Origin of the 'Left' and 'Right'

Have you ever wondered why some words are associated with ideas that differ from their true meaning? I just read an interesting article that explains the origin of the ‘Right’ and ‘Left’ definitions for Conservativism and Liberalism. The answer isn’t that surprising! It seems like most of our democratic ideals came from the French. Think about this next time you talk about your Right-Winged neighbor or Left-Winged daughter-in-law; who knows they could have just as easily been water and fire, or cheese and crackers!

Why Do Left and Right Mean Liberal and Conservative?

All It Takes is 140 Characters - Obama Takes a Twitter Tumble

With website like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram it’s difficult for anyone to shy away from the limelight, specifically, if you’re a presidential candidate.

These days, the public expects politicians to track every move they make through their social media. If they choose not to, they are not thought of as relatable. The people demand their representative to be ‘one of the people,’ and each politician does their part to fit that expectation.

Therefore, it is not surprising that both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have a Twitter account. Of course, the catch-22 is that it would be unwise to actually tweet from these accounts. The president and presidential candidate have much more important things to occupy their thoughts than to worry about whether they are generating enough tweets-per-hour. The voting population expects President Obama and Mitt Romney to have a Twitter account, but would be livid if they took the time to actually ‘tweet’ from it. For this reason, each man has a team of campaign officials to fill that role.

Because of Twitter’s wide spread impact on the population – Twitter scored its 500 millionth user in February – the opportunity to sway voters is recognized by both campaigns. This also means that the ability to maintain a positive public opinion is that much more complex.

Last Tuesday was the 11-year anniversary of the events of 9/11. Twitter feeds across the country were filled with lamentation over the lives lost on that terrifying day. Of course, the world turns to the president to receive words of respect and humility about the day, and President Obama did. At 8:46am, the time the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the President and First Lady bowed their heads in remembrance on the South Lawn of the White House. This was preceded, however, by a tweet at 7:07am from the @BarackObama account calling for more campaign volunteers.

The Twitter world took this tweet as a sign of disrespect from the President, and the opposing side took the tweet as an opportunity to further enhance their public opinion. Almost immediately, tweets were posted about each candidate’s first post of that day. Each post can be seen below.

Social media is a clever campaign strategy and an easy way to promote the ideals of a specific candidate. The overwhelming number of positives from social media, however, comes with a price. If the campaign officials are not paying attention, they could dramatically lose their candidate’s positive opinion in a matter of 140 characters.

Occupy [your passion].

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture given by a self proclaimed artist and activist named Blithe Riley. For an hour and fifteen minutes she discussed her involvement in the “Occupy” movement. Much of her energy has been put into an organization known as “Occupy Museums.” As an artist, she shows particular distain for the actions that large museums make when much of their decisions are incentivized financially. I, however, had to search online to really discover what “Occupy Museums” as an organization believes in because the lecture was not very educational.

Ms. Riley discussed what measures the group has taken to promote their beliefs but never fully explained why they existed. Leaving the lecture, I questioned why the other attendees seemed to be impacted positively from the speech – a speech that contained multiple second hand accounts and seemed to run in circles. Those who share an interest for journalism would agree that if a source is not direct the information, despite its accuracy, is not credible. Much of my struggle stemmed from my lack of trust in her understanding of the “Occupy” movement as a whole. Many of her explanations contained gaps and seemed to be contradictory.

As disappointed as I was from the speech, it was clearly evident that Ms. Riley had a passion for what she does. I am thankful that I was able to attend because it is always enlightening to listen to people who are unlike you. I look forward to attending more lectures in the future and will actively continue to develop my ever-evolving outlook on the wide-ranging topics that concern each lecturer.

To form your own opinion of the "Occupy Museums" movement, please visit www.occupymuseums.org for more information.

Republican National Convention

When analyzing at the visual media that the Republican Party chose to use to display during their time in session at the Republican National Convention, one cannot help but attempt to speculate what their goal was when choosing pictures and videos to post. The RNC Flickr account followed the Republican National Convention for its entirety and had also done so in 2008. One recurring theme of the photographs posted were large landscape shots displaying the magnitude of the convention and the complexity in its design.

This may have been done purposefully in order to display the extent of the commitment its members have to the Republican party. From the initial set up of the convention conference rooms, to the large media gatherings, and finally the packed full conference halls where the notable party leaders were scheduled to speak, each picture displayed the immense support that the Republican party has in this country.

This idea is maintained when Clint Eastwood, a prominent Hollywood icon, came to the podium to deliver his speech, debatably the most talked about speech of the entire convention. I will not elaborate on the opinions I have of his speech, but I however did notice a few things about the support he received from his peers. As you observe the video, please take a look at the cheers and wide camera angles used during the time he spends speaking. Each time the camera pans out, the viewer has the opportunity to gaze over the wide audience captivated by his words.

The RNC Flickr account has done a great job marketing their organization in a positive light. As discussed in my last post, the earliest form of politics is to find your way to ‘fit in.’ As many of you may have concluded, what better way to show someone that you are the ‘in crowd’ than to show how popular you are?

Introduction to Politics

Politics is a very difficult to define as a general term. As the range of population applied to the definition grows, the meaning of politics expands as well.

To a high school student, politics may be the complicated series of emotions felt and actions performed between peers in order to find acceptance and ‘fit in.’ As a knowledge base is built and a young adult becomes more interested in the culture of America and how we interact within our world, the meaning of politics may evolve. This evolution will begin to encompass a collection of decisions that the young adult will need to make about his or her actions. They will also begin to understand how their actions affect others, and how, collectively, we all must be cognizant of our behavior and its impact on the general public. This is the beginning of a mindful awareness that can effectively develop an opinion on how our country should be structured.

I believe that politics has nothing to do with which party a person is affiliated with or what decisions he or she makes concerning social or financial issues. Politics is the delicate relationship that each member of the human population shares with one another. Although this relationship, at times, may be extremely volatile when juggling vast and strong opinions, we find a balance and recognize that as a unit our views must be set aside to progress the nation as a whole. We do not have to generalize politics to a strict right-winged- left-winged description.

Politics, to me, is the complicated process in which our nation of over 300 million people can reach a compromise for the common goal to maintain our strength as a single entity.