Meta-Post: Quarter IV

here is my post

My blogging trailed off near the end of the year, as it did in the first semester. What differed, though, was the quality and length of the posts I did complete.

I remain ashamed that I did not blog more often, even though I know it was completely in my control and nothing prevented me from doing it except my own lax attitude.

However, my writing in this format has developed very strongly ince the strong of the year. My inclusion of many links in an effort to attract a larger audience yielded no comments, but in that regard, I improved over the year.

Also, I improved my effort to add more emotion/opinion to my work, as is shown in my chosen post from the fourth quarter. It is an argument being made formed from current events, and I believe if had attempted to encourage more of my classmates to get to discussing that issue, it would've been interesting.

But alas, this year is nearing the end. My half-hearted foray into the blogosphere this quarter is complete.

Taxes: The Root of Social Class in America

       It is no secret that our country is in a massive financial deficit, and just this week it was  reported that we are nearing our deficit cap, which I did not know I existed. I guess I assumed that the amount of money the US can borrow from other nations and spend without revenue was limitless, but that is not the case. As soon as we are in too deep (I believe the figure is $14,000,000,000,000 [14 trillion]), the rating agency Standard & Poor's will degrade our nation, as if it were a company, from a AAA credit rating to "bankrupt." The AAA rating refers to a party's financial ability to repay every dollar of its outstanding debts, including interest, claims Sergei Shelin in Russia's Gazeta.ru. And as our debt spills over our GDP, that rating and the respect associated with it will be lost.
       Any country can spend its income in countless ways: military, social welfare, public works, and much more. But there is only 1 (yes, one) way for a nation to reasonably receive that regular income: taxes. As Americans, we should all be appalled that our nation has increased our debt to this much in the last decade, considering President Bush inherited a surplus from Clinton. As Americans, we should also feel an inert responsibility to repay our debts, and as many conservatives would like to argue against, incorrectly, the only way to do so is by increasing taxes across the highest income brackets. Spending must be cut as well, but even if you cut all of last year's $13.2 trillion  budget which is absurd), we would still be short.

We simply have no money left

       Taxes are an interesting issue in American history, because while all acknowledge they must exist, there is always heated debate about who should pay how much. The revenue only comes from the American people, and as Americans it is our duty to work against the debt.
       When speaking of taxes, and who pays how much, the class system is often mentioned. The lower class pays virtually no taxes on their income, as they have very little income as it is. The upper class (as defined here by wealth, and the wealthiest 1%) contributes 32% of the tax revenue. Critics often cite statistics like these to confuse the voting public about raises in taxes, and justifying tax breaks for the wealthy. While taxes would for the bottom 98% of America would be immoral, as the people in this range are the ones struggling, and compose, based on wealth, the "middle" and "lower" classes, the big earners should feel a moral obligation to their fellow Americans to cough up more out of every paycheck.
       The most compelling statistic, retrieved from E.J. Dionne, Jr. of The Washington Post is thus: "In 1980, the wealthy paid an average of 34.5 percent of their incomes to taxes; by 2008, that figure had dropped to 23.3 percent." We all know an economic boom followed the twenty years after the former year, and we can only hope the twenty years following the latter year aren't as miserable as they appear to be.

Bringing Back the "Gloden Age" of Network Television News

Peter Jennings: An image of tradition

       I am an atypical teenage consumer of media, I believe, at New Trier and as compared to the nation as a whole, because while I still engage in hours of television and online activity daily, any night that I arrive home during the week at a reasonable hour, I really enjoy watching the national news. This is a somewhat-daily ritual that has been ingrained in my system since I was young, and even though I didn't understand much of it, my parents always had Peter Jennings, or Tom Brokaw, or Dan Rather up on the TV at the perpetual time slot of 5:30pm CST.

       This past Wednesday evening, I was just turning on ABC's "World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer," when my mom sat down in the room with me. I had always, out of habit, flipped to ABC because I had fond remembrances of Peter Jennings' smooth voice. My mom immediately said, "Turn this lady off! I can't stand her!" I had always disliked Diane Sawyer, because of her pleading, almost whiny voice, and squinted look. But I had always assumed that my parents liked the network. I quickly switch to NBC, where the sharply-dressed Brian Williams awaited my audience. It was an immediate flashback to the network news of my young childhood.

       I then came to the realization that the network news is an arena that should be controlled solely by well-dressed, smooth-voiced males. Though this may seem regressive, and perhaps offensive, it is in my opinion that network news is most effective and connects most to the storied past of this media outlet  when anchored by a man possessing those qualities listed.

       It is not to say that a woman cannot physically read off words from a teleprompter, or hold her own behind a desk, nor is it a racial matter (although many aforementioned anchors were white), as I find Lester Holt of NBC's Sunday news programming to be very talented and effective. Simply, the sharply tailored newsmen of the past stirs memories of an institution which had a dignity and a stronger purpose; the evening news anchor has traditionally been the face of the news division of any network, and when most Americans relied on these people for information decades ago, that position held honor.

