Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Donald Sterling Scandal
As we all know, Donald Sterling has recently been fired from his position with the Clippers with a $2.5 million fine. He has been banned from all NBA events for the rest of his life because he was caught making racist remarks over the phone with his girlfriend.
During the phone call with his girlfriend, who is half black and half Mexican, he stated that he did not want to see black people on her Instagram, at his games, or at his practices. Although nearly 80% of the NBA is made up of black people and majority of his team is also, I believe that firing him was the right thing to do. It does not make sense to have a clear racist as the head of the Clippers franchise, and have several black people working and confiding with him. If he were not fired, I believed people would have boycotted the games and all of the black players would have quit the team. Even when he was fired, many entertainers who were set to perform at a Clippers game quit their gig. For example, R&B singer Tank was featured on Wendy Williams talk show and said, "For me it was simple. I'm a black man completely, and to believe what I believe about black people and how much work we put in for that man, that's a checkout on me. If he doesn't want us in that building, then we don't have to be there. My stand was for everybody minorities period."
No matter whether his girlfriend leaked the tape, or if it was somehow secretly recorded, I do not believe it was wrong to sell it to the media. People like this need to be put out and put to public shame. Sterling may not face any sentencing or probation within his life, but public shame will follow him and his family for the rest of their lives and that is a much worse punishment.
(This video is Tank saying the above quote on The Wendy Williams Show after his performance)
During the phone call with his girlfriend, who is half black and half Mexican, he stated that he did not want to see black people on her Instagram, at his games, or at his practices. Although nearly 80% of the NBA is made up of black people and majority of his team is also, I believe that firing him was the right thing to do. It does not make sense to have a clear racist as the head of the Clippers franchise, and have several black people working and confiding with him. If he were not fired, I believed people would have boycotted the games and all of the black players would have quit the team. Even when he was fired, many entertainers who were set to perform at a Clippers game quit their gig. For example, R&B singer Tank was featured on Wendy Williams talk show and said, "For me it was simple. I'm a black man completely, and to believe what I believe about black people and how much work we put in for that man, that's a checkout on me. If he doesn't want us in that building, then we don't have to be there. My stand was for everybody minorities period."
No matter whether his girlfriend leaked the tape, or if it was somehow secretly recorded, I do not believe it was wrong to sell it to the media. People like this need to be put out and put to public shame. Sterling may not face any sentencing or probation within his life, but public shame will follow him and his family for the rest of their lives and that is a much worse punishment.
(This video is Tank saying the above quote on The Wendy Williams Show after his performance)
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Social Media's Outlook on the Ukraine
Recently, the country of Ukraine has been undergoing tremendous trends in the social media world. If you type the word "Ukraine" into the Twitter search bar, you will results with tweets saying things such as:
After talks with his Russian counterpart, John Kerry said “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine.” http://cnn.it/1fDIlDB
Putin has ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from his country’s border with Ukraine: http://cnn.it/1hu0JTr
Dear Ukraine,
We support you! Pres. Obama will send you a personalized selfie and issue some more red lines soon. He request you followback.
Is there a “cyber war” between Ukraine and Russia? http://oxford.ly/QnSxdR by @UniWestminster reader Dr. Marco Roscini #Ukraine
Update - Reuters: Russian Foreign Minister says Moscow and Washington agree to work with Ukraine's government and people to overcome crisis
All of these tweets arise from what happened in the past and what is happening today. According to BBC News, thousands of protesters took the streets in Nov. 2013 to advertise their hate for the governments sudden change to sign an agreement with the EU. Days later, Russia decides to cut down on the price of gas provided to Ukraine and "aided" them with their bankruptcy. This year at least 77 people died after the EU imposes the government. As of now, the Ukraine's Prime Minister has accused Russia of declaring a war. President Vladimir Putin has denied the accusations and stated that it was a form of self defense. Crimea has also joined forces with Russia in order to undertake the Ukraine.
During all of this, social media has played a key role in informing people about what is going on in the world. With more people checking the news through social media rather than news apps and newspapers, it provides people with live news rather than day old news (which can be a positive affect).
Monday, February 24, 2014
Jamie Casino Commercial
One of the biggest internet sensations from Super Bowl night
was a commercial by Jamie Casino. Just in case you haven’t seen the commercial,
it portrays him as a criminal justice that has turned into a personal injury
after his brother-in-law was killed. He used the death of his brother-in-law to
promote his new image as a media advertisement.
Personally, I feel like his idea was brilliant, but the way
Casino went about it was wrong. I would never use the death of anybody in my
family as a media stunt in order to establish new clients. It is not ethical to
use a person’s death as a media stunt, especially if they have no way of giving
him permission.
However, I do feel like his idea was a good pitch. I can see
that Casino needed something to help promote his name and change his image. He
was trying to turn into an angel from the devil in a matter of two minutes. If
he was brilliant enough to think of this commercial, then I certainly believe
that he is able to think of another media pitch that will put him in the light
better than what his current commercial did.
I am more surprised that his commercial got so many views in
a local community than any other local commercial has ever done. The amount of
people that viewed means that they were interested in his current tactics and lifestyle.
Through the help of his locals, he gained nationwide popularity over night.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Cyber Bullying
The peak of the Internets success has lead to a staggering number of horrible events that it can cause. There are many unfortunate events that stem from the internet such as fraud, fabrication, and falsifying information; but the most popular "trend" among teens seems to be cyber bullying. A horrible situation should never end in suicide due to cyber bullying. Each year, thousands of teenagers lose their life to other people slandering their name and their reputation.
Unfortunately, Jessica Laney of Hudson, Florida committed suicide in 2012 after she was "pushed to the point where she couldn't take it anymore." It all started on ask.fm which is a social media site where people can ask other users anonymous questions which usually become an invasion of privacy situation. Her home life was already a dreadful mess where she said that she lost a relationship with her brother and her father. After many people commented things like "you should kill yourself already" and "nobody cares about you anyway", she decided to hang herself on a cold Sunday night. Laney was 16 and died of a "broken heart" due to absurd comments on social networking sites.
Even though the I believe the government should take legal action in finding out who the anonymous people are, I do know that it may not be the easiest task. I also believe that if the "anonymous cyber bullies" were to be tracked down, they should be sentenced to at least five years in prison.
Even though the I believe the government should take legal action in finding out who the anonymous people are, I do know that it may not be the easiest task. I also believe that if the "anonymous cyber bullies" were to be tracked down, they should be sentenced to at least five years in prison.
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