Ruqayyah's Work on the Essay

Draft 1: Have you ever questioned why it is that fads and trends occur? Most likely you haven't bothered to worry about it. As a society when it comes to what is the latest thing to wear or the coolest word to say, the majority of us either jump right into the loop of things or take a convicting stand as to why we choose otherwise. Surprisingly enough there is a term for this behaviour known as the bandwagon effect. Basically what this term stands for is when people choose to follow others without contemplating why it is that they are doing this. The bandwagon effect grows as more people join on and eventually can lead to something huge and even negative such as Hitler's ideas of eradicating the Jews. Once people get an idea into their heads, it can be hard for them to get it out. Wizegeek.com looks at the political term “jumping on the bandwagon” which is when voters begin agreeing with the leading campaign, making the campaign more well known. “As more and more voters express support for a candidate or measure, the group grows exponentially larger.”

Dr. Seuss has succeeded in demonstrating through a children’s story, “King Looie Katz”, how it is that the bandwagon effect occurs. In Dr. Seuss’s story a cat named Looie, the King of Katzen-stein decided that his tail was much too beautiful to drag on the ground so he ordered another kat to hold up his tail. This tail holding activity began to catch on as all the Kats in Katzen-stein picked up each others tails, all except for the very last kat who had no one to hold his tail. So he took it upon himself to throw down the tail he was holding and so this continued until all the cats were no longer holding anyone’s tail, other than their own.

Looking at a very popular social-network known as Facebook, I found many similarities with the story of King Looie and this modern day fad. Firstly I looked at the idea of not really questioning things. In King Looie, the kat who was told to hold the King's tail, didn't really object or question him. Was it because of his authority, his influence upon the people of his city? I know that personally when I first heard of Facebook, I didn't ever wonder why I wanted an account so badly, I just knew that all my friends had one and that I didn't care what my mom's thoughts were. Perhaps it had to do with popularity, in my case. I desperately wanted to be in the loop of things and not feel left out. Feelings of acceptance are vital to humans as we constantly need reminders of importance to others such as family and friends. I think the Katz in Katzen-stein followed king Looie because they didn't want to be the one's left out. I also wanted to take a look at how Facebook has rapidly expanded and become such a popular site in such a short time. Vincent Newton, the creator of www.friendinviter.com has written about Facebook's marketing tactic to bring in new people.

Draft 2:
Have you every questioned why it is that fads and trends occur? Most likely you haven't bothered to worry about it. As a society, when it comes to what is the latest thing to wear or the coolest word to say, the majority of us either jump right into the loop of things or take a convicting stand as to why we choose otherwise. Suprisingly enough, there is a term for this behaviour known as the bandwagon effect. The bandwagon effect is when people choose to follow others without thinking over their actions. The bandwagon effect grows as more people join on and eventually can lead to something huge. Once people get an idea into their heads, it can be hard for them to get it out (Smith). The bandwagon effect can be positve and negative. A positive example of a bandwagon effect would be the movement to stop global warming whereas a negative example of a bandwagon effect would be Hitler's ideas of eradicating the Jews.
Dr. Seuss has succeeded in demonstrating through a children's story, “King Looie Katz”, how a bandwagon effect can begin and end. In the story, a kat named Looie, the King of Katzen-stein decided that his tail was much too beautiful to drag on the ground so he ordered another kat to hold up his tail. This tail holding activity began to catch on as all the kats in Katzen-stein picked up each others tails, all except for the very last kat who had no one to hold his tail. So that very last kat took it upon himself to throw down the tail he was holding and so this continued until all the cats were no longer holding anyone's tail, other than their own. Taking this plot from the story and relating it to real-life situations it is easy to find a variety of similar occurances, wether it is in the fashion industry, in social networks or even among childrens toys. The bandwagon effect happens on almost every level of human interaction (Smith).
Looking at a very popular social-network known as Facebook it is clear that there are many similarities between the story of “King Looie” and this website. In King Looie, the kat who was told to hold Looie's tail, didn't really object or question him. Was this because of Looie's authority, his influence upon the people of his city? Avril Autopsy, a regular facebok user says “ I felt pressured into opening my facebook account. All those invitation emails and questions from friends pushed me to set up my profile. When I didn't have my account I felt out of the loop. When I didn't have an account I wouldn't be invited out as much. Facebook allows me to see what everyone is up to and to add myself into the picture” Feelings of acceptance are vital to humans as we constantly need reminders of importance to others such as family and friends. Perhaps the reason the katz in Katzen-stein followed King Looie was because they didn't want to feel left out, or punished. But how was it that the tail-holding caught on so fast? Avril says “I first started to notice Facebook when invitation emails began filling up my inbox.” Facebook allows you to import all of the contacts in your address book into invitation emails, that way you can inform everyone you know in a matter of seconds. This being one of the most powerful viral marketing strategies (Newton). Similarily the katz in Katezen-stein most likely used some form of communication to spread the word or otherwise just made the other Katz aware with visually spreading the word.