Social Media Solving Social Division Analysis

Danah Boyd, the author of “Inequality: Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions?” explores how widespread and domestic racism has truly become in America. To demonstrate how bad it has become, she interviews students in a part of Los Angeles where segregation has reappeared in the school. Parts of the school occupied by white students are called “Disneyland” while parts occupied by black students is called “Six Flags” and races never truly mix. She finds it surprising how the students have become to accept this as a way of life and finds it ironic the people thought that all of this racial bias would stop after the election of President Barack Obama. While doing this, she also analysis how social media actually plays in these elections and how it actually tends to reinforce these social divisions instead of solving them.

              To further back up her arguments, she not only uses personal experience and interviews, but she also events that sparked a lot of controversy, not for what happened, but for how people responded to it. She explains how during the 2009 BET awards, people notice names on twitter that were trending, such as Neyo and Beyoncé, who are black musicians. As soon as people saw this, some started to make racist remarks saying that they didn’t understand why so many black people were on TV and that they would give up twitter for this. This strengthens her point that social media for the most part will do more bad for divisions in society than good.

              In this article, you see many indications that there is a lot of fieldwork included that supports what she has heard about for many years. She asks students at other “diverse” schools why they are separated by race. These students answer that it is because what class they take or what sports they play, not realizing that they have been already be segregated by society like they were sixty years before. She also notes that social media can be an indication of how bad racism and segregation has gotten on this country, based on online friend groups and comments on topics. If Boyd did not include this fieldwork in this essay, the article would be in a way one sided, with no opinion or personal experience. Because she puts this in there, the article is much more “easy to swallow” and relatable to the reader

Fieldwork essay topic

In my fieldwork essay, I have chosen to explore stress and how it affects my life every day. I have chosen this because this is something that has physically and mentally taken a toll on me since I was young. I would physically feel tired and sick at times when I was really stress. At times, I would be stressed over small things like if I would make my flight or not. I seemed to be stresses, one way or another, every single day. Not only would I feel horrible, but I would not be able to concentrate on simple tasks like doing some homework or cleaning my room.  Finding a way to escape this constant battle was crucial if I wanted to function as a normal human being. In this essay, I would like to explore what causes stress not only in me, but in others as well as the physical and mental affects that it has on the human body. I have heard many things from people on how too much stress can causes you to age more quickly and could dramatically shorten your life. In hearing this, it would stress me out even more. However, I would like to research this to see if this is factual or not. Finding out how much stress the body can take will either calm me down or freak me out even more. I expect there to be many negative side effects associated with stress, but I also expect there to be a large number of people, especially in this country, to be affected by stress. I would also like to research ways of coping with or avoiding stress and the problems that are associated with it. This will mostly likely range from taking a calm walk to doing intense exercises. In doing so, I might look for information on medical website backed by research from experts and doctors. This will ensure accuracy and should make a well written, credible essay.

Consider the Lobster Analysis

In “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster, he writes about a valued tradition in New England of eating lobster. Lobsters are so popular there that they have large festivals celebrating them and feasting on them. However, in this article he writes mostly about how these festivals effect the lobster biologically and physically. Certain groups like PETA seem to have a problem in which the way lobsters are killed and have protest the festival many times to encourage others to stop eating them. People who do eat them seem to be ignorant as to how sensitive lobsters really are to pain. As he writes this, he is using Huxley’s second direction of writing towards the objective, historical facts, which is concrete. For example, when he is speaking about pain receptors in lobsters, he says “Lobsters do not, on the other hand, appear to have the equipment for making or absorbing natural opioids like endorphins and enkephalins, which are what more advanced nervous systems use to try to handle intense pain.” There is nothing that can really be debated about this and exhibits logos as his argument is based on facts.

              When he chooses lobsters at his topic, he is picking something that people tend not to care about or notice. While these people at the lobster festival are enjoying their lobster rolls, they tend to forget that thousands of lobsters are being boiled alive. Although people know that this happens, they like to make themselves feel better and think that the lobsters are not evolved enough to feel pain. Although the author is not against the killing of lobsters for food, he just wants to bring up the problems associated with it and at least inform his readers of these issues before they eat a lobster again. This may not change whether they eat lobsters or not, but at least they will be educated on how a lobster functions and where their meal came from.  In doing so, his article was well formulated and entertaining to read. However, if there were some pictures to show the way that the lobsters were killed or where lobsters tend to live, this would be even better for the article.

"The Overly Documented Life" Analysis

                  A.J. Jacobs, the author of “The Overly Documented Life” writes about what daily life is like for a middle class person in Americas society today. Specifically, what every waking second is like. He speaks about how our memory tends to be short lived with all of the other things that we have to do and remember. To try to document his memories, he attaches a small camera to the side of his head to record everything he sees throughout his day, including him using the bathroom and staring at other women. In doing so, he is more carefully and self-conscious about what he looks at as he doesn’t want to look back on what he did and saw that day and be embarrassed. In this project, he also states the benefits of lifelogging such as finding the taxi that his left his belongings in and rewinding the tape to see if he had taken an Advil for his headache. In doing so, he is following one of Huxley’s three directions which is towards the personal, autobiographical, and inner experience. He shares specific details about what he did each day and how it made him feel. In doing so, he lets the reader know how he directly feels and the reader will then feel a deeper connection to the writer. He also writes this article is a very comical sense which is beneficial towards his cause of bringing awareness to how much we really tend to forget or ignore things in our everyday life. If it was written in a very dry way, the article would lose speed very quickly and the reader would most likely stop reading after a few paragraphs. He is also very relatable with his experiences that he states in the article like losing his wallet. Most people understand frantically looking for their wallet, wishing that they had a device that would basically remind them where they put it. Altogether, the article was very entertaining and brings up a valid point that we need to be more aware of how much that we really do and what we say in our everyday life.

