the persecution throughout Europe in the centuries preceding the 18th, which, ironically birthed Puritanism (Salem’s religion) out of the Anglican Church. The Jewish know it because they have never had an origin to claim because of persecution everywhere. The Pagans know this because Christianity has denounced them as the Devil’s advocates since the day it was born even though it absorbed their symbols and holidays. Yet, the Muslims remain some what unaware, although Islam’s two factions loathe each other enough to kill. Each conflict- that of The Crucible and the War on Terror- have an underlying hue of drastic religion. My point is this; the Puritans’ thoughts were so inane they supposed “that the virgin forest was the Devil’s last preserve, his home base and the Citadel of his final stand.” (7). The Muslims of the Holy War are equally as madcap with their beliefs, here, explained by Wikipedia, “the ultimate purpose of which is to establish the universal domination of Islam…imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.” Radical religious beliefs are the cause of many, many wars and they manipulate the mind to make the constituents of mankind look black or white; holy or evil.
In essence, the minute differences and the shocking similarities of theses two armed conflicts make the line between fiction and nonfiction blurry. Wars are immeasurably more intricate than have been spelled out here, but, it seems to have logically neutralized certain reasons for war except politics, which abstractly, is only special name for the physiology and sociology of animals (one nation is attempting to be the alpha male, and the others have to submit or fight back). With these thoughts being absorbed by your gray matter, I leave you with a quote from John Lennon explicating my purpose, “Imagine there’s no countries/ It isn’t hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion too/ Imagine all the people / Living life in peace.”
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Thoughts worth Thinking
What came first, the thought or the person? On the surface this seems fairly simple: the person was first because he or she generated the thought. Yet upon further contemplation, the outlook is that the person was thought of before he or she was born. Some others believe that a deity thought of the human race before fashioning it. Moreover, there is a view that we live in a hologram of higher light vibrations which include the person and the thought!
So, to accurately understand people’s relationships with their thoughts, we must embed in our subconscious programming that, “Your thoughts do not think you, you think your thoughts” (Danes). This appears self-evident; even so, hasn’t the majority said or heard someone say, “I can’t stop thinking about it!”? Ralph Waldo Emerson had an opinion on the matter: “Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission” (Hicks). Humans can control what they think, and-in turn- utilize the power of thought. The masses believe that everything external is reality and they are just living in it. Contrary to the accepted beliefs of the majority, thoughts are able to affect reality and may be exceptionally beneficial to one’s physical and spiritual health if utilized; this is profoundly supported by numerous religions and scientific experiments.
Concrete evidence verifying thoughts have power is in the realm of quantum physics, the study of the relationship between energy quanta and matter. It claims the universe is interconnected with faster-than-light transfers of information because of the discovery of electrons and nuclei “popping in and out of existence” (What). This means the make-up of our world is identical to millions of thoughts. Electrons and nuclei have the ability to transcend dimensions because dimensions are not fixed according to numerous experiments. Subatomic particles’ ability to not be fixed in dimensions allows them to act as waves of possibilities. In What the #$*! Do We Know?, Dr. Amit Goswami stated, “When you are looking, it’s a particle; and when you are not, it’s a wave of possibilities.” Humans can influence which of those possibilities the particles collapse on by being an observer; however, the observer already has preconceptions of what reality is. Anais Nin wisely said, “We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are” (Hicks). Preconceptions limit our ability to manipulate those possibilities.
One example of preconceptions in action was a staged mock stabbing by Mrs. Lee, a psychology teacher at Cape Fear Community College The next day when the two students involved in the stabbing were in class unharmed, questions were burning. Mrs. Lee queried what the knife looked like; there were many differing descriptions. “I swear I saw a black-handled switchblade knife,” claimed Jake Kenneke, a freshman at CFCC. In truth, the culprit pulled out a banana that would release the fake-blood inside the victim’s shirt. Trying to explain the incident, Jake stated, “since the banana confused my brain, for lack of a better word, it tried to protect me by replacing the banana with something that made sense” (Kenneke).
In order to comprehend what happened, the class reviewed excerpts and interpretations of On Quantum Theories of the Mind by Henry Strapp. The following interpretation was the most lucid and helpful:
Strapp’s central thesis is that the synapses in your brain are so small that quantum effects are significant. This means that there is quantum uncertainty about whether a neuron will fire or not- and this degree of freedom that nature has allows for the interaction of mind on matter (Higo).
This means the capability to see what was happening, erroneously or not, depended solely on the brain’s unpredictable reaction; our subconscious minds are left to analyze and file information like the banana. In order to get a hold of the power that our local conscious and subconscious have, we must first surpass the conditioned awareness that permits preconceptions. One way humans may do this is through remote viewing, which has been taught to classes in California and Europe; it has also been monitored in controlled experiments for decades.
