Reading Response 5!!

My essay was about changing the drinking law from age twenty-one to eighteen. My main arguments included thoughts of others that if we can fight four our country at age eighteen, we should be able to drink. The same with voting and tobacco; we have all the responsibilities of an adult by age eighteen, yet are treated like children by not being able to be allowed to drink alcohol. Also by having a younger drinking age this would help promote maturity and responsible decisions at a younger age.

For my first pencil draft of this essay, my target audience was adults and young adults to help gain support and spread awareness of what is going on in the United States. But when I was thinking of another target audience, I realized that the Government would probably be the best audience to target when thinking about changing the drinking law. The Government is the power that could legally change this law so why wouldn’t I want them to be part of my target audience for this presentation.

While thinking about what kind of visual aid I will be using for my presentation, I think it would be interesting to make a sort of “billboard” with a US soldier in a foreign country with a gun running around fighting in some kind of combat. But the twist to this image would be the soldier is wearing a bib or some kind of diaper which would represent the argument “we can fight for our country at age eighteen, yet are still treated as children by not being able to consume alcohol.” I am really interested in being creative so I’m sure there is some way I could find to make this visual appealing in sort of a comedic sense while still really getting the point across. Also, at the bottom of the poster I could find some kind of catch phrase that will really make the viewer think, “wow this is not right”. I’m not quite sure what this interesting quip will be yet, but after a couple days of writing some down I think I will be able to come up with a good one.

I think this billboard will be a good visual aid because it will be really easy to get the message by just looking at it with a short glance. Statistics prove that “You learn best when information is presented visually and in a written language format” (MetaMath). I think my visual aid will really accomplish this.

While learning about the rhetorical process, I learned that convincing the Government will be a lot harder than convincing other adults and young adults in the matter. The Government makes decisions based on facts and really doesn’t go on opinions, which is hard for this topic because it is so opinion and moral based. This is just an overview of what I will be presenting in my final project and I really think I can make my argument strong by my billboard without drowning everyone with just a bunch of statistics.

The part of this project that will be the hardest for me is finding facts for the Government about lowering the drinking age and the benefits. I think that by having the support of professors from prestigious universities and others opinions that range from in support and constructive criticism, this will only make my argument stronger. This topic will be very controversial and time consuming so by helping make a point by presenting a strong visual aid, I feel this can help convince a Government official faster than if you just used words. For me, I am a real visual learner so it really helps to see something that is colorful and creative. Certain tactics I will use while constructing my billboard will be making sure the images are realistic and proportional. Also, I will make sure there is a pop of color or a certain emphasis for the strongest part of the poster. I’m actually really excited about making this because creativity is something I find more as a hobby, and not a chore.