Gender & Slacktivist- Blog 3

http://mediamatters.org/mobile/blog/2014/02/14/fox-news-isnt-comfortable-with-these-new-facebo/198057

Fox News isn't too happy about the new forms of gender one can apply on their Facebook account. According to the network, there are about 56 genders that a person can associate with, including male and female.  The topic of  gender identity isn't a new one, so Facebook to "take action" allow people to  express themselves  and feel  comfortable with how they identify; Fox News disagrees , they believe that gender is only male or female, because there are only men and women. So the network went on to ridiculing Facebook.

Is this political participation? Yes, this is Slacktivist at its finest. When it come to a government movement, Facebook, being one of the most popular social media network at this time, has taken an enamors step. By Facebook allowing this form of gender expression, it a allows a normalization of these gender identities. It allows people to believe that maybe there are more then just male and female, and we need to see that as a norm to be socially accepted. Sure, allowing it to be seen on Facebook is a little step, but it is a little step that allows the world to see that the standard of categories imposed into our lives need to be broadened in order to help society grow.

Blog Post 3: Drone Policy Problem

This week it was reported that a United States citizen and suspected al-Qaida member abroad who was plotting threats against the U.S. was targeted for a drone attack by the CIA.  President Barack Obama's new policy on drone attacks is that only the military, and not the CIA, can attack suspected U.S. citizen terrorists overseas.  So the CIA can watch the suspect using drones in another country, but they cannot attack.  The Pentagon, on the other hand, which is a different department, can attack the suspect, but their drones are barred from the country, and the Justice Department, another separate department is not done developing a case against the same suspect that would authorize the Pentagon to attack.  Before President Obama's new drone policy, the CIA and the Pentagon were basically free to attack any suspected terrorist overseas whether U.S. citizen or not.  This shows the policy complications with drones and with collaborations among the different departments within the government.  

I found this article related to "Reconsidering Political Cynicism and Political Involvement: A Test of Antecedents," by Fu et al because this news article mentions the complications that President Obama's new drone policy causes within the government, which "reveals a feeling of distrust in politics, politicians, and governmental institutions by the public" (Strama, 1998).  Since the current drone policy reveals several jurisdiction issues politically, geographically, and within the government's own departments, it can make it difficult for the average person to keep up with this topic and ultimately confuse the person and discourage his/her trust in the government's structure.  On the other hand the article does clarify the jurisdiction issue so that the average person can get a grasp on the situation and by doing that, it may cause the reader to look into the drone policy and what other politicians think about it.   

Blog 2

The article talks about how Brett Jones, a gay Navy Seal, tells his significant other, "I love you." Although the Seal was not talking to a woman but his partner who was also in the Navy. The Seal was then discharged from the Navy and honorably left his job over three simple words people say all the time. He decided to break his silence so people can know what happened to him and help spread the word.


I think Brett Jones totally had the right to say I love you, it was a personal phone call left on an answering machine and he shouldn't have been investigated. I believe a situation like this can cause negative face on the Navy. Whether or not the men serving come out or not, this story shows how ridiculous the Navy acts when they "think" you might be gay. The poor man had to go through months of investigation and heartache after serving our country honorably for years.

Blog 2

In Tennessee workers at the Volkswagen choose not to be represented by the United Auto Workers.  The plant voted on the issue Friday. The UAW face strong oppositions by Replublicans who wanted to keep Tennessee a non union state to attract business. 

Hazing Gone Too Far (Blog #3)

With the new semester starting, many boys are joining fraternities to get to know their school, make some friends, and make their college years memorable. Sadly for freshman Chun Michael Deng, his life was cut short due to unsafe partying. In an article by CNN, "Baruch College fraternity 'ritual' death ruled a homicide, coroner says" shares the story of Michael's tragic death. Michael was rushing for the Greek fraternity Pi Delta Psi and often in fraternities there is a ritual of "hazing" which is the act of the new fraternity rushers to do crazy acts in order to join the frat. Michael was taking part of one of the hazes called "glass ceiling". Which is the act of being blindfolded while carrying weights on your back as your frat brothers are guiding you and pushing you around. This "not-so-innocent" act got serious when Michael fell backwards and hit his head. Michael was then on life support due to trauma but was taken off and now dead.
This story took a really big interest in me because I often hear lots of stories about different acts of hazing in college fraternities. I was never one to think it was funny or acceptable. Hazing is a very serious issue in college fraternities because there are many deaths and injuries that occur that we are not aware of. I chose to write about this article because it's important for people to know the dangers of hazing. Fraternities can cause lots of peer pressure for college boys because they want to feel accepted and part of a group. But in cases like Michael, these hazes can lead to serious consequences like injuries and death. It is important for people to be aware of what is going on around college campuses and prevent these deaths from happening.

Occupy Movement Bringing out Political Cynicism

The occupy movement expressed more than just economic inequality. It established the creation of wealth as a critical situation shared amongst all. We see that it is more than a disposable sense of income. The current economic standstill and crisis affects much more than the American household income. The conversation between ourselves as well as our environmental standing altered the way we as a society look at own sphere. This then produced a change in the effect on our relationships and our "sense of social belongings". With this newfound intense realm of political cynicism the relationship between concepts of involvement and knowledge on political scales are negative. We gather from the reading "Reconsidering Political Cynicism and Political involvement the connecting variables between people and financial standings. The measures in which we perceive not only ourselves but our government are ever-changing. The Occupy Movement proved just that, it allowed a new realm of political involvement as well as drew attention to the ever growing cynicism in our society.




http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/74811-income-gap-has-social-costs-breeds-political-cynicism?from=most_read&most_read=74811

Gun Laws

Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, explains why she is fine with people carrying guns without a license. She supports this hoping that people would use it for self-defense and not for criminal acts. I agree with her because of the saying "guns don't kill people, humans do." Most people who own guns do not have intentions on using them for a criminal act, we would hope. Just because someone has a license for a gun does not mean that they will not use it for criminal acts.

Nikki Haley is using invitational rhetoric to get her opinion across to the public. She is simply presenting her point of view, and allowing others to agree with it. She is not forcing her opinion on anyone, just informing the public of her reasoning.