Jay Hitherton's Blog

Honourable guests and residents of the Committee, Over the past few years there has been a significant increase in the loss of our Igbo culture and practices that was once important to all of our lives. Once a society who lived in harsh conditions of the West African environment have changed to a more "Eurocentric" society with European beliefs and a European mindset with no recollection of the Igbo culture.Not long ago people would live peacefully. People would practice their religion peaceful. People would mingle with each other peacefully. That was what our lives were like until Christian Missionaries infiltrate our land. The Church Missionary Society were the first to enter Igboland at the beginning of the Conquest of Africa . Our people thought that such actions would not be harmful to us. We did not know that they would exploit our manpower and resources. The annexation of Igboland to the British Empire truly changed the future of the rich Igbo culture in a way that i...

The most meaningful takeaway from the interview was mostly about Achebe's purpose in writing "Things Fall Apart". He had mentioned somewhere on the interview about the great disadvantages of believing in single story. This means that a person inly believes that one idea about something in the world is the truest from constant exposure of the idea. Another thing that I found interesting in the interview was when he said the reasons of how he tried to integrate his local beliefs into the story to integrate his beliefs with the dangers of a single story belief. From the quote " What the universal civilization I dream about would be, I really don't know, but I know what it is not. It is not what is being presented today, which is clearly just European and American." we can see that Achebe is trying to imply that Europe and America has the strongest influence in people around the world. Due to this their vision of the world might be distorted and also have a pos...

The text that has been provided is a Winston Churchill speech that was presented during the World War 2. This text can be identified as a political speech as this speech’s aim is to persuade its target audience into agreeing with the political figure’s opinions and ideas through the use of rhetorical devices, slogans and other persuasive devices that can convince people into agreeing into Churchill’s ideas of a specific event happening at that time (Germany’s advancements during the Second World War). He has also used a variety of literary devices that is suitable for his aim and his target audience. In this text Winston Churchill delivers a speech to the House of Commons about the British’s efforts and participation in the Second World War which has not been promising. This speech also talks about Churchill’s hopes of the so-called “New World” (The USA) of joining the war to aid Britain as well as the Allies. For this I will analyse the use of various literary and persuasive device t...

In the play Coriolanus, Shakespeare has used the theme of Power as one of its main themes of the play. Being a political play, This underlying theme parallels to the situation that the people of England faced during the time Coriolanus was published. The power dynamics between characters shifts from on side to another as the play progresses.One evident example of this happening in the play is with Coriolanus' Character. Coriolanus lives in two worlds, Rome and the Battlefield. Shakespeare presents his powers differently in these two places. This leaves Coriolanus with the greatest power from all of the characters. As you go down the scale of the importance of the character, the least important character, Plebeians, has the least amount of power. Women in this play were also portrayed as a powerful figure with Volumnia trying to convince her son to make peace with Rome. Another notable example for the theme of power can also be found in Act 1 when the Plebeians were rioting about th...

What is Shakespeare’s larger purpose in his characterisation of Coriolanus in Act I? Shakespeare has used characterisation to build up the main (and supporting) characters' characteristics which have helped shape the plot of the entire play. Shakespeare’s use of characterisation in the play Coriolanus in Act 1 have played a major role into shaping the characters’ characteristics. Coriolanus is classed as one of Shakespeare’s Tragedy Plays which is mainly centered on the political moves of people in the governmental level. Coriolanus being a political play would also mean that the play can portray politically controversial concepts in the play to show awareness. A political unrest was presented when Caius Martius (later titled as Coriolanus), a Roman General, was firstly presented as an inhumane person who were against the idea of treating the plebeians well. This idea was starkly presented in Act 1 Scene 1 where commoners riot against the augmentation of the price of corn (as i...

"I imagine them hearing spoken English as the oppressor’s language, yet I imagine them also realizing that this language would need to be possessed, taken, claimed as a space of resistance. I imagine that the moment they realized the oppressor’s language, seized and spoken by the tongues of the colonized, could be a space of bonding was joyous.” From this quote found in her essay, bell hooks is trying to explain the advantages of having to speak multilingually in a daily basis based on her experiences of being a black person needing to speak a ‘foreign’ language as a way to speak to other people in different communities. Some texts regarding this issue agree with what bell hooks have quoted. One of those texts is a text written by Garry Engkent named “Why My Mother Can’t Speak English”. This text explains the difficulties of his mother obtaining a Canadian Citizenship due to the fact that she has limited English proficiency. In this case English can be seen as the oppress...

