Social Media and it's effect on the american political process.

Social Media as a whole, shows one of the challenges of our American political process. Our government should be representative of the people, exactly how a democracy is supposed to work. But however, this is especially hard to achieve because many individuals don't vote. However, with social media, many more people are exposed to politics. In 2014, 16% of individuals above the age of 18 were following some political candidate on social, according to the Pew Research Center. Despite how social media gets the public aware of current issues, the way they get them involved is not good. Usually, biased sources post about current issues without giving a full scope of the whole topic, thereby swaying the peoples true ideals in government.Obama's campaign in 2008 shows the power of the social media. He used youtube as a means of free advertising, and had gained thousands of views for each video.

Another issue with social media is it's large audience. If a post is made by a liberal, it will be seen by not a few, not a 100, but by thousands, and whoever wants to see it can see it because it's on the internet. Accoriding the the Pew Research Center, 68% of those on social media have liked or promoted in some way a political post.  Regardless of whether the information is right or wrong, the influencing of the public opinion is one of the challenges of democracy, and is evident in social media in the U.S.

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/politics-fact-sheet/
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/19/more-americans-are-using-social-media-to-connect-with-politicians/

Columbine Shooting and its effects

Columbine High School, April 20, 1999, 13 students were killed and 20 injured by 2 teenage shooters. Eye witnesses described the event as horrific, depicting the shooters as even having fun as they shot up the school. Following up the event, schools ramped up their securities greatly. Schools have been employing "zero tolerance" philosophies. A 10th-grader at Surry County High School in Virginia was removed from school from dying his hair blue with a fear of him being an anti-social. A 7 year old is suspended for having a nail clipper, fearing it could be used as a knife. Here clearly our freedoms have been limited. We can't even dye our hair blue. But why has this happened? Just because a few kids abused the rights of having guns? This is a very clear example of freedom with responsibility. One cannot exist without the other. Do we want a society where we have no freedom like in dictatorships, or do we want a society where kids roam free with pistols and grenades and shoot innocent people? Neither works, and a balance must be acheived, but as always, a balance is difficult. This event has sparked major issues on gun control, allowing freedom, or cutting it off? We as U.S citizens have the right to bear arms,but at the same time, no one wants the horrific events at columbine to happen again. Sophomore Bryon Kirland said, "There was a girl crouched beneath a desk, and the guy came over and said, 'Peekaboo!' and shot her in the neck." Do we want this to happen to us? No, but we can not blindly take away guns to prevent this. Somewhere in the mess of the debate, lies a compromise that will protect us, but won't take away our rights such as kicking us from school for dying our hair blue. But as always, the freedom is only kept if the people uphold the responsibility. Even if we have a perfect law, what happens if a student decides to disobey the rules and goes shoot a school? What is preventing him from doing that? No law can prevent that from happening. Only chains bolting him to a wall can prevent that. That's why, only if these massacres stop, we can live with our freedoms, otherwise, these freedoms will be restricted as they have been in order to protect the safety of the people. No student wants to see their best friend dead with a bullet in their head.

Freedom and Responsibility

This picture represents freedom. Students at rock bridge have the freedom to come to the music room at anytime during the day to practice

This picture represents responsibility.  Students who have advisory or AUT have to be responsible with their time and get their work done, such as those students in the library

This picture represents freedom. This student is in advisory, and has the freedom to do as he wishes, in this case reading the school newspaper in the North Commons

This picture represents freedom. Not only do students have the freedom of participating in sports, they have the freedom to choose whatever sport they wish. On top of that, if they can start a club with a sport that the school doesn't have.

This picture represents freedom. This is a picture of a market, where the shoppers have the freedom of choosing whatever goods they wish

 This picture represents freedom. We as americans have the freedom of speech along with many other freedoms

This picture represents responsibility. As a student, the child has the responsibility of doing all his homework before  it is due

This picture represents responsibility. As citizens of a country, we have the right to vote, but we must also be responsible and participate in our government

This picture represents responsibility. this picture shows the causes of global warming. As people on the earth, we must be responsible to preserve the earth

This picture represents responsibility. Students must be responsible with their money and their health with the vending available at the school

What does freedom with responsibility mean to you?

To me, freedom with responsibility means that freedom can be easily misused, and therefore requires some extent of control. With more freedom, one has more opportunity to do things, and these things may be harmful. Because of this, one has to be responsible and use their freedom to do things that are acceptable. For example, as US citizens, we are given the right to bear arms. We could use that right responsibly, and use it for self protection, but we could also just as easily use them to harm others. Because of this increased leeway, we must control ourselves and be responsible enough to use this freedom wisely. Simply put, with many more opportunities, one must make sure these opportunities aren't abused.

"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry is own weight, this is a frightening prospect." -  Eleanor Roosevelt

 

This quote really helps enforce the concept of freedom with responsibility. As Eleanor Roosevelt states, one must be able to carry their own 'weight'. Freedom directly correlates with power. Power is a much more comprehensible force, one that can be easily used wisely or poorly. So with freedom, one attains power, and the individual must be capable of carrying the 'weight' of the responsibility.

"The first way of looking at this is to just look at it as a gateway to do whatever one feels like and not be responsible with their life. However, the second way of looking at this is to use it as a gateway to having more freedom, yet also be responsible, not just with education, but with life in general." - George Frey

George really helps put the idea into perspective. He breaks it down into two possibilities, one of absolutely no control, and one of recognizing responsibility. With these two viewpoints put next to each other, we can really understand why freedom comes with responsibility. Responsibility controls all the bad things that can be done with freedom.