A. J Willingham Social Media

Primary sources are first-hand accounts of a moment in time. The use of raw materials such as images, letters, recordings, letters, interviews, objects and other sources are the best form of direct evidence to support research. One of the most vivid forms is images. Photographs have the power to provoke strong emotions one might miss with words. It is important when selecting images the media is subjective, and provides the most accurate account during that time period. When using photographs as primary sources there are several factors you should consider to ensure the photograph is the best analysis for your research. One of the most memorable events of the 21st century was 9/11. I will examine how using images can be just as powerful, if not more powerful and meaningful than words, when used correctly by looking at two different sources, The 9/11 Commission Report and The 9/11 Report , but showcasing the same thing in two different ways.

Excluding events that happen through a disaster, leads to a falsification of the disaster and allows the viewer to continue to ignore the severity, as discussed earlier. In Chris Vanderwees’s article, Photographs of Falling Bodies and the Ethics of Vulnerability in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, he states, “censorship is never a viable suggestion and only leads to ignorance and repression, ultimately obscuring the historical record of any given event” (Vanderwees 179). Through the repression of images like “The Falling Man,” and others that are considered too graphic, the realistic aspect of the disaster is tainted and is not expressed to the truest form. This continues to provide viewers with Kaplan’s idea of “empty empathy” (Kaplan 93-95). However the exposure of these “taboo” images forces viewers to comprehend the reality of the attacks at a more personal level. Vanderwees continues in his article, stating that although the images of falling bodies is contextualized differently among individuals, they collectively bring what had been repressed back into the reader/viewer’s consciousness (Vanderwees 181). Through the use of these images, viewers are more capable and inclined to stop repressing the reality of what occurred. Rather then looking at the September 11th attacks as an attack on The World Trade Center, the

When videos are posted on social media, they have a good chance of going “viral” if the content is right. Bennet writes about a boy, Raza, that creates a video and the video was posted by someone else onto a social networking website. Raza, also named “Star Wars kid”, “…became a source of public humiliation” (579). Another viral victim known as “Dog poop girl”, in Seoul “…refused to clean up after her dog in the subway…” (579). She was eventually humiliated enough that she had to drop out of college. Being publicly shamed and humiliated is a price paid when it comes to viral videos and social media. Bennet does a great job demonstrating how social media and viral videos can humiliate an individual. Humiliating a person can

It is addressed in the article how fickle the public is when it comes to what entertains them. News stories like “‘Heroic American fighters’ was the best and most marketable story before and during the major fighting. ‘Suicide bomber attacks’ has proven has proven to be a forceful story in the last

Today, people seem blinded by their outsized enthusiasm for social media. According to them, a few clicks can change the whole world and accomplish wonders such as curing cancer. Good intentions become sufficient on their own, as if there were no need for medicine and scientific researches anymore. Well, this is pure nonsense. Facebook’s likes cannot save African children from starvation, the same way Twitter’s 140 characters will not put an end to acts of terrorism. This notion is not even remotely debatable. For instance, the project Kony2012 had a perfect starting point; inspiring video, moving story and most importantly worldwide spread. Unfortunately, the terrorist is still at liberty, and the lack of thorough investigations is to blame. Instead of focusing on the real problems of war and kidnapping of children, the so-called activist related to the obvious and spent all of his money and energy on his movie. Ultimately, due to the predominance of weak-ties, the project was not successful. More importantly, certain tools of social networks, especially “likes” and “retweets”, encourage people to feel good about themselves, when actually they should incite them to put their efforts and means in the cause they supposedly defend. As Gladwell wrote, “[current] activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that

The internet is one of the many technologies to come about in this fast pace and ever evolving world. Within these new technologies, such as the internet, one can see how even people have evolved and changed their ways of thinking to keep up. One aspect of this change is the way people understand and think about what they read or see. In Nicholas Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid, the author present the idea that the use of the internet is the reason behind the changes within the minds of its users. This idea points towards the internet being both a mind altering and convenience mechanism; as well as being easily abused by its users. This allows Carr to effectively propose the idea that the internet, and technology in general, is used not only as a convenience mechanism, but also has a way to change how its uses think. However, Carr ineffectively represents how this change comes about due to user abuse of new technology like the internet.

