...chaotic and uncertain, the debate has really only just begun. Fear of the new For many, the idea that anything meaningful can come out of a 140 character message (called a ‘tweet’) is preposterous. Suggesting these social, interactive media are stirring or enabling popular uprisings or even revolutions is heretic. Unsurprisingly there have been plenty of people willing to step in and ridicule any suggestion that these and other social media platforms are somehow having serious, real world consequences. One particularly heated debate has been taking place between Clay Shirky and Malcolm Gladwell. Writing in the New Yorker back in October 2010, Gladwell rubbished Shirky’s theories on the power of social media, arguing that the medium’s influence is overblown because it only fosters “weak-tie” networks that lack the strength to cultivate real world...
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...Assignment Two The news media only provides us with representations of reality. These representations are constructed by media conglomerates to manipulate our views on society; politics, international relations and current affairs. While the media is meant to be an objective source of information, it is important to remember that this information is filtered, watered down and often manipulated before reaching its audiences. After all, “one apprehends reality only through representations of reality... there is no such thing as unmediated access...” (Dyer 1993, p. 3, as cited byO'Shaughnessy & Stadler, 2005, p. p.77) This is done by ruling classes of society in order to ingrain dominant ideologies into cultural knowledge and thus maintain their governing status- the process of “hegemony”. The media both mirrors and shapes society- it is a “mechanism of mass control” (Flounders et al., 2000, p.89). The news, as an integral part of the media, does the same. Therefore it is important for us to remember that the image of our world shown by the media is only a portrayal, and not always objective or truthful. “The media define for the majority of the population what significant events are taking place, but, also, they offer powerful interpretations of how to understand these events.” (Stuart Hall, 1978, p. 426) In this quote, Hall states that media broadcasters, although providing important (newsworthy), accurate and up-to-date information to the public, are nevertheless...
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...Homosexuality and tolerance. "It is not worthy of discussion. Those that engage in such acts are insane. We cannot tolerate this; otherwise the dead will rise against us. “Robert Mugabe (2009) Zimbabwe | Robert Mugabe | Gay Rights. 2013. Zimbabwe | Robert Mugabe | Gay Rights. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/zimbabwe/100415/mugabe-bashes-gays-again. [Accessed 10 January 2013] “Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us. Society is stronger when we make vows to each other and we support each other. I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a conservative.” David Cameron. Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O'Brien clashes with David Cameron on same-sex marriage plans - Telegraph. 2013. Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O'Brien clashes with David Cameron on same-sex marriage plans - Telegraph. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9121354/Catholic-leader-Cardinal-Keith-OBrien-clashes-with-David-Cameron-on-same-sex-marriage-plans.html. [Accessed 10 January 2013] Two different quotes with two different perspectives from two different leaders about the same subject. So what causes this indifference? This is what I look to understand and analyse in this assignment as I look to compare and contrast exactly what it is that makes these societies like so. “A personal choice” or a sin in the bible as a pastor and homosexual man debate at the meeting point of two protests, one...
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...Throughout society, music has been an influential medium of communicating a culture’s history and beliefs. One of the more deeper but hidden qualities of music is its ability in rhetorical exigence, which is the concept of using messages to influence others. The hip-hop band The Black Eyed Peas released the song, “Where is the Love?” in the year 2003. Historically, the year 2003 was a difficult time in America history as it was recovering from the September 11 terrorist attack that took place in 2001 and the war that was happening in 2002. This song addresses issues that are significantly present in society, which include racism, discrimination, terrorism, government, and greed. The main magnitude of the song evolved around widespread feeling...
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...Film Analysis: The Corporation University/Institution Name: Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Course Name: Date Submitted: Film Analysis: The Corporation Introduction The Corporation, an infotainment by moviemakers Jennifer Abbott and Mark Achbar and authored by Joel Bakan, explores the legal standard, basically inquiring: if corporations were people, what manner of people would they be? Making use of psychiatrical main beliefs and FBI forensic technics, and through several case studies, the motion picture ascertains that this “being”, the corporation, which has an ever-increasing power over the daily existence of almost all living creatures on earth, would be a sociopath. The case studies consist of a story concerning how two reporters were sacked from Fox News for declining to downplay a story about the risks of a product of Monsanto given to dairy cattle, and another regarding Bolivian employees who confederated to guard their rights on their own water provision. The commonness of corporate control over our lives is looked into by analyzing efforts to manipulate behavior, together with that of children. The key argument of the infotainment is that, as the corporate legal “body” under current law is regarded to be a person, founded on its characteristics and personality, is a sociopath. Bakan establishes this standpoint on several things but letting the Psychologist tackle the question while the expert deals with psychosis. The major problems of a corporation discussed...
