My Thoughts on Comments

All comments below were found on a breitbart.com article summarizing the Hillary Clinton email scandal. Important to note is that breitbart.com is a considerably right-leaning news organization and as such many of their commenters also have a conservative bent.

Less Credible

Comment screenshot from breitbart.com article, 8/28/15

•  This commenter is undoubtedly displaying a wish that something would occur as he neatly expresses his desire that Hillary Clinton and indeed her entire staff see jail time for the email scandal.

• I'm fairly sure this is a considerably conservative commenter as he genuinely has it out for Hillary Clinton. I would assume this because people more toward the middle of the political spectrum would be more inclined to wait what the FBI investigation and Justice Department actually indict someone before advocating punishment for the alleged crime.

• This commenter comes off as unreasonable to me because he is advocating a punishment before guilt has even been determined. After all, in the United States, we try to avoid witch hunts and trial by popular opinion instead favoring a fair trial by a jury of peers. Additionally, this commenter fails to realize that using personal email was in fact not against policy at the Justice Department when Clinton was Secretary of State, regardless of it it would have been a poor choice or not.

Comment screenshot from breitbart.com article, 8/28/15

• This commenter does not really display a wish or desire or a fear. He is simply positing a statement.

• This is likely a very conservative commenter based on his belief that if Hillary Clinton were a Republican "she would already be in GITMO being Waterboarded..." On second thought, perhaps it is his subconscious desire for this to happen.

• This commenter appears unreasonable as he clearly believes that Americans perhaps are or might or perhaps should be held at Guantanamo Bay and exposed to enhanced interrogation techniques. Holding an American at Guantanamo is specifically disallowed (it only occurred once accidentally anyway) and the idea of torturing a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president is ludicrous.

More Credible

Comment screenshot from breitbart.com article, 8/28/15

•  This commenter does not really display any hopes or fears, He simply states his position on how Hillary Clinton could have come out of the mess a lot easier and potentially looking better.

• I think this is a conservative commenter as well as he is trying to blame internal struggle in the Democratic Party for the ongoing and mostly uninteresting investigation of Clinton's emails. Additionally, he is telling someone with a more liberal viewpoint to take his comments to Politico or the New York Times which are seen as more impartial news organizations or the Huffington Post which is on the liberal side.

• This commenter does not seem entirely reasonable to be completely honest. However his initial response about how Clinton could have avoided much of the unpleasantness by being more forthcoming and doing so earlier was incisive enough when compared to the rest of the thread that it was enough to consider this a more reliable comment.

Comment screenshot from breitbart.com article, 8/28/15

• Stosh's comment displays some desire that Hillary Clinton will get jail time for her possible actions but otherwise is simply sharing information.

• I think that this is also a conservative commenter based on his desire for Clinton to see jail time before there has actually been an indictment.

• I think Stosh left a more reliable comment here because rather than going into political diatribes, he compelling explains quite correctly that it is impossible for information on a secure server that is not connected to the internet to end up on an unsecure personal server without human intervention. Ultimately, his the last part of his comment where he advocated 25 years to life is premature unless she is actually indicted but otherwise Stosh is quite reasonable.

-----

When reading my classmates' blog posts about comments, I read one post about comments on modifications to No Child Left Behind and another about comments on the SAE OU fraternity incident. What I managed to glean from reading these two analyses is a rough outline of what is necessary to effectively craft a believable comment.

1. Perhaps most important of all, your comment must be free of any and all grammatical and spelling errors. This is the fastest way to be labeled as a crank.
2. Next in line is definitely almost as important. Please, for the love of god, be logical. No one is going to believe a single thing you say if one statement does not follow from the last.
3. Finally, and this ties in with the previous requirement, have some sort of backup. Can you quote an expert? Are you an expert? Why? Do you have a pet capybara? Really anything that will lend credence to what you you say. 96% of researchers agree that capybara owners are more credible people.

It is interesting to note that there is of a correlation between both line breaks and length to comment credibility. If it has line breaks, that means the author thinks in discrete thoughts, unlike William Faulkner. If it's long, that means the author has a lot to say. That means they're either smart or they're your crazy uncle Jeff that never stops talking at Thanksgiving.

