Jay Hitherton's Blog

"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...