Reflecting on First Quarter

  Although I have noted almost no change in myself physically or mentally these last 8 weeks, my exposure to the online realm of digital information has expanded extraordinarily. My use of the internet has been transformed from a purely informational/entertainment source into a world of opinions and individuals. I have developed a sense for communication through this media from virtually nothing, and my improvement in the blog format has clearly shown that.

       My first post, dated the 6th of September, is as visually appealing as it is casual-- that is to say, very little. The mass of words organized with precise, neat margins down the side and no indentations is troubling to the eyes, the reader is would lose interest in a post so bland very quickly.

      Also, the writing style is uninteresting. The last 11 lines are consumed by 2 sentences, which drone on, and though thoughtfully written, do not create the same literary punch as deliberate, short sentence.

       I corrected this aspect of my blogging in later posts, such as my post regarding textbooks on October 3rd. Two sentences in this article truly embodies have I have corrected this area of my blogging, "As a liberal, I am morally disturbed by this claim. As an American, I am appalled."

This simple change has made my posts easier to read, and hopefully more enjoyable to the reader.

     While I have put effort forward in my blog posts, I understand that there is much left to be desired. For one, my recurring political topics are probably uninteresting to many of my classmates, and unless they are more polarizing in the future, they don't generate much discussion.

       Another aspect I will work on in the second semester is posting more frequently, and casually. Ideally, I will try to post several times a week, about minor things we discussed in class, there by generating more conversations. 

Here is a sample of one of my better posts:

http://shotsfrommyblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/who-controls-how-we-learn-about-past.html

Reliability of Authors

Rupert Murdoch, president of
News Corporation

Any firsthand account is bound to have some sort of inaccuracy, as humans are inherently imperfect when it comes to their own memories. The account of Frederick Douglass' life that we are currently reading in AIS is most likely not the one many who lived with him and "owned" him would give, and it was written for the consideration of abolitionists. No one was hiding the fact that the piece was unbiased, or that it served a purely informative purpose, rather that it was meant to be expositional and persuasive.

There are media outlets that exist today that portray themselves as informational, when in reality they serve more the purpose of Frederick Douglass' narrative. Recently, Fox News' donations to several Republican groups has taken them out of the strictly informational realm, and has given concrete evidence to what many American cable viewers have long suspected.

While I was never a fan of this station, the commentators were free to speak whatever was on their minds, and claim no affiliation to any one political party. Now that their paychecks and massive donations to conservative political organizations are coming from the same source, it is hard to dispute their unbiased view of politics. 

Fox News has left any notion of the informational realm aside, and entered into a purely political arena.

Who controls how we learn about the past?

A mock textbook cover? No.

The state of Texas is known for being big. In physical size, population, and larger-than-life characters, Texas appears more like a small nation. One aspect of Texas' influence, which comes with its massive size, is its ability to influence the material taught in schools nationwide. Our AIS discussions regarding textbook bias is manifested in a recent vote, in which the Texas Board of Education voted on new standards regarding American history and how it ought to be taught. 

Cesar Chavez: Not significant enough
for textbooks?

This topic was fresh in my mind because of a recent article which appeared in a magazine I was reading. The new standards contained ideas of America being a "Christian land governed by Christian principles," as one board member put it. As a liberal, I am morally disturbed by this claim; as an American, I am appalled. 
The reason this was such a landmark decision because Texas has the largest textbook market in the nation, and publishers are heavily influenced by what material must be included. While the article did say that other states nationally would be minimal, neighboring states would feel the pressure to purchase the sam textbooks as Texas, for cost and accuracy. This is a total miscarriage of the process of education, and I am personally in favor of a national governing body to dictate the content of textbooks. 


I'll conclude this discussion with a plug for a favorite magazine of mine: The Week. My aunt first sent me a gift subscription about two years ago, and since then I've been an avid fan of its unbiased view of national and world events. Instead of having staff writers, The Week has a team of editors who summarize the best articles from national and global news outlets, and extract phrases and sentences from those articles within the summary. The end result is usually a short, to the point three paragraph article, with a two polar voices and a moderate commentator's opinion. The format is genius, and I recommend this magazine to anyone with an interest in fairness and world events.

a recent copy of "The Week" magazine