Protests: To Be Violent, Or Not To Be, That Is The Question...

Often times, we encounter or hear about protests.  Some are violent, some are not.  The question is, are non-violent protests as effective as those that are not?  Does it cause more discussion to inflict violence or does it simply cause people to feel cynicism and ignore the fight for a cause?  One protest  that most recently comes to mind is that of Occupy Denver.  It was incredible to see the mass amounts of citizens gathered around City Park, protesting for the things they believe in.  Besides the violence from police onto citizens, there was little violence.  Would this Occupy Denver protest have been more effective if citizen's were more violent and perhaps threw tomatoes at city buildings?  The definition of protest is: "A statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something."  So, if you want to make a bold statement and thus cause change, must you engage in violent behavior?  Or is there other ways of going about it....

Aesthetic Negotiation at Home and Abroad

While reading Dr. Sci's article about aesthetic negotiation and the way it is used to engage visitors, I started wondering whether memorials overseas have the same aesthetic qualities.

An example that came to mind was the WWII memorial in Normandy, France overlooking Omaha Beach. While this memorial is in France, it was designed by an American architecture firm in Philadelphia. It is interesting to think that this firm was building a memorial for an American audience, but doing so in a foreign country.

Earlier in the semester we discussed how the idea of aesthetic negotiation became more prevalent with the Vietnam memorial, yet the WWII memorial on Omaha Beach also draws visitors in with aesthetic negotiation. The memorial was finished in 1956, yet there is still such a majestic quality about it.

I'm sure the architects meant to make it that way, but I also think that the location of the memorial and the history behind it makes it so special.

NGO's and Humanitarianism

As most NGO's try to raise money to help a certain group of people, we notice that similar images are projected into the media. This is for several reasons, and we can see that these particular images evoke intense emotions to lure in the "donator." This particular image concentrates on a young boy, who is from Africa, and a description says that he is hungry, poor, and has no family to care for him and he also is suffering from AIDs and receives no medical care. As American's we are more likely to donate money when we actually feel bad for the person if their situation, and these large corporations will use this to their advantage. Whether this is seen as good or bad I do not know, but we must be aware of the fact that these images are designed to make us feel a certain way, and to take action. The action steps are always kindly laid out for us, whether it be donating money or time we are directed on exactly what to do.

Youtube vs. Blogs

Upon reading this article about the Youtube responses to the short film Fitna, I found it very interesting to see this called a new way of performing citizenship. This article also made me wonder whether the same ideas could be applied to a more classic type of blog where the author writes about his or her religious or political identity, despite a physical location.

van Zoonen, Vis, and Miheji write, "We conclude that the particular articulations of religious and political identities, with different modes of audience address assume a connectedness between dispersed people in which new forms of (unlocated) citizenship emerge." While the authors are talking about a Youtube community where people post videos about their personal stance on the Fitna film, I think this quote could also be applied to blogs. Not only blogs, but also the many other ways in which you can express yourself on the internet.

Non-Violent Protests

In class today, we discussed the fact that most protests have to be violent to get media attention. When looking at past non-violent protests, I realized that the only ones that got attention were protests that were done over 50 years ago. Today, our protests consist of bombings, mass murder, self-mutilation, and damage to property. These drastic protests always lead to immense media coverage, which then encourages others to protest in violent ways to get the attention that they want. When looking at the website that I attached, my favorite non-violent protest which was done by Rosa Parks got so much attention from the public because of the social norms that she was breaking. But its hard to imagine our culture today giving any attention to the non-violent protests that are occurring today. The mass coverage of violent protests and attacks seems to be making our culture numb to the fact that this violence is actually harming people.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1887394_1861258,00.html

Seattle and Boston

I found it very interesting how this article, From Public Sphere to Public Screen: Democracy, Activism, and the "Violence" of Seattle by Kevin Michael DeLuca and Jennifer Peeples, discusses the public screen and our attraction to violence. There was a specific quote about communication technology that caught my attention. 

DeLuca and Peeples write, "They physically shrink the world while simultaneously mentally expanding it, producing a vast expansion of geographical consciousness. Thoreau's caustic comments about the telegraph have come true. We know and care when Princess Di has a car crash. Texas may not have much to say to Maine, but it is transmitted nevertheless," 

This quote makes me think about Boston and the countless other tragedies that have garnered national attention in the past 12 months. When tragedies like Boston or Newtown happen, there is an outpouring of attention and support from mediums like television, Facebook, Twitter. These outlets have a way of bringing us together. They focus our attention because we are drawn to violence, tragedy, and other spectacles that deviate from the norm. 

Social Media - Creating a Persona Online

I find it interesting that the Internet has become a place for people to make "friends" and create a persona of themselves that may not be entirely true.  You can be a completely different person online than in face-to-face situations.  People have the control to create a character that they find to be appealing to others.  Social media websites give voice and a sense of confidence for those who may not particularly be this way in person.  The manipulation and use of photo posting online allows people to create their ideal identity and gain approval from others.  Oh Facebook, how you have changed the idea of interpersonal relationships and the manner in which people connect with one another, I will never fully comprehend.