Premium Essay

Gay Marriage and Moral Panic

In:

Submitted By sblerghq
Words 2535
Pages 11
Mass media is an industry that is hard to penetrate. It is often difficult, as an individual, to express your ideologies and beliefs towards a greater audience than those of your current circle of friends and family. Traditional media frequently represents the sentiments and opinions of politicians and celebrities, as opposed to the views of the general public.

So, the individuals are able to advocate their voices easier by taking advantage of various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. This act, often referred to as citizen journalism, is used to facilitate the spreading of news particularly towards ‘Gay Marriage’. This process of dissemination is an effective strategy as an effort to communicate their ‘voices being heard’.

Now, Twitter, as a media platform, is being used to promote or demote the voices of Gay Marriage. The immediacy and easy format to distribute the message to a widespread audience is its most appealing trait. Many twitter users have dedicated tweets to the possibility of Gay Marriage, whether they are supporters of the lesbian and gay community or highly against the implementation of gay marriage. They utilize the readily available news articles, their own photos, links to videos and hash tags to spread their relevant gay marriage message. Twitter is an excellent platform to send messages to a vast audience.

Very often in online news articles or blogs, readers are encouraged to leave their own feedback and comments towards the article itself or the author’s perspective, their own voice. Where by enabling recommendations, sending tweets, and sharing through various platforms at the end of an article. These actions are spreading awareness of same-sex marriage through grass-roots means. Sharing articles on Facebook are seen by everyone in your friends’ news feed, similar to twitter and using hash tags to

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Balom In Gilead

...denial because the Church had to live in denial” simply because she believed the ministries did not know how to adequately handle the AIDS crisis. She helped organize the Harlem Week of Prayer that was first started in 1989 and encouraged churches to pray for those with AIDS, if they could not accept them (Harris 341). She utilized the moral panic tactic to make these churches feel obligated in addressing this issue, arguing “their lack of prayer was causing harm to the community and those suffering from AIDS” (Harris 342). She believed that incorporation of AIDS dialogues within these religious institutions and prayers, could save the lives of their black individuals living with this virus as “faith is such a crucial, critical part of our lives, as people of African ancestry” (Harris 343). She then had to shift this panic not just from within the black churches, but also within the black community, as a “culturally resonant frame” to normalize “church sponsored AIDS ministries.” However, this panic emphasized that “religious institutions were the target, not the originators of the panic” and noted that the church was not fulfilling their moral obligations to help and care for the sick and poor, as the...

Words: 1419 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Family Values in Australia Today

...might be the political effects of rhetoric of family values. The Current State of Family Values The 21st century has dawned with evolutions and revolutions in the positions of the family in the society. For a long time, the family has been the basic unit of the society. Through the family, empires, and clans have been established with their presence experienced globally. However, the contemporary generation has mixed views on the position of the family. This is as a result of the ambiguity existing in the definition of family resulting to fight over marriage and sexual rights. For instance, in 2004, there was a sexual panic in USA spurred by President Bush’s union address on marriage. According to Herdit (2004, p. 157), the stage was set for politics of marriage. President Bush viewed marriage between a man and a woman as a symbol of civilization and was supported by religious stakeholders. On the other hand the gay and lesbian...

Words: 2043 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Conflict and Instability

...33m Asses the view that religion is a major source of instability and conflict in society today | IntroductionExplain religion, conflict and instability Show differing view of society today, modern, postmodern, late modern | Study | Arguments FOR | Reference | Huntington Casanova | Religion is a major source of conflict Huntington * Clash of civilisations * 7 civilisation he identifies clash due to traditionalist values * All civilisations linked to core religions * Religion can create social cohesion within civilisations but not across * Religious identity linked to civilisation, attack on identity cause conflict * Religion creates us and them relationshipsCasanova * Religion conflict can occur within civilisations | Middle East * Conflict occurring on boundaries, war in 1990s between western, Slavic-orthodox, * Religious differences harder than political ones to resolve because they are deeply rooted in culture and historyNorthern Nigeria * Increase in conflict * Christianity against Islam * Us and them relationship * Religious conflict occurred due to Islamic law in the state * Christians felt at threat and marginalised * Stayed true to their identity, causing them to be under threat * Bombing of Christian churches, metal detectors installed | Maduro and Gramsci | Religion is a major source of conflict * Working class have a dual consciousness, mixture of ruling class ideology and their own experience of exploitation *...

