Final Post

                        Haters Gonna Hate 

In the wise words of Taylor Swift, “If you say it in the streets it's a knockout, but if you say it in a tweet it's a copout.” Even America’s number-one pop star knows how rampant haters are on social media and the internet.   

                                                    Mashable
Taylor Swift performing at the Eras Tour.

We live in a technologically driven society where the number one form of communication is done directly through various social media platforms. Social media continues to become the main platform that every teenager and young adult gravitates towards for news and entertainment. As wonderful and fun as social media can be, there is also a major psychological downside which includes the instantaneous spreading of hatred online to hundreds or thousands of social media users.  

Hate Speech by definition is abusive or threatening comments targeting an individual or group with pressure from society in the forms of writing, speaking, and videography.

This is a grave issue, as those who receive the hate are faced with often serious psychological issues such as feelings of depression and when extreme, thoughts of suicide. Both men and women are bombarded with some form of online hate every day. What you say can be a matter of life or death for someone depending on how the mean comments are perceived.   

Often on social media, people freely share their opinions or thoughts about you as a person, another person, or groups in a variety of assorted topics. While freedom of speech and the press is an individual right, it is important to understand that a random flippant comment to one person can be devastating to another person, whether intentional or not.  Even though you are not looking at the person you are commenting on, you are still dealing with a person or group of people. We all have feelings and we need to respect the values and morals of others. 

                                                            SELMA.com
How hate speech impacts a person

Online Hate can be seen as a predator hunting down its prey. The online attacker enjoys his “kill" so to speak as they feel empowered emotionally by tearing down a person or their reputation. Victims of online harassment are preyed on or targeted for their posts, values, or beliefs.  

Most people feel comfortable spreading hate behind a screen since they do not have to directly say it to a person’s face. Online haters are free to take as much time as needed to format and perfect their hateful comments.  

By sharing vulgar messages on social media, people can mask their inadequacies and hide behind a small phone or computer screen in hopes of evoking fear in their targeted person or persons. Avoiding a face-to-face conversation is an aspect of the scaredy-cat way in which haters share their perspectives online in a derogatory way.  

An example of hate speech, through social media, that I am personally aware of, involves none other than my mom defending a hater targeting a particular player on the basketball team. This hater made a very mean and vulgar comment on the Instagram page about the player which was very inappropriate. My mom, who happened to be reading the post on Instagram, came across the comment and immediately defended the player.  Other people and the player’s family were grateful the troll had been called out and put in his place.

As the number of social media users increases, many people only communicate in the digital world. Oftentimes, the behaviors of harassers are caused by trying to make oneself feel more important in the societal pyramid.  

A momentary lapse of good judgment when a hate-filled comment is posted can come back to bite you when you least expect it. Especially when applying for a job, one of the things that potential employers look at is your social media footprint. Your online reputation and presence are clearly important. What you post and say online matters, because once it is posted, it is out there forever.  

Misinformation increases due to online hate. This specific type of communication can be spread at no cost to the individual and can have detrimental effects on a person and their mental health.  

                                           TikTok
Social Media influencing
 hate speech

In various cultures around the world, hate speech can be managed. The United Nations is trying to find ways to moderate communication through the media. Even the United States is taking steps to reign in the social media platform TikTok.

America is a democracy, and each person has the individual constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression. Unfortunately in this day and age, the lines between the two have been blurred. A current example is the protests against Israel on many college campuses. Does a right to free speech end, when the speech is calling for the destruction and death of others. Finding a solution to protect messages and the freedom of speech is critical to the survival of a civilized society.   

One out of three adults have experienced some form of online harassment. This is an insane statistic to think that much hate is spread across the internet. If you choose to spread hate online to make yourself feel important, then you are not empowered, you are a coward. 

                                The United Nations 
Impacts of hate speech
towards mental health

Hatred on social media is a serious problem that affects millions of people all over the world, so it is important to think before you type a mean comment online. I mean, we all learned in kindergarten that if we did not have anything nice to say, then we should say nothing.  Wow, that would solve a lot of problems!

Antiwar Voices

             Can You Hear the Antiwar Voices? 

                                             Vietnam War 
Protestors advocating to end the war. 

Calls to end war have been around for many years, yet in today’s day and age, the mainstream media does not seem to have jumped on that bandwagon. Rather odd considering the antiwar cries during the Vietnam War era. Yet the media outlets of today seem to do anything rather than discourage America’s involvement in all sorts of global skirmishes. 

 

There could be a variety of reasons for this such as having wars to report on brings better ratings and more viewers than peacetime. Sensational stories are much more interesting to readers than stories about normal everyday things. People have also been conditioned to crave violence by Hollywood and tech game creators. 

