English 2100 x 90: Fall 2020

Category: Blog

Media, Political Polarization and Moral Filters in America

Does the media make politics in the USA seem more tribalist than it really is, and if so would/does this have a noticeable effect on morality in our society?

I’m about 76% sure that this is what I’m going to write my paper about, so it may be subject to change, but I will go ahead and use it in this blog post. I’ve been looking into whether or not the media’s (social media as well as articles and cable TV) portrayal of a massive left/right divide is an accurate reflection of reality. Additionally, I hope to use this to dig deeper into how American politics is a perfect manifestation of how cultural and even evolutionary impressions of morality are formed in variable permutations within society.

This research question comes from some interesting topics of normative morality we’ve been talking about in anthropology, as well as personal questions I’ve developed lately about politics and social media. When I looked up if media polarized politics more than it naturally would be, I actually got a lot of specific results back from studies done by Berkeley and even a book written by Ezra Klein from Vox. I think that I can accommodate these resources with anthropological and psychological studies we’ve been skimming the surface of in Anthro. I also think I have an adequate capacity for remaining objective politically for this sake so my research can be made accordingly.

 

 

Death penalty in the US

I chose to research about the death penalty in the United States. My research question at the moment is if the death penalty should be abolished in the United States. I’m not sure if this question might change or be rephrased better, but for now i’ll be researching about this topic. I want to write about what effect the death penalty has on society and maybe use other countries who don’t use the death penalty as a comparison. I will most likely make the argument that it shouldn’t be abolished because there is a lot of information about it, but i’m still not 100% sure if it might change. I think this is a narrow topic, but i’m wondering if I can narrow it down a little bit more.

Evolution in the music industry

Question: “Do artists even need record labels to become successful anymore?”

I chose the topic of evolution in the music industry because I like listening to music so I thought this topic would be interesting to do research on since it is relevant in my life. I came up with this specific question because it is interesting to see, especially in today’s world, how many artists have blown up out of nowhere without any major help or established entity backing them up. Also, many artists now are doing well without any record label power and there are even artists that do have record label back up and they aren’t doing well commercially. I would provide examples of artists who blew up without any record label help, artists who had no industry help at first but signed deals afterwards and skyrocketed into fame. Also artists that do have record labels but aren’t doing well commercially, and artists that are doing well still and are successful still without record label help to this day. I would gather stats, articles, and websites for my information.

Doubts: Some doubts that I have about my topic/question is if its too broad or too narrow. When I saw the slides that were presented in class, I tried to come up with a question that didn’t fall into those categories. Another doubt that I had is what type of information I’m going to get and the credibility of those sources. I threw some potential information I might get, but I don’t know if thats enough or up to par with what a research question demands. Another doubt is what will I argue. I don’t know if I missed this, and if I did my bad, but will I have to argue for anything? I know we have to do research and come up with an answer to our question, but like can we include pro’s and con’s of each side, then come up with a personal answer? Or does it have to be a factual answer? I’d say thats my biggest doubt/concern. But other than that, I’m actually excited about researching this question/topic.

Climate Change Impact on Coastal Cities

I chose climate change because I think there are many subtopics I can include in my paper such as pollution, weather, health, and more. I want to write about climate change trends over the past decade or so and how it impacts coastal cities and the people who live there. I think factors such as air pollution, abnormal high/low temperatures, and natural disasters have great impact on people’s health too. Even though most people might have some insight in this topic already, I believe that there are new information on climate change that requires further research. 

How are coastal cities affected by climate change, specifically New York? What are the effects of weather changes on child development in coastal cities? 

Eating Disorders in Adolescents

The topic I chose to tackle for the research paper is Eating disorders in Adolescents, specifically how the environment in which one grows up in affects the susceptibility in acquiring one. What role do parents play in preventing eating disorders in the developmental period of their lives? Looking into the correlation between parental influence and eating disorders is important for education on how to prevent them. What long term consequences do eating disorders play in the mental and physical development of children? Does the socio-economic environment a child grows up in influence how prone one is to developing an eating disorder?

