HW 30: Citizenship Symposium

The citizenship symposium that we attended was a set number of lectures here at Keene State College that took on issues in our everyday lives. Voting Fairness: The first session that I attended was called “Voting Theory and the Questions of Fairness”. The name of the speaker was Vincent Ferlini, who is a mathematics professor here at Keene State. The main topic of this session was about voting and which methods are most effective in our society. Although at times the talk seemed somewhat bland, Ferlini touched on which methods of voting are the most fair if they are at all. The most interesting thing I learned would have to be many of our local and national elections hold the majority vote higher than the most first place votes. On the other hand, one thing that Ferlini said was,”We tend to vote majority rules, but sometimes it doesn’t always work that way”. This statement proves that the fairness and/or unfairness of voting is quite debatable. Animation in Politics and Society: The second session that I attended consisted of three Keene State professors, Jiwon Ahn, Sander Lee, and Mark Timney. The title of this one was called “Animation as Political and Social Constructions”. Ahn was the first to speak and she taught us about Japanese anime art and how it is affecting society throughout the world. She mainly spoke about how this new popular art are portraying females. Sander Lee took the podium next and questioned how American citizens saw Nazi Germany through cartoons during World War II. He showed us clips of Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny how they compared and contrast the creator’s views on the Nazi’s and Hitler. The underlining point he made is that the cartoons and propaganda showed that the United States was really the only chance to stop Hitler. The final speaker, Mark Timney, showed us an episode of South Park and explained how the satire cartoon showed us how to be model citizens. The cartoon, although controversial, takes on moral issues and questions human nature and ethics. A quote from Timney that really stood out to me was “We didn’t do our Homework” which put the episode that we watched into context. The most interesting thing I learned from this session was that cartoons and animation could really reflect people’s thoughts and ideas.

HW 28: An Open Letter to Riverbend

Dear Riverbend,
After reading your posts throughout August in Baghdad Burning I have seen an entire new side of the War in Iraq. I am firmly against the war but prior to reading your book I really was only concerned about our troops and losses that they were facing. Your insights made me realize that what the troops are going through is by no means fair or just but it does not compare to what Iraqi civilians are going through on a daily basis. At the beginning of the war I was an arrogant and naïve American thinking justice had to be served and Saddam Hussein and Iraq had to be taken down. It is clear that you, and many other Iraqi’s knew what kind of disaster lay ahead. I gained the up most respect for you when you mentioned you do not hate American troops at all times because the majority of those young men are just like me and don’t think what their doing is right. I cannot imagine being in your shoes and having someone invade my hometown and waking up to gunshots and explosions. Being scared or worried to step outside of your own house and losing a job you loved for postwar reasons is something I most likely will never will experience. Your blogs have opened my eyes and I will never think of the war in Iraq the same. Your intelligence is far beyond the average American, and you have my sympathy, as the civilians of Iraq just want their everyday lives back.
-Joe

HW 25: Leading Up to Riverbend's Blog

Reading the foreword and introduction in Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning gives you a great idea of what to expect from the author and what was happening years before the invasion of US troops. In the foreword Ahdaf Soueif paints a picture of reason behind Riverbend’s Blog and expresses what people outside of Iraq can understand from reading the posts that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to grasp. Soueif interprets the book, “ What they do lack is the voice of an “ordinary Iraqi, resident in Iraq, to tell us what the invasion feels like. This is the function that Baghdad Burning fulfills uniquely and with power and elegance”(Soueif pg ix). The introduction is much more history based and supply facts of what leads up to the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. James Ridgeway explains what issues were affecting Iraq politically and culturally and how they correlated with Riverbend’s life. He helps explain some of the more difficult terminology that the reader may come across once delving into the blog itself. Ridgeway gives information that informative Americans already know and lets Riverbend take over and give her side of the story. When the US invaded Iraq I was a freshman in high school with little to no political background or opinion. I had sided with our president and thought war was the right option. As the war progressed and my knowledge grows I find myself condemning the war and now greatly disagree with every aspect of it. My senior year was when I began learning the names that Ridgeway mentions and now I have the understanding of the issues and events that he conveys in the introduction.

HW 27: Baghdad Burning Intro

Riverbend. Baghdad Burning. New York, NY: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2005. This book is perfect for the Blog of One’s Own course because it shows how technology and blogs in particular can empower women all over the world. The author is a 24-year-old female Iraqi that survived the invasion of Iraq. She refers to her self as Riverbend and does not reveal her real name. She begins her own blog as a way to vent and with out realizing it, her blog becomes much more. Riverbend gives an ethical and political view of inside of Iraq that is impossible to see here in the United States. Women in Iraq are oppressed by fundamentalist making this book that much more powerful. The benefits are endless; the biggest is helping educate Americans about the Middle East. As she mentions in her second post most Americans are ignorant and believe that no Iraqi’s can speak English or have any kind of Internet access. This book can help break down cultural borders. Challenges that are presented are the detail to names, places, and religion In order to follow with the blogging you must know what is going on over in Iraq.