Words: 1068 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Disciplining the Body

...Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. "Disciplining the Body": HIV-Positive Male Athletes, Media Surveillance,and the Policing of Sexuality Shari Lee Dworkin and Faye Linda Wachs University of Southern California This paper analyzes how mainstream print media polices sexuality through framings of HIV-positive male athletes. We analyze the HN-positive announcements of Magic Johnson, Greg Louganis, and Tommy Morrison. Specifically, we discuss differences between the framing of gay men (Louganis) and self-identifiedheterosexual men (Johnson and Morrison). First, there is an extensive search for the ways Magic Johnson and Tommy Morrison contracted HIVIAIDS. Media coverage emphasizes that "straights can get it too" through promiscuity and a "fast lane" lifestyle. Consistent with the historically automatic conflation of HIVIAIDS with gay identity, the media pose no inquiries into the cause of Louganis' HIV transmission. We close our discussion by focusing on the meaning of extending the signifier of HIVIAIDS beyond gay bodies to include working class and black male bodies. Media surveillance of sexual identity and the body reinforces hegemonic masculinity in sport while feeding into the current sexual hierarchy in U.S. culture. Cette Ctude porte sur la f a ~ o n les mCdias Ccrits surveillent et contr6lent la sexualit6 par dont le biais de leur traitement des athlktes masculins skro-positifs.Nous analysons les annonces de skro-positivitk concernant Magic Johnson, Greg Louganis et Tommy Morrison...

Words: 10069 - Pages: 41

Premium Essay

Family Structures

...shapes and types of families. The most marked characteristic of families since the 1960s has been that the traditional conception of the British family has disintegrated. The married couple with 2.4 children is disappearing. The sequence of life events - marriage, sex and children - has been radically reordered. Marriage rarely comes first and increasingly does not happen at all. Over the past 30 years, levels of cohabitation have trebled, the number of babies born outside marriage has quintupled, and the number of single-parent families has trebled. The most dramatic change, however, has been to the "happy ever after" bit in the picture of family life. In the past 30 years, the rate of divorce has doubled; and half of all children now experience their parents' divorce before they are 16. All four trends - cohabitation, divorce, births outside marriage and single parents - are likely to be even more pronounced by 2020. There is no evidence that any of them are easing. Much has been made of the fact that the divorce rate appears to have reached a plateau - Britain has the highest divorce rate in Europe - but it is still rising in first marriages. Cohabitation arrangements are even more likely to break down than marriages. So what will be accepted as a general...

Words: 1479 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Donald Trump

...of shapes and types of families. The most marked characteristic of families since the 1960s has been that the traditional conception of the British family has disintegrated. The married couple with 2.4 children is disappearing. The sequence of life events - marriage, sex and children - has been radically reordered. Marriage rarely comes first and increasingly does not happen at all. Over the past 30 years, levels of cohabitation have trebled, the number of babies born outside marriage has quintupled, and the number of single-parent families has trebled. The most dramatic change, however, has been to the "happy ever after" bit in the picture of family life. In the past 30 years, the rate of divorce has doubled; and half of all children now experience their parents' divorce before they are 16. All four trends - cohabitation, divorce, births outside marriage and single parents - are likely to be even more pronounced by 2020. There is no evidence that any of them are easing. Much has been made of the fact that the divorce rate appears to have reached a plateau - Britain has the highest divorce rate in Europe - but it is still rising in first marriages. Cohabitation arrangements are even more likely to break down than marriages. So what will be accepted...

