EOTO Peer Presentations

 I always knew carrier pigeons were a thing. However, I didn't realize how prominent asset they were during War. A classmate of mine gave a presentation of the history of carrier pigeons, and I learned a tremendous amount that I have never even thought was possible. They used these birds to transmit messages back and fourth to homelands from war with updates. Since carrier pigeons were used so frequently during these times, it was common to shoot them down when seen to try and prevent messages from being sent. Pigeons were even transported in tanks with small port holes in the sides for them to be released from. 

The Progressive Era

 Being a military child, it feels like my family’s topic of conversation is usually about what’s going on overseas, and wars that the U.S is involved in. My father, deployed for majority of my childhood served 29 years in service and was present on many combat tours including Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. When everything recently happened in Afghanistan, my father was actually living in Kabul. Thankfully he was able to get out safely however, listening in on his conversations were like listening to a nightmare. The things and the people that were left behind. I’ve heard of websites like ANTIWAR (where I actually found an article on how the Pentagon has no idea how much military equipment was left behind in Afghanistan) and The American Conservative, however I’ve never stopped and taken time to read through them until now. Truthfully while my dad was deployed, my mom and I found it hard to even watch the news in case there was going to be something that would worry us and make us anxious. I think we have to seek out obscure websites in order to hear strong antiwar voices because the government doesn’t want us to know what’s going on and start an up rise. They know we do not want war, and they don’t want us to see the stuff they are deciding or the things some people are getting away with. One of the articles that was on ANTIWAR that interested me was “Air Force, FBI Raid Nevada Homes in Probe of Area 51 Website". A man was operating a website with top-secret knowledge on Area 51. This article is on here because the government doesn’t want us to see that someone has knowledge and was trying to share it with the rest of the world. They don’t want us to be upset, so they try to hide it. News channels only have the information that their journalists can gather up. Most people don’t want to be sad or upset after they watch the television, so companies are more censored to these topics that are on these sites.   

The Printing Press

 According to History, Johannes Gutenberg is credited to inventing the printing press around 1436, although he was far from the first to automate the book-printing process. Gutenberg’s adaptation, which was a screw-type wine press that squeezed down evenly on the inked metal type, was the key to unlocking the modern age. With this newfound ability to inexpensively mass-produce books on every imaginable topic, revolutionary ideas and priceless ancient knowledge were placed in the hands of every literate European, whose numbers doubled every century. The printing press helped pull Europe out of the Middle Ages and accelerate human progress through Global News Networking being launched, powering the scientific revolution, and allowing voices to be heard. German religious reformer, Martin Luther has a famous quote that sums up the role of the printing press in the Protestant Reformation: “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the greatest one”. Known for nailing his “95 Theses” to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. This document contained a list of everything he thought was corrupt about the Roman Catholic Church.

 Thanks to the printing press, Luther’s documents 

were being printed in London as quickly as 17 days later. English Philosopher Francis Bacon who’s credited with developing the scientific method, wrote in 1620 that the three inventions that forever changed the world were gunpowder, the nautical compass and the printing press. Elizabeth Einstein wrote a book in 1980’s about the impact of the printing press, expressing that it’s biggest gift to science wasn’t the speed at which ideas could spread, but the accuracy with which the original data was copied. Before the Printing Press, scribes were in high demand. Bookmakers would employ dozens of trained artisans to painstakingly hand-copy illuminate manuscripts. By the late 15th century, the printing press had put this unique skill set out of business. This led to the idea that machines were “stealing jobs” from workers. However, there was now a huge demand for print material that spawned the creation of an entirely new industry of printers, brick-and-mortar booksellers and enterprising street peddlers. 

Which expressions mean the most to me and why

 

Of the eight values of free expression, I think the participation in self-government and promoting innovation resonate with me the most. I think it is extremely important for everyone to be well informed and involved in politics and what is going on within our government. As a young adult, we are the future and it effects our day to day lives whether we think about it or not. In order to continue growing as a society it is important that our younger generations are educated on the problems we face to allow further growth. With that being said, promoting innovation allows for citizens to be more active in fulfilling themselves in many diverse ways. Personally, diversity is important in every community because it allows for knowledge and culture to be shared throughout all people. Growing up a military child, one of the things I am actually most thankful for is having the opportunity to move around as a kid and picking up different customs from all around the world. Free speech allows for a community to be more energized, creative and overall more involved. These two expressions are very compatible, and I see both in action today. There are more and more younger kids and adults becoming proactive in elections, supporting new ideas, and even running for office. With just these two together the people get the opportunity to speak and be heard. 

History of the Supreme Court

     To be completely honest, as a 20 year old new voter who aspires to one day become a lawyer I am not competent in the Supreme Court as much as I should be. I am actually currently taking my first ever American Politics class at the same time as this Media Law & Literacy course, so I have already accumulated more knowledge within the past couple of weeks. This article on the Supreme Court taught me the first supreme court was composed of six justices, fluctuating until 1869, when Congress set the number of seats to nine, where it has remained until today. Something that stood out to me is the Supreme Court as of today, has held a wealth of important cases, which have had lasting impacts on our nation for better or worse.  I think the most important take-away about the Supreme Court is that it has the ultimate jurisdiction over all laws within the US and is responsible for assessing the constitutionality of those laws. Because of checks and balances, the court has the ability to check the actions of the other two branches- the Executive and the Legislative to make sure neither is abusing their power. The most surprising thing that I learned from this article is that when the first Supreme Court was constructed, Justices were nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed or denied by the Senate. The first Court had Robert Harrison who actually declined to serve and was replaced by James Iredell. Another thing that came as new information to me is that as of June 2022, 115 Justices have served on the Supreme Court. 

My top 5 sources for news and information

    When trying to find out what's going on around the world, I typically go on Apple News for the latest stories. I can access this from my phone and computer, which is extremely useful as a college student who is constantly on the go. This New's source also provides me with notifications when stories come out so I can be on top of what is going on. This is one of my more reliable sources, compared to the other platforms I receive information on. If I am able to sit down and have spare time to read through news articles, my go to source is usually CNN. This cite is very user friendly and easy to access however it is listed as an entertainment company (not a news source) likewise with fox; so you must be careful and fact check all information you get, which is a process anyone should do. It is important to not just trust the information given to you but as an educated voter in society, really look into the source and background of the information you are allowing yourself to read and receive. They provide me with the top stories from all around the world as well as videos of interviews, live updates, and more. One thing this particular cite is also useful for is information and updates on elections. 

  The third platform I usually go on for news and information would probably be Instagram. Crazy, I receive my info from this social media platform, I know. However Instagram shows me what happened and then I get to read everyone else's version of the story or their opinions on what is going on. Instagram and it's users show me the unreleased information that professional news platforms can't share. Anyone is allowed to post on here, so it is then up to me to sort through the biased and sometimes false information. The two other sources I use for my news and information would be Snapchat and TikTok. Again, neither one an actual news platform, but both a black hole of information and news on whats going on around the world. The other day I woke up and the first thing I did was open snapchat. Come to find one of the rappers I used to listen to had died. When I was on Tik Tok that same day my feed was filled with actual videos of the shooting, where some news channels are restricted to posting. Snapchat provides access to actual news articles and updates on all of the celebrity drama. Tik Tok informs me on stuff that is going on, as well as how to do things. Tik Tok and Snapchat tend to be a little behind in the news because it relies on its users to post about the information for it to actually catch the attention of the receiver.