GLH10302-Research Freewrite

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Freewriting about Your Research Topic (Alfano 96)

Daniel Richards

September 19, 2008

Research Freewrite: Visual Rhetoric Thesis Two: Shellshock as a Bridge between Nihilism and Society, Three-paragraph Model

“Shellshock,” formally referred to as post-traumatic stress syndrome, became the leading psychological reason for the inhumanity to all war in the modern sense, beginning with its first victims during the First World War. Even today is it seen, enough to question the further viability of the world’s governments to take authority over how its human components to the military are exploited and expended to the benefit of the economically satisfactory mechanics behind the dichotomy of man versus machine in the dynamic of modern to postmodern combat. Combat has evolved to such a state of intensity since the dawn of the last century such that a serious percentage of its human components have eventually malfunctioned – and will eventually malfunction – till the point of their total inactivity and essential neutralization from the dichotomy of the situation, so as to spurn the imminent failure of the entire functioning war machine if given enough time to do so for one side of the firing range. Although the concept may at first seem too drastically radical and dramatic considering how the horrendous reception of human technology’s worst possible volleys of destruction has never necessarily liquidated the army’s ability to continue computing its next moves in full swing, it may be worth noting that the resultant percentage of returning troops from deployment recorded suffering from legitimate cases of this “bug-eyed” syndrome has steadily increased over the statistical timeline covering all other major wars previous which have been both categorized under the distinction of “modern” wars and documented at length. Tentative thesis: With the increasing potential for devastation of the staple, modern weapons used in relatively recent epochs of extensive combat, there exists a sufficiently parallel increase in reported cases of post-traumatic stress syndrome, specifically as a statistical percentage with respect to the size of the coalition deployed thereof.

To research this topic, I hope to examine a broad range of archival evidence from various news media that have delved before into the discussion on the impact of the current recorded cases of post-traumatic stress syndrome, granted that the news characteristically seems to take on such topics from the humanitarian, sentimentalist approach quite often and regularly; these particular resources will best reinforce my thesis from the angle of its blatant importance concerning its attention from the civilian mainframe of governmental society. Citing books along with other scholarly sources, however, will prove endemic to the more credibility side of the thesis, whether from the analytical standpoint of the psychologist or the Army Red Cross.

The most difficult part of this assignment will likely be having to find the right news articles on the topic at hand, let alone having to decipher and interpret the professional jargon that I will inevitably have to encounter through my declared, various explorations of hard documentation, all on the order of what most researchers would generally consider to be “dense” material. This more scholarly attempt at backing, however, will prove entirely necessary since the topic’s clinical attributes are just as critical to the credibility of the argument which will be expounding upon – and most importantly defending – my thesis.

At a Glance #2 for Thesis #2

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – At a Glance (Alfano 91)

Daniel Richards

September 15, 2008

Screening Questions for Topics: Visual Rhetoric Thesis Two: Shellshock as a Bridge Between Nihilism and Society

1. Am I interested in the topic? – As a World-War history buff, specifically from the Annalesian take of the common soldier, the phenomenon of shellshock particularly intrigues me concerning the setbacks of the synthesis between humanity and combat, primarily because of its close affiliations with many other sciences besides the overarching military science to the byproduct at hand. For instance, it incorporates an exploration of the complexities of the human mind, how and where it can go wrong within a given set of circumstances, in which it implicitly ranges from the discipline of psychology to military medicine. These studies especially captivate me because of my own psychological troubles I had encountered in high school and because of the fact that my father, an emergency physician, had begun his own medical career as a Vietnam-era medic who for years had dealt with the intensive trends regarding the focal points of military medicine, respectively.

2. Can I argue a position on this topic? – I should be able to narrow my concentration into a less demanding reservoir for this potentially dense exploration by essentially focusing for now on the general goal of comparing wars of the past to those of the present with regards specifically to the emergence of post-traumatic stress syndrome as a real factor to prolonged combat situations while in the context of its uncensored prospects with respect to its impact on civilian society and its own evolving outlook on war back at home within the umbrella of the national state in itself.

3. Will I be able to find enough research material on this topic? – Fortunately, my topic is not at all uncharted, such that my troubles with finding the necessary background information for reinforcing the authoritative credibility as the backdrop to my own particular argument on the study should be considerably minimal.

4. Does this sort of research appeal to me? – Luckily, I am overall capacious enough as far as literary aptitude goes when it comes to translating the prospectively inevitable technicalities inherent in my topic into a more vernacular text for the upcoming analytical tasks that will be necessary to the fruition of my next research assignment in proper form thereof as exclusively an argument.

