The English-Only Debate

I believe both groups that presented yesterday, my group being the second, did an awesome job. I really liked the informational PowerPoint that the first group showed and I believe our idea if splitting seminar groups into sub-topics such as politics/culture, education, and the workplace was a unique addition.
At one point of the meeting our seminar group focused on the question that surrounded:

The English-Only Debate
“Of course, a mainstream idea is not necessarily a rational one, free of prejudice and paranoia. The campaign to ‘officialize’ English in the United States rests on the absurd claim that the most successful and dominant world language in history is under siege in its strongest bastion.” Proponents argue that:

• “English has always been our ‘social glue,’ our most important ‘common bond,’ which has allowed Americans of diverse back-grounds to understand each other and overcome differences.”

It was a nice addition to bring up this argument because it brought up very diverse thoughts and reactions.

The Competitive Nature of Journalists

I believe that Journalists who drop their ethical standards to obtain the story that another competing journalist might obtain if they do not, is not worth the risk of jeopardizing their moral values. “If the nonethical value – getting a story of questionable merit – is chosen over an ethical value, at least the decision makers should admit that they have sacrificed journalistic principle to competitive instinct. Nor should the decision makers take solace from the likelihood that competitors will publish the story if they do not. Such a rationalization also should be recognized for what it is: sinking to the level of one’s least ethical competitor” (Foreman).

The Society of Professional Journalists contains a “Code of Ethics” that journalists are to abide by; which have specific points under a few main points which include; Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently, and Be Accountable. Under the column, “Seek Truth and Report It,” I found a few sub-points that I believe some Journalists do not always follow. The very first point states “Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible” (Society of Professional Journalists). In today’s fast paced world I would question whether all Journalists fully test the accuracy of information from all of their sources. Under the column, “Minimize Harm” there is another sub-point that I do not believe is taken to the heart of every Journalist, which is, “Recognize that gathering and reporting of information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance” (Society of Professional Journalists). I greatly believe that the pride and overconfidence of reporters can have a huge effect on their judgment.

Ethical standards and moral integrity should be at the top of every reporters list, especially when it comes to questioning, interviewing and finding the details of every story. The competitive nature of reporters should never jeopardize their ethical standings and moral beliefs.

Soldier’s Nightmare

The uniformed soldier stepped into the classroom,

Document shaking in his hands.
His forehead creased with frustration, eyes drooped like a small puppy.
The ceiling lights flickered, as if trembling with fear, of the tale to come.
He began his story slowly.

Hundreds of soldiers invaded Baghdad, a land not theirs to take.
In the distance, there stood a dark haired boy, outside his home.
He bends down on the dehydrated dirt, grabs a circular object, playfully juggles it.
The soldier gets an order from his commander, “Shoot and disarm the boy!”
He is armed with a dangerous weapon… a grenade.
The soldier hesitates briefly, his weary body frozen in time
He has just been commanded to murder a child.
Obeying his order, he lifts his metallic machine gun and fires.
The innocent, lifeless body falls to the blood-soaked earth.

Afterward the drained soldiers approach the bloodstained body of the boy.
Their salty sweat pours from under their helmets and down their backs.
Wide open eyes reflect the mistake; parallel eyes reflect the damage done.
The alleged grenade was a water balloon.

This is a poem I wrote last semester for a creative writing course, the discussion in class today reminded me of it. I believe poetry can be very journalistic.

Bloggers as Journalists?

In the article on blogging, First amendment scholor David Hudson Jr states, “Blogs, or Web logs, fulfill this ‘participatory, speech-enhancing’ function, allowing individuals to become one-person online out lets of information covering subjects in detail. Blogs are online journals or diaries where individuals can post daily entries about the subject of their choice."

I completely agree with this definition of what a blog consists of but not all share this view. In the same article, Robert A Cox, president of the Media bloggers association states, “It is worse than useless because it is an empty vessel into which people can – and do – pour whatever meaning suits them at the time. This breads confusion… blogging is writing period."

Yet, Rebecca Blood author of Weblog Ethics has another view, “Weblogs are the mavericks of the online world. Two of their greatest strengths are their ability to filter and disseminate information to a widely dispersed audience, and their position outside the mainstream media."

Based on my experience as a blogger, I do not believe that blogs should be regulated for the content of their speech. I disagree with Sen. John Cornyn who states, “However, the relative anonymity afforded to bloggers, coupled with a certain lack of accountability… has the risk of creating a certain irresponsibility when it comes to accurately reporting information” (Hudson 2). In my opinion bloggers are not reporters; they are expressers of their own thoughts and feelings, so they should not be held as accountable for the same rules as journalists.

Unethical Speech and Hate Speech

There are many examples of unethical speech and hate speech throughout our nation’s history. Take the Ku Klux Klan for example, their white supremacy speeches led to a movement that many are trying to erase from their minds today.

To have hate speeches that turn into beliefs of hatred, that in turn caused many immoral killings, is completely unethical, and is a good example of hate speech. To have any organization that instills principles to be one color is right and another is wrong, is just an attempt to have power over the other, therefore, causing negative emotions to that group.

Negative emotions can make someone easily manipulated by another because negative emotions make one weak. Manipulation can help one lose their rational thought and project those negative emotions onto other people. Projections of negative emotions due to their fear can make a role of unethical supremacy or dominance.