Catfishing Comments

Out of all of the essays, I like this one the most. It is informative, well written, and straight to the point. The hook for the essay was perfect and is bound to pull the reader right in immediately. She made me feel like this was a real problem in society when I didn’t really think it was before. However, there are some things that she could fix to make it even better. First, the introduction is a bit lengthy. Some of that information could be put into later paragraphs when more information is needed. Also, there should be more sources cited so that the argument is not so one sided. From what I read, much of the information that was obtained was from MTV which is the production company that produces and airs the show. This could be seen as a bias. Lastly, there should be more to compare in the main body of the essay. Instead of comparing and contrasting, there is just a lot of what the articles are about. This would give the essay more length and would clarify each article even more. Overall, this essay was great and really changed my outlook on the issue.

Gregs unfinished rough draft Comments

This essay was very informative and entertaining to read. The hook was good and it kept me reading. It dealt with real world issues that need to mentioned and overall, was written well.  However, there are some minor things that could be adjusted or added to this essay to make it even better. First, the introduction is very informative, but too long. Some of the facts like where Harambe was born should be put in the next paragraph to give more details. Also, there is not much of a thesis to some up what the introduction was about or what the entire essay would be about. Another thing that could also be fixed is the repetition of Harambes name. We already know that the essay is about him so at this point, you can just say “him” or “the gorilla.” The structure of the sentences is also a bit choppy. This could be solved by having a few sentences in the paragraph that are compound sentences with depended and independent clauses. Last, the essay does not have a concluding paragraph. This should just sum up what the entire essay is about and should be concise and accurate as to what the topic was about and what we should have learned. Other than that, the essay was nice and I look forward to reading it in its final draft.

Michael’s (Very) Rough Draft Comments

The topic that Michael picked is very good and overall, his essay is well written. Each argument has many examples and quotes that support his point and he cites them correctly. I agree with his viewpoint on the issue and the information on the topic makes me agree with it even more. His arguments are also fair and well balanced with both sides represented on the issue. However, there are some things that could be fixed to make it even better and flow more smoothly. First, some of his sentences are choppy and simple. To tie them together, he should join one or two of the sentences that relate to each other so that the transition is more smooth. Next, he should also watch out for repletion of words such as “comments” that could be replaced with other words like “says” and “states.” Another thing that could be done to the essay is to add even more information. It doesn’t seem like there are many sources which could be problematic in arguing you point. Last, there is not much of a conclusion at the end. It kind of leaves the reader wanting more, like the essay isn’t over yet. It should sum up what the writer has written about and should be simple and concise. Overall though, the essay is a good start and can easily be made even better.

Intro for Compariative Analysis Essay

When you hear you hear the word “guns”, what tends to come to mind? Some may say shootings and death while others may say protection and hunting. This seems to be a problem in this country. It is certainly fine to own a gun in this country, as it is a right given to every American citizen in the Constitution. However, with the recent mass shootings occurring in the country by people who did not deserve guns in the first place, more and more pressure is put on Congress to have tighter gun laws and stronger punishments for those people who unlawfully use or purchase a firearm. Some members of Congress, mainly republican, argue that limiting access to guns would violate an American citizen’s 2nd amendment right to bear arms. However, if these bill proposals were passed and turned into laws, then countless innocent lives could be saved because only responsible, law abiding citizens would have the ability to possess these weapons.

Source #2 on Congress' lack of support for stronger gun control

In “Massive study of Australia's gun laws shows one thing: they work” by Fiona Macdonald, she outlines how in the past twenty years, Australia has had no mass shootings after enacting a law that prohibited citizens of the country from owning a “rapid fire gun” and punishing anyone in possession of one after the law was passed with jail time. To give the citizens further incentive to give up their guns, the government began buying back any guns that citizen had at market price. Since the law was enacted in 1996 after a mass shooting in Tasmania, gun ownership in the country has decreased by 75% and gun related deaths have also decreased an average of 5% each year. However, the US still fails to believe that having tighter gun control will reduce the rate of homicides committed each year even though Australia has proven that it will. She says that “experts are predicting that around 30,000 people will be killed - or kill themselves - with guns in the country this year” which is a horrifying number and a harsh reality that we unfortunately are told to deal with. If stronger gun laws are passed in the US, this number can and will decrease and countless lives will be saved. This is a reality that I am happy to live with.

Macdonald, Fiona. "Massive Study of Australia's Gun Laws Shows One Thing: They Work "  2016. Web.

Source #1 on Congress' lack of support for stronger gun control

In “Where do things stand in Congress' battle over gun control?” by Emily Schultheis, she talks about how Congress fails to agree on a better way to enforce gun control even after the recent shootings in Orlando and in San Bernardino. Although members of congress have made over 100 attempts to pass stronger gun laws to be voted on by the majority of the members since 2011, none have been successful, leading to more mass shootings and countless innocent lives being lost. She states that “Republicans want to require more proof from government officials that an individual is likely to commit terrorism” if they are to ban someone from buying a gun. However, if congress had passed a law that would prohibit anyone on the TSA no fly list or FBI Terrorist Screening Database from purchasing a firearm, this would have prevented the shooter from the Orlando night club attack from killing 49 people. After so many shootings these past couple years, it is a shame that congress still can’t come to a conclusion on how to stop these deadly attacks.

Schultheis, Emily. "Where Do Things Stand in Congress' Battle over Gun Control?" CBS News July 5, 2016 2016. Web.