Self-Analysis Post

Whenever I begin to analyze anything, I believe that the most important factor in just how well something has been accomplished is determine by just how much growing and maturing the person has become at whatever they are pursuing. With this being said, as I begin to analyze myself and critique my writing, my development as a thinker on the subject about military families and communities, and my ability to create and argument, I believe that I must analyze myself from beginning to end.

When I first began this particular blogging project, I must admit, that even while I tried to eliminate my biases, it was extremely difficult to separate my personal feelings and write without emotions. I thought that since I grew up in a military town and had military family involvement, then I knew everything about the subject; however, I was extremely wrong.

http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/is-money-really-worth-destruction.html
The link above is to my very first blog entry that I wrote for this project. As I look back at the blog, I can say that rhetorical situation is rather strong; however, when analyzing the second paragraph, I realize that I am relying more on an emotional appeal to the reader, instead of just a logical appeal. At this point in the project, it was rather difficult for me to separate my emotions and preconceive perceptions and write just objectively. As the blogging project began to progress, I realized that I needed to shift my writing, while it was rather persuading, from trying to attain an emotional appeal and try to prove my argument logically. For example, in this particular post, http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/as-most-of-our-nation-realizes-economic.html , I found myself making a faulty analogy, that at the time seemed logically.

As I began to become more in-depth with the project, my mind was consumed with an abundance of information and I found out that a majority of the ideas that I thought were true were actually extremely FALSE. For example, I began this project with the idea that the wars are actually helping military communities and the nation economically, but rather, it is actually hurting it rather a lot. The only economic factor that I found to be true is that each soldier receives a bonus for being deployed. In military communities, when the soldiers are away, the economic situation in military communities begins to worsen exponentially. A majority of the customers are gone from the town, leaving business waiting for the soldiers to come back. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/video?id=7063332 – This link provides the military communities perspective of the economic situation when the soldiers are away.

While a majority of the information I found proved that there are many negative effects to the war, there were a few facts that I found that actually were positives effects from the wars on military families. When interviewing a military wife, she said that while she was saddened to see her husband go over seas, the deployment actually improved their relationship and has given her a sense of independence. She now cuts the grass, changes the oil, and she realizes that she can take care of herself. http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/positives-what.html While some women feel this way, there are plenty who have to deal with abuse, a depleting marriage, and tons of other turmoil because of their spouse’s deployment.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:YQlLRG3FwVkJ:www.owlnet.rice.edu/~nava101/psych.ppt+psychological+disorders+from+war&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us - This link is a PowerPoint presentation that elaborates on the many psychological issues that have been seen in the United States because of the war in Iraq.

The first real shift seen in my writing from just pure emotion to attaining a logical appeal came with the Analysis Post. http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/analysis-post.html - This post forced me to examine both sides of the argument and was forced to find information that supported my assertions. This post shifted my statements from just assertions and actually provided evidence that turned these assertions into arguments. From this point, my rhetorical situation improved and it encouraged me to find facts first and then make assertions later. http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/wars-and-divorce-rates.html - This post about the effect that wars have on the divorce rate within our nation manages to eliminate the emotional appeal that I tried to attain within my first couple of posts, and actually fully focused on logic.

Also during this blogging project, I felt that it was important to not just convey my ideas through words, but through political cartoons, too. A picture says a thousand words, right? The two links below give examples of the type of political cartoons that have been present within my blog.
http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/political-cartoon.html http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com/2009/10/health-care-cost-v-war-cost.html

Overall, after analyzing my blog, my growth as a thinker, and my ability to create an argument, I think that I have matured as a writer, learned to put my emotions on the back burner, and learned how to create an argument logically.