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The Political Power of Social Media
The Political Power of Social Media
Role of power in politics
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In todays world, I would have to describe American politics as "ineffective", "money equals power", and "disappointing". In comparison to the last 100 years, I believe that American politics has become significantly worse, as well as I believe that in the past 20 years it has been very diverse and changes a lot. American politics a 100 years ago was completely different, however there was not as many issues that we have today now. Even in the past 20 years we have seen changes in American politics and it is hard to determine if it is improving or becoming worse. I believe that social media has become a huge impact on Americans, and can be both good and bad. I think that it has been good at bringing more attention to the public about politics.
The United States of America has engaged in the battle known as political polarization since before its foundation in 1776. From the uprising against the powerful British nation to the political issues of today, Americans continue to debate about proper ideology and attempt to choose a side that closely aligns with their personal beliefs. From decade to decade, Americans struggle to determine a proper course of action regarding the country as a whole and will often become divided on important issues. Conflicts between supporters of slavery and abolitionists, between agriculturalists and industrialists, and between industrial workers and capitalists have fueled the divide. At the Congressional level there tends to be a more prevalent display of polarization and is often the blame of Congress’ inefficiency. James Madison intentionally designed Congress to be inefficient by instating a bicameral legislation. Ambition would counter ambition and prevent majority tyranny. George Washington advised against political parties that would contribute to polarization and misrepresentation in his Farewell Address of 1796. Washington warns, “One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.” Today, the struggle to increase power between political parties results in techniques to gain even the smallest marginal gains. To truly understand political polarization, we must examine data collected through a variety of means, the effects of rapidly changing technology, and observe what techniques are used to create such a polarized political system.
The coat of arms. The coat of arms of the US represents an eagle with
American Politics in Transition For the United States, as for most states in the world, the 1980’s and 1990’s were a time of change and challenge. During this period the effects of change both within the US and internationally acted as push factors in many areas of life, including economics and politics. This sudden change was primarily due to global shocks and recessions, increased foreign economic competition, the end of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union, the development of revolutionary new technologies, the achievement of post-industrial society within the US, slower rates of domestic economic growth, and the demographic changes within American society. By the Mid 1980’s important developments had occurred within interest groups, political parties. By 1990’s national debates were being held in regard to America’s future in the post-Cold War world, America’s economic competitiveness, culture, morality and the states relationship with society. Five major things must be taken under account when discussing American politics in transition. 1) the basic nature of the American political system, 2) the sources of political change since the late 1960’s, 3) the conservative renewal and the new conservative agenda, 4) the Reagan-Bush legacy in politics and public policy 5) the new political and economic constraints in the era of divided government, and 6) the public policy environment of the 1990s. At the core of American political culture I support for the values of liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire. The nature of this society with also has glorification of the individual, and the rejection of conservative theories of organic society, hierarchy, and natural aristocracy. Being an American means accepting this liberal Democratic creed (laissez faire), while those who reject it are considered to be un-American. America’s political evolution has also been shaped by the continental scale of the American State. The influx of immigration has caused there to be an extraordinary mixture of ethnic, racial, and religious groups spread across a continent-wide expanse that contributed historically to strong religious, racial and regional cleavages. Even its econony was spread throughout the American state. The largest sector of the economy were commercial agriculture, mercantile capitalism, mining, and heavy (capital goods) industry, but these, however, were also diversified into product specific areas. Collectively, the cultural, geographic, and socioeconomic factors had a profound effect on America’s political development because they reinforced the trend towards decentralization and localism that had already been established in the political and legal domains by the American constitution.
There are thousands of years of history that have taken place. History is not like art(less subjective), but there is still plenty of room for speculation, criticism, and debate among historians, professors, as well as average citizens. However, not all these moments are documented, or done successfully specifically. Some of these moments end up becoming movies, books, or even historical fiction novels, but what about those fundamental moments that aren’t readily documented? In the book The Birth of Modern Politics Lynn Hudson Parsons claims that the 1828 election was momentous in the history of both political history, as well as our nation. Parsons not only discusses the behind the scenes of the first public election of 1828, but the pivotal events in Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams’ lives leading up to the election as well. Parsons succeeds in proving her thesis that the 1828 election was crucial to American politics as we know it today, as well as provoking evidence from various sources with her own logic and opinions as well.
There is much debate in the United States whether or not there is polarization between our two dominate political parties. Presidential election results have shown that there is a division between the states; a battle between the Democratic blue states and the Republican red states. And what is striking is that the “colors” of these states do not change. Red stays red, and blue stays blue. Chapter 11 of Fault Lines gives differing views of polarization. James Wilson, a political science professor at Pepperdine University in California, suggests that polarization is indeed relevant in modern society and that it will eventually cause the downfall of America. On the contrast, Morris Fiorina, a political science professor at Stanford University, argues that polarization is nothing but a myth, something that Americans should not be concerned with. John Judis, a senior editor at The New Republic, gives insight on a driving force of polarization; the Tea Party Movement. Through this paper I will highlight the chief factors given by Wilson and Judis which contribute to polarization in the United States, and will consider what factors Fiorina may agree with.
