Hypothesis

The inquiry question that I began my research project was how the government and military are recruiting children to the war in Iraq. I also wanted to know why they are recruiting children. For the most part my inquiries have stayed the same, however, I now phrase my questions differently in order to not be bias towards the subject, as well as allow myself to look at my topic from perspectives other than my own. I want to know how exactly the government and military are recruiting minors to the war in Iraq. Specifically, I want to know what methods they use to target them, and how exactly these methods are persuasive, or not persuasive. How exactly is the government and military campaigning to convince American minors to enlist themselves into the war. I also again, want to know why they are recruiting minors instead of Americans who are of age. To get deeper into this part, I want to know what types of minors they are targeting exactly and why? Is there a specific gender, race, or education, of these minors? And if so, why? For the most part my inquiry questions have not changed, but I have gotten more specific and put more focus on certain things (the inquiries I have now). I narrowed down what I wanted to discover because upon researching my topic I realized what I really wanted to see, and write my paper on. I found what I thought was most important and most interesting about the general topic of recruitment of American minors; the campaign that targets them and how it does so, and focused on that. What I know now about my topic that I did not know before are the many ways that minors are being targeted and persuaded. I have researched and seen that the army has not only exploited themselves through magazine ads and commercials, but have made their way into children’s heads through video games and other forms of entertainment that can persuade them without them even realizing it. This knowledge has shaped my understanding of my topic of inquiry because I now know how serious the situation has become, and how children are being targeted even in the comfort of their own homes. Its out there everywhere, and I have been able to discover how widespread the army campaign has become through my research. The research that has provided me with this new knowledge are many articles on how minors are being targeted by the military and government. I have also read the the ads, watched the commercials, and played the games, to see for myself how the army is able to corrupt young minds. Also, through my survey I am able to see how other Americans feel, both my age and older, on the topic, and if they think the methods of persuasion are effective or not. What I want to know more about regarding my topic, are what specific types of minors are being targeted with the military campaign to increase their recruitment numbers. I want to know if there is a specific type of minor they are looking for to enlist or if there is a specific type of minor they are campaigning to. If there is I want to know why exactly, and if it is successful, and why it is successful. This information I want to find out is important because it will make me see why the government and military is campaigning the way they are. I will know exactly who they are targeting with their methods of campaigning and be able to rhetorically analyze their persuasion in a new light, knowing that they are trying to persuade a specific type of minor in America. It will also help me to see why or why not their campaigning is successful, due to whether it actually attracts these types of people or not. A lot of research has provided me with this new knowledge, but I have yet to research more and dig much deeper. I can see from some articles I have found that when a recruitment officer visits school to talk about the military and do his best to persuade the students to enlist as soon as they are able, these are low budget schools. Why are they low budget schools? Because the children that attend them are more likely to not be able to amount to anything unless they join the military and become “army strong.” Through my research it seems to me that they are targeting less fortunate children who might actually need the army in order to get farther in life if they so desire. To dig much deeper into this part of my topic I am going to look at many more articles in order to get more specific. I will consult credible scholarly sources such as Newsday, the New York Times, etc. I want to get the facts straight to see where this army campaigning is hitting the hardest and then I will be able to formulate my own analysis and opinion as to why. The specific gaps I am noticing in my research that could potentially create an original idea are if these methods are really working or not. I am going to use my survey to elaborate on this idea, and see how the American public views the subject. I am also going to look to see if the army’s numbers have increased since the new campaign started to get facts on the subject as well. There are some sources that claim that the army’s numbers were never down at all, which completely disconnects with many of my primary research subjects as well as many of my secondary research subjects. I would like to get down to the reasoning of this and see what other information I can find. I wonder if I will actually be able to prove one side true or not. Or does this even really matter? Whether the army’s numbers are up or down, or even remaining the same, minors are still being targeted through many different ways. It is said that the falling numbers have to do with it, but if the numbers are not falling then that definitely contradicts all of that. The idea that children are being targeted because they are an easier mind to warp is what is brewing in my head. If I had to make an argument about my topic of inquiry today, it would be that the minors of our country are being target by the government and military to enlist into the army because they are much easier to persuade, and persuading them is what is going to increase the military’s numbers of enlistment, and provide more soldiers to fight this continuous war with Iraq. My justifications for this working hypothesis are the many ways these minors are being targeted. These methods of persuasion are meant to be convincing and make minors want to enlist as soon as they can. This can be seen by not only analyzing the ads that are out there, but by discovering the more subtle ways they are out there such as videogames, that are supposed to just be “fun.” 

Annotated Bibliography continued…

Drawing on Hill, i think these images will psychologically affect the viewers because due to the fact that they are images they will immediately trigger more emotion, and in their case a greater want to actually join the army, which is the goal. Instead of creating an image of what the army would be like in their heads, it is put right in front of the viewer with bold words questioning their strength and ability to almost instigate them into enlisting. Since our minds want to be shown the easier way to make a decision, the pictures that are thrown in front of viewers expressing how positive the army is, is exactly what makes a viewers decision easier when deciding whether to join or not.