We have made a podcast on Endangered Languages across the world and my group have decided to do the Romansh Language of Switzerland. Please listen to our podcast!

What did medieval linguist Antonio de Nebrija mean when he told Queen Isabella that: “language is the perfect instrument of empire?” How has language contributed to colonial power? Focus on a specific example. Language has taken a huge role into spreading an empire's wings to the corners of the world. When the colonists first step foot on foreign soil, there was quite some problems communicating with the natives. Despite trying to learn the natives' language, the colonists have instead marginalised the natives by labeling themselves as the dominant group.  As language is used to communicate to one another, the natives find it hard to try to adapt to the situation where the newcomers have tried to overtake their status as the prominent power by utilising their language with the natives. The natives have limited to no access of using their own language thus seeing the extinction of languages due to colonialism and also the so-called "globalisation". This means that ...

Do you believe that today's YouTube's stars are being exploited or empowered? Write a short persuasive piece that shares your opinion. People of the younger generation have been greatly exposed to the Social Media and have used it as a way to express their thoughts and feelings to the general public. The "like" system has been used as to show that a person likes a content. This is a very corrupt system in social media (as well as the Views system) which can affect their behaviour. These children are being exploited by the system so that they feel a sense of validation when a person likes their YouTube video. Some have failed to achieve this status and have also resorted into completely changing their concept of their channel into something new and probably a very controversial concept which and have polarizing impacts to the community as well as towards their career reputation. One of the greatest examples that can be used is YouTuber FouseyTube also known as Youss...

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?  The role of an advertiser is to advertise a product which appeals to a specific area of audience. The advertisers must please and simultaneously convince its target audience range to gain advertisement viewership which greatly contributes to product sales in general.  To formulate a decent advertisement which appeals to the audience, advertisers use a plethora of persuasive devices and appeals to attract the attention of the general audience. This can mean that they can disregard morality and social and cultural taboos to grasp the audience’s attention. Advertisers use stereotypes, gender roles, and other touchy subjects subliminally into their advertisements. Uses of these devices can help make the advertisement seem more unique in a sea for other bland-looking advertisements. Despite of smashing these societal norms, advertisements can be viewed negatively or positively. Today’s media ...

The advertisement by Hour Choice is trying to advertise Hour Choice's watch products which consists of Rolex and Swatch watches. With the image of a married woman being the centerpiece of the advertisement, the image presents an idea of being different. Hour Choice is a store that is mainly located int the Gulf Region. They are trying to convey a message that provokes being different towards women of the Arab states who have been indoctrinated with wearing similar clothing. This was starkly presented by the woman wearing sneakers for her assumed wedding.

What main appeals did you use in your pitch? Why did you decide they would be the most effective? The main appeals that I have used in my pitch were the bandwagon appeal, rational appeal, need for nurture, psychological needs. Our group have decided to use these appeals as our product advertised is fake meat which is healthy and "better" that other types of meat that are sold in the markets of Hong Kong.  What were some specific persuasive techniques you used (include examples) why did you believe these would be effective? We have presented some persuasive techniques that are suitable for advertising our fake meat product. We have used imagery for our advertisement to provoke hunger on the audience.We have attempted to use colours such as red and orange to try to provoke hunger towards the audience. The use of green colour might also be implemented as this gives the product an eco-friendly and environmentally friendly message towards the vegans. We have used other pe...

In the advertisement show above, Kim Kardashian is endorsing a T-Mobile product called DataStash. This product was advertised to promote saving unused data that was used as a part of the data plan. This advertisement covers aspects of  Pathos and Ethos in the span of 30 seconds. Pathos was used by Kim Kardashian when she tries to empathise with with her audience about the tragic of losing unused data as she uses the word "Tragic" frequently and sympathises on how the unused data can be spent in other ways rather than it being left unused. The mellow and soft music that was used in this advertisement also presents sorrow towards the audience. Ethos was used in this advertisement as Kim Kardashian, an endorser of this product, gives credibility and confirmation towards the audience that DataStash is a good product to use in a daily basis.

