Rise of the E-Book

With the recent IT boom, it is inevitable that an alternative to paper books will be developed. And that is the electronic book, or E-Book for short. There are, of course, pros and cons for E-Books, just like paper books. I shall just mention the pros and cons of the E-Book since I doubt that anyone reading my blog have never touched a paper book in their life.
Pros:

• More environmentally friendly (MOST IMPORTANT)
• More portable (Many book in one reader)
• Provides light for reading

Cons:

• You need a decent E-Book reader
• Battery life limits reading time
• Eye-strain and RSI (It is still an electronic after all)
• E-Book readers are very fragile (Well, more fragile than a paper book anyway)
• E-Books are not readily available

Now, I shall talk about the problems caused by the E-Book in the writer community. Most authors dislike E-Books since readers of E-Books (for some reason) expect E-Books to be free just because it is on the Internet. This would lead to writers earning less income and some potentially excellent books might not be published. Even authors need to eat. If you really support the author and want to read more books by said author, then support them by buying their books! There is no reason not to pay for a good book.

The London Riots

For those of you who do not know, the London Riots started when the family of an African American who was shot dead by the police after he 'shot' (with a replica gun) at some police officers decided to protest against his death. The African American was shot multiple times until his face was unrecognisable. The protest turned ugly when the people started rioting and looting to 'show their anger towards an uncalled for and illegal police shooting'. Yeah right, nothings says 'I am feeling upset about an unnecessary death caused by racism' like cleaning out electronic and jewellery stores and setting fire to buildings and vehicles. I bet that most of the 'protesters' have no idea of what they are 'protesting' about. The term 'rioters' would be more accurate since they have no valid cause for their 'protest'. It is very likely that most of the people just saw others looting and, like the sheep thay are, follow. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out the link between this and my earlier post on altruism. So much for it, eh?
Although the protest started as a peaceful protest, there are numerous oppurtunists who take the chance to do what they would normally not dare to do when there is law and order. Namely looting, arson, striking out at police officers and rioting. To quote my previous post:
"Moreover, when disaster strikes, most people would adopt the ‘every man for himself’ mentality. As proven when a tourist asked a police officer for assistance and got the response, "Go to hell, it's every man for himself.", when people are confused or scared, they would automatically look out for number one, that is, themselves. This mentality often results in selfishness and thus makes any thought of helping others near impossible, much less altruism."
Though I doubt the rioters are scared or confused, it is now the survival of the fittest in London. There is absolutely (Ok, maybe there are but they are not reported) little evidence of altruism and common sense has clearly taken a long term leave.
To round it off, this post is actually just an example and proof of my post "Blog Prompts 10 - Does crisis bring out the best in man? " with a bit of an extension on mob mentality.

Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream'

One of the most famous speech about freedom in our history: Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream'. Today, I shall analyse this speech to the best of my ability and let you, too, see what makes this speech so great. The full speech can be found here for reference: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
I suggest that you open the link in another tab and read it first before reading the analysis.

'I Have a Dream' uses many stylistic devices, among them are:

• Anaphora
• Hyperbole & strong opening
• References to other speeches
• Metaphors

Anaphora:
Repetition of words or phrases.
Martin Luther King's speech's most famous anaphora would, naturally, be the phrase 'I have a dream'. This phrase is repeated a grand total of 8 times throughout the speech. However, this is not the only time King used anaphora. The other examples are:

• 'One hundred years later...' (3rd paragraph)
• 'Now is the time...' (6th paragraph)
• 'We must...' (8th paragraph)
• 'We can never be satisfied...' or 'We can never be satisfied...' (13th paragraph)
• 'Go back to...' (14th paragraph)
• 'I have a dream...' (16th to 24th paragraph)
• 'With this faith...' (25th paragraph)
• 'Let freedom ring...' (27th to 41st paragraph)

Hyperbole & strong opening:
I could only find one example of hyperbole in King's speech and that is at the beginning. "I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation." This is a very strong opening as it asserts very clearly what King is trying to achieve through his speech. The word 'greatest' is the hyperbole in this case.

References to other speeches:
King very evidently respected Abraham Lincoln as he made his speech at the Lincoln Memorial and begin his second paragraph with the words 'Five score years ago...' which echoes Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address speech beginning with the words 'Four score and seven years ago...' This is a very good choice of reference as:

• He is standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial
• He is, like Abraham Lincoln, fighting for the freedom of the Negros

Metaphors:
King was either very, very fond of metaphors or used them to paint a picture in his audience's minds. The latter seem more likely. The metaphors used are:

• 'This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.' (2nd paragraph)
• '...the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.' (3rd paragraph)
• '...the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.' (3rd paragraph)
• 'In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check... And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.' (4th to 5th paragraph. Compares the Emancipation Proclamation, freedom etc. to checks, money and banks. Not a good comparison since freedom and justice is immaterial but money is.)
• '...take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.' (6th paragraph)
• 'Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.' (6th paragraph)
• ' This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.' (7th paragraph)
• 'The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.' (7th paragraph)

Need I continue? There is a large abundance of metaphors in King's 'I Have a Dream' and to list them all would be entirely unnecessary.

This is then end of my analysis as of now. I would really like it if anyone else posta comment i they feel that I missed out something in my analysis which should be there. Till the next time.