On February 23, 2018, the article "Corporate America Second Guessing Association with Mass Murder" was published on the Vanity Fair website. This article was written by Bess Levin, a previous editor of Dealbreaker.com, which is somewhat like a tabloid but in the finance world . The article discusses the topic of businesses that started cutting ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA), inspired by all of the discussion about gun control after the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The main theme of Levin's article is that change (regarding gun control) is not going to start in Washington with the politicians; change is going to have to start outside, starting with businesses. Levin's bias is very evident in the article; it is clear that Levin agrees with these corporate boycotts of the NRA, and disagrees with businesses that have decided to keep their ties with the NRA. Levin shows her bias by saying that it would make sense to cut gun sellers off by their financial aspects (banks, credit card companies, and credit card processors), which effectively makes it difficult for gun sellers to continue doing their business. Levin also shows her bias by making fun of a company that has chosen to defend their associations with the NRA. This is the quote: (Others have stood by the organization; “Our company provides discounted rooms to several large associations, including the N.R.A.,” Tim Hentschel, the co-founder of HotelPlanner.com, said in a statement, adding, “These associations greatly benefit our customers by buying discounted rooms from groups that might otherwise be charged a penalty by hotels for not using all of the rooms in their block,” which is apparently the worst thing that can happen to a person, short of not getting a chocolate on their pillow during turndown service.) Levin takes a jab at the HotelPlanner.com site by implying that the reason they keep their ties with the association is about as pointless as getting upset as "not getting a chocolate on their pillow during turndown service". Another piece of bias on Levin's end is shown at the end of the very first paragraph. Levin writes, "And because we’re living in the era of social media, they’re going to do it through the president’s favorite social-networking service". The mention of the president doesn't have a real purpose here; Levin does not mention Trump again in the article. So, if not to reference this later, Levin likely wrote this as a way to criticize Trump and his use of Twitter. The tone applied throughout the article at first is informative and analytical, but it shifts to be very sarcastic after Levin writes the first quote put up earlier, and stays consistent to the end, especially in the last paragraph, but she also makes a good point. Levin writes, "And from what we can tell, Bitcoin is just a little less dangerous than a semiautomatic rifle". It sounds sarcastic, but the italicization of the word "little" serves a purpose. In context, Levin writes about how credit card companies were banning users from being able to purchase cryptocurrency, implying that the same can and should be done for semiautomatic weapons because they are so much more dangerous; that's why Levin wrote that "Bitcoin is just a little less dangerous than a semiautomatic rifle".
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“She Didn't Want This Come Hell or High Water”: Inside Melania Trump’s Secretive East Wing is a lengthy piece focused on Melania Trump and provides both speculation and insight into Trump’s life as the First Lady of the United States. It was written by Sarah Ellison, a current reporter for the Washington Post and was previously a special contributor to Vanity Fair’s blog, The Hive, which covers Washington politics, business, and technology.
Not only is the article speculative (in the sense that there is not much to know about Melania’s personal life in the White House) but also this analysis will be as well, since I do not know exactly what Ellison’s intentions are for writing the piece. Although it does not seem to be, it is a possibility that the article was written for the purpose of stirring up some controversy over how the East Wing of the White House is run by Melania Trump, or rather, how the East Wing runs without Melania. It’s evident in the title, by the use of the words “secretive” and “inside”, suggesting despite the East Wing being open for tours for the public there is something we don't see, some kind of mystery. So naturally, this is going to make the average American curious and it's going to make them talk about it. It's going to raise suspicion. Suspicion can mean controversy, and then controversy leads to clicks on the page, which becomes a source of revenue. So if the above is true, then it's clear to see that Ellison has an incentive to make an article that’s pure Washington gossip. On the other hand, the article can be seen as a defense of Melania or support for her, in a reaction to recent news about her or as a reaction to the general unsureness that the American people have for Melania by making her seem like a more interesting person with depth since there isn't too much that is really known about how she is today. Ellison writes that Melania spends much of her time shielding her son from the “negativity of Washington”, which makes her seem like someone who is especially caring. As for supporting Melania, Ellison wrote about how Melania’s own approval rates were higher than her husband’s (“For Melania, being more popular than her husband is an increasingly easy task”). But this can also be interpreted as a direct attack on Donald’s presidency; that he’s such a poor president that the FLOTUS is more well-liked than the supposed free leader of the world himself. Ellison also pokes fun upon noticing that Melania’s campaign while being the FLOTUS is anti-bullying, specifically cyber-bullying, while her husband is a frequent Twitter user, and some might say that is Donald Trump’s tweets are somewhat terrorizing themselves. Ellison also suggests that this is part of a broader issue between the couple: divorce. After all, the entire article is really about how Melania just doesn't seem to really want to be there with Trump as the FLOTUS. A brief anaylysis of "American horror story edits mass shooting scene after las vegas shooting"10/16/2017 The article “American Horror Story Edits Mass Shootings After Las Vegas Massacre” was written on October 9th by Laura Bradley. The article was written not only to inform fans of American Horror Story of the changes to the show but also to spread awareness on how to treat content that may be inappropriate because of recent, real-life events. The article is mainly about how Ryan Murphy (the creator of the show) handled the content of one of the episodes which begins with a mass shooting scene. The episode that was going to be aired on television was edited, but the original episode will be available on specific platforms for those who wish to view the unedited episode, and I believe that this is a pretty solid way to handle the situation and paves the way to handle content like this in the future.
The article “The Vietnam War’s John Musgrave on Fighting, Coming Home, and “Thank You For Your Service” is about John Musgrave, a Vietnam War veteran featured in a PBS documentary titled The Vietnam War, written by David Kemp with a focus on an interview with Musgrave.
The article mainly consists of Musgrave’s thoughts but what Kemp does write that is unrelated to the interview is written with a tone of respect and awe, especially towards Musgrave and his experiences. I believe the purpose is that Kemp is trying to convince people that they should respect the veterans who have fought to protect us through telling Musgrave’s story in depth. I believe the article was written not only to help the author understand Musgrave and to convince others to respect veterans but also either coincidentally or intentionally give a response to the recent conflict about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. Many people seem to think the players are protesting America or Donald Trump, but that is actually not the reason the NFL players are protesting, but rather they are protesting police brutality, so the article by Kemp doesn't really provide a valid argument. Other than that, Kemp’s article is informative and goes straight to the point about John Musgrave and his experiences. |
AuthorCatalina is an art lover, including artwork, dance, and song. She is also an activist who supports a wide variety of issues, whether it be home in the United States or abroad, from Mexico to Uganda. Catalina has two pugs at home and spends her free time usually honing existing skills or learning something new. |