I recently came across this article of yours on your website titled "Twtr? It's majorly bad! Leading headteacher condemns 'text speak' for eroding schoolchildren's language skills". I believe that there are ways that the current so-called "modern technology" can be viewed as a miraculous method of improving a child's grammar and vocabulary skills. English is a universal language. It is used and molded by the frequent users of the language. A lot of social media revolves around the English Language. This language helps us communicate with people of different gender, age, ethnicity, nationality and different preferences. With so much people being involved in it can create intimacy towards these kids. These so called strangers can also help and correct their English skills and the reverse can also happen. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit have also encourages children to practice their writing skills. They tend to write...

As I drove down the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, there was this strange aura that had filled the city. The Rock and Roll culture has greatly impacted the way its citizens move. A musical genre originating from the black community has turned into a fashion statement for everyone of every race or gender. In this past week I was happy to meet one of the greatest artist who had influenced (and challenged) communities across the United States with the use of their Rock and Roll genre in their music. Elvis Presley spared his time to talk to us about his musicality and adversities of becoming the greatest "King of Rock and Roll". He told us he only had 30 minutes before returning to the recording studio.

Once upon a time in the realms of the string cosmos, a small Asian boy named Azim Baruno set off on a quest to pursue his aspiration to fulfill his vocational successes. A pursuit for a long life that is hard to find which is learning a new language. *gasp* It began with a small discussion with my parents about my future. They were concerned that my life would take a twist. They fear that I will become something useless like a waiter at McDonalds or something like that in Indonesia.

English is a very wide spoken language on Earth. A lot of people use English to communicate with people in English-Speaking countries or people who are able to speak the language to a degree. Some people are able to speak it with a plethora of vocabulary but some lack in that area of knowledge. These ‘second language’ speakers can speak English but not to the capability of a person who can speak like the Queen. Language purists HATE them because they do not like the way they ‘butcher’ the language. This is reasonable but you can’t hate them just because they don’t have the same vocabulary capacity as you do. These purists judge their intelligence based on their English proficiency. Well, I am here to prove the purists wrong. These people have a unique personal language identity that can shape other people’s identities that are around you. A writer, Amy Tan, wrote an essay about her experience growing up with English as her ‘second language’.  One of the people who wholly contr...

Our view of the world is shaped with the help of the people around us. This molds our identity and it solidifies over time. But some of these identities stick with us since birth and (will probably) not be changed throughout the course of our lives. One of these identities is our names. We get our names from our parents who are influenced by their surroundings. Names are unique depending on where you come from.   My full name is Azim Masrizki Baruno.  In Indonesia, the majority of the population consists of Muslims. Islam takes part in a daily life of a Muslim Indonesian. These influences have influenced in naming me. Azim comes from the word Al-Azim which translates to The Great One in Arabic. The name Al-Azim comes from the 99 names of God. This is a part of my religion. It defines as the Beautiful Names that describes God. We use these names to praise God, to thank him and to seek forgiveness to him. The 99 names of God is commonly used and seen in many Islamic countries...

A lot of people see Asians as a stereotypically supreme intelligent race. We are viewed as the smart ones. But this stereotype has been overused and people think that this is actually true. But I am here to tell you that not all Asians are smart. We are as smart as everyone else in the world. I have gathered evidence (in the form of videos) for my hypothesis as to why Asians aren’t as smart as you think. Firstly, the education standard in Asia (such as India, China, Korea, etc.) are very high and the community expects you to to be the best of the best. With this type of environment everyone is expected to be the best of the best and they do. They are even willing to pay for extra classes during the weekend. I heard from someone that the average mark for a test in China is 90%. This proves that the strictness that revolves around the high school life of a typical Asian pays off (but only if you made the average mark). Meanwhile in the USA(for example), the education standard co...

I have made this self interview to Introduce myself to the the world. I have also included information such as my address and social security number for the stalkers. Facts are correct at the time of publishing. Without further ado... Self Interview: All About Me Oh Yeah! Lets get started.