HW 19: Freedom of Speech and Blogs

After reading Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell’s article “Web of Influence” (Kline & Burnstein) I think the most important paragraph would have to be with second one below the headline Rage Inside The Machine on page 92. I think this a very significant paragraph because it is about bloggers that aren’t as fortunate as us since they live in countries where media is controlled thorouly by a dictator or government. The government monitors many blogs and anything that is considered treason can turn into legal action against the blogger or get them kicked off the blogosphere. In countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran people face punishment if anything is said again their respective government. Speech is not free in these nations. This is upsetting because we take the first amendment for granted at times and don’t realize how lucky we are. If I disagree with the job our government is doing I can blog about that if I want to. Voices need to be heard all around the world.

HW 18: The Real World

All of the blogs that I am watching are democratic related and it’s really hard for me to dislike any of those posts because I am a devoted democrat. So I did a 180 and checked out the women’s gossip blog Jezebel that everyone seems to like. I came across a post about the TV show the real world about the episode last night that I happened to watch. A girl on the show wanted to leave the house and her roommates to go home to be with her boyfriend that she clames to love. The post has a real problem with her boyfriend and claims, “he's such a douche for not wanting her to gain new experiences and take advantage of the opportunities offered to her”. I think this comment is a little extreme since yes she is missing out on many things but it’s still her decision. It is not about the empowerment of women its more about if she is really in love with this guy and if she’s will to miss out on opportunity to be with him. This is my least favorite blog of the week.

HW 17B: DailKos on top

After reading Kline and Burstein’s interviews “Blogging the Presidency” and “Sex, Lies, and Political Scrapes” I can say that Markos Moulitsas Zuniga’s blog Dailykos would clearly influence more in the way I would vote in the upcoming election. This blog covers things people should truly care involving politics. Other the other hand Ana Marie Cox’s blog Wonkette does nothing for me, only providing gossip and rumors around Washington D.C. Both have made blogging a daily job, but Moulitsas is involved in the actual elections, as he took part in Howard Dean’s campaign in 2002. Another reason I support him is because he is a former GI and has the right credentials to speak for the Democratic Party. One of the biggest issues today is the war in Iraq and he can really speak for the troops due to the fact that he is a respected veteran. When it comes down to election time Dailykos will be the most informative and influential political blog out there.

HW 17: Giulani's Run is Over

The blog that interested me the most out of the blogs I’m watching would have to be the first post on the “The Democratic Party Blog” which is located at http://www.democrats.org/blog.html. The headline reads, Giulani Wants MORE Troops Overseas. Rudy Giulani, a leading candidate in the race for the republican presidential seat and former New York Mayor I believe has taken himself out of this contest with these comments. The majority of our nation are fed up with the disaster that is the Iraqi War and Giuliani is purposing we send “easily 60 or 70 thousand, maybe 100 thousand” troops into Iraq. At what cost though? This war is quickly turning into the second Vietnam. Hundred of thousands of innocent people have lost their lives already; we need to begin creating an exit stragedy. We have been in Iraq for over 4 years now and there has been no sign of weapons of mass destruction but there is a growing hatred of the United States in the Middle East. I use to respect Rudy Giuliani after the way he handled September 11th. Now he comes out at a town hall meeting in Windham, New Hampshire, and says we can “easily” send a hundred thousand more troops overseas. These are men and women my age or near my age, and they all have families. We need to get out of this war. Peace out Rudy.

HW 16B:Scoble's 5 Pillars of Conversational Software

Robert Scoble points out five things that have made blogging hot through out the world, calling them the five pillars of conversational software. The first was “ease of publishing.” This simply means that anyone that has access to the Internet can easily make their own blog and write about anything and everything. The second pillar was “discoverability.” Tags and pings make it easy to find blogs that you are interested in and help business’ find potential customers. The third was “cross-site conversations.” Which I believe allows you to see who is following your blog and see who is a regular reader. I think comments and feedback would also fall under this pillar. The fourth thing is “permalinking” allowing you to easily find and the blog you are interested in. Once you find a blog you life you can simply bookmark it and head right to the new posts on the front page. The last pillar is “syndication” which makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites and blogs in a preset manner that's easier than checking them yourself.