GLH10302-Visual Rhetoric #2: Concentrated Ideas

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Visual Rhetoric Assignment #2; Concentrated Ideas

Daniel Richards

September 12, 2008

Preliminary Notes and Thesis Concepts on the Second Visual Rhetoric Assignment, Topical to the Subject of the Compelling Attributes to Photographs of Shellshock Victims

• It is in the eyes; those glaring, lifeless eyes that have seen too much. Ever since the first victims of post-traumatic stress syndrome, also known as “shellshock,” were hysterically – or frozenly – pried from the soul-smashing trenches of the Great War, the medical field had devoted immense studies to the causes of such stunning, bizarre cases of mental malfunctioning. They needed to know – and still do today – how to avoid it, not necessarily because of its debilitating effects on the soldier himself, but rather because of the debilitating, demoralizing impacts it would have on the outlook on all wars thereafter.
• Sometimes a result of extreme sleep deprivation, which particularly falls under the subcategory of battle fatigue, shellshock impairs the individual’s both physical and mental capabilities to a surprising extent. The worst outcome regarding the now so-termed “medical condition” is the life-lasting impact it can have not only upon that individual alone, but also upon his prior friends and family back home.
• In these respects, shellshock can be legitimately regarded as a contagion. The mere facial expression resembling a hypnotized, even faceless, zombie can prove remarkably – but not so surprisingly on the order of humanity – dangerous to the sentiments of all his other brothers-in-arms caught up in the same combat situation. One man’s plummeting into that notorious “thousand-yard stare” could easily become another man’s cracking into a crazed state of hysteria, which can sometimes go as far as suicidal behavior.
• Perhaps arguably the worst accompaniment of shellshock, hallucinations, can impose an enormous safety hazard on all the victim’s squad members, especially when he remains entrusted with a deadly weapon in hand. The grave detriment essentially presides in the victim’s eventual lack of notion for who is friend and who is foe. Several cases exist having recorded incidents in which soldiers have been killed by their own comrades – happening to be shell-shocked, of course – mistakably because of their lack of better judgment otherwise; this appalling concept additionally proves to be starkly problematic to the credibility of all further conductivity of modern warfare because it dangerously plays in to that nihilistic pacifist theory that ultimately, after having seen war for what it really is down to its core – pure Hell – the only enemy is one’s very own bleared and compassion-weary mind. The fine line between brother and enemy becomes even more obscured in this light.
• In World War One especially, the smart ones – that is, the veterans – would quickly learn the true rudimentary practices behind this new-war-era philosophy: that the only victory was within their very own personal spheres, specifically in which the element of survival came first and foremost. Existentialism exploded out of the festering womb of the Great War’s scars on the Western world, those scars comprising its mutilated survivors, either physically or mentally – or both. Thanks to the new impact on the mindset of the war-weary combatant, that wrought by the plague of shellshock – in which the basest Social Darwinian instincts of animalistic, self-preservation-driven behaviors would simply drop all other human concerns, such as one’s further caring for the disposition of his fellow man – all wars today have been philosophically approached at the level of the individual, not the crucial team of hierarchical leadership, as it had once been such. Therefore, automatically, even though our country may come out of it all victoriously in the end, we will no longer dwell on team accomplishment, but on the individual trauma, regardless of military statistical consequences in dispute for either conflicting side.

GLH10302-Peer-review Personal Reflection

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Visual Rhetoric Assignment; Reflection

Daniel Richards

September 10, 2008

Personal Assessment of Effective Argumentative Strategies with Respect to the Completed Task of the Peer-review Exercise

Primarily what I encountered during the peer review process of revising and finalizing our visual-rhetoric research papers as a group whole is the reminder that I myself need to include more references to the fundamental canons of rhetoric when analyzing my artifact. I had forgotten to cite my Envision in Depth textbook, such that arguably my preliminary draft had run more askew and awry in its argumentative focal point regarding my originally prescribed thesis statement than my peer-review partner had evidently processed. I also learned from the standard inventory of evaluative checkpoints on the peer-review chit that I had not refined my rough draft to the satisfactory degree implied in the narrow specifics of the various questions I had encountered, nonetheless, concerning my own partner’s exchanged rough draft on the topic of gas prices inherent in current political cartooning media.

Specifically, I should have diverted more effort and attention toward the intrinsic argumentative traits of my artifact rather than upon the authoritative reinforcement of rather effusive scholarly quotations that were directly cited rather than to the more impressive effect that derives itself from the commitment to paraphrasing. Most importantly, however, how I best identified my own strengths and weaknesses in my own documentation arrived from the easily accessible and reliable source of my very own partner’s hard copy. Her broad range of well-established approaches to her more polished thesis reminded me of my own vulnerabilities to the credibility of my own thesis draft. For instance, I acknowledged in my reading of the draft of a fellow classmate that I was specifically lacking in a soundly founded base for my main argument with respect to the appeals to my own prospective audience school.

I sincerely regard this peer-review tactical approach to personal compositional revision as a crucial step toward denoting one’s own rhetorical flaws, fallacies, and holes. I am thereby currently more confident and informed on the specific details upon which I must expound my most particularly fundamental input of assessment within the now more well-defined constraints of my own research thesis of visual rhetoric.

GLH10302-Thesis Statement

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Visual Rhetoric Assignment; Thesis Statement

Daniel Richards

September 3, 2008

Elements of Visual Rhetoric Embedded in the Architectural Attributes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural design for his world-famous, secluded, Pennsylvania home, Fallingwater, was purported to advance a statement how residential designs need to become more open to mutual feedback from their surrounding environments, in that they need to be eco-friendly enough so as not to waste unnecessary energy and effort in the disruption and mutilation of nature’s currents, both literally and figuratively. After all, mankind was originally fathomed as a mere component of all the infinitesimal complexities of nature, which always appears ultimately to dwarf our sense of sovereignty and superiority over all its subtleties toward regulating and executing both Creation’s and entropy’s conventions. Thus, as an argument of visual rhetoric, man’s homes must look as natural as those of all the wild creatures of this earth, since the home is the most plentiful manmade accommodation of all, over urban settings, congregational facilities, and attractions alike.

