TedTalk by Karen Thompson Walker
filmed June 2012
The TedTalk, "What Fear Can Teach Us," by author Karen Thompson Walker, is an inspiring and fascinating account of what fears are and what they mean.
In her talk, Walker uses the tale of the Essex shipmen to support her message. Though each part of the story is revealed at various points during her talk, its entirety is as follows. A 19th century sailors' ship was partially destroyed by a sperm whale, and thousands of miles away from home and the nearest land, they had limited supplies. They came up with three options on how to proceed:
1. The Marquesas Islands that were about 1200 miles away. However, they heard horrifying rumors that it was full of cannibals; they imagined themselves reaching land only to promptly be eaten.
2. Hawaii. However, they feared that there would be stormy weather there.
3. Coast of South America. Though this option reaped the best rewards, the journey to get there would be perilous. The length would wipe out their food and water supplies.
These sailors were faced with choosing how to proceed based on their fears of each option. Their fears dictated that they could either be eaten by cannibals, be wiped out by storms, or try to reach land while diminishing all of their supplies.
Walker uses this story to show the link between fear and imagination. She talks about juvenile fears being based off of a "vivid imagination" that creates scary scenarios in our minds.
Thus fears are stories, according to Walker. They are unintentional, yet innate within us and our imaginations. Like stories, fears have characters, plots, imagery, and suspense. The latter rises "What if?" and "What will happen next?" questions. With both storytelling and fear, we want answers to these questions; we want to know what is going to happen to the main character. Walker reveals that these questions are answered in the form of stories rooted in fear. Our fear of the unknown lead us to do "mental time travel" to create tales about what the future may look like.
Walker continues by arguing that some fears can actually predict our future. But this raises another question: how do we distinguish between fears that do and those that don't?
Well, we can "read" our fears. Fears that are more artistic and vivid typically prove to be over-dramatic and unlikely. Ones that are less violent and developed through a scientific lens are usually more probable, gradual, and dangerous.
Walker's purpose with this talk is to encourage the audience to start "reading" our fears. She encourages us to listen to our more subtle, gradual fears rather than our more horrifying, imaginative ones so that we are swayed less often by the latter ones.
In order to get this point across, Walker uses repetition, ethos, and pathos. She frequently repeats questions of "what if" and "what would happen" to show the audience that our imaginations can create most terrifying stories/fears based on these questions. In effect, the talk becomes more meaningful to the audience because they can relate to it. The more meaningful and inspiring a presentation is, the more likely its audience is to take what they have learned and implement it into their own lives.
Walker uses ethos to prove her credibility as an author of fiction. She tells the audience of her experience in writing her first novel, The Age of Miracles. During this process, she thought deeply about "what would happen if the rotation of the Earth suddenly began to slow down." She shows her audience that she is experienced in "reading" fears; she is trustworthy because she has implemented this practice in her life and work, and it has been successful.
Walker also incorporates pathos in her presentation by obvious reasons of appealing to each audience member's fears. She recognizes the need for controlling our fears and provides a way to do it. By relating our fears to stories, she diminishes the reality of them, which convinces the audience to "read" their own fears to figure out which ones they should really be worried about.
I chose this TedTalk because I can relate to the fear of the future, and I am definitely guilty of making up scary stories about what it might look like. I often ask myself the questions, "What if?" and "What would happen?" Currently, this revolves around college, as I'm sure it does for many of my peers. What if I don't get into my top choice? What would I do? What if I get in but can't afford it?
Now, after watching the talk, I have a way to better deal with fear of the unknown. I plan to "read" my fears and determine which stories are ridiculous and which are possible.
This presentation connects to what we will be covering in the next unit, as fear is a significant force of human nature.
Without fear, are we truly human?
Anna Claire, great post! I really like some of the points that you made, such as the effect that the repeated use of questions like "What if?" has on the audience, and the connection you made to our new unit. I think it would have been really cool if you had talked about the use of logos with this - looking at the soundness of the speaker's argument; is there bias present?; and does she have sufficient supporting evidence to back her claims? Without any examples or statistics to reinforce, her argument is a very weak one. Also, since she experienced what she is describing first-hand, with the shipwreck, there could very well be some bias that is impacting the opinions that she has. Just some thoughts, but overall, I loved your rhetorical analysis :)
ReplyDeleteAC, I loved reading this post! I thought it was very interesting that it explored the idea that fear is just as versatile as a story, with its own plot-line and imagination involved. I also thought that your look into ethos was very good, and especially enjoyed your relating it back to what we (yourself and peers) are experiencing right now, as we anticipate college, and your coming out of watching it with a new way to conquer your fears. I would, however, have further explored the relation to the novel, as I think that there is a lot of evidence of fear deciding the characters' actions even within the first few chapters. For example, Kath's admission that she chooses not to think about the negativity of the truth behind her work, because she somewhat fears it. Other than that, I thought this was an excellent post, and I truly enjoyed reading your perspective on this TED Talk about fear.
ReplyDeleteKeep thinking about purpose, intention, and effect- all examples or devices should connect back to those three things!
ReplyDeleteAC this was an awesome blog post, I loved your analysis of how she decided to tell her story and the literary devices she used to do so. I think its interesting that our less vivid fears are the more real ones according to the source. I think a stronger sense of cohesion inside of the post would make it stronger but awesome job overall!
ReplyDeleteAC this was an awesome blog post, I loved your analysis of how she decided to tell her story and the literary devices she used to do so. I think its interesting that our less vivid fears are the more real ones according to the source. I think a stronger sense of cohesion inside of the post would make it stronger but awesome job overall!
ReplyDelete