Web Critique 5

Website Name: Rock the Vote, www.rockthevote.com (Links to an external site.)
Operated By:  Rock the Vote, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
Funded By:  Donations and fundraising

Rock the Vote is an organization whose goal is to equip the youth of America to vote. The website gets right to this the moment you arrive by popping up a dialog box allowing visitors to immediately and easily to register to vote over the Internet. The website is full of helpful information for people who may be confused and overwhelmed by the process of voting. Along with this information, there are pages on the site for youth to contact their local representatives and also a page with polling and research data. The website has a page where visitors can request the Rock the Vote Democracy Class can come to their school. The organization is non-partisan and I noticed looking at their Twitter feed a mix of both political parties being represented. The website makes good use of celebrity supporters to garner rapport with young visitors to the website. There are pictures of celebrities all over the site, lists of celebrity supporters, and ongoing use of celebrity support in social media streams.  The site has easy linkage to Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media, and a Tumblr blog. There is also a store selling items to help young people “represent” Rock the Vote to their peers. There are many ways offered to get involved from Washington D.C. internships, hosting an event, volunteering, or even just helping “Spread the Word”, as is the name of a particular page on the site with several options of how to spread the word. The very best thing about this site is how it demystifies voting for young Americans and places knowledge about voting at their fingertips in an easy navigable, attractive website.

Discussion 5

Prompt: When has unconventional participation been successful in bringing about political change in U.S. history? Are those instances viewed differently in hindsight than they were at the time? Why?

I think that the reason that unconventional participation is so successful in bringing about political change is its ability to draw public attention. The media usually covers these occurrences and brings the issues to public attention. Then, citizens will make a choice about the issue.  A major issue that was brought further to the light through unconventional participation is the Selma march in 1965. The awful governmental response to the demonstration only further alerted the public to the problem. Then, pressure has been continually placed upon politicians about civil rights, even to this day.  Looking back upon the Selma demonstration, however, there has been a huge change in climate for blacks, and the demonstration is now viewed solemnly as a day when those facing voting right discrimination stood up and were successful in awakening the nation to the civil rights issue. Now the attitude of most black and white people alike is a gladness that change has occurred for those oppressed in our country. This change is a direct result of the attention brought to the issue by the numerous forms of conventional and unconventional participation performed in the past. If no one were to speak up, nothing would have changed.  

Instructor's Notes-Voting and Political Parties

Instructor Notes for Chapters 7 and 8 - Participation and Voting and Political Parties

Each of the chapters in the textbook contain just the basics about the topics covered when actually political scientists devote their entire careers to the study of each individual aspect of our political system.  This is a very interesting time in our country to be studying these two topics as we are in the midst of an important election campaign. During the study of the media in the last chapter, you should have noted the activity of the political parties and the changes that have been made in voting laws in a number of states. These laws will undoubtedly affect voter participation for the upcoming election. As you study these chapters and you learn of the history of the election process in the USA you will have a better understanding of current events affecting our voting process.

A very recent development highlights concerns expressed by a great number of American citizens and now the international community. " US election system criticised over finance rules and voting restrictions Commission led by Kofi Annan says the rise of Super Pacs and voter ID laws has 'shaken citizen confidence' in elections." Read this story at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/14/us-election-campaign-finance-voting (Links to an external site.)

DC Douglas' "Why #OccupyWallStreet? 4 Reasons."   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wK1MOMKZ8BI#! (Links to an external site.)

Chapter 8 gives us a brief history of political parties and their evolution through the years. The parties are still in the process of evolving. It mentions the Tea Party that has become part of the Republican Party. Since the textbook was written another movement has been formed called the Occupy Movement. Occupy does not align itself with either political party. “Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #ows is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to fight back against the richest 1% of people that are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.” http://occupywallst.org/about/ (Links to an external site.) There is an Occupy Group that meets regularly here in Wichita.This week has a 50-point selftest with 50 questions to assist you in learning the basics of Participation and Voting and Political Parties

Protesters unveil a banner at the Lincoln Memorial in 2010 to protest the Citizens United ruling. The Annan report criticises the ruling for shaking Americans' confidence in the political process.
Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Instructor's Notes-The Media

Instructor Notes for Week 4 - Chapter 6 – The Media

This chapter in our textbook gives the basics about the media but it reminds me of the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by Dr. James W. Loewen (Links to an external site.) who is a regular contributor to the History Channel's History magazine and is a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Vermont. I highly recommend his book as it highlights the history that is left out of textbooks.