 

However, another possible reason the mainstream media avoids the anti-war rhetoric is for political reasons since they are owned by liberals. Why is that a possible reason, because the government seems to greatly influence the content and viewpoint the media shares. The US government is run by liberal democrats, and it is in their best interest to promote war and fight with proxies to further their agenda.  

 

The US is “secretly” involved in several global situations, but only by proxy. Ukraine appears to be America's Proxy in defeating Russia. President Biden’s administration wants to see President Putin removed from power in Russia and can use Ukraine to achieve this. By helping fund Ukraine’s war efforts to push Putin out of their territories, the US is not fighting the war but can reap the benefits of a Ukrainian victory.  

                                                  The Washington Post 
Depiction of Putin versus Biden in the war. 

Just as the Ukraine conflict continues, the United States can also use Taiwan as their proxy to control China’s President XI. XI wants to regain control of Taiwan for China. The US has pledged to help defend Taiwan against China. Here again, it is not the US war with China, but Taiwan’s war. Once again, the US will reap benefits from supporting Taiwan. While causing a regime change in China is highly unlikely, this war would help the US keep China in check. 

 

The same proxy argument can be said about our ally Israel’s war against Hamas in Palestine. However, this situation has been clouded by the Biden Administration seeming to play both sides by supporting Israel while sending aid to Palestine that they know will end up in the hands of the terrorist group Hamas who run Palestine. 

 

As the boss who writes the checks for the mainstream networks, liberals have a great deal of leverage with the news outlets concerning the content they share. If your boss is for war, you will promote war if you want to keep your job and get paid. These outlets suppress any opinions that go against their agenda, even at the expense of their own integrity.  

 

As long as all of this back-scratching with the media continues, antiwar thoughts and opinions will be disregarded and left to the lesser-known news organizations to share. News sites like ANTIWAR and The American Conservative will have to work twice as hard to get their viewpoint out to the public.  

 

Sadly, the days of presenting two opposing viewpoints and letting the public decide seems to be gone. Now as if from a foreign land, the public is given one viewpoint and told to believe it.  Surely the winds of change will begin to blow once again. 

 

 

AI Blog Post

                             Invasion of AI 

Technology is both a blessing and a curse. AI and machine learning are rapidly changing everyday personal lives. If people are not truly aware of the effects and issues of AI, then America could be faced with a decrease in privacy with the passing of every year.  

The video I viewed explained how crucial it is to understand the importance of our constitutional rights which are now blindsided by AI.   

                                                                AI 
Graphic Image of AI takeover in America.

I learned that AI could potentially take away jobs from people who desperately need a job.  This would disrupt the economic cycles represented in America. Business owners and billionaires would be able to make money which would eliminate and mean fewer jobs around America. The rich will continue to make money while the poor get poorer because they cannot find real jobs.  

Artificial Intelligence is a money-hungry wealth-making creation which is a complex set of tools.  

AI can search and promote ads that are personalized to each person which can cause a major problem with our surveillance and personal privacy. How much does AI know about us? Well, the answer is simple: AI knows everything about every one of us.  

I was surprised to learn that Google’s motto was “Don’t Be Evil!” The irony of this statement is in the way Google uses AI to decipher our digital clues. These clues are used to predict what a user searches and looks at in their search bar. Most users have no clue that Google has this type of power and the ability to secretly find a person’s interests represented online.  

AI is expanding into homes. It can recognize not only who you are but specific details such as the sound of our voices or our moods represented in our voices. Scary right? AI is already heavily in healthcare, education, and the criminal justice system which is practically a major part of our everyday lives.  

                                                          Forbes.com
The power represented in an AI image.  

Technology has been around since the 1950s. It is ever-evolving and will continue to be perfected, resulting in a greater privacy risk every day. AI can influence voting outcomes and in turn, can influence our voting system. The public needs to understand that privacy laws are critical and must be in place so that our personal information is not spread all over the internet for anyone to see and steal or exploit.

EOTO 2 Reaction Post

                               News Deserts 

What happens if the public does not have any access to the news? That’s a scary proposition on many levels. An interesting policy that deals with this is News Deserts.   

Newspapers have been around since before the Revolutionary War. They have transformed news sharing as the norm of modern-day journalism that we see today. What happens when rural areas are not equipped with proper access to the information? How is the public able to find that information out? Important questions and issues that need to be addressed.  

A News Desert is a collective community that does not have access to credible and factual local news. More than three thousand of today’s counties do not have local newspapers for their citizens.  

