PCU fallacy

The movie, PCU, have the fallacy of Ad hominem for the character Gutter. In this movie people judges Gutter’s character as stupid, pothead, and an “all around loser.” Even people in The Pit called Gutter stupid (I can’t remember the exact quote).

Into the Wild

Christopher McCandless was not your average college student. Despite graduating from Emory University, majoring in history/anthropology, in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1990, McCandless wanted to free himself from society’s expectation of him. That is why McCandless decided to travel north after he graduated from Emory University. McCandless was the product of average upper-middle class parents, so it is safe to assume that McCandless’ parents expected McCandless to go to college and find himself a high paying career or a career that he like to do.
When people think about college students, two things come to mind: parties or studying. Thanks to movies/media, people usually associate college students with wild uncontrollable teens at frat partying every single night. This might be true for some college students, but not all. There is also another type of college students, the ones that actually studies. These types of students care about what they are in college for; education that would lead to a high paying career. Christopher McCandless does not fit in any of the two types. In Death of an Innocent, Eric Hathaway, Chris’s cross-country teammate, described that “Social life at Emory revolved around fraternities and sororities, something Chris wanted no part of.” That is why Christopher McCandless’s story is controversial.
When looking at McCandless from a broader view, a man from an upper-middle class family and an honors graduate from Emory University, goes off “into the wild” would not fit well with people. To me McCandless seems like a 90s hippie, without the psychedelic drugs; carefree and “insisting that titles and honors were of no importance.” People describe McCandless as “generous and caring;” McCandless, after graduating from Emory, still had $20,000 in his account, donated it to Oxford Famine Relief Fund.
McCandless way of thought was unusual from many people; McCandless third grade teacher inform McCandless’s parents that their son “march to a different drummer.” During high school McCandless would bring home A’s and developed to be one of the top distance runners in the region. While training for cross-country, McCandless would always use “spiritual aspect” to try to motivate team members: “think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred, and imagine running against the forces of darkness.” With many good qualities there are some bad. McCandless was impatience and self-absorbed, which intensify throughout college. During college McCandless became anti-social, “he kind of pulled back from his old friends and got more heavily into himself,” said Eric Hathaway. McCandless wanted to be independent from society.
In order for McCandless to free himself from modern society; McCandless disconnected himself from friends and family. McCandless hitchhiked throughout the United States. Along the way, McCandless meet and befriended people like Wayne Westerberg, a man who McCandless kept in contact. McCandless walked into the Alaskan wild on Tuesday, April 28, 1992. Despite early trouble of gathering food, McCandless situation changed for the better. What proved to be fatal to McCandless was the poisonous Hedysarum Mackenzii, wild sweet pea that he ate thinking that it was potato seed. McCandless became ill, due to the wild sweet pea, and was extremely weak. Just 113 days after McCandless entered the wild, McCandless died of starvation on August 18.

AIDS and Advertisement

Advertisements are created to capture the attention of the public. Many large corporations, such as United Colors of Benetton, pay millions of dollars to advertise their products. While other companies' advertisements were similar to one another, United Colors of Benetton stray away from the "safe" advertisements. In the early 1990s, United Colors of Benetton advertise many controversial pictures to generate more publicity/attention from the public and the press. With many controversial pictures, curiosity occurs in people; wanting to know more about the pictures and what significance do the pictures have.
The AIDS advertisement of United Colors of Benetton tackled a taboo subject that people in the 1990s rejected or ignored. Knowing people would gossip or argue about the advertisement; United Colors of Benetton intentionally used the picture of a man dying in his father's arms. One would say that United Colors of Benetton was trying to raise awareness for AIDS, but United Colors of Benetton is a clothing company and there weren’t any clues as to tell what the man was dying of. When people look at the advertisement, a man dying in his father's arms is not an effective way to sell clothing. Plus there is no caption, nothing what-so-ever but a rectangular box that said "United Colors of Benetton."
During 1990, there was a lack of information/knowledge that is associated with AIDS. With the lack of information/knowledge, people tend to associate what they do not know as something that is bad or unpleasant. Looking through the perspectives of people in 1990, the thought of AIDS is usually associated with homosexuals and people who have blood transfusions. People hide the fact that they have AIDS in order to fit in to society. People with AIDS felt ashamed of themselves. AIDS was not widely accepted by the public in the 1990s. Plus people in 1990 do not know that ANYONE can contract AIDS.
What exactly was United Colors of Benetton trying to portray in their 1990 AIDS advertisement? Just by looking at the picture, as stated in paragraph two, people do not know what the boy was dying of. How would the public know if it was AIDS or some other diseases? The only thing that the public has to go by is an image of a father, mother, and sister crying over their son/brother, who is about to die. I guess the good thing about the advertisement is that it shows that United Colors of Benetton cares about ordinary people, but the advertisement do not specify which group of people that United Colors of Benetton is signifying or cares about. Is the advertisement about people with AIDS? But the advertisement did not mention anything about AIDS. The advertisement shows that United Colors of Benetton cares, but who do they care about? Many people said "a picture is worth a thousand words," that might be true if people understand the symbols that are present in the picture. In the case of United Colors of Benetton's AIDS advertisement, the picture is vague.