Form and Content for Checkpoint 3

Form:

I would like to blend together the presentation and the essay for the last checkpoint.  To do so, I’ll mainly focus on the essay as the largest component and may develop a short Prezi or some presentation format that accentuates and highlights the essay’s main themes or points.  Since the essay will still be around 1000 words or so, I will not be including my entire essay into the presentation as that would be very dull for everyone else.  Instead, I will probably take short excerpts or examples from the essay and delve in to further analysis with the presentation.  There was a Prezi that I posted on Twitter that had a great format of presenting a literary poem that was enhanced with a lot of visual imagery.  The Prezi took some important phrases from the poem and elaborated on their significance through many perspectives such as historical and political. 

 

Content:

For this checkpoint I intend to utilize my annotated bibliography that was created for Checkpoint 1.  There were some very interesting sources in there that I think would be great to use as the basis for what I will be writing and presenting about.  Most likely, I’m going to talk about health culture as it pertains to social media.  Some of the related themes to the research that I was doing on that topic pertains to an entirely different usage of social mediums such as Facebook and Twitter that inadvertently advertise underage or illegal drug and/or alcohol usage and in extreme cases, lead to cyber-bullying that could endanger the life of the cyber victim.  My initial proposal idea for the annotated bibliography will most likely be expanded upon on this essay and I will be working on obtaining more recent sources that will help to substantiate my argument much further.

Equality for Women Stored within a Binder: Obama vs. Romney 2nd Presidential Debate

The 2nd presidential debate delved into topics similar to the 1st Presidential Debate but took a more participatory format from the audience of American voters.  The presidential candidates were bombarded with hard, direct questions that were of the highest priority for American voters and their responses were crucial in winning over certain demographics of undecided voters.  Some of these topics included gun control, immigration policies, and most notably equality for women with respect to commensurate income to male counterparts.  Obama had very sound responses to these issues as he noted that for each area, he had previously passed legislation that targeted the accessibility of guns, had passed acts helping current illegal immigrants become legalized and expressed his disgust of the Arizona law of identifying illegal immigrants, and also signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, extending the time for women to take legal action if they believe they were not being compensated appropriately.  However, Romney’s responses were not so sound as many believe them to be more controversial with his words.  He explained how he saw the need to regulate gun control but did not explicitly say he would pass legislation to do so.  On the issue of illegal immigration, Obama reminded the American voters of Romney’s stance on the Arizona Immigration Law which branded him more so less accepting of helping illegal immigrants gaining residency within the United States.  Most importantly, Romney’s critical response to equal pay for women sparked much outrage of women voters as some statements he made were rather disheartening to women rather than advocating equality.  His most quoted response was that he given “binders full of women” to help staff his cabinet which was apparently underrepresented by female employees.  The full incident can be seen here at the Youtube video below.

Despite Romney’s intention to win over female American voters, many have already sparked outrage against some of Romney’s comments.  Romney also alludes to the fact that many females who were prospective employees of his cabinet could not meet the late hours of work that were required due to commitments of going home and cooking dinner for their families.  This opportunity to sway women voters was severely damaged with Romney’s comments.  The CNN article analysis below explains further of Romney’s devastating comments delves further into how his representation of women’s role in society appear to come off as outdated and sexist while some also felt that the employment process paralleled or were similar to affirmative action policies.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/17/politics/debate-women/index.html

Romney’s brash and inept comments left him wide-open to scorn from social media and the internet community as this was an ample opportunity to publicize and accentuate sexist overtones by Romney.  Here are some effective and powerful responses by voters on this “binder full of women”

A small Ohio protest in which women spoke against Romney’s “binder” while portraying his controversial possession.

This meme shows a comedic contrast of Romney’s comments and Bill Clinton’s notorious womanizing.

All images courtesy of http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/binders-full-of-women and their associates accessed Oct. 20, 2012.  I do not own these images and use them under the restrictions of a Creative Commons License.

Entitlements of Everything but the Facts: Obama vs. Romney 1st Presidential Debate

As the 1st Presidential Debate went underway, the candidates Obama and Romney had not only a rocky exchange of words but key moments that would define the rest of the presidential debates.  Many topics were covered within this debate such as the economic recovery plan, social security and healthcare, and the future of education.  On the major issue of economic reform, Romney’s somewhat ambiguous “Five Point Plan” to remove tax deductions and close loopholes which would erase the deficit, while Obama presented his spending cuts but promised to maintain budgets for military, education, and technology.  Some of the center pieces of the debate was that Romney and Obama had entirely different systems of healthcare that they wanted to implement.  Romney’s healthcare system he advocated for would include a voucher system alongside Medicare and that citizens would have the ability to choose between privatized or government health insurance.  Obama refuted how this would leave senior citizens crippled to the big HMO companies and that they would draining every cent from the elderly.  He then explained how he had initiated a new health care reform bill (popularly known as Obamacare) which would be a revised system of Medicare that would help reduce the losses of health insurance without entirely doing away with it.  Obama lashed out to Romney, proposing he would cut education funding, especially to secondary school teachers and largely that he would propose an immediate $5 trillion tax cut without taxing the wealthy and those numbers didn’t add up.  Romney numerously denied these allegations and quickly came back about his stance on these budget cuts with a memorable use of rhetoric and answered “You’re entitled to your own house, and your own airplane, but not your own facts,”  Romney’s response can be viewed within the video below.