The author discusses the major role of mass media in mass shootings, and makes connections between the different reactions mass media has had between different shootings. The authors studies are extremely helpful when looking for information on society's reactions to mass shootings. These studies are also helpful when comparing different types of shootings, not just school shootings. The author further explains to the reader how one can go about comprehending mass shootings and this is helpful because it helps the reader answer their own questions of why shooters resort to rampage shooting, and how they go about doing so. The reader is then able to make arguments concerning mass shootings and why it is important to analyze

The aftermath of the September 11 attacks created a dichotomy between the American people and people of Arabic heritage, specifically the Muslims and those who “appear Arab”. How do the aftermaths of these tragedy portray and place a great emphasis on a divide between the “us” and the “them”? My paper will examine the aftermath of the tragics events that occurred in the September 11 Attacks, through the works of scholars and authors to investigate the portrayal and emphasis on the “us” and “them” divide that sprouted from the catastrophe. Douglas Kellner, a theorist in the field of critical media culture, explains that the way the media portrays victims of tragedies is them as weak and the culprits as violent, citing how the media portrayed the Americans as “vulnerable and open” and the terrorists as “violent and capable of causing great harm” (Kellner, 2004).

Sometimes people can get national news on social media faster than the news, which is good and bad. 14 young black girls went missing in the nation capital Washington D.C in one day. This story didn’t even make it to the world news people found out about the girls on social media. A New York Time’s writer name Morgan Jerkins wrote an article about these girls. Her story applies to my 3 principles such as altruism, scapegoating, and bystander effect.

The moral panic dynamic is defined as a cause and effect, the cause being a group of people who have upset and threatened societal rules and formalities, while the effect is the public reaction. Key actors such as news teams, mass media leaders, and the government determine the validity and severity by constructing what the societal transformation and cultural conflict is. These experts, considered credible by society, play prominent roles in defining how much attention the threat deserves from the public. Often these judgements are exaggerated, causing intense media coverage, and the consequence is a permanent change in society. As a result of these broadcasted reactions, moral panics generate harsh conflict within a society. Using a macro-level

In “Video 8: ‘Getting Along Together,’” Joanne Hendrick emphasizes the importance of communication in teaching a child how to interact and get along with others. Hendrick conveys that the encouragement, explanation, and modeling of positive and considerate behavior is essential to helping a child learn how to get along with others. This positive behavior includes how to empathize, how to act more generously, how to be respectful, and how to help others. Hendrick also expresses that teaching kids to be nice and helpful of others can be rewarding and make them feel good as well.

A scientist that reports for National Geographic Magazine stated, “Since 1990, yearly emissions have gone up by about six billion metric tons of “carbon dioxide equivalent” worldwide, more than a 20 percent increase”(“Causes of Global Warming”) Humans are the cause of global warming. Overpopulation of the human race has resulted in a multitude of carbon dioxide gas getting trapped in the atmosphere, warming the earth as if it was a greenhouse. Carbon dioxide (Co2) is a “waste” gas of human beings. One human approximately exhales two and one third pounds of carbon dioxide gas a day(Palmer) Consequently, the gas is warming the earth from the core up. Humans are the cause of global warming.

A “moral panic” is an event that has the potential to take place all over the world and is not restricted by time, culture or a specific religion (Luce, 2012: 399). When these panics occur, there are various players involved. For example there are those whose actions result in the initiation of the panic, as well those who take advantage of these actions, such as the media in various ways such as images so as to possibly benefit themselves or draw negative attention in the direction of a certain group. In my essay I am going to discuss what a moral panic actually is and carefully examine an example of a moral panic that has taken place in society such as the HIV/Aids case so as to try and understand the underlying nature of the people involved

“If the media were not there to report terrorist acts and to explain their political and social significance...terrorism as such would cease to exist” said John O'Sullivan, an editor of the Times of London.1 This is also the way many other people feel about the recent increase in terrorist activity; they feel that the media is causing it. The media is doing this by fulfilling the terrorists' need for publicity.2 Terrorists need media publicity in order to get their views spread to the public.3 Because of this need for publicity, terrorists are committing their acts of terrorism in areas where a lot of publicity will be gained; the United States and Western Europe are the most recent targets. The bombings of the federal building in

In Carrs article he discusses the way that the Internet gives us a false sense of knowledge. When we want to know about something we Google it. We find the article title that is closest to what we are searching for and we click it. In our everlasting quest to be know-it-alls we skim and skim or look for bold words and sentences until we feel that the information we have now obtained is suffice and we are considered knowledgeable about the topic. Although we feel this way, this “knowledge” is usually based off of two or three sentences that are compact and straight to the point.