Bursting the Filter Bubble
September 17, 2015 121 Comments
BACKGROUND: each SaintsGOV student has created an academic Twitter account and begun following a mix of political reporters, political commentators, political media outlets, political scientists, and elected officials. Students also connect with each other and with me through our class Twitter feed, @AllSaintsGOV. (Click HERE for more details about the initial assignment.)
Our GOAL is to prepare students for responsible citizenship and life-long engagement in the political process. More specifically, we aim to create Twitter feeds as personalized, annotated search engines that connect students to current affairs and political analysis.
YOUR ASSIGNMENT:
- Choose one story from your academic Twitter feed that has captured your attention – re-tweet it.
- Write 1-2 sentences in summary. (Please share a link to the story with your summary.)
- Write 1-2 sentences that explain the story’s connection(s) to our study of government.
- Post your writing as a comment to our blog (See comments section for examples.)
About Dr. Ostroff
21st Century Citizenship 
http://time.com/4045879/china-president-xijinping-students-praise/
To accompany Chinese President Xi Jinping’s weeklong trip across the U.S.,lots of foreign students express their love to Chinese President Xi Jinping. They call him”Xi DADA”, and said that he looks cute and has high reputation. This affects our study because it shows us the responsibility of a president is to protect his country and also need to have cooperation with other countries, it will help other countries’ people to know us and maintain peace.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/iran-nuclear-deal-votes-sustain-veto/index.html
President Obama, with help from senators, has secured the Iran Nuclear Deal. Many republicans have come out arguing with the agreement. This deal has sparked arguments with different parts of the political spectrum.
http://time.com/4042350/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-poll/?xid=tcoshare
This article discusses how Hillary Clinton is leading over Bernie Sanders. Even though I don’t like both of these Democratic candidates, I can understand why Hillary is leading over Bernie. Everyone knows Hillary because she has ran in the past. I personally find Bernie to be old fashioned in his political stance and, that he is focusing on the wrong things.
Katie K.
I dont agree with Ben Carson because what he is saying is controversial. Because Obama states that he is a Christian. I however may not agree with a lot of Obamas decisions, but I also believe that it should not matter what his religious beliefs are because as a country we welcome several different religions.
Jessica R
Huffington Post unveils the promotion from the Pentagon of ‘Lean In’ which is a campaign promote women’s rights in government. The promotion of women’s roles and leadership in government is our country’s way of getting one step closer to total equality between men and women in the United States.
Zack S.
http://2ndamendmentfight.com/7-anti-gun-myths-that-need-to-be-debunked-immediately/
Many politicians would have us believe that guns, some styles more than others, are the sole cause of mass shootings and murders. However, as the link above provides insight to, that is not the case at all. This relates to what we are learning because gun bans, while infringing on our rights, date back to, and may have helped spark the revolution. This becomes especially evident when you consider the musket, which Britain tried to remove from the american public’s hands, was the period equivalent of what is considered a “military-STYLE” firearm by today’s standards.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/254343-gallup-finds-more-see-feds-as-a-threat
The Hill tweeted about a survey done by Gallup where the question was, “Is the U.S. government a threat to our rights?” The results of the survey would suggest that half of the american people, relative to the size of the survey, believe the government is affecting our personal rights. I believe that this article relates to our class because we are currently talking about what our personal rights are and how the government is supposed to be helping us keep them.
Lucas I.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2015/08/30/donald-trump-immigration-plans-similar-to-mass-removal-mexican-americans-in/
In this article, they talked about Donald Trump’s plan in Immigration, he will release a lot of Mexican who lived illegally in America. Also those children who were born in America. They will also be released. Then he will build a big wall at the border to stop the people come from Mexico. I think this is a good plan to stop illegally immigration, but people who already lived here for a long time I think he should keep them. Because they paid their tax, they paid their livings. So I think he should only build the wall to stop people trying to come illegally.
** From Anna S. **
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/18/20-students-at-virginia-high-school-suspended-for-wearing-clothing-displaying/
This article talks about how some students in Virginia were told to remove confederate flags from their clothing and vehicles. I believe what they did is wrong as the confederate flag is offensive to some, but I do recognize that they are standing up for what they believe in. These students do in fact have the right to the 1st Amendment, but they should not do it in an unsatisfactory manner.
** From Mars R. **
Using my twitter feed, the National Journal has tweeted about the House of Representatives have pass OKs the republican bill blocking planned parenthood funds. This tweet relates to our Government class because it is being voiced by the republicans, translating what they want. Also by demonstrating the way to pass bills through the House of Representatives.
http://hill.cm/yFv5FCj
Donald trump turns down questions concerning the President. He ignores a comment from multiple supporters on how Obama is in fact a muslim but the people ar being trained to kill people of his race. This is belongs in the political spectrum due to the fact it deals with the rowdy Donal Trump, running for presidency. It also talks about the president himself, and his views from foriegners in the peoples eyes.
