Scott McCloud Questions

1)  When McCloud writes that a character’s personality needs “a specific origin or unifying purpose”, I believe he means that a character needs a purpose in order to seem real and for the writers to understand what their reactions will be to make them be different from the other characters.  McCloud’s reasons for arguing that creating “a compelling inner life” is the “most important” part of a characters creation would be that our history affects how characters see the world and what they expect and want from the world.  Also, it makes for an interesting story when their desires and expectations collide with others desires.

3)  McCloud visually represents psyche as the inner mind of a person, he shows a picture of a head and you can see their experiences. Visually represents autonomy by having two people’s views combine and having their views be different from the others like comparing poor vs heiress and minister vs. anthropologist.  Visually represents conflict by the same way as autonomy and also by saying it can’t be internal and external conflict like the wizard of oz’s characters (visually showed in the comic) and how they had their own conflict themselves of going home, getting a brain/heart/courage. He also visually represents purpose through this by saying/visually portraying the characters purpose in life to get a brain/heart/courage.  A purpose pushes characters to action and to search for something.  Visually represents obsession by showing how some writers are obsessed with drawing the same people and he gave examples of how the characters look a like. Also, how writers are obsessed with writing all about the characters past but all they need is a few background details by  showing a room cluttered with backgrounds of the characters and then the next slide showing just a little information about the people, which seems less cluttered.  Visually represents worldview through the past and present experiences characters have taken part in to represent their worldview. He shows this through two people looking at the small globe that McCloud is holding. Visually represents complexity by showing him as a puzzle and trying to fit everything together in the right way.  Characters need variations of characteristics or they aren’t going to have much to talk about. He also shows how he was trying to choose between similar paint cans which explains how you can’t tell things are different if they look and act the same.

5)  When McCloud appears alone in some panels, he is trying to let the readers think about what he is saying and gives himself as an example to what he is talking about.  The purpose of this is to give an actual example from real life so people can compare the topic to themselves as well.

Question #4 for Mein Kampf (My Struggle)

The irony in Spiegelman showing himself being chased by a gigantic mouse was that he was saying before that how mice were the jewish and cats were the nazi’s. Also, in his two-volume series Maus, the mice were the victims, but now  in the chasing scene he portrayed them as the predator and the chaser. Other ways “Mein Kampf” uses visual and verbal humor would be when he was describing how he use to wear a cowboy until it ripped at the knees and he was wearing the outfit.   The purpose of this was to describe in a funny way and to visualize the problems he is having with memories and how when you get older you forget more things. Also, right after that comment his kid comes in with a super hero costume and Spiegelman was saying how his sons superman costume ripped at the knees as well. The purpose of this was that even the younger kids are starting to forget the major events happening from the past and concerned more with the current events. Also, how his kid comes and says he was sad about the guerilla dying and that he should have eaten the girl.  The purpose of this was that the kid was on the side of the guerilla instead of the innocent girl which sort of portrayed his comic Maus but the guerilla and the girl represented the nazi’s and jews.

Reflection paper on the Research Process

Jaclyn Stine

Professor Goffeney: 8am

23 March 2012

Reflection of Overall Research Experience

For the WE#2, close reading, I first had to read an essay in the class book.  I knew this was a fake idea of the writers and he didn’t truly feel that way, but I still had to read it twice in order to truly understand why he wrote this satire story and what the true meaning of the idea was.   Than when I finally figured out what the author was saying, I was able to write the close reading.  In the close reading I discussed what was the author saying for one side of the stupid argument and its thesis.  Next, I described the actual meaning of the paper and his meaning/ thesis.  It worked out for me when I figured out true and fake sides of the story and made me less confused.  After I figured out the sides I was able to easily write the paper.  It also worked out when I reread the essay because it let me look closer into the reading than I did before.  What didn’t work out well was when I wrote both sides at the same time.  I should have read it first and wrote the first part (fake side) of the paper and then read it a second time and wrote the rest (true side). Overall, I learned how to closely examine the information that was given to me and look beyond what it is saying and try to find its true meaning

Unlike the other WE’s I have done after this one, this WE had nothing to do with my research topic, but it still had some effect on it. This WE helped me write my research paper by looking at my sources I found for the topic, 9/11 Truther’s, and find a way to put it into my writing.  It also helped me look into my sources more and figure out what the authors are actually trying to tell me.  It gave me a better understanding of the sources.  I did practice these skills in my essay, but you can’t really tell because the skills helped me more with the research of the paper than the paper itself.

