Thesis: Although the new media has become the primary medium for expressing ideas about social issues such as gays in the military, it is not the most effective in terms of change resulting.
Fact --
-This issue still needs background information to be understood in order to create a valid opinion about it...
"Blogs provide another vehicle for political expression. In that sense, they increase political participation. But if political participation is defined more broadly, blogs potentially fall short" (Jost 21).
-Where did it come from?
people are trying to express themselves and the Internet is the easiest place to go... quote from a blog "instead of unequivocally stating that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is bad policy, hurts our Armed Forces, and discriminates against gays and lesbians, Gen. Jones answered that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be dealt with "at the right time," and that a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be teed up appropriately. *Yawn* That's not bold leadership; that's preserving the status quo" (Jones).
Definition--
-from an online source, so the rhetoric has this tone, word choice like "mere" in the following "The "don't ask" part of the policy indicates that superiors should not initiate investigation of a service member's orientation in the absence of disallowed behaviors, though mere suspicion of homosexual behavior can cause an investigation" (Wikipedia, 1)
-everything is biased!
Quality--
`this issue is serious! "The Internet has given hate groups ample reason to feel young again. In the United States, online bigots enjoy full protection under the First Amendment and have access to a potentially limitless audience. Webmasters are anonymous and difficult to silence; leaders suffer few consequences for their followers' actions. And their strategies for organizational growth are beginning to look more corporate than cross-lit" (Brown, 1)
-is it good or bad?
-?"The new internet subculture that has erupted around ‘blogging’ is particularly deserving of analysis here, as bloggers have demonstrated themselves as technoactivists favoring not only democratic self-expression and networking, but also global media critique and journalistic sociopolitical intervention " (Kahn, 91)
-?"The new internet subculture that has erupted around ‘blogging’ is particularly deserving of analysis here, as bloggers have demonstrated themselves as technoactivists favoring not only democratic self-expression and networking, but also global media critique and journalistic sociopolitical intervention " (Kahn, 91)
-bad = "Online and offline communities are often posited in opposition to each other in a zero sum game. Those taking this view warn that people are more and more seduced from their geographically placed lives to the Internet (Lockhard, 1997)--a trend they call the ‘virtualization of everyday life’ (Doheny-Farina, 1996: xiii). They argue the solitary mode of online access encourages people to focus more completely on their private interests"(Nip, 4)
-"For a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed, and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult"(Newman).
Avelli sends a dramatic message with his anti-gay facebook group description by saying, "the last thing i need is a gay by my side in iraq" (Avelli).
ReplyDeleteparaphrase of the last quote:
ReplyDeleteThe White House seems to view bloggers as lazy people who aren't fully entitled to their political opinions.