Media Coverage on Occupy Wall Street Essay

Occupy Wall Street is a political movement that was created in 2011 to address income inequality in the United States. Protesters involved in this movement hoped to bring attention to the unfair distribution of power and influence that the wealthiest 1% of

Occupy Wall Street has been called many things including: unfocused, ungrounded, and silly. Others coin it as “America’s first internet-era movement” (Rushkoff). In quintessence, Occupy Wall Street is a series of protests and demonstrations that oppose the influence that corporate greed has on American Democracy. The protestors manipulate marches and nonviolent demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction with the state of American Politics and economy. This relates to the political science concepts of power, performance democracy, and protective democracy.

Last week, the White House released a short, celebrity packed, 60-second public service announcement (PSA) on the topic of sexual assault. 1 is 2 Many addressed those who are in control of preventing sexual assault as its intended audience was those who can put a stop to sexual violence: the perpetrators or would-be offenders. Although this one minute announcement completed the task of bringing sexual assault to the forefront of discussion, it failed to encompass the central issues concerning the culture of sexual assault: societal misperceptions, the victims, and the justice system. Sexual assault is a phenomenon that has been around for centuries; the culture of sexual assault is rooted in both legal practices and societal perceptions.

On September 17, 2011 hundreds of people began to gather in Zuccotti Park, New York which is Wall Street’s financial district under the banner “Occupy Wall Street”: these three simple words are causing an uproar in America (Engler). Additionally, these three words happen to be protesting the current status of America’s financial condition. With the economy in America being as terrible as it is, and the unemployment rate skyrocketing, it is absolutely necessary for some sort of change to occur. The Occupy Wall Street protesting is most positively a progressive step for the economic state in America and it is a step in the right direction.

news media is a key component in shaping public opinion and public policy (Carll 2003:1601). Sexual assault cases are one of the most underreported crimes, and those that do make headlines

University of Tennessee Knoxville was recently involved in a lawsuit for enabling athletes to sexually assault women by silencing the victims and failing to provide disciplinary actions or even investigation onto the accused. While this is a recent case, this is not the first time this sort of behavior involving a school has been brought into light. One in four women will be sexually assaulted by the end of their undergraduate career (Posluszny). Sexual assault happens throughout society no matter what the gender or age, seeming to be in increasing epidemic over the last few years. While the idea of sexual assault is largely met with public hostility in theory, actions often contradict this. This contradiction lies heavily in a culture that is unwelcoming to the victims and often leads to the perpetrators being tolerated. The existence of rape culture in western society occurs due to the preservation of violent media, patriarchal standards, and the state of the criminal justice system. This culture cannot be improved until we confront each of these problems to their roots.

America stands by traditional notions where rape culture is the norm and revolves around society. In particular, when a woman is raped, their actions prior to the incident are usually accounted for their fate of being sexually assaulted. Lately in America, there has been a controversy over women being victim blamed by legal authority in rape cases. These women are slut shammed for allegedly “asking for it” by being intoxicated and having the intention to “have fun”. Because of these accusations of allegedly seeking to engage sexually, rape victims are blamed for initiating the sexual act. An ongoing controversial rape case is the Stanford rape trial of Brock Turner, where the victim was sexually assaulted while unconscious near a dumpster. Turner was convicted for sexual assault, however was only incarcerated for three months. This has recently caused uproar due to justice and retribution not being equally served. The incident occurred near a university campus party; where alcohol was involved and memory loss was present. In addition, she was rushed to the hospital as a rape victim and was examined. Despite complying to use a rape kit and be evaluated, the victim’s accountability is undermined by the leniency of treatment in rape charges. When examining linguistic features of both parties’ written statements, several factors can be analyzed such as each participant’s stance and the credibility of their accounts. In addition, when dissecting a victim’s written account,

Rhetorical Analysis: The Subject of Sexual Assault Sexual assault and rape are serious social and public health issues in the United States. Sexual assault is a dramatic event that can cause psychological effects on survivors. Victims of sexual assault can be either men or women and it can happen anywhere at anytime. More and more victims are stepping forward and reporting these incidents to the authorities. Although reporting is increasing, only a small amount of assault are being brought forward.

On September 17, 2011, in the shadow of the 2008 financial crisis, thousands of protestors amassed in Zuccotti Park, New York City to protest against wealth inequality and economic injustice. “We are the 99%” was suddenly a phrase traced onto pieces of cardboard, printed on front pages of newspapers, and rolling off the tongues of both sympathizers and critics alike. The newest unwelcome tenants in Manhattan’s Wall Street financial district began amassing something akin to Hoovervilles out of tarps, tents, and cardboard. Seemingly overnight, a social movement was born.

Occupy Wall Street’s opposing expression of the disparity between the wealthy and the poor may have begun in good faith by utilizing the Freedom of Speech and General Assembly amendment rights, but the strategies some of the protestors have demonstrated are resulting in adverse reactions against themselves. The Occupy Wall Street movement will assuredly cost affected cities in the double digits of millions of dollars. Increases in payroll, overtime, and business expenses will inadvertently backfire and increase layoffs. The burden the protestors physically place on a city is weighing down an already financially stressed situation. The mass of people and their tent lifestyle is causing a drain on city finances, and alas, the money is coming

I choose this topic because sexual assault is one of the most offensive crimes committed in our society. Not only is it a threat to the community, but it has a physically and psychologically effect on the victim in many ways. For the last couple of decades, sexual assault, rape, and child molestation has become the focal point of public concerns today. According to a 1993 National Crime Victimization Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, about 500,000 rapes or sexual assaults occur each year (Statistics, March 2010). The Department of Justice states that, “rape crimes have risen nearly three times as fast as the total crime rate”, although other studies have shown statistics that are in

Along with television shows, news stations are accused of trivializing rape aswell. How many times have you heard, “She asked for it.” or any other type of victim blaming, or a derivative of,“Boys will be boys.” to make rape seem like not such a big deal (1a)? News channels will even go as far as scrutinizing a victim’s dress, mental state, motives and history to make the victim seem in the wrong about their rape (1a). Some channels will inflate the fake rape statistics to make rape seem like a less

Social Media and local news coverage of high profile famous cases of sexual assault can give a misleading perceptions of the actual cause of the problem. Some of these articles talk about the stereotype with ‘stranger danger’ sexual assault and how it is actually not true.Most people who experience sexual assault are assaulted by someone who they actually

In America, protest has been used throughout history as a vehicle to change. Protests bring attention to issues that would or could be overlooked or ignored. A current protest receiving national attention in our media is the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest. The Occupy Wall Street protest, along with other Occupy branch protests are essentially ineffective protests. When compared to successful protests in the past, they are not having as much success gaining public support. There are many reasons this could be the case. There is no clearly defined goal or a specified outcome resulting from the protests. They are managing their funds inefficiently and in many cities they are creating more problems than they are solving.

On a brisk September day in 2011, in the commercial district of Manhattan Island, a minute protest in Liberty Square commenced against the fiscal atrocities committed by economic establishments leading to the financial crisis and subsequent economic recession in 2007 and 2008. Over the course of the month, the movement protesting the miscarriage of justice and democracy following the economic catastrophe and the overall inequitable and unfair wealth distribution diffused to over 100 American cities as well as 1,500 cities worldwide. The revolutionary movement was named Occupy Wall Street and through occupying and protesting the symbolic location of the financial elite, Wall Street, the crusade aimed to “[revolt] against the corrosive power