I will share some thoughts that are not in the textbook for this Chapter. For some time, it has been my belief that the corporate owned media was the greatest threat to our democracy due to the lack of real news, the lack of true journalists and the influence of corporate interests in setting the agenda of the news in the broadcast media. (I now believe that the infamous Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United making corporations people is even more dangerous - but more about that later).

It is essential that a democracy have a well-informed electorate (voters) to function properly. I consider most of the ‘news’ delivered via the corporate media is essentially what the corporations want us to hear. The chapter hints at this truth but doesn’t develop the idea. We could spend an entire semester on this topic but I will just give you a few highlights. I am surprised that the textbook doesn’t have a graphic that shows the six giant corporations that own our media such as this: 
          Fox News falls under the NewCorp group and has been a popular station in the USA despite the fact that numerous studies have shown it to be the least credible (honest) and the most burdened with all the scandals and legal issues in recent years. Fox news also bears the burden of its President, Roger Ailes, and his dubious reputation. Tim Dickinson is one of the talented, investigative journalists today and his article about Roger Ailes is something I recommend that you read if you have not yet read it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-roger-ailes-built-the-fox-news-fear-factory-20110525 (Links to an external site.)

 

Do other network executives feel the same way?

There are many issues that we now face with the lack of honest and complete news coverage in the USA which many believe has led to the ‘dumbing down” of the American public. Here is a recent example – did any of you see the largest protest the world that took place in Mexico in July 2012 on our broadcast news?

Largest protest ever in the world and the USA broadcast media is not reporting this!

2012 biggest protest the world has ever seen mexico ! (Links to an external site.)This begs the question – what else is our media failing to report to the public?There is much more but this is enough to give you a bit more background for our study as we look at the media.   (For spring and fall semesters but NOT for summer students) - Please note that there is a Special Project assignment this week but it is not due until the end of next week. It is worth 100 points and will be used as our required Butler Assessment for our class. Please complete this assignment according to the directions.

Here is a video that may help you with the Special Project Assignment:

A 'must see' brief history of how our News became corporate opinions in the USA by the astute Thom Hartmann (Links to an external site.) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDKLFn0pty4 (Links to an external site.)

Let me know if you have any questions about it or anything else.

Enjoy the study of the Media!
Dr. B.

Instructor's Notes- Public Opinion & Political Socialization

Instructor Notes for Chapter 5 - Public Opinion and Political Socialization Politicians are always interested in public opinion and we constantly see polling results in all forms of media. This chapter gives a very brief overview of polling and survey methodology that is actually a very well developed science. I took an entire class on this subject alone and as a result, I am very careful about accepting poll results or statistics on face value. One needs to look carefully at what questions are asked and in what manner and order. Professionals can easily skew polling results and fish for the answers they want to achieve. I would even say that this may sometimes happen without intention. So, be aware of who is doing the poll and look carefully at the questions asked. It is always interesting to learn about political socialization and to ask ourselves where our own ideas and political leanings originated. We practice the fine art of civil discourse in our class and politely discuss the diverse views of students in our class. Some feel that this polite discussion is becoming a lost art even in the halls of Congress. Fareed Zakaria wrote this article Why political polarization has gone wild in America (and what to do about it)  (Links to an external site.)and I recommend that you read it if you have time. My parents always said to me that everyone in this country has a right to their own opinion and we must respect that right. I have always believed this. The last chart in this chapter is an interesting comparison of various countries and how the citizens feel about the USA. We Americans in the USA (Canadians and Mexicans also consider themselves to be Americans) have a very favorable view of our country. This poll was taken in 2009 so it is rather current. Even though we complain and worry, we still seem to feel we have a good country.

Instructor's Notes-Constitution/Federalism

CHAPTER 3 - The Constitution & CHAPTER 4 - Federalism

These chapters will be a great review for those who have had previous classes in the history of our country. Pay attention because so many people in our country have forgotten the basic foundation of our government and it is important that we understand this so we can all be responsible and knowledgeable voters.

I hope that you are beginning to feel comfortable with the format of the class now that we are into the second week. Please let me know if there is anything that is still unclear to you at this point.

Obviously, this is an online class and everything you need for it is contained here in our class site and your textbook. However, the textbook publishers do have a website that you may access if you are interested:

Here is the link http://college.cengage.com/polisci/janda/chall_dem/10e/student_home.html (Links to an external site.)

Internet Links Relating to Book Chapters (Links to an external site.)