A doubt that I have is narrowing down the issue to a specific culture, as many cultures approach weight and appearance differently along with promoting eating disorder culture. Another doubt is having to keep other factors into consideration when writing about eating disorders as it is a multi-faceted issues and while can stem from childhood, but be looked at in multiple lights.

 

The history of Bedford Avenue: What does Brooklyn’s East/West bisector say about the history of the diverse borough?

Will Carley                                                                                                                   10/27/20

English 2100

Professor Phoebe Glick

The history of Bedford Avenue: What does Brooklyn’s East/West bisector say about the history of the diverse borough?

Believe it or not this is not the first instance in which a road or avenue has been highlighted in popular culture, film, media, and research. We see examples such as Eminem speaking to the strife found on 8-mile road in Detroit, Kendrick Lamar illuminating on the challenges of growing up on Compton’s Rosecrans Avenue in his famed album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City. We also have more research-based examples such as Alex Dibney’s 2012 Documentary, Park Avenue: Money, Power and The American Dream, which looks at the social implications of NYC’s romanticized avenue in both the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and in the Bronx, just a few miles north.

While the respective avenues in California, Detroit, and Manhattan all get their 15 minutes of fame, I would also assume that Brooklyn’s elongated roads also have a story to tell. Furthermore, road’s such as Bedford Avenue have already told a partial story, as my lived experiences serve as proof. I can distinctly remember growing up on a block that straddled the border of Prospect Heights and Crown Heights. I can also remember my mother telling me to be exhibit caution when crossing Bedford Avenue from west to east, as the eastern side of Brooklyn’s bisecting avenue was at the time, ridden with poverty, crime, and episodes of violence. In this sense, Brooklyn’s longest continuing avenue, seemed to manifest as the tracks that one grows up on either side of based on their socio-economic position in society.

Furthermore, Crown Heights is not the sole example of Bedford Avenue’s perceived ability to enforce segregation. By venturing a mile north and we see Bedford Avenue, again working to separate a gentrified, and relatively “safe” (although I hate using this word) Clinton Hill, with the predominately black, and historically crime-ridden, Bedford Stuyvesant. By moving out of focus, we can also see that the White/Black divide between Clinton Hill and Bedford Stuyvesant extends much further on an east/west scale. Heading westward, Clinton Hill gradually turns into Fort Green, which thus turns into Downtown Brooklyn, before terminating at Brooklyn Heights, increasing in wealth each step of the way. Heading eastward however, Bedford Stuyvessant turns into Stuyvessant Heights, which turns into Bushwick/Ocean Hill, which eventually turns into East New York, decreasing in wealth each step of the way.

Thinking like an anthropologist, accidents don’t really happen, and especially when it comes to the political geography of a given area. By further researching the implications of Bedford Avenue, we can begin to unearth some deep insights regarding the history of the diverse borough as a whole.

Interestingly enough, Bedford avenue is now the epicenter of gentrification, where white newcomers seek to spatially appropriate neighborhoods that once represented the pride of Black society, Black homeownership, and Black enterprise. Unlike 10-15 years ago, people would die to live within the vicinity of Brooklyn’s bisector, especially in North Brooklyn. Marginally lower rents, cultured neighborhoods, and a stunning array of architectural achievements, invite newcomers to venture east, much like the California Gold Rush invited newcomers to venture west. In this sense, Bedford Avenue, seems to represent more than just a segregated border between White and Black society, as it dually represents the social ailments that come with an increasingly colorblind society.