In my future writings this skill of close reading will help me give a further meaning in my topics and make me understand even the hardest sources I find.  This will help me look closely at my sources and reread it a few times in order to get the true meaning out of it.  It will help me decide if this is a true or false statement of the actual topic as well.

Another WE that I had to do before my research paper was WE#3, which was an annotated bibliography.  I first searched for good and reliable sources that could help me discuss the reasons behind the two theories/stories. Also, I tried to find answers to the questions that I was looking for in the proposal (WE#2).  Then, I read the sources and looked for information that could help me in the overall big research project.  The fact that I looked for sources before I started writing the paper helped with making it a quicker and easier process.  The fact that I didn’t really take into account reading all the material and just skimming through the source did not work for me.  This taught me that I should take the time to read my sources in order to get the full potential of the source for any paper.  I also learned that if I find my sources before I start thinking of ideas for the paper, I will be able to have ideas that fit with my paper and use my sources wiser and not have to worry about finding specific sources of information.

I used the skills that I learned from the annotated bibliography, WE#3, in my paper by looking at the sources I chose and figured out how I was going to use the research in the paper.  This WE helped me with determining the information I was going to put into my essay.  Also, it helped me figure out a summary of all the research I found so I could determine what my paper will be about.   I didn’t specifically use the summary skills in my essay.  I looked at specific examples in the sources and wrote them in my paper instead of just writing a summary of the sources in my paper.

In my future papers and work these skills will be very useful in helping me plan out everything I need to write about.  It will help me do this by helping me understand the research/work topic and all the information I found about the topic.  With the information from the topics, it will help me decide what the paper will look like in the future of my future topics.   It will also help me finish my bibliography a lot sooner.

The last WE that I had to do before I started my research paper was WE#4, which was writing a mini essay. In this WE I had to pick three sources and go in depth with the information from the sources.  First I had to see what the sources had to say about the conspiracy theory and then choose from multiple sources to choose what three sources were best for the mini essay.   I had to have different sources with different views to the sides. What worked well was looking at the sources and figuring out more about them in order to write this WE.  It didn’t work out when I was trying to come up with a source that would better illustrate the topic I chose.  Overall, I learned how to look into the sources I found and come up with some good evidence to a certain side of the story.  I also learned how to make close connections between all my sources no matter how different they are and how different the views are.

Looking at the sources and figuring out more about them in order to write this WE helped me find out more about the sources I was using to write the research paper as well. The process of the WE helped with me making connections between all my sources.  This helped me put my research paper together in a proper manner that the sources information gave me.  Specifically I used the skills of the WE #4 for connecting between the research and use it to connect them to my topic of the essay.   For example, one source was all about the scandals of the government (nothing about the 9/11 Truther’s) and I connected it with the view of the Truther’s on the government holding a cover-up since they already hurt the United States with their scandals.

            In my future writings I believe the skills I learned from WE#4 would help me think of ways to organize the ideas of the topics.  It will also help me with research because I would be able to use mostly any semi-related source in my paper and be able to connect it to my other sources and main topic.  It will also help me further in my life besides writing by helping me connect things together and find the answer to the problem especially with my future career in accounting.  In accounting, when we are wrong I would have to look back and connect the past work to the present work in order to figure out the problem.

If I were to give myself a grade for this class and my work so far, I would give myself an A. I think I deserve this grade because I turn my work in on time and do a good job on it.  I’ve done all the assignments and I believe I have improved in my writing since I came into the class.  Also, I am focused when we are in group discussions and my papers so far have fulfilled all the requirements for them.

