Knowledge: Second Only To Bravado.
A couple of days ago in my Oral Communication class (a class that I don't even want to take, but the good state of California deemed necessary in order to get a BA) we were taking turns giving our "How To:" speeches. One girl came up infront of the class giving a speech on vacationing in Spain. Now, I have a problem with this for two reasons: 1) Because this isn't so much a "How To:" speech as much as it is a persuasive speech--something I think we can all agree has no place in the classroom. And 2) Because of her overwhelming lack of knowledge about the country itself, let alone ability/right to tell ME, Ryan "Big Dog" Amazing how to vacation there.
So this girl gets up there with her two posters showing pictures of bull-fighting, stunning sights and of course little Spanish babies having a good time. She then presents us with her ethos of "I've been going to Spain every summer since I was 13!" Now, this is a girl of only 17-19, mind you. This is not a grizzled old woman, or a girl of any age lending itself to be impressive when compared to 13. She has barely any actual experience in Spain, nor has she had to deal with any of the countries problems (unless they somehow pertained to travel or to bull fighting, a subject of which she spoke of at great length. But I'll get to that later.)
The extent of her advice on vacationing in Spain (something she said everyone should do as often as possible) didn't even stretch any farther than Madrid. So basically her pivotal vacation was composed of getting off the plane and staying within a few miles of the airport.
Around this point in her speech needless to say, I am livid. When she comes to the point in her speech where she explains the picture of bull fighting that is shown so predominately on her poster, she's opts--instead of explaining why she thinks people should go see a bull fight, to explain the "ignorance" of "All of those animal rights jerks" who oppose bull fighting. Sighting that they don't understand bull fighting, and that the wrongs committed on the bulls are part of the procedure that must be done.
Now I know this may come has a shock to many of you, but I am no linguist. But I'm fairly certain that in saying that these self-admitted wrongs are "part of the procedure", then "all of those animal rights jerks" have a fairly good handle on the situation. In admitting that it's part of the procedure to do these things, you're just agreeing with people who oppose the "sport". I don't really understand the level of self-imposed ignorance one must cake on in order to blind themselves from something that they themselves will admit. That just seems painful, really.
--Ryan Amazing
So this girl gets up there with her two posters showing pictures of bull-fighting, stunning sights and of course little Spanish babies having a good time. She then presents us with her ethos of "I've been going to Spain every summer since I was 13!" Now, this is a girl of only 17-19, mind you. This is not a grizzled old woman, or a girl of any age lending itself to be impressive when compared to 13. She has barely any actual experience in Spain, nor has she had to deal with any of the countries problems (unless they somehow pertained to travel or to bull fighting, a subject of which she spoke of at great length. But I'll get to that later.)
The extent of her advice on vacationing in Spain (something she said everyone should do as often as possible) didn't even stretch any farther than Madrid. So basically her pivotal vacation was composed of getting off the plane and staying within a few miles of the airport.
Around this point in her speech needless to say, I am livid. When she comes to the point in her speech where she explains the picture of bull fighting that is shown so predominately on her poster, she's opts--instead of explaining why she thinks people should go see a bull fight, to explain the "ignorance" of "All of those animal rights jerks" who oppose bull fighting. Sighting that they don't understand bull fighting, and that the wrongs committed on the bulls are part of the procedure that must be done.
Now I know this may come has a shock to many of you, but I am no linguist. But I'm fairly certain that in saying that these self-admitted wrongs are "part of the procedure", then "all of those animal rights jerks" have a fairly good handle on the situation. In admitting that it's part of the procedure to do these things, you're just agreeing with people who oppose the "sport". I don't really understand the level of self-imposed ignorance one must cake on in order to blind themselves from something that they themselves will admit. That just seems painful, really.
--Ryan Amazing