5 pages paper 062
I don’t know how to handle this English question and need guidance.
Instructions (please read carefully):
• Below is the prompt. The idea here is that you would really be able to hone in on a focused discussion, rather than writing about five different things more superficially.
• Your paper should incorporate ideas and quotes from Professor Scheer’s book, They Know Everything About You, as well as concepts from our assigned podcasts, class discussion, and speakers. If sources other than the ones assigned or discussed in class are helpful, you may use them.
• The paper should be 1,000 – 1,500 words, double spaced.
• The paper is due May 11 via email.
Prompt:
Please consider whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our concept of the individual and society. More specifically, what are the roles of the state, the individual, and the media in these current times? Do you think there will be changes in surveillance and privacy due to this pandemic, and if so, what might happen to your data and how will it be used?
• As for general advice for the final essay, the main thing is to present a coherent and original argument that sufficiently addresses the prompt you choose. Please make sure toprovide concrete examples with enough depth to show that you’ve spent some time with these questions.
• Please include a works cited page with proper in-text citations. The book, the podcasts, and other outside sources should be properly cited.
• As for the question, it obviously relates most directly to Professor Scheer’s book, so it would be well-advised to refer to it extensively in constructing your argument. Consider the question: what are some of the historical precedents presented in the book that might inform our understanding of the present?
Book Chapters:
Chapter 1-4 and 7 should be extensively related and cited to the prompt.
Podcasts & Articles:
1. https://scheerpost.com/2020/04/10/coronavirus-has-… (podcast)
2. https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/scheer–intelligence/governments-using-coronavirus-mass-surveillance (podcast)
• These two podcasts above are our professor’s main idea about the pandemic and our nation that he discussed in class. So it is very important to stick with the viewpoints in these podcasts.)
3. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-great-con-of… (transcript of the podcast, it’s about American wars, and American “faux” patriotism.)
4. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nick-goldberg-on… (transcript. It’s about the role of media and journalism in the society.)
• Some important quotes from the above podcast (so that you don’t have to read it all)
• Robert Scheer: … There were a number of other very important stories; the paper won the Pulitzer for exposing corruption in one of the communities, government corruption and so forth. So, yes. OK, let’s stipulate that under really adverse circumstances, with declining circulation, cuts in funding and so forth, a really brave band of journalists, quite often younger journalists coming into it, did terrific reporting. And there is something about the ethics of journalism and the ethos of journalism that gets people to do great stories, whether they’re working for small, little throwaway newspapers, or alternative newspapers, or big newspapers. You know, getting the story, serving the community, you know, drives journalism under all sorts of adverse circumstances. I’ll stipulate that, and I think the LA Times and you, Nick Goldberg, deserve credit. I should mention, by the way, that one of the gutsier things you did is you wrote a series of editorials that maybe the Tribune Company wasn’t happy with, I don’t know…
• Nick Goldberg: … Why is journalism, and newspapers in particular, so important. And the answer is that institutions hide things. They protect themselves. Their natural reaction is to cover up. So you have this gynecologist who is mistreating women, as you say, for decades. And there are, it’s not like there were no complaints; there were complaints, and the complaints started to work their way up the, up through the system, and somewhere along the way, they get stopped, they get squelched by someone who would rather protect the institution than protect the people who are being harmed. And that is why, you know, complaints just got ignored and ignored, and finally, complaints made it to the newspaper. And this is what newspapers do at their best. They bring things to light that are otherwise lost in the shadows and hidden, and where there is no other mechanism for it to come through. So I’m not sure exactly how the story of the gynecologist got to the LA Times; it was a tip of some sort. But someone recognized it as potentially true, as potentially scary and bad, and someone spent a tremendous amount of time–not someone, many reporters were devoted to this, to spend an awful lot of time proving these things, going back, finding women who had been mistreated. And when we put this one Page One, it rocked the university. And as we said before, it ultimately led to the end of the administration of President Nakias here. So, you know, I just think that’s something that newspapers ought to be proud of, and that outsiders ought to realize, this is why we can’t allow investigative reporting to disappear. This is why we can’t allow local newspapers to stop covering their local communities. I mean, we talked about foreign reporters, and that’s true, too; you need people covering Jerusalem. But you also need people covering LA City Hall, and LA County Board of Supervisors, and USC, and UCLA. The community needs to be covered.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/director-laura-p… (transcript, it’s about WikiLeaks, government surveillance, whistleblowers, etc.)
https://apnews.com/dffb2fa43d0c5fddc4508f2558603e6…(article, titled “Dismantling Democracy? Virus Used As Excuse To Quell Dissent.”)
https://apnews.com/6cdff7b2c50742839d6db822069fabc…(article, titled “Coronavirus fuels attacks against Asian Americans”)
5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/f… (article. It’s about government surveillance, FBI intrusion to privacy, and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.)
Additional sources:
7. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/america-keeps-ge… (transcript. It’s about U.S.-China link, U.S.-China relationship)
8. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-trump-admin… (article. It’s about Chinese talents in the U.S., students returning to China instead of staying in the U.S.)
For the writer: Podcasts and articles that shoud be used are added in the instruction. They are all online sources. Chapters 1-4 and 7 should be incorporated, too. The book summary document is not must-read. It’s just for your convenience to find information.
I’ve included tips in the instruction. I wrote down about what each article/podcast is about so that you can get the concept you want faster. I also copied several important quotes for some articles, then you do not have to read it all.
Thank you very much!