                                                                          Editor and Publisher 
                    News Desert Graphic Image 

American citizens need to have an outlet to read about all forms of journalism such as economics, politics, health, and lifestyle. The public opinions are especially important to many major metro societal issues. If the public does not have the information, then they are not equipped with the knowledge needed to understand the issues that cause an uproar in society. 

Local newspapers connect us to our county. The counties are what form the census of society, which like pieces to a puzzle, form a state. From the states, the public forms its majority just as votes play a role in a presidential election. America is the collective census that society represents with the public’s opinions.  

One major issue contributing to the deserts is that big-city newspapers are cutting back on regional news releases. This is an economic concern. If a rural newspaper company struggles financially, this causes them to end up as a news desert.    

People who reside in the smaller areas are automatically limited to the types of information that they can access. If people cannot find news outlets, they are more likely to find misinformation in the small amount they can access.  

Losing local news does not only have effects on society but has lasting negative effects on society. Many journalists lose their jobs every time a regional journalism company is shut down.  

By bringing awareness to this issue, this will bring light to the dire need to keep local newspapers alive. Promoting and advocating for increasing funds for local newspapers will be the solution to prevent more news deserts.  

However, since the 2000’s newspaper departments have been constantly crumbling due to the easy access of news online. Unfortunately, most people that live in rural areas do not have access to local newspapers or the Internet.  

                                                                      U.Snewsdeserts.com 
Graph representation of news deserts in America. 

In North Carolina, there are more than fifty-eight counties that actually have more than a single newspaper. In my county, Iredell,  there are two local newspapers. In High Point, there are three local newspapers.  

News Deserts have lasting implications not only on the decline of printed papers but also negatively affect the journalism industry. Providing funds for local newspaper companies is critical. As more news deserts appear across rural areas in America, it is only a matter of time before the newspaper, that transformed news sharing, becomes extinct.

EOTO 2 "Overton Window"

                           Overton Window 

The Overton window is a political science concept that refers to the "windows" that the public will accept. Many ideas and policies are societally influenced by politics. 

In the late nineties, Joseph P. Overton created this theory which he shared with the public. In Michigan, he worked for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy until he passed away in 2003. He used this theory and influenced society as the main relationship focus between buyers and sellers. 

The Overton window focuses on a certain policy that would be represented on a model scale. On one end, the government supports and advocates a policy with no governmental support. This theory is ever-changing which means that a window can increase or decrease according to the public's opinions. 

How does a presidential candidate know what political ideas they will advocate for? Think about this, if a presidential candidate is running for an election or reelection, in order to get the public's approval, the candidate would want to consider the most popular policies in society. 

Policies in the Overton window are inside the graph forming a box on the line. If the candidate chooses to support any policy not in the Overton window, the fear would be that the public would disapprove, causing them to lose interest. The policies that lie outside the window would be negative for the candidate as the policies inside the window would be positive for the candidate.

The Overton window can change over time due to the age or the decade of society that would rely on the public's values and opinions. The two examples below focus on a past and present example of the Overton window. 

Women's Suffrage was a movement that earned women the right to vote. Before the 1920s, the "window" was placed, and understood that "no woman had a right to vote" in an election. Once women fought for their freedoms and won the "window" was placed at "all women have the right to vote" due to societal change. 

Let's look at a present-day example using the right to bear arms which today is considered controversial, depending on a person's definition of political correctness. The window will lie in the middle at "any citizen can own a firearm" due to the popularity of the public. 

So, presidential candidates are most likely going to support a policy that is in the Overton Window in order to increase the number of voters. However, this may potentially cause them to not support or advocate for their own values and beliefs. Politicians can easily identify and decipher the Overton Window where they are represented as followers instead of leaders. 

The Overton window is vastly different in America as a capitalist "free country" compared to China's dictatorship. What is acceptable, depends upon culture and societal norms that are determined by the amount of government involvement.  

The public's opinions and values are focused on societal movements that are based on families, workforces, social media, news outlets, and the most popular ideas that lie on the left-right sides of the political spectrum. 

Every year a policy can change. If the policy is in the Overton window one year, it might not be in the window the next because it is dependent solely upon the public's reactions. The Overton window concept helps politicians and business owners determine the most popular and acceptable ideas and theories based on the current society's perception.   

  

 

  

  

               Diffusion of Innovations Theory 

                                                  The Radio

The Diffusion of Innovations Theory is an experimental process to show how various technologies are widespread globally for society’s use. This theory combines a series of steps for a specific technological process which includes: the pioneers, the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority, the late adopters, and the laggards.  

I am going to discuss and demonstrate how the “radio” is an example of the Diffusion Theory, which shows how this technology was a cutting-edge breakthrough in society. 
 