This link takes you to the Student side of USpolitics.org, where they list over 300 Internet links organized by chapters. Excepting for links to television networks, newspapers, and 2012 presidential candidates, all links are annotated, showing source and content. The number of links range from 4 to 51, and average about 15 per chapters. They are organized within topic areas for chapters with numerous links. All links were working when they were created on September 9, 2011.

Unfortunately, our textbook does not adequately cover the Constitutional foundation of the separation of church and state. There is much division about religion in the USA since the rise of the religious-right. I post the meme below as a reminder that we all have a RIGHT to our own opinion about anything in this country . . . but that means we must respect the rights of others. In this class we all agree to disagree in a friendly and civil discussion where we listen as much as we speak. 

Instructor's Notes-Ch. 1 and 2

by Dr. Ramona Becker

Instructor Notes for Part One - PartOne in the textbook (Chapter 1 - Freedom, Order, or Equality &Chapter 2 Majoritarian or Pluralist Democracy) Two themes underlie The Challege of Democracy. The first is that contemporary government involves tradeoffs between three important political values--freedom, order, andequality. Keep these political values in mind as we study and discuss issues this semester.In the Overview each week, you will find a brief synopsis of the chapter(s) that should be quite helpful to you. When appropriate videos are available online, the links will be provided to you in this area. Each week's assignments will have the same basic format. Each lesson will have a Discussion Forum that is a critical part of the class. You may select the discussion question(s) that interest you the most. You will have a self-test that you may take as many times as you like until you achieve the grade you desire. It will be graded and should be an easy A most of the time. You will also have a Web Critique to do each week. You may select which website you want to critique from the choices provided. My students in past classes have truly enjoyed and appreciated these great links.

Discussion 4

Prompt:  

In the United States, the mass media are predominantly owned by for-profit corporations. Do those companies have any particular obligation to the public in how they cover the news? Or, is their obligation to simply focus on returning a profit for their investors?

My response:

I think that morally, these corporations should be committed to providing truthful information to the public. However, even the most committed to honestly still may subtly instill a bias into their reporting. Also, from a Capitalistic standpoint, the media will do what it takes to continue receiving funding from their corporate owners. These two simple facts are why we as the public need to be discerning when processing data from the mass media. Simply asking ourselves "what are they really trying to say?" or "what message are they trying to imprint upon the public?" can go a long way in decoding the rhetoric so commonly seen especially in newspaper headlines, major television news channels, or opinion websites. The reason I mention rhetoric is because many reporters, writers, news anchors, and politicians are expert rhetoricians. They know how to say something and send a message that may not be overt. I am not saying we should be constantly fearing conspiracies or brainwashing, just that we need to realize that everyone has an angle, which is not a bad thing. It's only natural. We can have freedom from being tossed to and fro by the opinions of the mass media with a little thinkwork of our own. 

Web Critique 4

Website Name: CSPAN  http://www.c-span.org/ (Links to an external site.)
Operated By:   National Cable Satellite Corporation
Funded By:  “C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) is a private non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. C-SPAN receives no government funding; operations are funded by fees paid by cable and satellite affiliates who carry C-SPAN programming.”

CSPAN, or Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, was not an oft visited channel in our home growing up. I have memories of flipping through the channels looking for Disney channel and coming across some government proceeding on CSPAN. I inwardly groaned, repulsed by how boring the channel seemed to me, a child, then I flipped quickly on to the next channel. Now that I am an adult, and I have been to the CSPAN website and observed a few video clips and have read the history of CSPAN, I feel a bit more welcoming of the organization which as a child I would never have enjoyed. This week in investigating the website, I watched a video of a Gallup representative discussing the current 40% mass media trust rate, and I watched/listened to a 30 minute video of the director of the U.S. Botanic Garden discussing the history of the Garden. Truthfully, CSPAN has actually developed since my childhood, as has my understanding and interest in the government and our country.  In 2001, CSPAN launched its third associated channel “CSPAN 3” in addition to the others, “CSPAN” and “CSPAN 2”. CSPAN also has a radio station available on Sirius XM. The website is very expansive, with a large video library free to watch, many podcasts, a blog, and among other various types of information, there is an interesting website about the First Ladies of the United States. There is also a Series A-Z page that helps you find helpfully grouped information. One of the major collections of information is regarding Congress. They have gone to great lengths to provide a lot of info on our lawmakers. One more major item on the site worth noting is “CSPAN Classroom” which has a lot of helpful resources for teachers. The website has a corresponding free Android/Apple app that lets you listen live to all three of the stations and CSPAN radio. This is nice, but it is regrettable that the app only allows the audio and that the main website only allows for streaming of the channels if you log in with a cable provider. I think that they put off a lot of viewers by requiring cable service. Many citizens don’t have cable service anymore, but rather opt for online news and subscription movie and tv service, like XBOX video, hulu, or Netflix. We are one of those families. In any case, CSPAN is still a great resource for Americans because they provide unedited raw video of many US court, Congressional, and public affairs proceedings without bias or interruption, and also provide American history programming and non-fiction book and author events from around the country, much of this free on their website. 