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...February 1, 1960, four black students attending a college in Greensboro, NC, were refused lunch at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter and began a sit-in. This event triggered several other nonviolent protests throughout the south. Six months later, the same four students were served at the same Woolworth’s lunch counter. Student sit-ins throughout the South were very effective in integrating many public places. These sit-ins ignited a decade of civil rights protests that proved that the American people could have a real impact on segregation. During other sit-ins in other cities, media coverage was scarce, many of the stories being buried in the back pages of the newspaper if covered at all. The Greensboro sit-in was ran as front page news in the local paper. Associated press began arriving and two days later, The New York times ran the first of many articles covering the sit-ins. Coverage by the media was one of the many reasons the movement took off so quickly. In January of 1961, James Meredith applied to attend the University of Mississippi. His application expressed his desire to be accepted despite the color of his skin. His application was immediately denied. With the help of the NAACP, he challenged the University’s decision in state and federal court. The Supreme Court ordered Ole Miss to admit Meredith in September of 1962. Governor of Mississippi, Segregationist Ross Barnett had other plans. Using the media to appeal to the fears of whites in Mississippi...
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...the protests of Ferguson, they themselves have been attacked, tear gassed, arrested, guns pointed at them, threatened, hit by rubber bullets, and ordered to stop filming. ("Huffington Post Reporter Arrested In Ferguson.") On Twitter, many reporters including Reilly and Lowery, used the social media site to expose the events happening in Ferguson as they were happening. Sites like Instagram and Vine were being used to upload images and videos of the police brutality and the state of the crowd of protesters. Sites like Tumblr were used to make a “masterpost” of information on what was going on, share photos and documentation of the events, as well as give links as to how others could help. After the events and coverage in Ferguson, MI, police policy is being changed and looked at to compel policemen to wear cameras (Cavaliere). It was only after the events got so much exposure, that the policy was looked at to be changed. And the exposure came about with social media. In today’s modern world, social media has become a huge influence on journalism and publishing information. And sometimes, when the press falls down on the job of reporting fully the details of what happens, the internet fills in the gaps. In 2002, when United States Senator Majority Leader Trent “Lott “misspoke” at a party [...] essentially praising [...] segregationist policies, he calculated correctly that this story would disappear from the mainstream press within forty-eight hours. It did. But he didn’t calculate...
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...as King’s ideology and methodology, and contributed to King’s significance. Non-violence being met with naked aggression and racism was showcased by the media and condemned by the government. Although several other civil rights leaders, such as Ralph Abernathy, possessed Christian credentials, MLK coupled these credentials with his non-violence and positive relationship with the media. In January 1960 a bomb was thrown on King’s porch and an armed mob gathered that was dispersed only by King’s insistence on calm. A white police officer on the scene remarked, “If it hadn’t been for that nigger preacher, we’d all be dead”. This quote is noteworthy as a Southern white policeman acknowledges, albeit reluctantly, that King prevented violence from breaking out. This was a police force that was generally hostile to King, having jailed him on a trumped-up speeding charge, and roamed the streets armed with shotguns in search of “Negro good squads” . Therefore the police officer’s acknowledgment that King’s non-violence and...
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...Friday December the 17th Mohamed set up his tools near the central mosque. This day, he did not have the money needed to pay the bribes to be there. The corrupted police officers arrived and took everything from him. They stood in front of him smacked him in the face and kicked him on the floor. Humiliated, Mohamed got upset and started to cry. He headed to the town police station and tried to press charges against those who assaulted him. No one listened to him. He was terribly upset and disappointed by the fact that he could not rely on his authorities for justice to be done. He then went to the closest shop and bought a bottle of fuel. He returned in front of the police station with the fuel, chose a spot in front of the building, poured the fuel over himself and then set himself on fire as a sign of protest and disagreement toward those who refused to listen to his complaints. Horrifically injured, Mohamed was taken to the hospital. Bouazizi hopeless act quickly became popular throughout the city and across the Arab world. The next day, hundreds of people gather at the spot where Mohamed had set himself alight. The situation slowly started to heat up with protesters screaming “ We will scarify our lives for Mohamed”. The demonstration, which was, supposes to be pacific turn into a street war against the police. Despite the rarity of the events in Sidi Bouzid, the Tunisian national Television channel reported nothing because under the leadership of Ben Ali, the press was...
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...Oksana Makar incident 11. President Yanukovych being ousted viii. 2009 Moldova ix. 2009 Iran “Twitter Uprising” x. 2010 Tunisia xi. 2011 Egypt “Facebook Revolution” xii. Lebanon, Syria, Libya lack of internet e. Critics of social media revolution xiii. Arguments against social media making a difference 12. Social media platforms built around weak ties making ineffective 13. Twitter’s limitations xiv. Examples of activists failing 14. 2006 Belarus 15. 2009 Green uprising in Iran 16. 2010 Red shirt uprising in Thailand xv. How social media can hinder revolution f. Social media’s role xvi. Ability to network where previously disallowed xvii. Dissemination of information and shared awareness xviii. Ability to rapidly organize xix. Tool to coordinate real...