The idea of political culture is found within the state’s history. The history of the state is impacted by the people settled in the region, religious backgrounds, and geography. The history of the state influences the attitudes and beliefs that people hold regarding their political system. Daniel Elazar theorized a connection between the states’ history and attitude towards government by explaining differences in government between states. Every state is different with some common ground. Elazar’s theory divides states into three types: moralistic, traditionalistic and individualistic. The state’s constitution defines the powers of government with political culture bias. Because of the state constitution, the political culture influences the power and limitations of governors, legislative, and judiciaries.
Media has impacts on both socially and politically. Media has two main elements that are news and entertainment. People have argued if social media has a good impact on our society and some that has said that social media has a negative impact on society. The impact of media on the society extends to both social and political sectors. The first email was sent in 1971 with started social media. It has progressed from emails to messaging and emoticons on Facebook. About 1 in 4 people has at least one social media site (Whiteman). Social media can help to communicate others over long distances better, helps challenged individuals to enter society easier, easier to get the day’s news, and it can also help students in school.
Social media has affected people negatively because people depend on social media more than their brain .Which does not bring any benefit to them .Our society has come from being very social to antisocial over the years. Many people don 't interact with each other anymore .We search, post ,tweet and snap not even knowing who we are sharing are information with . In his article “Mind Over Mass Media ,” Steven Pinker writes about the amount of knowledge and power social media is taking away from our brains .College students and high school students are likely to use social media to do their work assignments.Social Media is slowing taking the place of boosk and many other ways people learn. Therefore, I agree that social media is taking the
“The internet has 3.17 billion users. 2.3 billion of those people are users of social media. Every person has about 5.54 social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter , etc. Facebook and Whatsapp handle about 60 billion messages per day” (Smith). These are just a few statistics on how many people use social media and how often they use it. I myself am an active user of social media. I have Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and other accounts even. Social media can be used for good and bad purposes, just like everything. Social media can help things like communication with distant relatives and friends, games and pastimes, having a place for all of your memories and photos, and advertisements for things a user might be interested in. Social media can also have big effects on things like businesses, education, and your everyday life. “In 1995, newsweek published the now infamous article titled, “The Internet, Blah!”
However, to better frame our argument an important aspect of our research involves social networking sites and the impact that has on the holistic discussion. The article Internet Use and Civic Engagement by Kent Jennings and Vicki Zeitner begin the transition to this addition, but only go as far as to examine Internet use and civic engagement. This article was written in 2003 and the main social media sites of interest like Facebook (est. 2004) and Twitter (est. 2006) had yet to be developed. This article, however, is useful in understanding how Internet on a broad level begun to change civic engagement across the general population. Jennings and Zeitner examine the impact of the Internet on “how formal and informal organizations utilize the internet to distribute information and mobilize political interest” (2003, p. 312), and in turn how that affects the interactions with the individual. They look at the more “sceptical, visions of connections” (Jennings & Zeitner, 2003, p. 312), and how it can be seen as a depolarizing means of disseminating information with the saturation of information on the web involvement civic engagement. This acts as a legitimate to our counter argument to our analysis, which will hopefully use more current information to see if these predictions came to be or if they were in fact too
The dictionary defines social media as websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking. To society, we recognize social media as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Social media is a global phenomenon that can be recognized all around the world by people of different ages. We have gotten to the point where individuals as young as five years old are able to recognize what social media is before they can even read. The power bestowed by social media gives people the ability to find out what is happening in the lives of other people and give people insight into what is happening in our own life. However, has our society taken the social media trend overboard? Social media has placed the idea that posting every event that occurs in a person’s life is acceptable, whether it be what a person had for breakfast or what a person did that day. Privacy has become non existent. It has made individuals consumed in what other people are doing, rather than focusing on bettering their own life. A majority of the population bases what they post on these websites
Social media has impacted everyone that has used it at some point in his or her life. Since the world is increasing in technology advances, so is social media, which can be good and bad. Technology has made a huge difference in the world and definitely how people are doing things now. Yes, the Internet can be good for the majority of things we use it for, such as doing research, keeping in touch with family or friends who are far away, and saving time and money. Others like to take advantage of social media and use it in a way that can hurt people; it may not hurt them physically, but it can hurt them emotionally.
When you think about social media what do you think of. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Vine. Well social media is more than that. Social media is not just Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Social media is any online website that lets you interact with other people, share photo and information and keeps you updated. Or do you think about how it’s made a positive or negative impact on today’s society. In my personal opinion I think social media has made both positive and negatives impacts on today’s society .Some of the negative impacts are cyberbullying and addiction, and the positive impacts are spreading the word and increasing business sales.
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,
Social media has nothing but negative effects on people’s minds. Social networking can become very addicting and people can get wrapped up in the drama and excitement of the cyber world. It would only improve our society today if social media never existed to our knowledge. Our society today feels so connected with social media that it interferes with our lives making every task even harder with the temptations.