Later the fact-checkers even on CNN (known for leaning towards being liberal)  have rebutted the fact that Obama was very misleading with his initial attack on Romney’s $5 trillion dollar tax cut that can be seen on this YouTube interview with CNN and Stephanie Cutter, a member of Obama’s campaign.

Does Romney have the 53% if Obama already has the 47%?

One of the largest and most publicized moments of this 2012 Presidential Election was a candid video of Governor Romney speaking at a private fundraising event that contained controversial remarks from the Republican candidate.  He embellished on how the current President of the United States, Barack Obama had already garnered support from 47% of Americans who have been reliant on government and victims that have not taken personal responsibility.  Romney’s words may have gathered support at the private fundraiser but has received critical response and disdain from the many Americans who rely on social security or unemployment.

Romney’s initial comments in this fundraiser have continued to haunt and affect his campaign and was even referenced by Barack Obama in the second presidential debate.  Here is a sound bite from Romney exclaiming his concern for all Americans.

<http://www.hark.com/clips/zjwgnklhct-i-want-100-percent-of-americans-to-have-a-bright-and-prosperous-future

Along with this is Obama’s witty retort that Romney has already established he only cares for 53% of Americans.

http://www.hark.com/clips/xxtcjmvtvk-think-about-who-he-was-talking-about

Romney’s public image on this matter has been wholly referenced numerous times and is the subject of every media reporter’s question list.  Although his comment was statistically verified later, which elaborated that 47% of Americans currently rely on government funds such as food stamps, social security and veterans’ compensation, stating outright that these Americans are victims and irresponsible will certainly have its own toll on the polls.

Social Media on the 2012 Presidential Election: A Vote for a Better Tomorrow or for Better Rhetoric?

With the 2012 election quickly approaching, on Tuesday, November 6th, millions of Americans will make one of the most important decisions for the future of America and themselves when they take part in electing a presidential candidate.  Despite other third-party nominees, the Democratic and Republican national parties both have their respective candidates; Barack Obama (the current POTUS) and Mitt Romney (Governor of Massachusetts) who are the major contenders this election.  These two candidates have had one of the messiest and most negative campaigns that Americans have seen, with the emphasis of their campaigns relying on character assassination of the other rather than swaying American voters.  With recent televised debates and advertisements, both candidates have had ample opportunities to persuade Americans to jump on their respective bandwagons.  However, the biggest struggles for American voters is whether or not their intention for voting is due to the factual platforms of a candidate but may come from the candidate’s use of rhetoric.  In the latter situation, the “facts” become blurred and obsolete as the favor from voters stems from the number of witty and sharp comebacks or the out-of-proportional comments of a candidate.  Furthermore, the portrayal of each candidate through their opponent’s (or his own) remarks, can be infinitely intensified and wide-spread due to outlets of social media that take these comments to the extreme.  Through this series of blog posts, the social media characterization of presidential candidates Obama and Romney by one another and other involved parties will be followed and analyzed to show how these portrayals are effective in convincing Americans to align themselves with a specific candidate.  The portrayal of a candidate from the online community and social media can brand him or her against a specific issue and immortalize their actions, words, and overall their character, which will play a huge role in the public opinion.

Image courtesy of http://politicalmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/photo.jpg and their associates accessed Oct. 19, 2012.  I do not own this image and use itunder the restrictions of a Creative Commons License

Annotate Bibliography: Research Proposal

Social media has become a universal way for friends, acquaintances, or even strangers to delve into a sliver of a user’s personal life and participate almost as if they were in the experience themselves.  In this manner, social media is also influential on the these observers, who view amongst the funny pictures and family albums, can also potentially see more explicit activities such as underage drinking and the use of illegal drugs and substances by other users.  Social media has become an outlet for describing daily activities entailing those which are not considered to be very wholesome and probably repulsive or illegal by society.  The constant influence these activities have are only accentuated by Facebook and MySpace, where users are able to see wild parties, people using illegal substances, and/or people performing lewd acts.  This internet culture is contagious to outside or inside viewers and this behavior is more than admired, but actually imitated.  I propose that the correlation between social media and drug use should be explored more by monitoring young adults or students (ages less than 21 years old) who use social media frequently and those who stop/restrict themselves from using social media.  I believe the study will show that those who have stopped using social media so often will experience less illegal drug/substance use as the constant digital peer pressures and temptations from social media are eliminated.

Hello world!

Hey there everyone,

This is my first blog and blog post ever!!!  I guess this is the place where I can publicly vent my frustrations and concerns without cluttering the news feeds of other Facebook or Twitter users.  lol.  Of course, I’ll also be using this blog to discuss the impact of social media and the effects of its usage on modern society.  🙂