Pictures really are worth a Thousand Words

Well, for this video, my visual argument, I wanted to choose a topic that I believe in, because that always makes the argument much more real and valid. I chose the topic of stem cells because it is a current issue both scientifically and politically. I also think many people have misconceptions about stem cells and I wanted to create an argument that supported stem cell research in our society.

When I started looking for images I had an idea of the way I wanted my project to be organized. I wanted to introduce my topic at the beginning and briefly show what stem cell research consists of. I showed a woman doing stem cell research, and then I showed a picture of stem cells under a microscope to make it seem like the viewer was looking in the microscope as well. Then I showed three different types of somatic cells (blood cells, bone cells, and neurons) to give the viewers an idea of what the products of stem cell research and development can be. I also placed neurons last because those are the most important, they only regenerate every 75 years, and I wanted to leave that image with the audience.

Next I showed a picture of hands reaching out to proceed into talking about who can be helped if we utilize stem cells in our medical practices. I showed pictures of children in need of organ transplants, children with diabetes, children with birth defects, and a picture relating a cirrhosis liver to  a healthy liver. I chose to focus largely on children because children generally evoke the most emotions among an audience and makes them more likely to agree with my argument to utilize the research. I also showed the two livers because the cirrhosis is most often caused by alcohol poisoning and many people may know someone in their lives who struggles with alcohol.

Then I showed a picture of a breast cancer symbol and an old man recovering from a stroke to coincide with the part in the song where it says, “Tell my mother, tell my father” because breast cancer usually affects older women and strokes usually affect older men. This also helps connect with the viewers because many may relate to having sick parents and wanting to help them. Finally in the segment of who the research can help, I put in a picture of Jack Jablonski to show that it can help spinal cord victims, but I more specifically put it in because my target audience is very familiar with the terrible events last year that paralyzed Jablonski.

From there I put in a picture that says changes ahead to show that we have the potential to help these people if we simply make use of the technology and resources available to us. The next picture says “wasting time” because we have the ability to help these people through research but are currently in a political stalemate as to whether we want to use it or not.

Then I segued into showing babies in a dumpster because that is the picture many people have in their mind when they think of abortions. I then showed a crossed out trash can to illustrate that with stem cell research we can make use of aborted fetuses and not let them go to waste. Stem cell research can be done on these fetuses, and the next picture saying “never going back” highlights the technological progress we have made medicinally in abortion and in making use of the fetuses that were previously going to waste, but instead could be used to save lives.

In the final section I showed stem cells again just to point out that this was wrapping up the presentation. Then I showed a picture of a heart in someone’s hands to show not only that you can generate a fully functioning heart through stem cell research, but also the more figurative sense that the “hearts” of many potential patients are in our hands, and that those patients may only survive if we develop new medical processes through stem cell research. Finally I showed two hands holding another hand to wrap up the video and show that we have the ability to take care of our fellow people, and one way to do that is by allowing the use of stem cell research.

The song I chose for the video is “Second Chance” by Shinedown. I chose this song because the overall title highlights one of the ideas of the presentation, which is that we can give many people another chance at life that previously would not have had one. The lyrics also relate. “My eyes are open wide” tells how we as a society know that stem cell research is a real possibility, and that we just have to make the choice to use it. “Even the man in the moon disappeared” illustrates that the times are changing in our world, and we need to adapt to the changes around us, and one of the adaptations we can make is supporting stem cell research.

My Argument in Toulmin Terms

Toulmin structured his arguments as claims and reasons, with warrants underlying both. The claim of my argument is that stem cell research should be fully allowed in our society. The reasons behind my claim are that stem cell research can benefit large amounts of people and that scientists have linked stem cells with every aspect of human development up until birth, which means they can be used to improve the health of humans with nearly any condition. The warrant, or assumptions holding up the argument are: humans are innately compassionate, helping people is good, research leads to progress, scientists are smart, being healthy is good, doing a lot is better than doing a little.

My analysis of this was about 1000 words.