Research paper Draft 1

Jaclyn Stine

Professor Goffene

ENGL 121: 8am

15 March 2012

9/11 Truthers:  Conspiracy Theory True or False

            Citizens of New York City are just going through their regular day, noticing a plane flying above them towards the twin towers, but this wasn’t normal because the plane was flying too low.  The next thing they know they hear a crash, the plane just ran into the twin towers.  The twin towers are collapsing, killing many people.   Why did this happen? How did such event happen to the United States? And the most important question, that this paper is mainly about, who did this terrible attack?  The official and accepted version of these questions is that terrorist from Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes of our planes, two of which hit the twin towers, and set off to attack.   Some people do not agree with this version and they have come up with different theories of the attack, which is called a conspiracy theory.   One of the conspiracy theories over the 9/11 attack was that the government was posing a cover-up over the attack.   The group that propose this theory is called the 9/11 Truthers.    What is the true answer to the 9/11 attack and if the official version of the story is correct then why is the government still holding secrets about the attack?  In this paper I will discuss each side of the story:  9/11 Truthers side and Governments side.   I will also discuss the reasons of each side.  If the official story of 9/11 is a lie, than is the 9/11 Truthers theory correct?

The 9/11 Truthers are a group of people who are determined to find the true answers of the 9/11 attack.  The 9/11 Truthers believe that the truth is being actively concealed by the United States government.   They believe that someone hiding inside the government planned the attack on 9/11 or at least allowed the attack to happen.  This group believes the government is withholding information from the citizens of the United States.  The 9/11 Truthers believe that this attack was only an excuse and ploy to convince us to invade and start a war with terror/Afghanistan/Iraq.  There was a lot of information that was not given and told to the American public.  In the website http://danturkel.com/papers/911conspiracies.pdf,  Turkel states that the movie Zeitgeist  claimed, “The idea is that the US committed the 9/11 attacks, and made them look like they were carried out by a foreign country, in order to raise support for a war in the Middle-East to protect American oil interests there. The film also proposes that the US either constructed or allowed the sinking of the Lusitania, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in order to enter World Wars I and II, and Vietnam, respectively.” (8).  Not only does the 9/11 Truthers believe the government didn’t tell us the whole truth about the attack, but a majority of the United States citizens believed that too.  As Turkel stated, “A New York Times/CBS News poll taken in 2006 showed that 16% of Americans believed the Bush administration’s story of 9/11 and over 50% felt something was being hidden.”(12).

Many think this group is stupid for believing the theory, but the 9/11 Truthers do believe their theory for very good reasons.  One of the reasons was found on the website, http://tvnewslies.org/html/9_11_facts.html, and it stated the government had been working on a plane defense system specifically for the kind of attack 9/11 was like and it had been functioning properly for many months and then when the attack happened the defense system failed.  The 9/11 Truthers suspect that someone from the inside had control over the defense system and denied it from working on the day of the attack.   Another reason is that the government apparently did have threats from the Al-Qaeda terrorist about this specific event as stated in the website, http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-08-05/news/bush-s-9-11-secrets/, but the government just ignored them and didn’t do anything to further protect the places the terrorist were telling them about.  In the threatening calls from the terrorist, they stated, “In September 1998, the [Intelligence Community] obtained information that Bin Laden’s next operation might involve flying an explosive-laden aircraft into a U.S. airport and detonating it. In the fall of 1998, the [Intelligence Community] obtained information concerning a Bin Laden plot involving aircraft in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas.  In March 2000, the [Intelligence Community] obtained information regarding the types of targets that operatives of Bin Laden’s network might strike. The Statue of Liberty was specifically mentioned, as were skyscrapers, ports, airports, and nuclear power plans.”  The government could have easily had more of a defense system set up at the points they were stating, but instead the government did nothing.