Remote viewing experiments provide repeatable statistics that we can tap into nonlocal (nonlocality is if particles communicate faster than light) knowledge blocked from ordinary perception by “habit, conditioning, and cultural trance” (Targ). In a remote viewing session, a receiver attempts to obtain information about a foreign object or image by solely using mental capabilities. Remote viewing does not provide a scientific explanation of this physic ability, but the controlled experiments make the outcome undeniable. One skeptical CIA agent who was considering funding renewal applications for the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) wanted personal experience to support SRI’s remote viewing data.
The agent went to their location and did numerous general remote viewing sessions; however, to really prove that remote viewing was a completely natural capability, she demanded to do a session unaided. She was taped alone in a controlled laboratory with a tape recorder, paper, and pencil. The SRI team went to a location chosen randomly by an electronic random-number generator: the merry-go-round at Riconada Park. The agent was supposed to describe the location of the team. After thirty minutes, they returned to find “the door was still taped shut and Dr. P was hunched over in the corner of the room” (Targ). Her hands were over her ears in case of subliminal clues coming from any hidden speakers. In Figure 1 are images of the actual location and Dr. P’s drawings.
Fig. 1. In Limitless Mind, the drawings of the agent vs. pictures of the SRI team.
Remote viewing sessions like this provide credible experiences that allow us to believe we have a mental capabilities taken for granted. What allows for those capabilities is the coexistence of a consciousness and unconsciousness made of “higher light vibration that holds all knowledge and information” (Targ).
Numerous religions support an idea of something omniscient: Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Judaism. Each uses words like God or Braham in place of a universal unconsciousness in order to relate to the masses. Even so, they offer ways by thought to reunite the soul and deity. In Buddhism, the unity of the personal consciousness and universal unconsciousness is referred to as Dzogchen, or the “Great Perfection” (Khenpo). When Buddhists surrender to naked awareness and thereby surpass the collective unconsciousness coined by Carl Jung, they ultimately acknowledge Dzogchen. That is enlightenment. Buddhism teaches its followers to utilize the power of thought in meditation, yoga, and fasting.
Likewise, Hinduism teaches the dual conception of Brahman and Atman. Brahman is the universal unconsciousness which sprouts Atman- individual consciousness- in humans. Practices that aid Hindus to their spiritual goals are similar to Buddhists’: reciting scriptures, meditating, chanting mantras, and singing hymns. Furthermore, Christianity teaches that we are a part of a greater entity: “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Holy Bible, Luke 17:21). Preachers ask their churches to pray daily, commune, give back to the community, and never sin; this, they say, will bring them back to God. Could God be a higher level of loving awareness?
In addition, Christianity also teaches the importance of believing- which applies thought power- before anything in reality may manifest. Jesus Christ even said, “Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them” (Holy Bible, Mark 11:24). In other words, believe it and you will see it. Believing first is applicable to every aspect of life even if you are not religious.
An example of believing firmly- too firmly- is hypochondria when people perpetually believe they are sick and are showing symptoms of serious illness despite reassurance from numerous doctors (Rathus). Each year billions of dollars go to unnecessary medical tests and treatments to try to ease the worries of hypochondriacs. Likewise, specific and social phobias interfere with daily lives by going beyond a patient’s control causing job loss, stress, weakened immune systems, and depression. The point is that these anxieties spring from nothing logical or tangible; only their thoughts and beliefs create their circumstance.
Negatively and positively, mentally and physically, the power of thought affects reality even if you are not aware. Two illustrations of thoughts affecting reality are pessimism and optimism. Pessimism is the tendency to emphasize adverse conditions or to expect the worse-case scenario. Negative subconscious programming, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease are long term effects of pessimism proved by studies on Minnesotans; low self esteem, sleep loss, stress, weakened immune systems, and increased blood pressure are short term troubles that plague the health of a pessimist. On the other hand, optimism correlates with strong self esteem and an all around better health that increases the longevity of life (Scott). This was proven in an experiment done on ninety-nine Harvard students at the ripe age of twenty-five. The ones who were optimistic when they were younger ended up being “significantly healthier at ages 45 and 60 than those who were pessimists” (Scott).
In comparison to thoughts disturbing or benefiting your health, Masura Emoto has successfully monitored the mind’s direct affect on water particles. Remembering what Henry Strapp said about the ability for mind to influence matter, note that we are seventy-percent water (Strong). Emoto applies only one stimulus to water molecules like prayers, music, or just pieces of tape with excerpts on them. After applying the stimulus in a controlled lab he freezes the water to catch what the molecules look like. “Good” stimuli, like a blessing or Mozart’s Symphony No. 9, make the water crystal form a quasi-snowflake, extremely intricate and gorgeous. Stimulus such as, “You make me sick, I want to kill you,” make the water molecules form the shape of a human body and scattered droplets. It makes you wonder: “If thoughts can do that to water, imagine what we can do to ourselves” (What).
