Prescription Drug Abuse

Credit: politicalhumor.about.com

In October 2003, Ruch Limbaugh was accused of being involved in an illegal drug trafficking ring as a larger purchaser of pain medications.  After being accused of abusing drugs, Rush Limbaugh came forward on his national radio show saying, “You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life.  I need to tell you today that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication.”

When these statements were given in 2003, I could not believe it.  Straight as an arrow right wing conservative Rush Limbaugh addicted to Oxycontin?  I feel that Rush Limbaugh’s addiction serves as a great argument for the addictive powers of pain medications.  I feel that by a well credited (by some) public figure like him proves that there is a real problem with pain medications and a strong potential for abuse.

This story is especially surprising after reading some of his previous quotes regarding drug use…”What this says to me is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we’re not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.”  Hypocritical or sad?

From cartoons to satelites to huge charts, Al Gore uses visuals as rhetoric throughout the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” brilliantly.   So, did Gore utilize visuals to add a dramatic touch to his points?  Or, did he have a stack of impressive visuals that he simply explained?

I really enjoyed the cartoon and thought it was a great use of visuals in the film.  It gives the audience a break from the dramatic documentary with sarcastic humor that resembles “The Simpsons.”  It really reminded me of the cartoon used in Michael Moore’s movie “Bowling for Columbine,” which was made by the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker.    Another memorable use of visuals is the part when he shows before and after pictures of the ice melting and how much the landscapes have changed. 

Here are three ideas for potential press releases:

1.  High School Seminars for parents

My first press release will be about a hypothetical series of seminars at local high schools educating parents about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.  The seminars will provide information as well as steps to prevent teen drug abuse.  The press release will be for local newspapers and/or local television stations.

2.  Barack Obama Campaign

With the timeliness of the upcoming election and all the issues being floated around, I decided to make a press release announcing Obama’s position and ideas to solve the teen Rx abuse crisis.  This press release will be given to internet media outlets, mainly political websites.

3.  Prescription drug abuse ad campaign

I plan on creating an organization similar to www.theantidrug.com.  This organization created an ad campaign targeted at parents with television commercials, print ads, many other forms of advertising to communicate the problem.  I plan on creating a series of hypothetical advertisements under my fictional organization.  This press release will be distributed to some major television stations and newspapers.

Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” is a well made documentary that uses clever rhetoric.  Throughout the film, Al Gore attempts to appeal to the viewers pathos in order to push the agenda of global warming.  Gore seems to be  playing the role of an every day American to make him more relatable to the audience, which makes them feel closer to him.  For  example, when Al is walking through the airport carrying his own luggage and waiting in line like a normal traveler.  I have a hard time believing that this is a reality.  Another example of Gore targeting our pathos is when he shows all the intense images like the glaciers falling into the ocean.  These kinds of images give the viewer a real life perspective on what it actually looks like when the ice caps are melting otherwise it is hard to imagine the intensity.   To further appeal to our emotions, Al discusses his family’s history of  being tobacco farmers and how his sister died from lung cancer. 

I really liked how Gore related the climate crisis to the tobacco industry.  The tobacco companies simply denied scientific facts that cigarrettes cause cancer much like global warming “deniers” call it a theory and the scientific proof is debatable.  I was unsure who these deniers were and why they would want to deny this problem anyway, besides the major fuel burning industries like Exxon. 

In conclusion, I found this documentary to be very informative and touching, but not very persuasive.  Most people who watched this film are probably already supporters of Al Gore and his agenda, so they were not in need of persuasion.  By Al Gore putting his name on this film blatenly targets left wing supporters, who mostly already agree that global warming is a serious problem.  The conservatives are largely the opposition to the “theory” and because his name is on the film, they will probably never get to see it thus not being persuaded.  Furthermore, I feel that his wrongly targeted persuasive documentary lacked in solutions.

The “Shock Doctrine” is a short film that examines how shock affects people and how it is used to change us. The film begins with a history on how shock therapy was used to treat people from mental or behavioral problems. It then shows how the CIA used shock therapy in an experiment where they electrically shocked human subjects. Out of these experiments came a handbook on how to breakdown prisoners to a childlike state so they can be manipulated. Immediatly after, the film shows a close up on the airplanes flying into the WTC on 9/11. It is very clever how the film creators switched gears from physical shock, to emotional and mental shock. The film argues that both physical and mental shock reduce us to a child like state and more inclined to manipulation. 

Throughout the film, many intense film clips are shown while the narrator is speaking.  For instance, while the narrator is discussing Milton Freedman, imagery of disasters, riots, and chaos are shown.  Freedman believes that immediatly after a crisis or disaster, people are most vulnerable and this is when government should push the more difficult policies.  The film cleverly uses shocking videos to shock its viewers, while discussing how shock can be used to manipulate people.  Brilliant film.