1. Here's a great read on a somewhat overlooked topic: receipt length. Firstly, what do you think of this topic? Know that this story ran on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Secondly, what interesting facet of MA life could we express in a similarly styled story? Note the topic has to be somewhat fun but serious enough to make the reader scratch her head.
2. Check out this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal. It's about healthcare — the most heated topic of discourse in the press these days — but note the author. This is a perfect example of how it's important to consider a writer's intentions when expressing an opinion. Does the author's credentials bolster his claims or weaken them? How and why?
Share your thoughts, ideas, and moments of brilliance.
9 comments:
RECEIPT LENGTH: The article brought up a comical, but very valid point. I think it is interesting to hear about how receipts have grown in length, however, I don't think the article covered all parts of the issue. One piece that I piece that I thought was missing was the environmental impact of both the extra paper and ink. There is so much extra information printed on receipts, and I think that businesses could limit this by asking if customers wanted information on things like rebates and return policies, as these could be printed separately and only when necessary.
At MA, I think we could relate this to the amount of papers we print out. Even the first week, we were overloaded by general course expectations and papers like "how to take notes." I think by now that this is pretty well understood and unnecessary. Also, just the mass of papers we receive in general means a lot of paper used to make copies. Finally, all the papers we turn in are double space and only use one side, when we could save space and double side them as well.
Receipts...
I completely agreed with most everything covered in the article and appreciated the slightly humorous approach. Although the length of receipts may not be as pressing as the health care crisis, I do think it is important to point out slightly less significant ways in which we are wasteful on a daily basis.
I recently talked to Joe Harvey about an experiment he conducted at his previous school. He and his students measured the amount of water the used and wasted on a daily basis. As Olivia said, paper has definitely been an issue however today it is less so, as basically everything in online. I think our daily water consumption and waste, or food waste would be an interesting approach.
If we really want to talk about length, I think it would be easy to focus on the lunch line. What is the annual revenue of the cafeteria, anyway?
Health care...
I probably could have guess the Karl Rove, or a prominent member of the Republican Party, had written this article before reading the by line. Although I may not agree with Mr. Rove, I have to admit that this is what opinion pieces are all about. He clearly stated his opinions, no matter how biased, and gave the reader ALOT to think about. This is a good reminder as to why Op/Eds have their own section of the newspaper, and are adorned with an extremely important by line.
Having been the "senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush" gives Rove a great deal of power as an author. At the same time, his name, and credentials, put a red flag on the page. Not only is the writer incredibly biased, but so is the reader.
RECEIPT LENGTH: This article supports what I have been thinking for a long time. Whenever I am at a supermarket or any store that provides a receipt I question how many people actually use the receipt they are given. I know that after I buy something I usually end up recycling the receipt. Sometimes I ask the cashier to do it for me. I think that receipts are huge wastes of paper due to their 1) length and 2) the fact that no very many people seem to use them. I think to solve this problem, receipt printing should be optional. A cashier should say "Would you like your receipt?" and if someone says "Yes", then they hit the print button and a receipt will be given. This will save a ton of paper and ink.
Healthcare: Healthcare has become such a heated debate with so many sides that it is very difficult for me to choose which one I fully agree with. Karl Rove had VERY biased thoughts that I feel were unattractively shoved down my throat. He has a valid point that we do need to seriously look at both sides. No one should be unhappy or disappointed in the healthcare system. Although Obama's universal healthcare plan will benefit many, I think it is important that it doesn't negatively affect some Americans as well. From what is going on right now, I think it is going to be extremely hard to do this, maybe even impossible.
HEALTHCARE:
I agree with what Amanda said about Karl Rove's writing style. From the first sentence ("August was the worst year of Barack Obama's presidency"), his opinion and his intentions were clear.
While I disagree with virtually all the opinions expressed in this piece, I do think that for some readers, his credentials would bolster his claims as he is a powerful man who took time to write a piece about a subject that is of obvious importance to him.
For more liberal readers, I think that the mere fact that he is Karl Rove would definitely weaken his claims, as many would not trust anything he says or even bother to read his piece.
What struck me most about this piece (and is definitely related to the issue of his credentials) was how clearly The Wall Street Journal made sure that everyone knew who the author the piece was. On the side there is a lengthy bio about Rove AND at the bottom of the piece it explains who he is again, just to insure that everyone knows from what perspective this piece is written.
receipt length: I personally thought this article was preposterous at first. It seemed like a very trivial issue, but after thinking about it, I realized it actually wasn't. Americans need to cut down on excess damage to the environment, in more ways than buy hybrids and recycling. Lots of times, the small changes that can easily be made are overlooked, and its these small changes that add up. It would cost stores less, and cram pockets less, if stores switched to e-receipts, like Apple suggested. This way, if people really care about having a record of their purchases, they can look them up online, and for the majority of people, who don't care at all, they can go on about their day without carrying around a 2 foot long receipt for the pack of gum they bought that morning.
Receipt length:
I really liked this article because I felt like it was a small look into a much larger issue: the overall wasteful tendencies of our society. I think that it was a good way with which to bring up an important topic, without sounding preachy. Although I agree with much of what the article stated about the unnecessary length of receipts and the ridiculousness of it, I also think that they left out some major points. They could have dug deeper into the financial ramifications for the companies and the environmental impacts of this issue.
I think that article like this one in regards to MA would be very interesting. We could discuss something like or water consumption or the cafeteria, like Amanda mentioned or even something much smaller. I think that it would be interesting to look into the fact that rarely do students use all of the paper in their notebooks each year and yet we all get new ones the year after. Or, we could even look at something as trivial as the fact that nobody ever uses...well actually I can't think of one, but I know there are things that we are given that none of us actually use.
-Olivia Powers
Receipt Length
I thought that this piece was very enjoyable, yet also alerted me to something I had not thought much about. One of the first things that struck me about the idea of longer receipts was the cleverness of the businesses using this tactic. These businesses can subtly advertise their products while you are on your way out of the door, even. I agree with Olivia that, for some reason, a major piece of the argument was not covered: the environmental impact. Seeing as green is "in" these days, I was surprised that the writer did not put something in about the waste that occurs from three-foot long receipts. Obviously, the MA spin on this article would be the environmental impact. Again like Olivia, I think that we could relate the whole receipt idea to the more general idea of class handouts. They are both large wastes of paper that sometimes even state the same things over and over again.
Lastly, as an Itunes customer, I receive my receipts in my email every time I make a purchase. I really like this method of reviewing my purchases, and I think we could even implement some kind of idea like this into MA classes.
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