Survival of the Fittest

In Rhetoric, Unit 3, we learned how to use our voices to gather for a cause. To understand how this is done we studied multiple forms of artwork that expressed messages about different topics. This brought us to our final action project: to create a piece of art that would "break the sound barrier" on an issue that we found important. My issue is war, however I took an uncommon stance on it. I believe in anti-glorification, not anti-war, meaning that we shouldn't hate war, but dislike how its perceived. It was difficult to express everything I wanted in my drawing. It was also quite strenuous to display logos and ethos into an image. Originally I wanted to create a song or poem, but due to last minute personal problems this was not feasible. Despite these setbacks I am very proud of my artistical representation of war. Please enjoy seeing and reading about my piece below.

War - a state of armed conflict between two groups. War - used to build up an audience in movies. War - a term we've grown up with and have seen in theaters. We sit in our seats shocked at the graphic scenes oh-ing and ah-ing, then leave to talk about how "wicked that was", or how "that was so cool", or "there should have been more bloodshed". People don't seem to realize that, despite being raised around war and violence, war is actually, literally and completely real. This means that real, living, breathing people die in pointless conflicts everyday. Government officials sit back and watch as their twisted chess game come to life. They are not afraid to start a war because they remain safe while others go out to die for their WANTS. For example when President Bush started a war with Iraq for oil. There were 4,475 American soldiers that died and 32,220 were wounded (Wihbey)because one man behind a desk desired oil. People all around the world must realize that war is not some game or event on a movie screen.

We must pay attention to how war affects not only our countries, but also the families of those who were lost. When I say "lost" I don't just mean physically - I mean mentally. There are many soldiers who come back from war with no physical alterations; however, their minds are never the same. I have a grandfather who served two terms in the Vietnam War for the Navy. He left fine,but came home with a severe case of PTSD. Almost 31% of Vietnam veterans have PTSD and this can be from multiple different stressors - the most predominate was being shot at and seeing dead bodies("PTSD: A Growing Epidemic" 10-14).

Soldiers with PTSD would often become alcoholics, abusive, and suffer from high anxiety(Price, Jennifer L., PhD. "PTSD: National Center for PTSD."); my grandad was a veteran affected by this. His disorder destroyed my family, forcing my mom and aunt to grow up with basically no parents, since my grandmother had to work three jobs to support them. This is why I chose to sound off artistically on war - it tears apart families causing pain and sadness. My goal is to have people understand that even though war happens - it's human nature - but we shouldn't glorify it. Humans fight for survival and status like any animal it's instinct and we can't help it. Though it is when we desensitize war through glorification that we, as a species, have crossed the line.

The medium i chose to express my viewpoint on war was a drawing. There are two things in this world everyone understands - music and pictures. You have the ability to show others how you feel without words. This image depicts three points of view - the family, the soldier, and the world. The family is seen as gray shadows standing at a funeral watching their loved one being buried. The soldier is being lowered in his casket into a battlefield where he took his dying breath. While all this tragedy and sadness goes on, the world is watching it all play out, seeing every moment the soldier had and every moment the family spent without him.

My piece expresses strong pathos because it shows the death of a soldier and the pain of those attending the funeral. Death is a very sensitive topic that makes people feel an intense turmoil of emotions. You can see an allusion to a war, no specific one, below the casket. Ethos is prevalent since I am the granddaughter of a Navy veteran and close friends with a Marine veteran. I have extensive knowledge on what war is really like due to conversations I've had with these two men. The logos of my piece is unwavering for this is an accurate representation of a battlefield. War happens all the time and people do die because of it. It will be difficult to disagree on anti-glorification of war after seeing these facts.

I want this piece to be posted and painted on sides of buildings all around the city of Chicago. In the age of social media, people will take pictures and post my image causing it to spread like wildfire around the nation and, hopefully, the globe. This way the general public will finally be aware of the reality of war, not some Hollywood version of it that they can walk away from when the movie ends.

Materials:

• iPad
• Drawing App
• Stylist

Works Cited:

"PTSD: A Growing Epidemic." NIH Medline Plus Winter 2009: 10-14. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Wihbey, John. "U.S. Military Casualties and the Costs of War: Iraq, Afghanistan and Post-9/11 Conflicts - Journalist's Resource." Journalists Resource. N.p., 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Price, Jennifer L., PhD. "PTSD: National Center for PTSD." Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study -. N.p., 17 Aug. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.