Web Critique 3

Website Name: Political Compass, www.politicalcompass.org
Operated By:  Pace News, Ltd.
Funded By:  Sponsorships, seminars

The makers of this website have done a great job creating a test to help you see where you fall on a chart similar to the one in chapter 5 of our book on p. 135-136. Although not exactly the same, both our book and the Political Compass show a way to classify people in a two-dimension manner rather than unilaterally from Left to Right. Many people don’t fit the overly simplistic classifications of Left/Liberal or Right/Conservative. The Political Compass test classifies test-takers based on two continuums: Left to Right and Libertarian to Authoritarian. This site has a lot of information regarding these continuums for those coming to the website who may have a limited understanding of the topic. 

The website shows you where you lie on the scale immediately after you take the test. There is also an option to create a group-chart where you and family or friends can plot your points together. There are plots of famous leaders on the site as well, so you can see how you compare. 

There is a separate smaller quiz called “Iconochasms” where you can “see how well you know your political icons”. I discovered that “iconochasm” is not a word. I think they might actually have meant to say “iconoclasm”. The word “iconoclasm” seems to have the meaning they were trying to construe. That would be one thing I could “constructively criticize” about the site. 

Another few items to critique: the site looks and feels low-budget. The site is low-budget most likely, however there are many free resources to utilize on the internet to make the site look more modern and appealing. Overall, its appearance is not too bad, though. It is fully functional and easily navigable. Their reading list includes writers from the four separate quadrants, but I would have liked to see a list of readings from writers that fall right in the middle of all four. 

Overall, this website and test are a great way to assess yourself and have a starting point for political discussion with others.

Third Discussion

Here are the options we had for discussion number three: 

1. Why do you think religion plays a role in forming our political ideologies, as the chapter suggests?
2. What role do recent technological trends--such as smart-phones, the decline of landlines, caller ID—play in making accurate polls either easier or more difficult to conduct?
3. What is your reaction to the case of Kenneth Biros?

I chose number 1. 

Here is my response: 

"Why does religion play such a role in forming our political ideologies? I would say that is because our religion(or in many cases choice of non-religion) is not only our deepest-held hopes and beliefs, but also our lens through which we see the world, come to terms with the evils in the world, and make our decisions. It only makes sense that our religious beliefs would come forth in our political ideologies. In many ways our religious beliefs come to be a large part of who we are. And since our government is for the people, by the people, our religious beliefs do play a part. How that fleshes out is often tricky, and rightly so, for the constant tension actually serves to create a perpetual act of protection of religious freedom and rights. "

My response to another:

David said:

"Personally one of the most disturbing things to me is homicide. I can not understand how someone can brutally kill someone or stab someone multiple times. Kenneth Biros should have been left in prison for the rest of his life, and not put to death. Killing someone does not make the person pay for what he or she did. Society needs to get rid of the bad people yes, but that is why we have jail/prisons. I did some research and found that it costs more money (tax payers) to execute an inmate than it cost to keep the inmate in prison for life. I am a firm believer in law enforcement and keeping the peace and order, but I do not think that we should waste money time or energy on hopeless individuals. If they chose to repent and save their soul that is their choice to make while they serve time. Our priority should be to catch these individuals and incarcerate them but not to kill them."

I replied:

"You make a good point, David, that life imprisonment gives a chance for repentance. I have a dilemma in my mind between justice and mercy. You are right that it is more costly to execute than to imprison. This is simply because of the expensive litigation and appeals process. An interesting piece of information regarding giving time for repentance is in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. His case is easily the most disgusting, heavy, mind-blowing series of murders I have ever read. After I read about it I felt physically ill for quite a few minutes. He was sentenced to 16 life-sentences rather than execution because his state had outlawed capital punishment in the late 1800s. At the end of his life, he is said to have repented and been baptized as a Christian. And he didn't care that he died. He felt he was sinning just by remaining alive. He was said to have not cried out while being bludgeoned to death in prison. Crazy stuff. Lots to think about. "