TOW #24 - The Bassoon King

Religion is a highly debated topic and popular moral issue these days. Reading the memoir of Rainn Wilson, born into the Baha’i faith, is an interesting introduction into this commonly unknown religion. I had only ever heard of this religion once before; while in Israel I explored an absolutely gorgeous temple belonging to the Baha’i people. Seeing this stunning temple and not knowing anything about the people connected to it, I was very interested in learning first hand experiences from someone of that faith. Throughout the entire beginning of the book, and Wilson’s life, he had expressed serious faith in his religion. Once he had graduated college and had no job offers, he began to look at the down side of life. Entering his rebellious young adult phase, he decided he no longer believed in god. Although he had lost his Baha’i faith, he believes he still had faith.. He found a group of struggling artists who have faith in their art. He argues that even though they do not believe in a god they still have faith. I agree with Wilson, faith does not have to be synonymous with believing in god.

I would imagine since Wilson had believed this since he was a young adult, he would still agree. Many people would argue that faith must be connected to a religion, though there is not actual evidence. Religion and faith beliefs are all subjective from person to person interpreting it differently. This does not allow Wilson to express any actual evidence for his opinion but this does not hinder his argument. Many people these days are expressing their faith in many different things, especially in arts, so we fulfil Wilson’s vision. I would not create my own version of this argument as I do not personally feel faith in anything specific. Because this is a memoir he does not use any classical model or oration. Although this is mainly a matter of opinion he uses logical reasoning to explain his opinion.

TOW#23 - Sequilitis- Legend of Zelda

One of the most known video games, known by gamers and non-gamers alike, is The Legend of Zelda. There are many different games in this franchise, all with their own connections or differences to the past games. Because of this range of differences, how one would define a zelda game has began to extremely differ from person to person. Arin Hanson, a popular gamer, animator, and voice actor, on youtube as well as TV, created a video comparing two popular games in the series, A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. The biggest different between these games is that one is 2D while the other is 3D. Hanson argues that the 2D A Link to the Past is better than the other because it stays true to the original Zelda routes; it allows the players to adventure through an open world at their own pace instead of being guided through with instructions and plot. I understand his argument and agree with it, though my taste in game is different than Hanson’s, so I do not completely agree with his argument.

Today, Hanson almost  regrets creating this video, as many people on the internet strongly disagree with him and are not afraid to explain this to him in a rude way. Although it is true this is still his opinion. Many people consider Ocarina of Time the best video games ever created, there are definitely many great aspects of the game and it is one of the first games created of this type. It set the path for future 3D games, but it still has many flaws fans are not willing to look past. I am not too critical of the aspects Hanson considers flaws, some of them I actually like, so I would not make anything similar to this. The video created is very creative and has a random flow to it so he does not use any classical models. Considering the audience is younger, a faster and funnier pace would help to catch our attention better. To defend his opinion he mainly speaks of what is “good” game design. He has no actual proof or sources for this, it is just what he claims.Though because video games are so subjective, it is hard to actually include sources, so he did what was the best way to argue this topic. This video has definitely opened up my mind to things I had never thought about when it comes to video games and game design. Although I do not completely agree with Hanson, I agree with many of his points.

TOW # 22 - Drugs you Don’t Need for Disorders you Don’t Have

While watching TV we normally choose to actively ignore any commercial shown to us. Though if we were to pay attention, we may see that many of those advertisements shown are for medications. As a kid, I never understood those commercials, picking medicines was the doctor’s job, but after reading Drugs you Don’t Need for Disorders you Don’t Have, by Jonathan Cohn, I began to understand. It’s clear that there are so many commercials for medications because the producers of these drugs plan to make money from selling their product. In order to more actively sell their product, they must advertise to both average consumers as well as doctors. The problem Cohn, an author for Huffington Post, points out in his article is that many of these advertisements spew lies.

One advertisement for a sleeping pill claims it is better than all others, but Cohn knows of research done that proves the pill actually has a very minimal effect that renders it basically useless. This shows that the advertisement uses extreme hyperbole in order to sell it’s product. Cohn is arguing that medication advertisements should not claim things about their product they cannot support, and they must also share the possible side effects. I agree with this as I don’t enjoy being lied to and being convinced to put something in my body that I believe will do one thing as it actually does another. Today these advertisements greatly live up to Cohn’s set expectations, as a very high percentage either exaggerated or down right lie. So Cohn today would very much still agree with his argument from his article. Although he does not use any classical models of argument, he does use many credible sources which highly boost the credibility of his argument, helping to convince me. Some may argue that his position is wrong, saying that most advertisements exaggerate and that only thirty seconds of airtime is not long enough to harp on negative side effects. But I believe these are all important issues for when it comes to medicine and how negatively medication can affect us. This article has helped my ignorant self as a child transition to me now as someone who is opinionated in this subject.