Negative Campaigning, It's always complicated

In our most recent presidential election, 2012, the voters seemed to be in awe and confusion on who they thought would make the best POTUS. To me, and I'm sure to many others, it seemed like we were voting for the lesser of two evils. Being a huge Obama fan even I was disjointed with how negative our last campaign seemed to go, loaded with constant mudslinging ads rather than ads promoting oneself in an honest way. It is estimated that about 80-85% of ads launched throughout the campaign were negative (received from Huffington Post...I know, not the most reliable source), exemplifying the idea of negative campaigning (aka mudslinging). At the point where negative ads take over the airways we, as voters, tend to become more negative about our political system which results in us losing faith in it.
Making a connection to this weeks reading, in the article "It's Complicated," we are told that the age group of 18-29 is not voting at rates of other age groups. We are seen as lazy and apathetic to voting and participating in our political system. The article touches base on the idea that social media outlets are creating an atmosphere for our age group to get involved and, although we are participating more in the news via videos/blogs/etc, we are still not going out to the polls and voting. It is my belief that there is much more to it than the simple statistical outcomes. I believe that our generation has come to realize that through a negative campaign we are unable to truly understand what a candidate stands for, whereas we truly and overwhelmingly understand why we should hate both candidates with a passion. In addition, purely relying on social media to receive our political information allows us to curve the information that we see to suit our political views. If more outlets were used then perhaps we would see all sides of every issue an have a more rounded understanding of the issues at hand. In the long run, with studies backing this claim, it seems that constant negative campaigning is leading to the downfall of our current political system and without a change the voter turnout will either remain stagnant or decrease. Saying that, I strongly think we need to steer clear of negative campaigning and expand the possibility of other parties having a chance in the presidential election, as they would truly make way for equal representation of the whole nation.

Coca-cola

The newest Coca-Cola commercial was publicized during the Super Bowl. It is people all over America consuming Coca-Cola and enjoying it. Every one has smiles on their faces, so you can tell that they are having a good time. The people in the commercial are of all different races, including white. There is a huge controversy with this commercial because the song is translated in many different languages.

Even though these people are of all different cultures, they are still American. The ones who are complaining are scared that their "Public Sphere" will not be the same. They are threatened by these other cultures. It is unfair and we as Americans should come together and embrace the different cultures that can be involved in the "Public Sphere."

It's easy to have doubts

In an article published on Yahoo this week President Obama is once again criticized about his decisions involving the US economy.  Congress feels that the 5 year deficit is finally coming to an end.  The Federal Reserve is no longer going to pump any more money into the economy.  America's GDP is on a rise and annual budget deficits are decreasing.  Things look good, yet many people in Washington are pointing fingers at who to blame for the original deficit.  The Democrats who control the White House and the senate, and the Republicans who control the senate will fight over who will control Congress for the remainder of Obama's term.  This could greatly change the decisions made in the White House.

"Cynicism" refers to a degree of negative affect that the government and its statement is not generating outputs according for individual expectations.  The government had a large hole to dig itself out of after the Bust Administration left the White House.  During that time Obama has raised taxes and fought a war across the world.  Regardless of the good the Obama ministration has done, his approval has decreased and people continue to doubt him.

It is easy to disapprove of the decisions made by the President because there will always be people who have that same mentality.  It is easier to by cynical than is it to be accepting.

Blog 2

 The death penalty is something that society tries to ignore, because some of us rather let someone else decide.When it comes to the death penalty, many people believe that it depends on the level of knowledge that they have according to the case.Recently, there was a news story about what should be done about putting the Boston Marathon Bomber to the death penalty,  and all five "Gubernatorial candidates" in Massachusetts agreed that he should be put to the death penalty. This story made me think about a given scenario, and that is, if the defendant was able to come up with a rhetoric speech,what will be the given skills or things that he or she would use.  I mention this scenario, because in the past readings in class  have dealt with has to deal with persuasion, and how to be successful and powerful at it. The readings give us a definition of rhetoric, and that is, " A  style of speaking or writing, especially in language of a particular subject".

Now, if the  defendant was able to use the skill or tool of lets say, what the  definition of rhetoric tells us, and that is, the language in a specific subject, then the defendant can use what he or she mostly needs to defend him'herself with.In the readings, it also mentions how rhetoric has a relationship with persuasion, and language, and although court systems don't base their judgement on " language", I wonder, if persuasion and language were the main resource for a  judge, what would of really happened to the Boston Bomber,given the fact that he had some mental problems.

ObamaCare and the youngins

In an article on theweek.com there is a list of 11 ways ObamaCare is marketing itself to the "millennials" who are always on social media and constantly needing attention seeking ads in order to gain our attention as the reading referred to. The list of ways includes using cool celebrities in commercials with gimmicks in order to capture our attention. They also used interesting methods such as sending their supporters to Dennys at 2-3 am in order to be around the most young people, and sending them to Footlocker stores when they knew young people would be in line buying new Nikes.
   Along with personally influencing people to vote for ObamaCare they also used social media gimmicks such as the "pajama boy" campaign featuring a boy dressed up in a onesie in order to encourage people to vote early. Then they also have the "brosurance " ads featuring young men partying and yelling,  and doing keg stands yelling "got insurance" in an effort to get young fraternity men to vote for ObamaCare perhaps? Nonetheless the Obama administration is trying very hard to pump up its young crowd and cater to us in every facet of our lives, partying, sports, celebrities, and social media. Only time will tell if all of the gimmicks really pay off.

Scapegoating out of Bridgegate

The article entitled Gov. Chris Christie continues denying Bridgegate knowledge as office is subpoenaed reports on the currently unfolding scandal surrounding New Jersey Governor and the intentional closing of lanes on the George Washington Bride. The story has been unfolding since earlier in January when information arose indicating that Christies administration was responsible for maliciously closing the lanes. Immediatley after the scandal broke Christies Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly was fired for being responsible for the lane closures. Christie has maintained that he had no knowledge that the closing was nothing more than a traffic study. Former Port Authority leadsman David Wildstein recently told the Port Authority that evidence exists that Christie had knowledge the lane closures were done with intent other than solely a traffic study. The story is continually unfolding with more juicy details to come out of Bridgegate. 

This article was particularly interesting and relatable to class after reading and discussing Scapegoating on wednesday. Christie and the administration instantly let go of the person "responsible" for the lane closures. This was done to shade the blame from the Governor and allege that his Chief of Staff was responsible and he had no knowledge of the lane closings. This scapegoating tactic was obvious trying to through Bridget Kelly "under the bridge" with the intent of shutting the scandal immediately after it surface…

Blog Post Two

     One would think that after being charged and tried with the murder of Trayvon Martin and subsequently cleared with a not guilty verdict, that George Zimmerman would want nothing more than to fade out of the media spotlight. Yet, here we are months later and it seems that I see his face every time I turn on the television. He has once again made it into the news because of his latest attempts to participate in a celebrity boxing match with The Game, Kanye West, and DMX who are all African American rappers.


     Habermas speaks of the public sphere being a conversation in which the public body can come together freely and express their opinions without judgments. The public has certainly exercised this right concerning this boxing match. Political figures such as Al Sharpton have urged the celebrities to not participate in this match and has also urged the public to not watch. To participate in the viewing of this show would be celebrating the murder of Trayvon Martin, as Zimmerman was not a celebrity before he killed a Black man.