Young Voters

We have continuely discussed the relation that the younger generation has with politics as well as engaging with the public sphere of news. While we have not truly focused on the younger generation and our government, I think that this article truly exempflies the power that our younger generation has on our future. The article dicusses the importance and the intensity of the milliena generation and their ability to change the way our governement is ran. What makes younger voters so crucial to voting is that they are the target audience for campaining as well as the younger voters have the desire to vote. They milliena masses are not jaded by politics nor are skeptic to what is presented before them. The media and the public sphere aids itself towards us, it is shaped to invoke reaction as well as desire within ourselves.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/21/young-voters-would-be-key-in-a-hillary-clinton-presidential-race-but-can-she-win-them-over/

The search for flight 370

Now about three weeks ago a Malaysian airplane with around 200 passengers disappeared.  This plane held passengers from 13 countries including 3 Americans.  The search has been progressing but with no leads, until now.  The Chinese government in partnership with NASA has no gotten involved.  CNN posted a story about a Chinese satellite that found an image of a floating object about 22 meters in length, floating in the southern part of the Indian Ocean.  The plane disappeared because it had no radar and apparently all communications were down.  Conspiracies about the flight being defective and the pilots planning this landing have been circling the media since the search began.  This is another event, like 9/11, that has now made people afraid of flying.  The truth about the plane is still a mystery as concrete evidence still has not been found.

I want to connect this article to the writings of Habermas and the "public sphere".  The Public sphere is a place where people can have a discussion without the involvement of biases or media persuasion.  Does such a place exist? I think it does.  Over the course of this search for the missing flight people have been all over the internet posting comments, articles and theories of what happened to the missing plane.  Although the internet is a powerful form of persuasion, it is also a great place to start discussions.  People have the freedom to discuss their theories from their own assumptions and beliefs because no major news organizations have posted any conspiracies. People have the ability to discuss what they want, free from biases and media persuasion.  This is a perfect example of the public sphere.

Michigan strikes down gay marriage ban

A Michigan judge struck down the state law banning gay marriage yesterday in response to complaints made by this couple claiming that the law violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution. The aforementioned couple, two nurses from the Detroit area, participated in Michigan's first same-sex marriage ceremony after the ban was lifted.

This story made me think back to the article we discussed about George W. Bush's connection with the LGBTQ community during the 2000 election. Things have come so far for this community since then and numbers of self-identifying members have surely grown - so what are politicians (particularly Republicans) doing today to ensure they make those same connections to this community? What will the 2016 election bring forth for this community?

Minstrel Obama

The title of the blog may be misleading but as I looked for articles to write about, I stumbled across a few political cartoons. I scanned over a couple of them and noticed that the features that are exaggerated on Obama seem to make him look and seem more monkey like. This is problematic because blacks/African-Americans have been compared and likened to apes negatively for hundred of years. It leads me to wonder if these type of blatant exaggerations are done purposefully.

This relates loosely to minstrelsy. It may not be black face but it falls between the depiction of the brute and a Sambo. A sambo was always depicted as dumb, subservient, and as having very pronounced features. I know that these political cartoons/propaganda pieces are to serve as humorous takes on certain political issues but I wonder if anyone takes offense to some of the way minority groups are depicted in these drawings.

And Minstelsy for All

The picture below is of a billboard I recently viewed in a different light. I have been told that the "screen names" of the radio personalities shown are from left to right essentially, "the good", "the bad", and "the ugly". I was told by a co-worker who is of Latin decent that the radio program advertised is cartoonish in its depiction of Latino archetypes and that some are embarrassed by it.

Although the recent reading entitled "Minstrel Politics Or "He Speaks Too Well:" Rhetoric, Race, And Resistance In The 2008 Presidential Campaign" is ultimately about how a legacy of minstrelsy is displayed in current politics I found it most interesting in how the same is displayed in popular culture. The pictured advertisement, and other cultural displays, show an example of a Latino equivalent to the Black minstrelsy described in the article and how it too survives today.

Step in the Right Direction

CNN reported that a federal judge overturned a ruling on Michigan's ban of same-sex message and other statutory laws. The federal judge ruled that the state officials "had lost sight of what the case was really about...people." The case was help overturned by a couple that were fighting for the rights to raise their children. The judge proceeded to say that the decision made was a step in the right direction would it came to affirming the equal rights of all peoples.

This story relates to the article by Jeffrey A. Wilson named the "Republican Rhetoric of Identification." Here the article proceeds to talk about the huge influence that gay/lesbian voters had on elections, specifically George W. Bush. It is needless to say that the state of Michigan was stuck in time by not allowing the rights of gay/lesbians. It is undeniably the future that the community will have just as equal rights as their heterosexual counterparts. The article reminded me that there is an upcoming election, just around the corner and this issue about equal rights for the gay and lesbian community will be a huge factor for all candidate on how they handle certain issues that will be brought up. I see that the overturn of Michigan's ruling is a good sign that change will continue to come across all states for equal rights of all. 

Coordination between reporters and politicans

In an article from CBS Philadelphia reporter Chris Stigall talked to former CBS news reporter Sharyl Attkisson on the trouble reporters have to deal with while covering politicians and the government. The story essentially discussed how most of the questions being asked at the White House press briefing are prescreened and deliberately chosen ahead of time. The article also states how it is more and more difficult for reporters to get controversial stories on air because of the "trouble" it may cause.
This article caught my attention as a result of attending the talk by Dr. Dan Reitter. Last week Reitter discussed the importance of having a press that doesn't blindly follow politicians and White House administration. Reitter suggested that the press needs to always question politicians, and this article claims quite the contrary is actually occurring.