2. Ambiguity

“Stay thirsty my friends.” What? Why? This is a vague statement given out by the “Most interesting man in the world.” But what qualifies him to be the most interesting man in the world? And why does he want us to stay thirsty? I recently saw the Dos Equis television commercial which showed the old dude with the beard asking all his viewers to stay thirsty. I have never seen this man but find him very intriguing and all of a sudden I want to be like him, and drink a Dos Equis too. This is a brilliant marketing scheme by Dos Equis in my opinion. But one question arises out of my mind, “Stay thirsty for what?” Stay thirsty for alcohol? Water? Stay thirsty physically? Or metaphorically? I guess this type of advertisement provokes a consumer to try the product. They ask themselves, “What’s so great about Dos Equis? Maybe I should try it and see what the fuss is about.” The most interesting man in the world is asking us to stay physically thirsty, but we are more psychologically or metaphorically thirsty to try this product. This is where the ambiguity lies because it can be interpreted in different ways.

Another quote or advertisement that millions of kids wear is Nike "Just Do It." Just do what? What exactly is "it"? here again is another brilliant marketing scheme that sells products. Most people don't know what the quote means but it sure sounds cool doesn't "it"? What I feel "just do it" means is in sports or any aspect of life you just push yourself to do whatever it is you need to do. Nike endorses a lot of top athletes that "Just do it" and push themselves everyday in their line of work. The ambiguity presents itself when the consumers asks themselves "Just do what?"

1. Objective and Subjective Claims

A subjective claim is a claim which relies on personal standards that not everyone will agree upon. A subjective claim is based on preference. One example of a subjective claim would be when my brother stated that Ford is a better car brand than Chevy. We often argue over this topic and My brother prefers Ford because he owns a Ford. I prefer Chevy because I use to own Chevys. There are some Ford models that are faster than Chevys and some Chevys faster than Fords. Many people prefer the design of the Ford Mustang Gt500 over the Corvette ZR1 and vice versa. Many factors such as design, extra accessories of the car, nostalgia, history, and much more contribute to peoples personal standards making this claim a subjective claim. This claim is subjective because we both prefer different brands based on our own personal standards. But from this subjective claim I can make an objective claim that the Corvette ZR1 is faster in the quarter mile then the GT500. But that all depends who is driving.
An objective claim is a claim which is based on fact or a set and defined standard. Usually an objective claim is a claim that cannot be argued against. One example of an objective claim is t SJSU is more and more classes aren’t available to students. This claim is agreed upon by everyone and is fact. There are many students that find it hard to get the classes they need. On the first day of school I saw a student who yelled “I HAVE NO CLASSES!” while I was on my way to class. Also, last semester one of my favorite professors lost his job. The statement about less classes being available is true because there is substantial proof to back it up. Also from this objective claim we can make a subjective claim about how students who receive financial aid don’t suffer from tuition being raised.
Objective and Subjective claims can help in determining what we are arguing about. Distinguishing between objective and subjective claims can help to make things a little clearer and help to make sense of vague statements.

Introduction

Hello hello. My name is Pat and I am a second year student at San Jose State University. I am a business major,concentration in management. I am however considering changing my concentration to Finance. I was born in Los Angeles but I grew up in San Francisco. I currently reside in San Jose during the weekdays, and weekends I go back home to my parents in SF. I am the type of person that likes to be productive, likes to stay organized, and is highly motivated. My interests are making money (without having a job), working out and exercising, hanging out with friends, and spending time with family. I also enjoy reading from time to time, usually self improvement books. I like to eat healthy, but I do have the occasional pig outs from time to time. I know I may sound pretty boring, but if you get to meet me in person (or continue to read more of my posts) then you will see that I'm pretty fun and I know how to have a good time.


My communication experience dates back to my elementary days. I was president of my school in 8th grade, and often dealt with the whole student body. In my high school days I was Rally Commissioner of my high school for 2 years and I would often speak in front of large crowds. At San Jose State I took a MCOM class called "Get internet famous" and I also took Comm 40 during a winter course. I was never really scared to speak in front of people, just remembering what I had to say always broke my confidence and usually made me end up stuttering, having really long pauses just to think, or a really long "uuuhhhhhhhh..." after what I had to say. I was also someone who would usually have a hard time making choices and I often find myself confiding in others just to come up with a decision. I hope I can learn a lot from this course. I hope that I can make better decisions, analyze a situation and pick the best possible choice of action, and being able to know what to say and when to say it. I am really looking forward to Comm 41 and I am very excited to take an online class. At least I can stay in bed!

Till next post.....