Words: 1539 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Sociology

...Jonquelia Semies Assignment 2 Chapter 5 1. What is the definition of a secondary group? a) Incorrect. A small social group whose members share personal and lasting relationships b) Correct. A large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal and activity c) Incorrect. Two or more people who identify with and interact with one another describes a social group d) Incorrect. A social group whose members have interests , social position , and age in common 2. Which leadership role focuses on the group’s well-being? Democratic and a) Incorrect .Laisezz-faire Leadership allows the group to function more or less on its own b) Correct. Expressive Leadership is when a group leadership that focus on c) Incorrect .Instrumental Leadership is a group leadership that focuses on the completion tasks. d) In correct. Democratic Leadership is more expensive and makes a point of including everyone in the decision making process. 3. What is the tendency of group members to conform, resulting in a narrow view of some issue? a) In correct. In-group is a social group toward which a member feels respect and loyalty b) Incorrect. Out- group is a social group toward which a person c) Correct. Groupthink the tendency of group members to conform, resulting in a narrow view of some issue d) Incorrect. Triad is a social group with three members 4. What German...

Words: 1721 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Moral

...Chapter 7 : Moral Issues 7. 1 The Environment 7. 2 Life 7. 3 Rearmament and War 7. 4 Business Ethics 7. 5 Sexuality and the Family 7. 6 Discrimination 7. 7 Freedom of Information 7. 8 Science and Technology Chapter Overview This chapter will discuss the contemporary moral issues. There are eight main sub-headings and examined in turn. Students may not only learn about moral facts, principles and theories, but also some important moral issues so that they will kept in phase with current issues in facing the challenge out there. This chapter also encourages students to ...

Words: 28274 - Pages: 114

Premium Essay

Sociology

...Functionalism, strain and Subcultural theories Durkheim’s functionalist theory Functionalism – society based on value consensus. Members of society sharing common culture. In order to achieve this, two things needed: - Socialisation – helps ensure individuals share the same norms and values. Shows the way to act. - Social control – rewards for conformity and punishment for deviance. Controls behaviour. Inevitability of crime – functionalists see crime as inevitable and universal. Every society has crime. Two reasons why crime and deviance are in all societies: - No everyone is equally socialized into norms and values. Some are likely to be deviant. - Diversity of lifestyle and values. Different groups have their own subcultures with distinctive norms and values. Some may see deviant acts as normal. > Durkheim says in modern societies there is tendency towards anomie. The rules for behaviour become weaker and less clear-cut. This is because modern societies have a complex division of labour meaning individuals become more different from each other. Crime is more likely. Positive functions of crime – it also performs two positive functions Boundary maintenance - produces a reaction from society, uniting members in disapproval of criminals and reinforcing their commitment to shared norms and values. Adaptation and change – all change starts with an act of deviance. There must be scope to challenge existing norms and values and this will seem deviant in the...

Words: 7771 - Pages: 32

Free Essay

Hello World

...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary self want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband tipping the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh of interconnection ever wider — the two cultures betray a common impulse. Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions, on Survivor or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity. If Lionel Trilling was right, if the property that grounded the self, in Romanticism, was sincerity, and in modernism it was authenticity, then in postmodernism it is visibility. So we live exclusively in relation to others, and what disappears from our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager I know had sent 3,000 text messages one recent month. That's 100 a day, or about one every 10 waking minutes, morning...

Words: 3546 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Ewgewgewg

...January 30, 2009 The End of Solitude By William Deresiewicz What does the contemporary(當代的) self-want? The camera has created a culture of celebrity; the computer is creating a culture of connectivity. As the two technologies converge — broadband(寬頻) tipping (使傾斜/輕拍) the Web from text to image, social-networking sites spreading the mesh(網絲)of interconnection(互相連)絡ever wider (前所未有的寬度發展)— the two cultures betray(露出…跡象)a common impulse(衝動). Celebrity and connectivity are both ways of becoming known. This is what the contemporary self wants. It wants to be recognized, wants to be connected: It wants to be visible. If not to the millions(數百萬), on Survivor(倖存者) or Oprah, then to the hundreds, on Twitter or Facebook. This is the quality that validates(使有效) us, this is how we become real to ourselves — by being seen by others. The great contemporary terror is anonymity匿名者. If Lionel Trilling美國文學評論家was right, if the property(财产/所有权) that grounded (打基础) the self, in Romanticism(浪漫主义 , was sincerity(真实), and in modernism it was authenticity(真实性), then in postmodernism it is visibility. * So we live exclusively(排外地) in relation to(about) others, and what disappears from(从…处消失) our lives is solitude. Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone. Though I shouldn't say taking away. We are doing this to ourselves; we are discarding(丢弃) these riches as fast as we can. I was told by one of her older relatives that a teenager...

