Web Critique 15

Website Name:  http://amnesty.org
Operated By:  Amnesty International
Funded By: Donations

The website of Amnesty International is a very good resource to people who would like to have their eyes open to human rights violations around the world. I believe the best feature of the website is the ability to look, by country, at current human rights violations. There is also a downloadable PDF file titled “The State of the World’s Human Rights”. Amnesty publishes such a report each year outlining the state of human rights by region and by country. They offer the report in a good number of different languages. There are many fantastic education resources on the site, many of which are in other languages than English, such as “Human Rights Bingo”, education blogs, the link to Amnesty’s site www.respectmyrights.org which has two great interactive tools, the Poverty Trap, and the Housing Journey regarding how lack of housing affects human rights, and more. Overall, Amnesty International is doing good work. I don’t personally agree with all of their stances, but they are a loud voice for many many good causes and their website is a big part of their movement. 

Instructor Notes - The Courts

Instructor Notes for Week 10 – Chapter 14 - The Courts Again, as in the previous chapter, this may sound like a very boring chapter to students but this is an important and fascinating subject area about a sector of our government that actually affect all Americans with their decisions on a daily basis. Anyone who has ever served on a jury, or has had to go to court as a defendant or a petitionerknows the sense of finality of a court decision. We need to understand our judicial system in this country as one never knows when one might find themselves in court being profoundly affected by the court process and/or decision. So, pay attention to this important section as it might be very critical to your personal life at some point and as the two cases below illustrate, the courts are making a difference in our political lives most of the time. This is an especially critical time in our history with recent cases that have even affected the 2012 election campaigns. In June 2012, the Supreme Court upheld President Obama’s health care overhaul law, the Affordable Care Act, saying its requirement that most Americans obtain insurance or pay a penalty was authorized by Congress’s power to levy taxes. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four more liberal members.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/us/supreme-court-lets-health-law-largely-stand.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (Links to an external site.)  Another important earlier case, Citizens United (2010), remains a quite controversial decision. In this case, the Court “held that private corporations, which are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution and are not political membership organizations, enjoy the same political free speech rights as people under the First Amendment and may draw on the wealth of their treasuries to spend unlimited sums promoting or disparaging candidates for public office. The billions of dollars thus turned loose for campaign purposes at the direction of corporate managers not only can be but—under the terms of corporate law—must be spent to increase profits. If businesses choose to exercise their newly minted political “money speech” rights, they must work to install officials who will act as  corporate tools.”  http://www.thenation.com/article/169915/citizens-united-and-corporate-court# (Links to an external site.) Cartoon: Wasserman, The Boston Globe

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.

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. "