EOTO Reflection Blog Post #6 'Facebook'

One of the presentations that stuck out to me the most was the Facebook presentation. I was unaware that Facebook was created by a group of Harvard students. It made me think about how these young adults were in college and they were thinking about an effective way they could make a webpage that everyone would want to interact with especially other college students. It was actually a genius idea. However, the one question that I would have is, how did Mark Zuckerberg end up taking over the company? 

Facebook is constantly updating to stay up to date with the times. As an app such as this one that is pivotal to its success. Especially because Facebook has been around so long, they have to try and bring in a new audience or Facebook will lose its customer base. It made me think about how we asked everyone in class the social media applications they use and Facebook did not have as many hands raised. This would make sense as to why they tried to rebrand as Meta. New name= New Client Base maybe?

I like how Tommy the presenter talked about the platform Facebook has provided its users such as, "opportunities to connect and communicate, share, find new opportunities, both personally and socially, as well as professionally, and consume both information and products." Facebook was one of the first apps that changed the way that we look at social media. Hopefully it'll stick around to influence generations for decades to come.

'AntiWar' Blog Post #5

War oftentimes is one of the most controversial topics you can discuss in todays' day and age. As I took a deeper dive into The American Conservative as well as Antiwar it made me see just how censored we truly are as a society. For example on the Anti War website most of these stories that are talked about have not ever been mentioned in the mainstream news

This should not be something that is taboo, we should want to know what dealings our country takes part in. In the United States it is our obligation to keep our government accountable for what they partake in. War ruins peoples lives and truly changes them forever. As we discussed in class, the United States has entered into wars and sent countries into major depressions they may never financially recover from. 

I had no idea that The US and Russia will hold talks on the last nuclear arms control treaty that remains between the powers, the New START, from November 29 to December 6 in Cairo, Egypt. This is something that is not only extremely important but something that everyone should be aware of. As a political science major we talked extensively about the Non-Proliferation Treaty, as the world's biggest hegemon who carries nuclear weapons it's extremely important that we sit down with Russia when it comes to this treaty. Especially now when Russia is at war with Ukraine and the uncertainty that lies in whether the United States or NATO as a whole will take part in this war. 

WHY ARE WE LEFT IN THE DARK

After looking through these websites it does make you question why we are filtered from certain information. Information that we have every right to know. We as Americans or Political pundits/commentators complain that the average American does not truly know what is going on in society. However, we are also not pushing for us to know the entire truth. Politics and the inner workings of the world are so much deeper than the Republican or Democratic party. We get so caught up in our own news and problems that we become ignorant to issues that are impacting other countries or plaguing the world as a whole. It's time we start asking the right questions. 

Blog Post #4 EOTO "Carrier Pigeons"

Carrier Pigeons as a method of military communications dates back over 3,000 years. Dating all the way back to 5th century B.C. During the first Olympic Games, every athlete had a carrier pigeon from their village. When they won, the person's bird would fly back to their home base to deliver the good news to everyone!

The first airmail using pigeons was established in 1896 in New Zealand and was known as the Pigeon-Gram Service. Their speed averaged 77.6 mph, only 40% slower than a modern aircraft. Each pigeon carried up to 5 messages and was essential to being able to spread messages during World War 1. They were delivering messages at such a high rate that German marksmen were deployed to shoot the birds down. Pigeons were even carried in tanks in case there was an accident and they needed to go alert others on the location of the downed tanks. 2 Pigeon Corps were established during this time. This consisted of 15 pigeon stations each with 4 birds and a handler. The Pigeon Corps was so successful that further birds were being recruited. By the end of the war "The Pigeon Corps" consisted of over 25,000 pigeons. 

In the photograph to the left you see a carrier pigeon with a camera attached to its belly. The Germans did this to try and get a leg up during World War 1. The camera would take pictures when the bird flew over certain locations. It was as if the carrier pigeon become a spy, this revolutionized World War 1. 

The life of a carrier pigeon was quite hard and very sad. It took around six weeks to train a carrier pigeon as to where their home roost or loft was located. This was extremely important when it came to delivering messages because if it didn't end up in the right location, that could be extremely detrimental to the party that needed to receive it. Pigeons would also carry their messages in a small canister than would then be attached to the pigeons leg. Whenever the pigeon would successfully deliver a message, a bell would ring out to alert other people that the message had arrived safely. However, war was extremely brutal to the pigeons that helped send out messages. Fewer than 10% survived the shell fire, small arms fire, poison gas. This became such an issue that in France they declared anyone who impeded a pigeons flight could be sentenced to death.