 

Some Doubts to consider

 

While my real estate inclined brain is almost certain that Bedford Avenue is in fact relevant to the large social issues previously mentioned, I am a bit skeptical as to the extent of the relevancy. While Bed Stuy and Crown Heights are great examples of this east/west socio-economic divide, Bedford Avenue needs to dually tell a story in its southern half. Given that from a real estate perspective, my area of expertise is really North Brooklyn (Think Anywhere above the Southern Border of Prospect Park), I have a lot of research to do in thinking about the implications of neighborhoods such as Sheepshead Bay, Home-crest, and so forth. Further adding to my anguish is the fact that African American populations do not have a large presence in Brooklyn’s southern half. While this might be a unique history within itself, it has no bearing on the implications of Bedford Avenue, thus dampening my argument for a borough wide black/white divide.

Despite my reservations around the Bedford avenue’s southern half, I am optimistic that even if I have to restrict my research to the bisector’s northern reaches, I can still facilitate a meaningful dialogue. Despite the potential for omitting half the borough from my argument, given that the sum-total of the population for all neighborhoods (in North Brooklyn) discussed will probably amount to at least 200,000-300,000 residents, I’m still working with a population that’s 3 times the size of cities like Green Bay Wisconsin. If Bedford Avenue has some sort of impact on all neighborhoods discussed, and on all residents within those neighborhoods, we have a story to tell.

 

 

Research Question

My topic is going to be about the pollution levels in New York City. What are the main causes of the high pollution levels in NYC and how can we, as New Yorkers, help lower these levels? I will focus on mainly the things that human do everyday that we don’t even realize have such an impact on the world. I will also talk about specific companies that are trying to fix these issues, as well as my insight on what we can do to improve this issue. This is one of the issues that affects everyone and not many people realize its impacts. I will also discuss ways that humans are directly impacted by the high pollution levels. I think it is so damaging because it can be caused a million different ways. One of my doubts about this issue is that it is very difficult to improve. In order to solve it every single person will have to be on board with solving the issue, and only then will we see improvement. Pollution is an ongoing problem and we need to find new ways to improve.

Jim Crow

“we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” This statement made by Alexander introduces the specifics as to how the criminal justice system is flawed, and that racism still continues to exist and in a variety of ways. He depicts how the system has changed and that instead of the blatant racism that existed, it has changed into forms of employment and just moving about themselves in society. He later explains how the criminal justice system is flawed and that it unfairly eliminates the possibility that the African American man can be not guilty. This depiction has been made that it is a flaw in the criminal justice system, rather than the racial caste system that it is actually a part of. He also states that the mass incarceration that African American people face is not due to the lack of unemployment or moving up in society, but rather due to the law that prevents African American people from ever escaping this loop hole. Throughout society, they are just denied, through law, to obtain housing and other public benefits, which makes it nearly impossible to become a higher social class than what they originally were. Racism still exists in our society today, and Alexander just explains the variety of ways that they are just unable to escape this hole, due to laws and regulations that are set in place. These laws and regulations are just unfair towards the African Americans as it creates a racial hierarchy and allows for racial injustice in different forms.

Jim Crow

In the introduction to The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, the author wrote “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” Alexander explained that in today’s society it is legal to discriminate against criminals in almost all of the ways that it was legal to discriminate against African Americans in the past. My understanding of this quote is that a racial caste system still exists in the United States, even though the Jim Crow Laws and segregation were outlawed decades ago. Rather than targeting African Americans, this caste system targets criminals. Even though the caste system targets criminals, the majority of the people in our nation are incarcerated. Therefore, it is simply just a redesigned caste system that still targets people of color. 

Alexander uses research to back up this statement, which sets us up to read the rest of her book. One piece of information the author incorporates into her research is that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. It surpasses Russia, China, Iran, and Germany. This demonstrates how overall there are far too many inmates in our nation. Furthermore, she points out that the United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of the apartheid. By providing this piece of information, Alexander shows just how many blacks are incarcerated. She also mentioned that in Washington D.C. it is estimated that three out of four young black men can expect to serve time in prison. This information can be used to explain how in one city, an extremely high percentage of black men go to prison.