Another defense of the 9/11 Truthers is not of the present time of the attack but the governments past history of purposely hurting America.  Past scandals of the government would be the Watergate scandal, scandals of the president’s affairs, the government taking away some rights of the people every-so-often, and many more.  Throughout the book, Scandal:  How “Gotcha” Politics is Destroying America, Lanny Davis gives examples of how media has hurt the United States more than it would have without it through further discussion and debates of the government’s scandals and making it more of a big deal.   Davis states, “Today’s scandal culture and the seemingly endless cycle of gotcha politics practiced by the extremist ideologues of the left and the right in both parties have their roots in the political and culture wars of the 1960s and the Watergate scandal that immediately followed them in the 1970’s.” (Davis 1).  As stated in the quote, there have been many scandals in politics in the past and it has more to come in the future.   Since there have been plenty of scandals on both sides of the political spectrum, there is a possibility that there was another scandal within 2001 such as 9/11.  The government has been known for keeping dangerous secretes from the citizens and it could get them kicked out of office, so, as 9/11 Truthers believe, there could be even more scandalous behavior happening that is secretes about the 9/11 “terrorist” attack.

Never-the-less there is another part of the theory of the 9/11 Truthers about what actually happened at the attack cite. Turkel states that one of the theories the Truthers claimed was, “the Twin Towers (in addition to WTC 7, another building in the complex that collapsed due to being struck from significant amounts of debris) actually collapsed as the result of a controlled demolition.” (Turkel 8). In the end their theory was confirmed when Kay, author of Among the Truthers, stated, “World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein publicly admitted that one of the WTC buildings had been “pulled down” by internal demolition.” (7). Since their prediction and theory was proved right, then they could also be right about the other theories.  If the attack of 9/11 was planned by the terrorist group, then why was there a planned internal demolition within one of the buildings before the actual attack?

Even though there is evidence that there is a possibility the government is hiding something and that it could be a cover-up, there are still many people who believe the Truthers are wrong.   A quote from Mark Fenster states, “…that the 9/11 “Truthers” are going through the motions that occur every time a major event happens in American history. The only reason it has become so large and had such an impact is because of the ease of communication, collaboration and sharing of ideas through the highly connected 21st century world.” (Turkel 13).  This basically says that it is common to have a lot of conspiracies over all the big events that go on in the United States and it is not much of a big deal.   Since conspiracies happen regularly, it should not be taken seriously.  Also, Turkel has found it common that in the 9/11 Truthers movement there was a lot of people within it that despised the Bush administration for many other conflicts that are unrelated to the attack and believes that the attack made them hate the administration more (Turkel 13).

To over step the argument of the issue of doing nothing after getting threatening calls from the terrorist group Rice stated to the Village Voice, “She said the warning was “generalized”—no date, place, or method.”(http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-08-05/news/bush-s-9-11-secrets/).  Also, to further the discussion of the calls, from the website http://danturkel.com/papers/911conspiracies.pdf, Turkel states that, “The Bush administration had advanced knowledge that Bin Laden was planning some sort of attack, but had little information and little way to do anything to prevent it. Saying that it intentionally allowed 9/11 to happen is certainly a stretch of reasoning.”(10).   Therefore, the argument for the government is that they did not have enough information in order to take precaution over the threats and areas threatened.  Since there was not enough information for preparing a more secure country, the government chose not to take any precautions in case of an attack.

Many believe that the 9/11 Truthers conspiracy is as stupid and unstable as the other conspiracies within the United States.  Turkel, from the website http://danturkel.com/papers/911conspiracies.pdf  claims that, “What is interesting about the 9/11 Truth movement is that, while some members simply question the mainstream account due to problems they see with it and request a fuller investigation, a large and vocal part of the movement is not trying to find out the truth, but to disseminate a truth they’ve already “discovered” based on anecdotal evidence, out-of-context quotes, unprofessional opinions and a sensationalized disdain for the government.” (Turkel 11-12).  So basically, some people believe that the 9/11 Truthers are fudging the official story to their side by over thinking the evidence and coming up with false evidence against the story.  Turkel has his own opinion of what the definition of conspiracies. Turkel states, “Conspiracism is as much a psychological coping mechanism as it is a political ideology or scientific argument.”  (Turkel 14).   This meaning that Turkel believes that conspiracies are just to cope with extreme events but it is not a scientific argument.