Trustworthy evidence spells out thoughts have power, taken for granted; we can use the power of thought to benefit ourselves and many others. Being aware and in control of your thoughts allows for a sense of intuition that Alexander Graham Bell and the Wright brothers possessed. They first believed in a possibility to perfect an unprecedented invention. These thoughts planted a seed for a physical action that has changed our lives today. Another way to help ourselves with thought is by focusing on a goal. Affirmations are a daily inter-dialogue of your goals repeated over and over. It helps manifest in reality your desires by helping you focus and hardwire actions to your subconscious.
Moreover, there are ways to use the power of thought in a psychic way to aid yourself and humanity. Locating missing persons or simply car keys is an extremely beneficial talent if you render it. Pat Price was a man with such talent who worked for the FBI in California. His most publicized save was of Patricia Hearst: he was given her case file and asked, “where is she?” Pat sat down thinking for a minute and then provided the exact description of the culprit’s house that kidnapped her (Targ). Not everyone can do this talent under pressure confidently; nevertheless, locating psychically is a useful talent. Furthermore, patients who are skeptical of the medicine world are turning to psychics for diagnosis. Some even ask their doctors to contact the physics for them. Even baffled doctors call credible psychics – which are no more than people who tap into the universal unconscious- and ask over the phone to diagnose patients with a sixty three percent success rate (Targ).
In essence, thoughts affect reality although the majority of people believe otherwise. Quantum Physics, remote viewing, and Masura Emoto’s studies provide scientific evidence that proves thought can influence matter and natural psychic capabilities exist. Religions have been teaching this for decades and have been coining the separate consciousnesses different terms, but no matter what it is called, local consciousness and universal unconsciousness provide nonlocal information! The natural power of thought seems unrealistic to a degree, but think of it this way, “it is the ‘instinct’ in humanity that creates the ability that we call telepathy, clairvoyance, psychic abilities, etc. We have forgotten how to rely on our basic instincts, which is intuition, because of our reliance on ego-consciousness” (Targ).
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Missing: P.L.U.R. between Mother Nature and Humanity (Last Seen in the 60’s)
The day is a sleepy, Carolina one on this end of the sound; my foodless picnic is planted in a spared grove of trees overlooking the salty habitat. The sun perches in a sky, kin to the Blue Man Group, while scorching the enemy dock into a pale pulp. A crisp chorus resonates from trees above me, and the frame of olive grasses around the brackish water emanates a rhythmic lapping. Kissing the water’s coat is an inconsistent hue from an obnoxious metallic object drowning one beside it: a modest brown reflected from the arched being to my left. Its hearty trunk bends backwards and raises its arms to celestial heavens above pleading for light hoarded by the neighboring pines. Branches flex and mock our inventions, much like our abodes that cannot withstand a teeny hurricane. Life gathers on these symbolic branches and at its grandmotherly feet; the roots mellow the dark-chocolate soil with fables. Weaved into the mound of earth that the tree vacates are sprightly lime shoots and numerous insects which unintentionally crack beneath my feet.
Shadows and light softly rest upon each limb accentuating every wrinkle and fold. Each nub and scab on the surface of pinched skin is a memory of an unborn or defunct branch in its epoch. The tree meticulously ages like Lady Liberty because of the faded green scales that hinder youthful red bark underneath. Observing that I could be unmercifully swallowed by the tree’s trunk alone, I know this tree has been here longer than my family. It has seen all the predictable changes on this island from when it began to be tactlessly developed in the late 1960’s to today. Now the doom of this tree is dictated by an enterprise that ironically feeds my mouth. Yet, it sits righteously and glances tenderly at me through its cool shade which makes this suffocating heat bearable.
The pungent waft of decaying matter on the sound’s bottom flourishes in my nostrils and causes me to come face to face with the northeast wind. A nervous humming of an engine becomes distinct in the vicinity; a boy, ignorant of my realm, has acquired consent to take his boat out for a spin and is getting a thrill that Jesus must have had as he walked on water. Consequently, he ruined my serene sphere. Racket of the nearby bridge was taking liberty to rush in now: road-rage and rubber against asphalt. Meanwhile, a feeling as if I’ve impacted on concrete causes me to acknowledge my front-row and center seat on the runway. But, as swiftly as the wind carried the tart dins to my inner ear, they are muted. The tree with sour-green apple leaves was once again my focal point.
This tree is oddly asking me to question the esteem of my peachy life: we think we are smarter, but who lives longer? Who lives symbiotically with other species? Who perpetually has a place to call home and tenants to call friends? Who not afraid of storms or a shifting island? Who is at peace with Mother Nature? This tree is an elder to nearly the entire population; according to custom, it deserves my reverence, your reverence, and the reverence of all. We cannot make it a childish puppet to satiate our needs.
