Rhetorical Analysis Reflection

     I actually have not created any sort of formal rhetorical analysis in the past. It was never a project I had to do in high school. Prior to beginning this paper the only thing I knew about rhetoric is that it was something that did not demand a response. It seems the most common place that people use rhetoric as device in everyday interaction is to ask a question that drives home a point in argument or debate. For example someone may say to a friend: "Do you really think I have it in me to do that to you?" one might use this device as almost a figurative slap in the face that brings another back into a frame of reason. It's inception type nature of summary analysis is making it difficult for me to work on the project, but I'm two pages in now and think I'm getting a better hang of it.

    In our documentary project the film I chose focused heavily on the effects of global warming. Since that's been on my mind I feel like I'm seeing news about climate change everywhere. I've seen in the general news a hundred times this past week about how Bill Gates is planning to block the sun in an effort cool the planet. It sounded insane so I decided to research a little of what exactly that means apart from the sensational headlines. This clearly is a judgement I am making about someone else's choice and the effect it may have. There are many articles claiming that Bill Gates is solely launching a device into the atmosphere that will block the suns rays from reaching Earth. My initial judgement was of course... that is crazy, nobody voted for this to be done, how does one person hold so much power? However, after reading Brad Bergan's article for the website Interesting Engineering I found there is much more to the story. The article states that Bill Gates has provided an undisclosed amount of funding to Harvard research project, Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment (SCoPEx). The project plans to send a weather balloon 6.2 miles into the stratosphere. At which point it will release non-hazardous reflective particles with the intention of blocking direct sunlight. Essentially creating a shade over some portion of Sweden. If successful the particles will cover an area of the sky 0.62 miles long and 328 feet wide. The intention of the project is to determine weather it will even have any impact on cooling. Bill Gates has said that conceptually it is "a good idea" to block the sun. Now after reading more into the project it still appears shady, pun intended, in my eyes. The research team says that they hope to move forward with the concept and develop global cooperation in blocking the sun. 

Bergan, Brad. “Harvard's Plan to Block Direct Sunlight Is a Great Idea, Says Bill Gates.” Interesting Engineering, Interesting Engineering, 29 Jan. 2021, interestingengineering.com/harvards-plan-blot-out-sun-bill-gates.

    What exactly does that mean? Is their plan to completely block the sun from the entire planet, portions at a time, half and half? They aren't exactly clear. Honestly, I don't know what's going on. The world is crazy and I thought this would fit for my post since I reacted initially with a great deal of judgement towards the concept. I hope you had a good read or maybe you can now go drive yourself mad diving into Bill Gates conspiracies.