Never the less, there are other reasons for people to be against the 9/11 Truthers that are based off of their personal being.  One of the reasons that is against the 9/11 Truthers theory would be just because they are confident in their belief, it does not mean that their theory is true.  For example, Turkel states, “Such large conspiracies, with such large followings, allow for conspiracists to gain confidence and legitimacy thanks to the comfort of the group.”  (Turkel 15). Since the conspiracies are so big and powerful they feel their safe to state what they want and have complete confidence it is right. Henry Steele Commager stated, “We are on the road to a paranoid explanation of things. . . . The conspiracy theory, the conspiracy mentality, will not accept ordinary evidence. . . . There’s some psychological requirement that forces them to reject the ordinary, and find refuge in the extraordinary.” (Turkel 15). Henry is pretty much saying that it is a mentality to be thinking like a conspiracists since they over analyze things and become paranoid about it so they reject it and find another solution.  Through this reasoning, people believe the 9/11 Truthers theory cannot be true and must be based on confidence and not reasonable facts.

Throughout all the information I have gathered for and against the 9/11 Truthers theory, I have gathered a concluding stance on the issue.  My theory is that the terrorist were the ones who were the ones who attacked on 9/11 but there are questions that still haven’t been answered by the government.   So I believe the government is hiding something about the attack and covering-up their failure to the country on preventing the attack.   There may have been an insider within the government who prevented the protection of the country.  I believe the 9/11 Truthers made really good points on the issue and had a more compelling argument, but it might not have been as reasonable as the government’s view points.  The 9/11 Truthers have a very good argument with the issue of the knowledge of the attacks and the government doing nothing to protect the United States from them.  With the issue of the government receiving threatening calls from the terrorist group, they could have maybe intensified the airport security more and all the places and skyscrapers the terrorist mentioned in the phone calls.  It wouldn’t matter when the attack would happen or the details of it, they should have at least made the security of the places more secure than they were, so the government could have done something. But in the end, I believe there is some truth to the 9/11 Truthers and the official story.

Work Cited

“9/11 Facts.” 301 Moved Permanently. Web. 23 Feb. 2012. <http://tvnewslies.org/html/9_11_facts.html&gt;.

Davis, Lanny J. Scandal: How “gotcha” Politics Is Destroying America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.

Kay, Jonathan. Among the Truthers: A Journey through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground. New York: Harper, 2011. Print.

Ridgeway, James. “Bush’s 9-11 Secrets.” The Village Voice [New York] 5 Aug. 2003. The Village Voice News. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-08-05/news/bush-s-9-11-secrets/&gt;.

Turkel, Daniel G. “The Significance of 9/11 Conspiracy Theories in Understanding the Sociopolitical Climate of the 21st Century.” The Significance of 9/11 Conspiracy Theories in Understanding the Sociopolitical Climate of the 21st Century (2010): 1-26. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://danturkel.com/papers/911conspiracies.pdf&gt;.

WE#4: Mini Essay

Jaclyn Stine

ENGL 121: 8am

Professor Goffene

13 March 2012

WE#4:  Mini Essay

            As two planes crashed into the twin towers there were many questions going through people’s minds.  Why did this happen? How did such event happen to the United States? And the most important question, that this paper is mainly about, who did this terrible attack?  The official and accepted version of these questions is that terrorist from Al-Qaeda hijacked four planes of our planes, two of which hit the twin towers, and set off to attack.  Even though the government did tell this to us, there are groups of people who do not believe that was the true story such as the 9/11 Truthers.  The 9/11 Truthers believe that the attack was a cover up from the government and that it wasn’t the terrorist that attacked the World Trade Center.  Many of the government’s claims didn’t add up, but when asked again for the truth, they received nothing.  What is the true story to this attack or was what the government told us to be true?