The radio was not developed by just one pioneering individual, but rather by a collective group of innovative men who contributed different parts and upgrades to bring the radio to life. In the 1890s, Guglielmo Marconi was credited with inventing and patenting the first-ever radio. Then in 1806, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden made it possible for broadcasting signals to be projected at greater distances over longer periods, ultimately projecting “the first human voice” over the air. In 1907 De Forest Lee found a way for live broadcasting signals to be scheduled at certain times.  All of these inventive men were credited as the “Fathers of Radio,” however, these pioneers needed the public approval and support for their innovation to reach its potential and spread worldwide.  

Journalists viewed the radio as an opportunity to spread the news through a faster route than any newspaper ever could. The journalism community was seen as a group of early adopters who wanted this technology to be the latest and greatest technological advancement in American society. Because these early adopters embraced the technology, journalists were able to share the never-before-heard live broadcasts to the public.  

 
The public was seen as the early majority or prime target group since they were the ones to control the amount of mass attention the radio accumulated. The first radio was the main premier technology in the 1920s through the 1950s. This gave most people a chance to join together as a society in their individual homes and listen to politics, music, news, and leisure activities through an on-air broadcast promoting the use of this technology.  

Major News Corporations saw how much the public enjoyed listening to the radio. They saw a lucrative moneymaker and wanted a share by “marketing” this primetime technology. This was a golden opportunity and even though they were a little late to the party, they had no problem being late adopters. The news corporations seemed to wait and see if this technology would succeed or fail.  When they realized the public’s overwhelming positive opinions of the radio, the corporations were all in. 
 
Finally, the laggards are certain members of the public who prefer to refrain from using the first radio. The radio was a huge societal shock to most people because they were used to getting their news from a newspaper. However, with the many news corporations and the public using the radio, the laggards had no choice but to adopt the technology. 
 
During the 1920s, the radio set itself apart as the big tech comm advancement during WW1. The radio provided many jobs and another source as a news outlet. It became necessary for the radio to be closely monitored due to foreign messages translated directly from foreign nations controlled by the government.   
 
As a radio consumer during the 1920s, adopting the radio was very exciting which helped make the radio extremely popular. Families gathered around the tiny little box in the comfort of their homes to listen to the news of the day. All of the positive aspects of the radio far outweighed the negatives and led to its use as a main platform for journalism and music for decades. 
 
News corporations viewed the cost-benefit analysis of the radio to be a great investment as another way for the public to get their news. The radio was a technology that would change communication forever. 
 

The Diffusion of Innovations Theory provides information on how the public perceives the radio and how it impacts society. The radio was transformed from small insignificant metal parts to the premier broadcasting platform across America. 

EOTO 1 Reaction Post

                              "Carrier Pigeons" 

Over centuries, human communication has been transformed by technological advancements that as we now use them daily, we take for granted. I became aware of several historical technologies through my peers, such as message relays carried out by carrier pigeons from 3100 BC to WWI. 

               Medium.com
Carrier Pigeons 

In my mind, carrier pigeons were mainly used in medieval times as a way for peasants and royals to send messages. However, these birds were first used in Ancient Egypt with enough importance that they were depicted in the ancient hieroglyphs. 

Many Egyptians used the carrier pigeons to communicate important information such as the election of a new pharaoh. In Ancient Greece, carrier pigeons were used to relay messages about the heroes of the Olympic Games to the villagers. 

Homing and Carrier pigeons are the two main types of pigeons used for various messaging purposes. Carrier pigeons were mostly bred for their appearance rather than agility in the early millennia. Modern homing pigeons are known as "racing pigeons," as they are the fastest and quickest of the flight messengers. 

As you can imagine, the journey for the pigeons was extremely dangerous as they had to avoid many natural predators. The pigeons even got lost in flight or injured, which caused a message to be delayed or arrive later than scheduled. 

                     Space Museum
Cher Ami

Carrier pigeons were used in WWI to transfer short messages to the frontlines. In 1918, Cher Ami, a famous pigeon, helped two hundred American soldiers message the American forces for help because a miscommunication error trapped them under German machinery.  

Cher Ami was so devoted to his mission of delivering this urgent message from trapped soldiers, that he continued to fly by German militia. Even though he lost an eye and one of his legs, this heroically brave little bird flew twenty-five miles to complete his mission of relaying the message from the trapped soldiers to the United States military. For this courageous act, Cher Ami was honored with being awarded "Croix de Guerre" by the French military generals. 

The use of pigeons throughout history was an effective transportation system for communication used by ancient civilizations to the more modern times of both World Wars. When comparing the carrier pigeons to my presentation radio topic, the carrier pigeons had a distinct advantage over the radio, since the pigeons did not require electricity to deliver messages between American forces on the frontlines.