1.) Something that I found crucial in the reading was the fact that manifestos are used to declare a new idenetity. From the exerpt from the Declaration of Independence; Thomas Jefferson wrote about trying to cut ties with England, trying to make a new identity. The same goes for the manifesto about the graphic designers, they want to find different ways to use their skills, instead of using them for commercial and marketing; "There are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills."
2.) Responding to the petition about the 2 million slum dwellers of Nairobi
The purpose of the petition is to try to convince the President of Kenya; Mwai Kibaki, to make the lives of the people in Nairobi a little better, and to stop the forces evictions and horrendous living conditions. I do not believe that the petition is effective, mostly because it was just a list. The author didnt put any emotion into it, it was mostly dry. What the author used as evidence was facts about the living conditions and how terrible they were. They describe the conditions and the effects of them and the evictions. I feel that the writing was at its best in the first paragraph because it painted an image of how awful it is to live in Nariobi. "Crammed into makeshift shacks on just one percent of the city's usable land, people live without adequate access to water, hospitals, schools, and other essential public services." This paints a picture of the people crowded into small, dirty 'houses', with no access to water.
I agree that the fact that manifestos are used to declare a new Identity is a crucial part of the reading. I really like the example you gave with Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Declaration of Independence helped form a new identity for the colonies by breaking away from England. It is definitely a "pursuit worth of our problem solving skills". I also agree with you that the Nairobi petition was unaffective because of how it presented information.
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