ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology » February 19th: Technology and Expediency

February 19th: Technology and Expediency

Technology and Yourself Essay Revisions are DUE!!!

Plan for the Day

  • Syllabus Updates for Future Assignments
  • The Pre-Valentine’s Day Marriage Article (population size and statistics)
  • Finish discussing Rachel Weber’s “Manufacturing Gender…”
    • Specifically, let’s discuss the perspective of female officers seeing a demand of special rights from women in the military (p. 378).
  • Discuss Fallows’s “The American Army and the M-16 Rifle”
  • Return to discussing American Values
  • An overview of the semester (time permitting…most likely next class on 2/24)
  • Social Construction of Technology Essay: Cultural Values, Technology
    • Ideology: beliefs, attitude, values of a culture that are often prevailing social attribute.
    • Monolithic: in terms of theories, an idea that is essential to the entire theory–rigid and uniform.

Fallows’s “The American Army and the M-16 Rifle”

Expedient: tending to promote some proposed or desired object; fit or suitable for the purpose.

{Notice the word isn’t synonymous with expedite–make something (e.g., a process) faster.}
{Also notice that it doesn’t imply the “best” solution–just a solution.}

This article often upsets readers (civilian and military alike). One of the first reactions is anger that an inferior weapon that most likely cost soldiers their lives was designed to meet the “traditional” requirements of those in charge and not the context in which the weapon would be used. I’m stunned about how little has been said about this significant %&#@-up in the history of the Vietnam War.

As we discuss the article, consider how technologies don’t come to be just because they’re the best. Many more factors go into their development. Remember, this reading is a story of the M-16 and not THE story. I guess that means there are plenty of other versions to pick and choose from in order to accommodate one’s worldview.

  • What are the political issues carried out in the construction of the M-16?
  • How come the tests didn’t catch the problems of the M-16?
  • What is the relationship between the military and business?

Some key passages from the reading:

  •  The M-16’s failures “were entirely the result of modifications made to the rifle’s original design by the Army’s own ordnance bureaucracy” (p. 382).
  • Six hundred-page “forgotten document….is the purest portrayal of the banality of evil in the records of modern American defense”
    • Note on writing: the above statement is an assertion. The rest of the article proves or, more accurately, argues/supports that statement.
  • Wound ballistics and tumbling bullets (p. 383).
  • “The ordnance corps had been in charge of small-arms design for the Army for more than a hundred years” (p. 384).
    • Ordnance corps focused on contexts more appropriate for marksmanship as opposed to troop combat (p. 384).
  • Ordnance corps stuck to tradition and had “an air of coziness” with the ammunition developers (p. 385).
  • Why is it important to note that the AR-15’s preferred bullets () allowed “almost three times as many rounds” to be carried (p. 385).
  • Comptroller of the Defense Dept. in 1962: “‘…the AR-15 is up to 5 times as effective as the M-14 rifle'” (as cited in Fallows, p. 386).
  • Ordnance corps chose tests that showed the AR-15 to look bad (p. 387).
  • The fight wasn’t in the Arctic or Mars but in Vietnam (pp. 387-388).
    • What might be an argument in support of an “all environment” standard as opposed to a context-specific standard applied to the ENTIRE military?
  • Even after the Air Force and Army testing showed ball powder to be an issue, the Army still ordered the inferior gun powder (p. 390).
  • “William Westmoreland…saw that his men were doing very badly in the fire fights against the AK-47 and that the casualties were heavy” (p. 390).

What do the letters at the end of the article (pp. 392-393) demonstrate about the relevant social group, the soldiers? Of all the relevant social groups, whose perspective should have been privileged? {Trick question because there’s only one correct answer.}

Social Construction of Technology Essays

These essays should give me good insight into your understanding of the issues we’ve explored in class. At the very least, you should be looking at technology from a perspective that might not be familiar to you. The first thing you need to do is focus on the culture from which a technology comes; then, show how a technology adheres to the cultural values of (most likely) American culture. If you don’t begin your essay by discussing cultural values, you’re doing the wrong thing.

  • Identify a cultural value or multiple values
  • Explain how that value(s) is pervasive or prevalent in the culture–give examples
  • Discuss how the technology you’re covering embodies those values

Here are some basic things to consider when approaching this essay:

  • Technological Determinism
  • Social Construction of Technology
  • Dynamic/Dialectic Nature of Technology
    • Changing practices and behaviors vs changing values
  • Overarching Values or Ideology
  • Minor values or desires
    • Instant gratification
    • Convenience
    • Success
    • Security
    • Wealth

Of course, there are a few other issues to address related to essays themselves:

  • Give proof! Don’t just assert.
  • Organization
  • In-text Citations
  • PROOFREAD

Next Class

We’re going to have a semester review next class (2/24) and do more brainstorming on your Social Construction of Technology Essays. Don’t forget that your Midterm Exam is on Wednesday, 2/26!