Posting Response 2

Bianka Bedoya:

I liked how the imagery of “your green may be someone else’s purple” was placed in. It was rather creative and insightful, but I did not think it had the capability of catching someone’s attention. By “everyone is different”, you mean that an individual thinks of something differently than another. However, most people no the term but do not really believe it that deeply; many people on the inside believe Everyone has unique ways of thinking, but they all are aware of one thing that connect them all into one point: common sense. Say if I were writing an essay for a scholarship when suddenly someone else is chosen for an essay that he/she did not write. That person has the right to say “everyone is different, and I think I should be the chosen one with the scholarship because I ran out of time and I desperately need the money for my family.” The only problem is, everyone else is aware that that person cheated and plagiarized and they believe the right thing to do is be original, which is common sense. When these arguments occur, make sure to narrow down what you mean so less people can counterattack it. Thus the “basic definition” may be too broad (remember the Monty Python video?) and a simple term may go in depth a long way. So it is best to try and steer a bit away from the “basic definition” and narrow down the options. For example, if you were to write about the meaning of “soccer”, it would be difficult because you’d then have to cover what individuals think of when they see or hear the word. A much better topic to work around that deals with “soccer” may be “Spanish soccer teams,” “Argentina soccer,” “British football,” or the like.

HollyG:

Cold is a great term to work with when it comes to definitions. Operational definition I believe is probably the more interesting out of the two. I see this type of definition as one of those cornfield mazes, where you are given paths to take, and depending on the path chosen, surprises await. Basically for operational definitions, when you take a word to a different level, it changes everyone’s conception of it (similar to Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 if you are into video games; the story all depends on what you say to others. For example, you can choose to lose a healing mage through just a tiny mistake out of your mouth, and sometimes that can never be redone unless you reload the game). Another way to see these definitions is like it’s determining the future; there are plenty of doors open for you, and when you choose your first door there will be other doors beyond that one. Thus you will travel to places (or conversations) you never expected to go to. The only issue with the word “cold” or “hot” is what YOU mean to define it as. Do you mean how the weather is hot, the soup is hot, or hot as in “spicy”? Similarly said with “cold”. You can narrow your topic down to “cold weather”, “cold feeling”, or just “cold temperature”. Just “cold” or “hot” seems a bit broad, and you can easily confuse other people if you have too many doors or options open, so it is best to narrow your subject to “cold temperature” or the like.

Ch. 9: Definition

Chapter 9 in the book Everything's an Argument is titled "Arguments of Definition", thus it must imply that there are things that are seen by one group of people but appears to another group as something else. The example given is of U.S. President Barack Obama during a campaign and rather than having his hand over his heart he was standing casually and not wearing his flag pin. After receiving complaints and criticism for this, he then delivered a speech that basically defined how he looked at patriotism compared to how Americans perceived it. Another incident involving different ways of defining a term was Hurricane Katrina, when the media decided to call the myriad of people who fled their homes from the hurricane by the term "evacuees" to prevent the word "refugee" from confusing and angering certain people such as the native-born Americans. The term intelligence has also been argued by whether it is meant by socially or academically wise, dependent on statistics (GPA, SAT scores, etc.) or ability to apply knowledge to reality and perform what many people are unable to do (fixing automobiles, develop new and improved technology). Definitions are those multiple choice questions on the exam with the "All of the Above" option as the correct answer. Terms are defined not only by a simple dictionary, but more through a feeling developed for that word. 


There are two main types of definitions: formal and operational. Formal definitions are the direct interpretations of a word. It also implies to the attributes of the word that makes it unique, similar to the genus and species naming in biology. The given example is of  hybrid cars, which are defined as passenger cars that are capable of powering on at least two sources. Usually people will vision a battery-powered and gas-powered vehicle such as the Toyota Prius, although others see it as just an eco-friendly car, such as the Chevrolet Malibu which is also considered a hybrid but does not run on two power sources. Thus a conflict has arisen and arguments commence. Operational definitions are what it sounds like, words that are defined through how it operates and  the impacts it leaves. The argument in here is when it gets taken pretty far down the road. The example in the book pertains to what exactly is the term sexual harassment. Would a kiss to wake a sleeping beauty be considered sexual harassment or not? Debate usually stir from operational defining when it is over-thought. 


Definition is always an interesting topic for me to debate about back and forth with my conscience, especially when it is about operational definition. One I get quite often is whether "Tiger-Mothering" is considered child abuse through harsh mothers or a form of motherly love that she would dedicate most of her time creating stepping stools to success for her child. Others that I hear often range from "is anime considered art?" to "is the government requiring seatbelts to be worn considered a violation of freedom?" The one word that strikes me the most is Asian and how it is defined. People categorize whites as the general people with white skin, blacks as the group with brown or darker skin tone, and Asian as the typical yellow-skinned population of short people with small eyes and black hair. The word Asian originates from "people from Asia". If that is the case, aren't Asian Indians also counted as being Asian? India is the good 'ole country that lies in between the Middle East and central Asia, but veers more towards Asia. The typical Asian Indian is not the yellow-skinned short individual with tiny eyes, but they are "genetically" Asian.