The article I chose mentions the recall of nearly half a million volkswagen cars from the road because of their emissions software malfunction. Obama’s administration staff decided to recall these vehicles because the software was intentionally programmed to avoid smog standards. The system in the vehicles would only turn on official emissions testing, and turn off during normal everyday driving. I think this somewhat connects with our government class, because it invades the freedom we have. By not only driving vehicles that are bad for the environment and that help with the greenhouse effect, but by lying to us about the environmental efficiency of this car.
This New York Times article discusses the recent surge of Donald Trump in comparison to the lagging conventional republican nominees such. The article also points out the recent uneasiness with Hillary Clinton among the democratic voters. This connects to our government class because we have recently discussed why a candidate such as Trump is ahead in so many polls. From what we discussed in class I believe his popularity is due to his confidence.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/09/18/the-typical-male-u-s-worker-earned-less-in-2014-than-in-1973/
In this article, the Wall Street Journal is making us aware of how Male U.S. workers in 1973 made more money than the male in 2014. The article mentions how the typical man with a full-time job in 1973 earned $53,294, measured in 2014 dollars to adjust for inflation. The U.S. economy has fluctuated substantially since 1973, so I believe that the political spectrum has a lot to do with how man income a male get. White collar jobs, I believe fall on the right end of the political spectrum (republican), while blue collar jobs fall on the the left end(democrat). White collar jobs, think get paid more money then blue collar, but although white collar is paid more there have been many advances in society that is why men in 1973 made more money. Life was much more simpler back then,
** From Sophia I **
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/09/18/20-students-at-virginia-high-school-suspended-for-wearing-clothing-displaying/
This news story is about high school students being suspended because they were wearing a Confederate flag on their clothing. One of the students said, “I feel like I should have the right to wear whatever I want, and I’m standing up for this.” This relates to our study of government because they are displaying their opinion publically and are not apologizing for their opinion. The students being suspended from school because they were displaying their freedom of speech and then getting in trouble for doing so goes against our first amendment.
My connection from my twitter feed to the government is the new music video by Lady Gaga called, “till it happens to you.” This is a very serious video about sexual assault to women on college campus. This is a very large issue in this country because one in five girls is sexually assaulted every year.This relates to the government because if this is happening so frequently in the United States it is an issue that is not just a physical issue, not just an emotional, but an life altering experience that will FOREVER change the life of that man or woman that you hurt, demolished, devastated. That is why the government should care.
** From Hannah B **
ABC NEWS POLITICS says “.@HillaryClinton, @BernieSanders call on Trump to denounce comments made about Pres. Obama at his rally last night: ” then shows two screenshots of Hillary Clinton’s tweet and Bernie Sanders. Both candidates talked about how Trump was out of line by calling President Obama muslim and saying he is not American. Both Hillary and Sanders agreed that Trump needs to apologize. I disagree with Hillary and Sanders. Trump doesn’t need to apologize for his opinion, or for what he said. One thing I have learned in government is not to apologize for your opinion, whether it was out of line or not it was how he felt and he doesn’t have a problem stating it.
In the most recent G.O.P. debate, as many would expect, Trump’s bold stances and opinions were the center focus while discussing most issues. Trump had more speaking time than anyone else, as well as gave and received the most attacks of all issues and candidates. This story illuminates which of the candidates was bold enough to attract notice, while also showing who received the most attacks and opposition from their rivals. The article, in addition to the main purpose, shows the different viewpoints within a single political party.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/18/politics/donald-trump-town-hall-policy-specifics-questions/index.html
This tweet caught my attention because it explains how Donald Trump reacted terribly during the debate when he was asked questions. I was watching the debate and couldn’t believe how arrogant Trump was being. He was also mocking the other candidates in ways that I thought were very inappropriate during a debate.
This story connects to what we have been studying in government class because it was about a candidate who is running for president, and we have learned about many candidates in class.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/opinions/spicer-facebook-dislike-button?sr=tw091815facebookdislikebutton1215pvodtopphoto
CNN is reporting about Facebook’s reported new use of the dislike button and the effect it will have. CNN had a skeptical view of the button and doesn’t believe it will be a great idea.
I believe this relates to our government class by showing the responsibility of being citizen by controlling your voice on social media. This also relates to the constitution by having the ability of free speech and the responsibility that is required.
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/254088-court-rules-against-obamacare-birth-control-mandate
Some courts ruled that Christian nonprofit organizations should not have to follow Obama Care’s birth control mandate. They say this because it rests a problem on their religious affairs. This affects our study of Government because it relates to the different political spectrum’s that there are today. Some are conservative and are based on religion and others are not.