  THE STORY OF CHER AMI

This is a heartbreaking story of a carrier pigeon who was flown by the U.S. Army Signal Corps, known as Cher Ami, the heroic American Black Check Cock carrier pigeon. He delivered twelve important messages within the American sector at Verdun; on his last mission, October 4, 1918, he was shot through the breast and leg by enemy fire but still managed to return to his loft with a message capsule dangling from the wounded leg. The message Cher Ami carried was from Major Charles S. Whittlesey's "Lost Battalion" of the Seventy-seventy Infantry Division that had been isolated from other American forces. The message brought about the relief of the 194 battalion survivors, and they were safe behind American lines shortly after the message was received. It was because of pigeons like Cher Ami that the memorial in Hyde Park was created to commemorate all of the animals and birds killed during wartime. 

Blog Post #3

 

Checks and balances is pivotal for our government to run successfully. Which is why out of the eight values of free expression that resonates with me the most is, "Check on Governmental Power". The term “Separation of Powers” was coined by the 18th century philosopher Montesquieu. Separation of powers is a model that divides the government into separate branches, each of which has separate and independent powers. This ensures that no one branch of government becomes too powerful. This is extremely important to me because I want to go into law once I graduate college. As a representative democracy I believe that it is important for us to be fair and transparent across the board. One of the most important precedents was Marbury v Madison in 1803 which, "established the principle of judicial review—the power of the federal courts to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional. The unanimous opinion was written by Chief Justice John Marshall."By allowing the separation of powers, it allows us the freedom to have our voices heard. 

This leads me to what I think is just as important if not more important than checks on government power. That is, "Participation in Self Government" as our 2022 midterm vastly approaches, it has made me think about how I participate in our government. This semester I decided to start volunteering with the Guilford County Democratic Party. One of the main tasks that I went out and did was door knocking. In order to door knock we use an app called MiniVAN, it allows you to put in a list code that gives you addresses of residents. These residents are either Unaffiliated or a part of the Democratic Party, it can also tell you if the person inside the house has voted in any past elections or if they have not voted at all.

When I went door knocking I had a lot of people not answer the door so I left the voter guide that we are given to pass out on their doors. The people that did answer the door were surprisingly very nice and said that they were either already registered to vote or going to register; They also said that they would definitely be voting for the Democratic Party. On the Voter Guide that we hand out is all of the candidates in each race, as well as certain candidates information such as Brandon Gray and Cheri Beasley. It also includes all of the locations as well as the voting location schedule. An important thing that we are told as volunteers is to make sure that people vote all the way through the ballot. Research shows that people tend to pay attention to the top and as it goes on they stop filling out the ballot or circle anything. 

Your vote may not directly elect the president, but if your vote joins enough others in your voting district or county, your vote undoubtedly matters when it comes to electoral results. As someone who has spent the last semester volunteering for the Guilford County Democratic Party. Our entire purpose is to persuade who we are talking to, to vote our cause, in this case I am asking people to vote for candidates in the Democratic Party in North Carolina. Through peer pressuring those who we are talking to we are doing so in a way that looks to re enforce identity. Our democracy is fueled by voter participation by telling people that them voting is crucial to our representative democracy. It reinforces what it means to be a voter in the United States.

"US Supreme Court" Blog Post #2

The Supreme Court, the highest court of the land. To think of what these 9 justices are tasked to do is quite remarkable. As the head of the Judicial branch, their job is to interpret our laws and ensure that they preserve the Rule of Law. In its more than 200 year history, SCOTUS has held a wealth of important cases, which have had lasting impacts on the nation, for better or worse. 

This made me think of the Dred Scott case that we discussed in class, where Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that Congress had no power to ban slavery and that African Americans could never be “citizens”. This decision went on to weaken the court's authority for years because as Supreme Court Justices their power rests on public faith. This made me realize just how much responsibility the 9 justices hold. These are people who make a lifelong commitment to serve others through their work. 

It was interesting to discover from the History article that there were initially 6 justices appointed by George Washington. It was not until 1869 where Congress set the number of seats to nine, where it has remained until today.  

What I took away from Part 1 and Part 2 of the videos was that the justices are not afraid to counter each others arguments. I think that is very important considering that because it is only 9 justices, it could just be the one outlier that causes the other justices to take an alternative perspective on a proposal. 

It has always been interesting for me to see how these 9 justices can interpret a doctrine that is over 200 years old. This is what led to the disagreement between Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonio Scalia. Their disagreement came about when discussing the Constitution and particularly “We the People” when that was said it was not looking at the United States but rather a marginalized group that excluded women and their ability to vote, as well as Native Americans who were not treated as equal citizens.