In one of the websites I found, http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-08-05/news/bush-s-9-11-secrets/, there were many things that supported 9/11 Truthers and that the government could still be hiding some more information from us about the attack.  It talked about how the Bush administration knew about the threat of Al-Qaeda and did nothing about it.  Al-Qaeda made many threats to the United States all somewhat related to the 9/11 attack. James Ridgeway, the author, had stated, “We do know that despite years of warnings from the intelligence community, the government apparently had taken no steps to protect the eastern seaboard or any other American border from attack.”  So if it was the terrorist who were going to attack then why didn’t the government try to prevent it from happening?  Ridgeway also said that, “…Bush has invoked executive privilege to withhold from Congress this key briefing on August 6, 2001.”  This gives evidence of some amount of information being hidden from America and the world, which supports the 9/11 Truthers belief of a cover-up.  This source uses quotes and actual proof of their arguments.

Another example for the 9/11 Truthers mistrust in the government is that they could have done it themselves to start the war since they are known to create a lot of scandals in the past.  The source I found is a book called Scandal: How “Gotcha” politics is destroying America. In this book it explains all the scandals of the government and how they are not to be trusted since they are destroying America because of it.  Like the first source, this source focuses on the government and how they are not to be trusted.  But it focuses mostly on past events/scandals of the government instead of the current 9/11 attack like the first source portrays.  This book goes into detail of the governments past scandals and how it is destroying America’s people and culture.  This book helps the first source with describing the ways and reasons why people don’t trust the government such as the 9/11 Truthers.  This source looks at the past scandals, which will help me figure out any connection between them and the 9/11 attack.  The strategies they use to prove their point was to look at past information of the government, quotes, journals, newspapers, and magazines of when the event actually happened.

In another website that was considered a scholarly journal was from http://danturkel.com/papers/911conspiracies.pdf, it was considered against the Truthers idea and theory all together.  Turkel, the author, states that the Truthers are stupid and that their view is wrong.  The websites goes into detail of the actual attack and the 9/11 Truthers.  This document also is on the side of the government.  It discusses what the first source was stating about the government having knowledge about the attack coming but didn’t do anything about it.  Unlike the first source, Turkel believed the government wasn’t at fault and stated, “The Bush administration had advanced knowledge that Bin Laden was planning some sort of attack, but had little information and little way to do anything to prevent it. Saying that it intentionally allowed 9/11 to happen is certainly a stretch of reasoning.” (10) This article focuses more to do with the 9/11 Truthers than the government like the other two sources.  Turkel showed a different opinion than the other two sources by going for the government and against the Truthers ideas. With the second source this article goes on to talk about why the 9/11 Truthers believe the government could be having a cover-up for the attack.  It does not go into as much detail as the book does in the second source, and mainly focuses on the 9/11 attack and how it could be another scandal. This journal strategies to prove their point was through reports from the United States government, quotes from famous people, Zeitgeist movie, the 9/11 Commissions report, and many more.

In summary, these three sources discuss the government involvement in scandals and in the 9/11 attack.   All three tell different stories:  One about the past scandals of the U.S. government; the other one talks about the government’s lies with the 9/11 attack; and the other one discusses the 9/11 Truthers wrongs of accusing the government.  They all connect to each other by the way the government is involved with corruption and if they have anything to do with the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers.  These sources give evidence for and against the 9/11 Truthers ideas and the “official” story of the attack.  With these sources, the truth will come out about the 9/11 attack within the research paper.

Works Cited

Davis, Lanny J. Scandal: How “gotcha” Politics Is Destroying America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Print.

Ridgeway, James. “Bush’s 9-11 Secrets.” The Village Voice [New York] 5 Aug. 2003. The Village Voice News. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://www.villagevoice.com/2003-08-05/news/bush-s-9-11-secrets/&gt;.

Turkel, Daniel G. “The Significance of 9/11 Conspiracy Theories in Understanding the Sociopolitical Climate of the 21st Century.” The Significance of 9/11 Conspiracy Theories in Understanding the Sociopolitical Climate of the 21st Century (2010): 1-26. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. <http://danturkel.com/papers/911conspiracies.pdf&gt;.