Nudity as Art; Male vs. Female

After watching the film in class titled, "Dirty Pictures," our seminar group had a really awesome discussion. We covered topics such as the difference between male and female nudity and how it is viewed by society. Some argued that the nude female body is more accepted in society, such as breast feeding any time or place. Yet, others argued that the male nude body is more accepted, for they can walk around in public with their shirts off and women cannot. Societal norms vary from culture to culture. There are restaurants in Spain where women paint the menu of the day all over their bare bodies, including their breasts, arms, and stomach.

Also religions play a huge role in society on what is accepted as moral / ethical, and what is not. In our group we looked online at the picture of Virgin Mary with elephant dung on it. "Two weeks ago an art exhibit, titled "Sensation," which includes a depiction of the Virgin Mary stained with elephant dung, was planning to open in New York's Brooklyn Museum of Art. The exhibit would be closed to people under age 18 but Mayor Rudy Giuliani, realizing the Brooklyn Museum was funded to the tune of over 7 million dollars a year by NY taxpayers, saw things differently and the battle lines were drawn."

Positions on Pornography

In class this week we studied the different supporting and opposing positions on whether pornography should be regulated. While the opposing positions are very strong, I think I am more convinced by the Liberal Feminist position.

The chapter, "That Special Shimmer" in Outspoken, was very interesting and it portrayed the life of Annie Sprinkle. She is a captivating women and her story is fascinating. She labels herself as a feminist, lesbian, and a champion of sex. One of my favorite parts of the chapter, was when "Annie recast herself as an artist, she claimed the right to speak for herself and to choose her own sexual identity, an options not available to all women, or, as she points out, to her for most of her career."

The film that we watched in class on Tues on the Free Speech Movement was really moving. I have grown up near Berkeley and have spent a lot of time there. It is a beautiful city filled with a great history.

My favorite part of the film was when students were locked out of Sproul Hall, but they were so determined to protest that they climbed up on ropes to get into the second story windows. Another great part of the film was when students surrounded the police car and gave speeches standing on top of it.

After searching the web I found a really awesome site at http://www.fsm-a.org/ that has great links, photos, speeches, interviews, bibliographies, and other writings all connected to the Free Speech Movement.

The life story about Margaret Randall in our class book, "Outspoken" was very moving. I though it was interesting when the INS subpoenaed all that Margaret had published, but had great trouble translating it because a lot of her work was written in Spanish. It was awesome to read about the support that she raised around the country. "Creative people found creative ways to make her situation public and to raise money. Berkeley proclaimed a Margaret Randall Day, Seattle held a Bowl-a-Thon for Free Speech" (Levinson 83).

The website hrcr.org/ccr/randall portrays a few of the questions that Margret had to endure during her court case. "Without a doubt, the hearing was a First Amendment case. My writings were being used against me."


Also in searching information about her on the Internet I came across one of her writings titled, "Language As Weapon" where she writes "Language is important because it is through language that we exchange ideas, do battle with one another’s beliefs, identify ourselves and name what we are willing to do to defend our earth and justice for those who live upon it. Language gives birth to attitude, policy, and action. In order to understand one another, we must listen to the real meanings of one another’s words rather than to the intentionally misleading translation offered up by those who intentionally mislead."

So yesterday was my first time meeting with the whole group, and it was nice putting a face to the names that I saw on blackboard. At first, our group started off slow, but our discussion improved once when we related the readings to current issues in politics like the 2008 presidential race.

There were a couple interesting things that I noticed when we our group was talking about the readings and websites. We tried to understand what people thought during that time period by placing ourselves in their roles in society. Also I like how various perspectives took the discussion in a completely different direction.

I really like one of the topics that class ended on, which was the lecture and PowerPoint example of the hymns and songs that were sung at Abolitionist meetings.

Religion and Politics in colonial Virginia

Religious persecution was very extreme back in colonial Virginia, and with politics and religion being intertwined it gave the church great power. It was punishable by death if anyone spoke unkindly against Gods holy name three or more times, and if it occurred twice there would be a "bodkin thrust through his tongue." It is hard to imagine a time when religion and politics worked together to rule over communities, because in today's society there are completely separated. I also thought it was very disturbing that nobody was allowed to speak disgracefully against any person in the Colonie, or they would be publicly disgraced with their head and feet tied together, and their occupation would be compromised.

Ethical or Unethical

A Case Study:
There is a very old woman who called the vet to come over and clip her bird’s beak, because the bird was not acting its usual self. The old woman who was hard of hearing and hard of seeing adored the bird for many years. The vet came over and reached his hand into the bird’s cage when the bird fell limp in his hand. Startled, the vet told the woman that it would be better if he took the bird to his office and clipped the beak there. After leaving the woman’s house, the vet went to the pet store and bought and similar looking bird. The vet thought since she was hard of hearing and seeing, she would most likely not notice the different bird, and would be delighted to have her adored pet back to its usual self. So in groups we were to take this case study and decide if it was ethical to lie to the woman about her bird. The results were surprising. 20 people believed it was ethical for the vet to lie because of his good intentions, and 13 people believed it was unethical to lie to the woman, because he has a professional duty to tell the truth. My main argument in this case is it does not matter that there was a positive outcome through positive intention, because as a medical practitioner he has a professional duty to abide by a code of ethics, and by lying to the woman he is going against that code of ethics.

CSUMB Student at http://csumb.edu/