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...Article Watching the Watchers and McLuhan’s Tetrad: The Limits of Cop-Watching in the Internet Age Brian P. Schaefer Kevin F. Steinmetz University of Louisville, US. brian.schaefer@louisville.edu Kansas State University, US. criminogenic@outlook.com Abstract The internet is considered by many to be a boon for political activists, such as cop-watchers—a free, open, and widespread medium in which to disseminate political messages. While there is truth to these claims, the internet, like any technology, can be used for many purposes and comes with its own arrangement of limitations. To elucidate these limitations and to provide a word of caution about the political potential of the internet, particularly for video-activists/cop-watchers, the theoretical work of Marshall McLuhan is used to understand how the internet, as a medium, shapes and limits political messages. Using McLuhan’s tetrad, this study examines how the internet is problematic for cop-watching groups. In particular, the internet is said to yield consequences through how it (1) enhances or intensifies how the viewer experiences political messages through speed, (2) retrieves the importance of the narrator, (3) renders previous media increasingly obsolete, yet opens up new avenues for commercial dominance, and (4) creates additional reversals or other problems for video activism, such as the mass proliferation of surveillance and formatting discussion in counter-productive ways. ...
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...that his incisive words still echo today in numerous film school lecture halls and classroom seminars. And there was psychologist L.L. Thurstone, arguably the Father of Attitude Scale Construction and Measurement (a signature area of theory and research in social psychology), who developed scales for the measurement of attitudes toward movies for the famous and notoriously politicized Payne Fund Research in 1928. This study’s practically avowed purpose was to indict (not investigate) the medium of film as a source of inspiration of bad behavior in a youthful audience. Few psychologists, however, followed Münsterberg and Thurstone into the thicket of entertainment media influences and effects. It was not until the advent and market penetration of television in the 1950s coupled with concerns about unconscious influences of advertising, in all its forms and venues, that the attention and media...
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...Downloaded by [University of Ottawa] at 14:44 24 March 2014 Football, Violence and Social Identity Downloaded by [University of Ottawa] at 14:44 24 March 2014 As the 1994 World Cup competition in the USA again demonstrates, football is one of the most popular participant and spectator sports around the world. The fortunes of teams can have great significance for the communities they represent at both local and national levels. Social and cultural analysts have only recently started to investigate the wide variety of customs, values and social patterns that surround the game in different societies. This volume contributes to the widening focus of research by presenting new data and explanations of football-related violence. Episodes of violence associated with football are relatively infrequent, but the occasional violent events which attract great media attention have their roots in the rituals of the matches, the loyalties and identities of players and crowds and the wider cultures and politics of the host societies. This book provides a unique cross-national examination of patterns of order and conflict surrounding football matches from this perspective with examples provided by expert contributors from Scotland, England, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Argentina and the USA. This book will be of interest to an international readership of informed soccer and sport enthusiasts and students of sport, leisure, society, deviance and culture. Richard Giulianotti, Norman...
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...Preface There is no doubt that we are in the midst of a great revolution in the history of women. The evidence is everywhere; the voice of women is increasingly heard in Parliament, courts and in the streets. While women in the West had to fight for over a century to get some of their basic rights, like the right to vote, the Constitution of India gave women equal rights with men from the beginning. Unfortunately, women in this country are mostly unaware of their rights because of illiteracy and the oppressive tradition. Names like Kalpana Chawla: The Indian born, who fought her way up into NASA and was the first women in space, and Indira Gandhi: The Iron Woman of India was the Prime Minister of the Nation, Beauty Queens like Aishwarya Rai and Susmita Sen, and Mother Teresa are not representative of the condition of Indian women. Over 32000 murders, 19,000 rapes, 7500 dowry deaths and 36500 molestation cases are the violent crimes reported in India in 2006 against women. There are many instances of crime especially against women go unreported in India. These are figures released by the National Crime Records Bureau recently. While Madhya Pradesh is worst off among the states, the national capital New Delhi continues to hold on to its reputation of being the most unsafe city in India. Delhi takes the top slot for crimes ranging from murders and rapes to dowry deaths and abductions. It reflects country's law and order situation when its capital is a cauldron of crime. Instead...
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...5 learning 160 chapter chapter outline A Four-Legged Co-Worker Declan lies on his back wanting his belly scratched. The eight-year-old black Labrador cross swings his legs in the air for a few minutes before resigning himself to chewing on someone’s shoe. In the office he behaves like any pet dog, but in the field he is like a tornado—focused on finding illegal drugs being smuggled. Declan is a drug-detector dog for the Customs Service and has been busting drug smugglers with his handler, Kevin Hattrill, for eight years. Airport passengers look on with curiosity as Declan darts around people and their luggage. Within minutes he sniffs out a person of interest, who is taken away and questioned by airport authorities. Dogs like Declan are trained to detect illegal drugs, such as cannabis, methamphetamine, and cocaine, or explosives. Hattrill said the dogs were dual responsetrained when they detected something. “If the odor is around a passenger, they are trained to sit beside them. If it’s around cargo, they are trained to scratch. When they detect something, their whole temperament will change. “The dogs can screen up to 300 people within 10 to 15 minutes at the airport. Nothing else can do that.” (McKenzie-McLean, 2006, p. 7) module 15 Classical Conditioning The Basics of Classical Conditioning Applying Conditioning Principles to Human Behavior Extinction Generalization and Discrimination module 16 Operant Conditioning The Basics of Operant Conditioning...
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