Introduction "The revolution will not be televised. The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox in four parts without commercial interruptions. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers in the instant replay and women will not care if Dick finally gets down with Jane because Black people will be in the street looking for a brighter day. The revolution will not be televised."(Scott-Heron). This poem is from the 1970. Forty-three years later it is still relevant to past and current media opposition of movements they view as a threat. In a country where most people recognize peaceful protests as a legitimate form of political participation, why has there constantly been opposition to an activity that has brought beneficial changes our society. Throughout our countries history protesters have fought for just causes, being forced to find new ways to communicate with each other and with the world. Restricted and facing opposition protesters have found alternatives to overcome the ever-changing obstacles. Historical Overview Social movements are a mixture of “organized yet informal social entities that are engaged in extra-institutional conflict that is oriented towards a goal” (Christiansen, 2009). Formal obstacles restrict and decrease participation within social movements. Mass media communication is a major source of information. It grants visibility to some people and some points of views, while simultaneously muting other’s voices and shunning their viewpoints. At one point in media history it was a trustworthy news outlet and was by law required to air both sides on controversial issues and events. This was known as the fairness doctrine, unfortunately in 1985, this document stopped being enfo... ... middle of paper ... .... CNN Staff. (2013, October 24). Politics: Obama puts immigration back in spotligh. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/politics/immigration-reform/ Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., & Weir, M. (2011). We the People an Introduction to American Politics: The Media, Political Participation. New York : W.W. Norton. Pulido, L. (2007). A Day Without Immigrants: The Racial And Class Politics Of Immigrant Exclusion. Antipode , 1-7. Sperling, G., & Brandon, B. (2013, August 20). The Economic Benefits of Fixing Our Broken Immigration System: Travel and Tourism. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from The White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/08/20/economic-benefits-fixing-our-broken-immigration-system-travel-and-tourism Wood, J. T. (2006). Communication Mosaics: an Introduction to the Field of Communication. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Protests have long been a way for people to display their difference in opinion and gain support. One of the many protests against the war that had a powerful effect on public opini...
Ginsberg, Benjamin, et al. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics. 9th ed. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2013. Print."Voter Turnout." Nonprofit Vote. Nonprofit Vote, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
Fog, A. (2004, May 4). The supposed and the real role of mass media in modern democracy. Retrieved from Agner.org: www.agner.org/cultsel/mediacrisis.pdf
It has been nearly three decades since the last time Congress reformed our immigration system. From the Reagan era to the Obama administration, the country has undergone financial, social and political changes yet our immigration policies continue to be the same. Since the implementation of the last immigration reform in 1986, the United States government has spent nearly $187 billion ($220 billion when adjusted to 2013 dollars) in immigration enforcement agencies and programs alone (Meissner, Kerwin, Muzaffar & Bergeron, 2013). The high costs and the increasing public concern has led Americans to recognize the brokenness of our current immigration system and how it has not kept up with changing times. Research has shown 71% of Americans say undocumented immigrants should have a pathway to remain in the country legally (Pew Research Center, 2013). Although Congress and the White House have had numerous failed attempts to pass immigration reform in the past, H.R. 15 proposes an updated bipartisan system that can further secure the borders and solve problems surrounding immigration (Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, 2013.
Perea, Juan. Immigrants Out! The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant Impulse in the United States. New York or London: New York University Press, 1997. Print.
It is not easy to fit in a society where a bias government and propaganda creates false stereotypes on immigrants, and most of the American population is not aware of the obstacles that immigrants face. Americans are always “fooled” with false facts, but the “Don’t Shut the Golden Door” article by MacDonald and Sampson is a great piece where the issues of migration in the United States are addressed and presented to the audience in a simple but elaborated way, with clear examples from the influence of migration on the economy and
Just like racism, the root of immigrantism involves a rapacious greed to gain the highest possible profits by the dominant capitalists at the expense of human labor (Alessio, 2011). In contrast to racism which considers a group’s physical unchangeable characteristics as the symbolic representation of their inferiority, which can be psychosocial stability or intellectual capacity (Alessio, 2011), immigrantism recognizes a group’s cultural and economic attribute as an embodiment of weakness. Immigrantism is also different from ethnocentrism as the latter involves uncommonality of social and cultural background, but an immigrant also includes a legal obstacle to belong and remain in his or her host country which most of the time is determined by his or her economic contribution (Alessio,
Romero, Mary. 2008. “Crossing the immigration and race border: A critical race theory approach to immigration studies.” Contemporary Justice Review 11(1):23-37.
Samuelson, Robert J. The Hard Truth of Immigration. 2005. Elements of Argument: A Text and Reader. By Annette T. Rottenberg and Donna Haisty. Winchell. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. 704-06. Print.
Wellman, Christopher, and Phillip Cole. Debating the Ethics of Immigration is There a Right ti Exclude?. New York : Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
Schmidt, Steffen W., Mack C. Shelly II, Barbara A. Bardes. American Government and Politics Today: 2010-2011 Brief Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011
Social movements come and go; they represent all manner of political aspirations, and aim to achieve their political objectives by influencing a particular target group’s opinion. Some groups reach out directly to just a few key decision makers or constituencies, while others act more indirectly by broadcasting their message to as wide an audience as possible. Popular forms of social media have played a significant influence in social movements throughout the last few years. Two prominent examples are Ai Weiwei’s use of the social platform: Twitter, and the use of Yik Yak at the University of Missouri. Social movements rely on the media for the mobilization of political support, validation in the mainstreams discourse, and opportunity to broaden
The concept of activism is rarely understood by any “normal” citizen. The donation of one’s time towards a certain cause or belief has always been envied by the working class citizen who feels it is important to give back, but is pushed away when those good intentions go bad such as when “non-violent” protests or speeches turn reckless. With an intuition of activists having to be heard through harsh acts, for example the demolition of bridges, billboards or aqueducts, their cause is usually overlooked; their actions are looked down upon as people with internal rage. We must ask ourselves if they are using activism as an excuse to vent out their personal anger. Rather than activists causes being the center of the attention they receive, the ill-mannered way they go about trying to solve problems have become the subjects focus.
Walgrave, Rens Vliegenthart & Stefaan. The Interdependency of Mass Media and Social Movements. Amsterdam : University of Amsterdam .
Back in the 1960s, the media’s role from an institutionalist perspective was that media created the construction of truth, where although media obscure the news, it still created a new reality and leaders. Today, that has changed due to new social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube that allows individuals to release real news such as the The Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) with the #blm hashtag. This hashtag started as a conversation between three sisters on Facebook when a guy by the name of George Zimmerman, who shot African-American teen Trayvon Martin was released. Therefore, #blm became a bigger movement and utilize whenever there were occurrences of racism. With the hashtag, it shows empowerment and creates dialogue