Words: 3607 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

More Gun Control

...• SUBSCRIBE • RENEW • GIVE A GIFT • DIGITAL EDITION Print | Close The Case for More Guns (And More Gun Control) HOW DO WE REDUCE GUN CRIME AND AURORA-STYLE MASS SHOOTINGS WHEN AMERICANS ALREADY OWN NEARLY 300 MILLION FIREARMS? MAYBE BY ALLOWING MORE PEOPLE TO CARRY THEM. By Jeffrey Goldberg The Century 16 Cineplex in Aurora, Colorado, stands desolate behind a temporary green fence, which was raised to protect the theater from prying eyes and mischief-makers. The parking lots that surround the multiplex are empty—weeds are pushing through the asphalt—and the only person at the theater when I visited a few weeks ago was an enervated Aurora police officer assigned to guard the site. I asked the officer whether the building, which has stood empty since the night of July 20, when a former graduate student named James E. Holmes is alleged to have killed 12 people and wounded 58 others at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, still drew the curious. “People drive by to look,” he said, but “not too many.” The Aurora massacre is noteworthy, even in the crowded field of mass shootings, as one of the more wretched and demoralizing in the recent history of American violence, and I was surprised that the scene of the crime did not attract more attention. “I guess people move on,” he said. I walked up a slight rise that provided an imperfect view of the back of Theater 9, where the massacre took place, and tried to imagine the precise emotions the victims felt...

Words: 7234 - Pages: 29

Premium Essay

Issues in Marxism

...Crime and Deviance AN INTRODUCTION TO CRIME AND DEVIANCE Definitions * Crime- An act which breaks the criminal laws of society. * Deviance- refers to the behaviour which is disapproved of by most people in society and which does not conform to society's norms and values. TOPIC 1: FUNCTIONALIST, STRAIN AND SUBCULTURAL THEORIES Durkheim's functionalist theory: * Socialisation and Social control are two key mechanisms which allow social solidarity to occur in society. The inevitability of crime: * Functionalists see too much crime as destabilising society. * They also see crime as inevitable and universal- Durkheim, 'crime is normal... an integral part of all healthy societies.' * There are two reasons why C&D are found in all societies; 1.Not everyone is equally effectively socialised into the shared norms and values. 2. Different groups develop their own subculture and what the members of the subculture regard as normal, mainstream culture may see as deviant. * Durkheim also discusses that in modern societies there is a tendency towards anomie (normlessness). The diversity of modern societies means that the collective conscience is weakened, and this results in higher levels of C&D. The positive functions of crime: * For Durkheim, crime also fulfils two important functions; boundary maintenance and adaptation. * Boundary Maintenance- In Durkheim's view, the purpose of punishment is to reaffirm society's shared rules and reinforces...

Words: 20916 - Pages: 84

Premium Essay

Health and Social Challenging Behaviour

...Sociological perspectives Sociological perspectives is a perspective on human behaviour and its connection to society as a whole. It invites us to look for the connections between the behaviour of individual people and the structures of the society in which they live. The structures are functionalism, Marxism, Feminist, Interactionism, Collectivism, Postmodernism and New right. Functionalism Functionalism is a perspective created by Emile Durkheim. He believed society was made up of inter-connected institutions for an example education, family and government which depended on each other to function. Functionalists see society as being similar to the human body. In the same way the body relies on the heart to pump blood round to other vital organs like the lungs and brain. Functionalists see society as being constructed of different inter-dependent components like the family and education system. So in the same way the human body would fail if the heart stopped, functionalists’ argue society would stop working properly if the family stopped functioning properly. Functionalists say this would happen because the family is an institution in which primary socialisation occurs. Primary socialisation is where younger members of a family are taught societies norms, values, roles and beliefs, By having the same values which we all share, a value consensus is establish. Therefore we can see the family has a function in the social system. This perspective of society differed...

Words: 4602 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Cyrus the Great

...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...

Words: 221284 - Pages: 886