Sami's State of Union Address Response

1. TRIUNE BRAIN - Explain how your triune brain interfaces with this media text.
Limbic- feeling of nationalism, hope, and patriotism

Neocortex- not used

Reptillian- instinct of a feeling of unity

2. EIGHT TRENDS - what do you notice?

Political shift- regulating certain new laws and deregulating others

Technological shift- I am watching the State of Union Address from you tube on my personal laptop

Epistemological shift- I know what is truth because I have to put faith in our government system.

3. SEVEN PRINCIPLES - what do you notice?
Production techniques- Camera pans out during standing ovations to highlight the democrats. Shot head on at important parts.

Individual meaning- This is a response to the criticism that the President has received recently. I believe other individuals and groups might find that this means he is doing something.

Pacing- I observe how badly the republicans look after stopping this video at various times. I also observed how much he uses all of our media tools.

Value messages- The kind of value message this media promotes is unity and that we will get out of the dark.

Emotional transfer-The emotions that this media taps into are feelings of nationalism and hope for a brighter future. If we think more deeply about this media I would consider the amount of promises he made and how much will actually happen.

“Reality” construction/trade off­- Obama states that the Iraq war is ending and that the troops are coming home, yet he doesn’t provide a time frame.

4. 29 TECHNIQUES OF PERSUASION - List and describe at least SIX persuasive techniques Obama uses.

1. group dynamics- “we”
2. humor- “..it was about as popular as a root canal”
3. repetition- “storm” “burden”
4. warm fuzzies- when he states that a little girl wrote to him asking when her parents can go back to work.
5. scientific evidence- “…made health insurance 65% cheaper for families who choose…”
6. symbol- American flag pin, power red tie
   
   5. IYOW, what is the 1 sentence thesis of Obama's speech?
   Throughout the United State’s history we have overcome many hardships and they were not fixed overnight. I came into office with a mess to clean up, we have made progress, and we’ll continue to do so.

6. List THREE specific "facts" he provides to support his thesis.

Three specific “facts” he provides to support his thesis that progress has been made are (1) We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college. (2) There are about 2 million Americans working right now, who would otherwise be unemployed. 200,000 work in construction etc. (3) We extended or increased unemployment benefits for more than 18 million Americans.