Couric: Out

       When I heard earlier this week that Katie Couric, the five year host of the CBS Evening News had submitted her resignation, I was very glad. As I read even more recently, Scott Pelley, a 21-year veteran of CBS is set to replace her, and I was even more glad. As the article above notes, I have trouble taking Couric seriously (despite grilling interviews, most memorably with Sarah Palin) when she once had the honorable position as a journalist on NBC's Today, where she interviewed celebrities, singers, presented great holiday recipes and budgeting tips, and showed off the hottest spring fashion trends in the fourth hour of programming. 

       It is a matter of personal opinion that the evening network news host be male for me, but if the networks ever wish to recover their coveted ratings, then a return to past tradition is necessary.

The traditional "Big 3" networks

    

Processing All the Sources

Over the span of the last several weeks, I have inputted thousands of words from many very long documents into my brain, regarding the increase of the prison population in the United States. Now, looking back on the month or more of research, I have to compile all my facts, statistics, and thoughts into a clear, readable research paper.
I believe I enjoyed the research step much more than the writing of the actual paper.this is unusual, because mot of the time I enjoy the freedom that writing assignments present; there are hundreds of thousands of words to express any idea. But I did not feel the same attraction to this assignment, mainly because of the guided format and intrinsically emotionless nature of a research paper: present a series of facts, come to a conclusion.
That being said, the research was empowering. There was something invigorating, or scholarly, about education oneself on a topic of their interest, purely for the spirit of intellectual. I will fondly remember the days in the library where I carefully read through scholarly journals and old newspaper articles. I will remember writing a full draft without much fondness.

"American" Label Sells on Television

Recently, over spring break, I had a whole cloudy, 45 degree day ahead of me, so, naturally, I flipped on the television and watched whatever might draw my eye first. Luckily for me, there was a Pawn Stars marathon, which happened to be a show I watched with some frequency. Pawn Stars (of the History Channel) follows the owners of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas; the Old Man, a cranky, squinty-eyed naval veteran, his son, Rick, an intelligent bald man with a desire to make money, his son, Corey, or "Big Hoss," and his friend, Chumlee, who provides comic relief.
       The show is also aided by a host of historical experts of their respective fields, who are often called in to analyze the value of strange items the sellers bring to the store. While many items are very old and rare, the ones that attract the most value to Rick, who is really the main buyer, are items of important value to American history.  Aside from directly saying this, Rick has numerous experts for elements of American history to call in, while he may only have one European history expert, one watch expert, and one toy expert. In some cases, he may call in both a weapons expert, for example, and an American historian.

Rick Dale: Who is more American?

       Also, I considered the other shows airing on the History Channel--an ad appeared very often during this Pawn Stars marathon. When Rick and Co. purchase a beat up, old item, they head to their buddy (other) Rick's shop where Rick Dale restores these old items of American importance. He relishes old Coca-Cola advertisements, and anything else relating to American culture--thus, his own spin-off show "American Restoration." 
     With a title as blatantly patriotic as that, there is not doubt that the History Channel is attempting to capitalize on the "American" brand. It is clear that they have had success with similar shows, like "Only in American with Larry the Cable Guy," and they want to continue that theme with the rest of their programming.

Maybe him?

Prison Research

I have been fortunate enough to select a topic which I am interested in, know little about, and one that there is a plethora of information about. The American prison system has become a beast that represents the waste associated with large government control. However, I have been discovering that the causes behind the United States increase in prison population, which is blowing up at over 13 times the growth of the overall population, is a product of many factors.
     While I have yet to come to a conclusion (a conclusion which may take several weeks), I have come to realize through at least a couple of scholarly articles that the fuel to this costly system is driven by poverty. While I believe my research, at this point, is on target, I know there is lot more information to sift through.

Triggers for Social Movements

       Our discussion in class yesterday revolved around how major news stories become major--the question posed by Mr. Spiro Bolos was, "Why has gay marriage become an issue?" It's an interesting question to ask, and a more difficult one to answer, because as of now there has been no trigger event for this movement, that I can identify, in the last ten years. There has been no national protest against gay marriage (as in tens of thousands lined up in the street spewing hateful language) that I can specifically call to mind, and although they undoubtedly exist, I cannot put a face to a national movement in favor of gay marriage.
       Several students theorized that the process of revolution and advancement of issues such as gay marriage was cyclical; there would be a build-up for a while, followed by a "trigger"event, and then focus on that issue would skyrocket. The issue would remain "hot" for an amount of time, fall out of conversation, and the cycle would repeat itself. I believe this is not the case, as the examples cited by my classmates were unconvincing to me (the Scientific Revolution, the French Revolution), but I do believe a trigger must occur for a full-fledged movement to take place. There is no face to gay marriage right now, and until there is, as with all movements towards social justice, it will be more difficult to receive attention for it.