My Controversey

screenshot from Politico 8/25/15  "A guide to Hillary Clinton's most sensitive emails"

Hillary Clinton's email scandal. What joy this has brought all of us. Whether or not you support Clinton or not, it has been trumped up to the point of ridiculousness. The FBI and the Justice Department are running an investigation, that is true. They will determine if Clinton has culpability in regard to sending classified documents over an unsecured email account. As recent news has discovered, the State Department does not in fact have a policy prohibiting the use of private email so regardless of FBI findings, she may be in the clear.

Essentially, we have been treated to a ridiculous political theater by the Republican Party out to make Clinton seem un-electable.

Clinton, on the other hand, is damn near impossible to support as well. She has a manner about herself that does not project the appearance of trustworthiness to the electorate. This is where her bigger problems from the E-mail investigation arise. The FBI discovered that large amounts of data were wiped from the server that she turned over to authorities. However, when asked about wiping the server by reporters, Clinton replied "What? With a cloth?" Still not building our trust. Authorities are currently trying to recover any of that data if at all possible.

If authorities can recover some of that data, Clinton could face an investigation for obstruction of justice. If Hillary Clinton does not have our trust now, I'm convinced it would only diminish. Is this the person we really want running our country? Perhaps the Democratic Party would be better served by nominating Senator Bernie Sanders.

Calendar Reflection

Screenshot from my computer, 8/27/15

I thought this activity was very interesting. I worked very hard to make sure I entered absolutely everything I do with utmost accuracy and I color coded all of my classes and other activities to provide easy at-a-glance organization. What surprised me most of all is the amount of time I have to do things, much more than I expected. I easily have enough time to devote two hours of time per hour of class time per week. I will simply have to work not to squander the time I have allotted. I even went so far to schedule recommended homework time by class to make my organization top notch. I have often struggled with organization and time management skills so I aim to do my best to stick to this schedule. My past difficulties made me really appreciate the usefulness of this activity.

-------

Reading everyone else's reflections on their calendars was a good experience for me. I got the feeling that many of us have similar concerns and worries about achieving maximum success here at the U. William utilized the old maxim that time is money which made me consciously realize how much this education costs and how much effort it is truly worth. I think I need to work on remaining focused when I work as I think that would greatly reduce the amount of time it takes for me to finish my studying and other school work. That way, I will have more time to have fun and decompress which will in turn help me be more relaxed and better at the school work at hand. I wish everyone the best of luck this semester and for the next four years.

Writing and Associated Tortures

Drummond, Sharon "Writer's Block" 4/3/10 via Flickr
Non-commercial License 

1. What sort of writer am I?

I believe my writing style is that of a heavy reviser. I believe you can take an essay or other piece of writing that you essentially come up with on a whim or in a short amount of time or without much thought and, through the use of careful and continued revision, improve it to the point of excellence.

2. Do I apply multiple approaches to my writing?

I would say that I mostly do not. I think "heavy reviser" describes my writing style very well. As everyone does, I can procrastinate from time. Also, though only very occasionally, I will spend an inordinate amount of time planning my writing as would a "heavy planner" and thus only will subsequently only write one draft and proofread it.

3. Does your writing process appear to be successful? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

I believe my writing process is mostly successful. I think writing in the style of a "heavy reviser" spreads out the load of writing very well as you have many individual drafts to improve though it does perhaps increase overall workload. It's basically like a loan, the more time and effort you spend (the more you pay) upfront to create a better first draft, the less effort you have to spend revising it into a final product (the less you ultimately pay).

4. Do you think it would be beneficial for you to try a different approach? Why or why not?

Ultimately, I do not think it would be beneficial for me to try a different approach. I think being a "heavy reviser" is the best for me as it allows me to spread the writing process out over a period of time. Of course, the ultimate goal is to perfectly balance the amount of work spent on the first draft and the amount spent on revisions in order to gain maximum success with minimum time expended.


--------

Reading other's reflections, I had a surprising realization. Not everyone is satisfied with their writing process. This surprised me somewhat because I had previously thought everyone has a system that works perfectly for them and I'm just an anomaly. I read both a reflection of a writing style similar to mine and of one wholly different. I think that my goal in the future would be to include some more planning (such as in Chloe's reflection) but after reading Evan's piece, I was pleasantly surprised by his appreciation for his own writing style (similar to mine) in that it may be somewhat flawed but it works for him (and me). As such, I would attempt some more planning but ultimately I am fairly happy with where I am. Additionally, Evan explored some more reasons why he likes a heavy revision style of writing which I also connected to.