“What we are seeing is death by a thousand cuts.” -Maria Ressa In 2013, the Philippines became a trial-run for Facebook’s “Free Facebook” campaign, an effort to subsidize internet access for smartphone users. The campaign was heralded as a success; nearly 69 million Filipinos use Facebook today, compared to 29 million in 2012. Yet, as …
Continue reading “If Information Created Democracy, Can Misinformation Destroy It?”
Growing up in a small town in Oregon, I had little interaction with the military. Oregon has few active-duty military bases, most of which were several hours away. My first experience even really seeing members of the Armed Forces was on a trip to Portland to get ice cream (when you come from a small …
Continue reading “The Civilian-Military Divide And Why You Should Care”
During Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony in front of Congress at the height of the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, senators from both sides of the aisle asked the following questions: “How do you sustain a business model in which users don’t pay for your service?” “Is Twitter the same as what you do?” “If I’m emailing …
The 2020 election was nothing short of unprecendented. For our final exam, we were given three hours to respond to one prompt to synthesize what we have learned throughout the class: “explain why the 2020 election turned out as it did.” What a complicated question to answer! As is my typical fashion, my response to …
As anticipated, election “day” this year was not a day at all– it was five. After waiting for what felt like an eternity to many Americans, most major media outlets finally declared the projected winner of the 2020 election on Saturday: Joe Biden. Of course, Donald Trump has not accepted the results of the election …
The election is TODAY, and it is hard to believe that this block is going by so quickly! Last week (week 2), our class focused on the 2016 election and turnout, building upon the framework of week 1 to apply identity-based politics to the outcome of the 2016 election. Specifically, we read the book Identity …
Continue reading “Election Day! (Identities, Voter Suppression, and Court Rulings–oh my).”
Hello! My name is Andra Metcalfe and I am the student blogger for a class I am taking that focuses on something already at the forefront of most people’s minds this block: elections! The class is being taught by the wonderful Dana Wittmer Wolfe! The goal of this class is to provide a political science …
Continue reading “Political Decisions and the Power of Identity”
It’s already second Wednesday! Every block I say, “Wow this block is going by so fast!” and then I forget just how fast it went by, and then I say the exact same thing the next block. Consistency is key! Last week I was in a state of distress over writing my paper, but I …
I am beginning this blog at 10:57 p.m. because I have a paper due tomorrow at 5:00 which, despite having all day, I have not begun. At least, I tell myself, this particular form of procrastination is productive. We learned this week about power in US politics; what is it, who has it, and who …
“Oh yeah, I’ll be there. But, what are we going to do?” I asked David Hendrickson, my 4-year academic adviser, sometime during 7th block as we wrapped up a meeting spent knee deep in deciphering a coherent direction to take my big senior tutorial paper. “To be honest, I’m not sure I want to spend …
Continue reading “Smiling Through The Apocalypse: The Beginning of the End (Times)”