GLH10302-Academic Integrity Pledge

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – In-class Group Work

Daniel Richards

September 3, 2008

Academic Integrity Pledge

Academic integrity defines the willingness to conduct oneself as a loyal contributor to ethical reasoning and other various conduct codes. Academic integrity means that we as learners must do our best to be honest and sincere in our course work, in extra-curricular activities, and in the bare essentials of everyday life. What academic integrity means to Clemson University is that Clemson is segregated from all other public institutions – thereby making it significant its own right – specifically in that Clemson is more pristine in its ethical morality.

As fellow students of Clemson University, we pledge to adhere to these aforesaid principals; namely we promise not to plagiarize, steal, cheat, allow other people to cheat, lie, and – most importantly of all – not to take the easy way out, even if we really want to. We will carry these morals close to our hearts, and always in our minds, as we tread into the realm of professionalism.

GLH10302-Thesis Exercise

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Visual Rhetoric Assignment; Thesis Exercise

Daniel Richards

September 3, 2008

Elements of Visual Rhetoric Embedded in the Architectural Attributes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

1. Close observations – The house is carefully nestled into the wooded setting of the creek-bed vicinity, as if deliberated to be original – or completely stationary – to the context of its surroundings. It cleverly incorporates the waterfall component as if to suggest that the house was not designed about the feature of “falling water,” per se, but rather the vice versa deceptively appears to be correct vantage point for analyzing this architectural demonstration properly. The house is obviously a daring feat to the extent that its engineering components are extremely demanding, concerning the voluminous factors to consider regarding a self-evidently unstable and especially uneven terrain.

2. First Statement – The architect of the house, Frank Lloyd Wright, wishes to make a statement of how both nature and invention must coalesce in order to exude the most exotic qualities to the matrix properties of residential living, in so designing this house to fit these particularly fashionable criteria.

3. Ask yourself – How? What coalescence? To what effect? How do I know this?

4. Revised statement – Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural design for his world-famous, secluded, Pennsylvania home, Fallingwater, was purported to advance a statement how residential designs need to become more open to mutual feedback from their surrounding environments, in that they need to be eco-friendly enough so as not to waste unnecessary energy and effort in the disruption and mutilation of nature’s currents, both literally and figuratively.

5. Ask yourself – How can this observation be approached from a more purposeful standpoint? How does it tap into larger social or cultural issues?

6. Working thesis – Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural design for his world-famous, secluded, Pennsylvania home, Fallingwater, was purported to advance a statement how residential designs need to become more open to mutual feedback from their surrounding environments, in that they need to be eco-friendly enough so as not to waste unnecessary energy and effort in the disruption and mutilation of nature’s currents, both literally and figuratively. After all, mankind was originally fathomed as a mere component of all the infinitesimal complexities of nature, which always appears ultimately to dwarf our sense of sovereignty and superiority over all its subtleties toward regulating and executing both Creation’s and entropy’s conventions. Thus, as an argument of visual rhetoric, man’s homes must look as natural as those of all the wild creatures of this earth, since the home is the most plentiful manmade accommodation of all, over urban settings, congregational facilities, and attractions alike.

GLH10302-At a Glance

George Lewis Hughes

English 103: Accelerated Composition – Visual Rhetoric Assignment; At a Glance

Daniel Richards

September 1, 2008

Elements of Visual Rhetoric Embedded in the Architectural Attributes of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater

One importance to understand about world-famous, early twentieth century, Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright is that he is self-defined only to the constraints of originality; that is, everything he designs directly embraces its setting, whether urban or natural. Thus, his stylistic approaches persistently vary according to which building materials best meld into its surroundings. Although essentially all of his designs are generally strange, they can also isolate themselves in terms of their consistently vast and oftentimes even overwhelming size and scale.

Wright was extremely attentive to and concerned with details in his architecture, even to an extent of conducting interior decorations and works of art inscribed quite abstractly into the very masonry of both the interior and exterior respective facades on his own volition. In those terms he was his own artist. His later designs, however, often did reflect the prevalent and signature architectural trend of the Roaring Twenties, namely, the Art-Deco style, which may also partially aid in the voluminous explanations for his pursuit of densely acquired relief designs on selective components of his buildings.

As a young architect in training, I am particularly intrigued by Wright’s style of designing eco-friendly homes, on the condition that such practices are becoming increasingly important in the wake of the “Global Warming” paranoia. Nevertheless, the properties of his arguably most renowned design, Falling Water, also captivate my imagination because of its totally unparalleled originality. He not only succeeds in its mutual status with the natural environment in upstate Pennsylvania, but he also even manages to give the house an organic character all to itself, specifically with respect to blending in with the natural surroundings.