Second WW2 Introductions

Power and privilege

1.     How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/opinion/thanksgiving-refugees-immigrants-dad.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion-columnists

     The topic of immigrants within the United States is a controversial subject which is seen through a variety of perspectives. Such greatly depends on an individual’s relation to the topic and the extent to which their ideology agrees with it. There as, the opinion column titled “No Money. No English. But America Welcomed a Young Foreigner”speaks upon the immigration journey of his father, who immigrated to the United States in 1952. The author’s view on immigration is subjective as having close relations to the subject, therefore giving their opinion and addressing the topic through diction indicating bias towards accepting foreigners. However through the text, the author comments on the complexity of the subject, which creates an uneasy and even contradicting atmosphere at times. The author understands the hardships and intentions of immigrants, which favors the specific social group throughout the text. Therefore, bias through source control and tone is evident as the author criticizes the current United States approach with profiling immigrants and their handling. The relation and further connection an author has on a subject is a determining factor on how mentioned social groups are to be presented throughout a text. 

2.     Which social groups are marginalized, excluded or silenced within the text?

https://www.foxnews.com/world/american-missionary-wrote-god-i-dont-want-to-die-before-being-killed-by-remote-tribe-on-indian-island

     The role of a journalist is to provide a source of news, which is often tailored to the audience that consumes it. Altogether, journalists should have the moral obligation to cover current happenings in a minimally biased manner, in order to spread news of validity. However, such is hardly the case, primarily due to the ideologies which author’s carry. Such can be exampled from the news article titled “American missionary wrote 'God, I don't want to die' before being killed by remote tribe”,published by FoxNews. Given the strongly conservative biased nature of the source, FoxNews, there is preliminary bias altogether. However, the text centralizes around a missionary man’s death incident, which was a result of a remote tribe’s action. The remote tribe and their indigenous culture are silenced throughout the text, by highlighting the life of the man serving his missionary trip. Therefore, the text favors the subject of the text, an American Citizen, which altogether limits the whole truth of the incident. Through included bias, consumers often receive a partial truth on topics, which further drives communal bias and disenables a holistic perspective on current events.

Written Task 2- Introductions

How could the text be read and interpreted differently by two different readers?

      This news article, titled “For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside of Marriage” was written in 2012 and published in the New York Times. Overarchingly the article covers the increase in non-martial births within the United States, however with general negative connotations on the societal occurrence. Consequently, the diction of the text hints towards a conservative ideology, with such a group inhibiting traditional lifestyles; children being raised only under a marriage. Such is further proved through the author’s incorporation of two negative anecdotes, as to reflect the American single mother demographic as a whole. Therefore, bias is relevant throughout the text, however exampled through selection and omission. Moreover, the negative atmosphere created through the manipulation of the idiom “meanwhile, children happen”indicates that non-martial children are seen as illegitimate. However, as the New York Timesis slightly liberally bias, the text can be widely interpreted. Therefore, given a liberal reader, the text can be rather misinterpreted. Such as, it may be difficult to understand the underlying topics as presented through various forms of bias, which the liberalist does not value. Despite the need to provide news in a monotone manner, it is inevitable to reflect personal ideologies when conveying topics. Therefore, topics may have several connotations regarding personal perspective, leading to overall misunderstanding of today’s happenings. 

If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ?

     Given that the contents of the news article centralize around modern American demographic patterns, it is primary that changing circumstances would affect the text. The news article expresses the increase in non-martial births since 2009, which is a relevantly recent occurrence. However, the authors hinted conservative ideology suggests a reality which was traditionally relevant. Therefore, the overall diction of the text would be similarly negative as written in a past time period of popular conservative beliefs. Similarly, if the text would to be written in a future time period, then the contents may be more liberal as such a demographic change would to become more prominent. The contents of the news article reflect the current state of America, however through the ideologic lens of the author. Language as well plays an important part as being a part of the authors cultural identity. Moreover, the author is influenced by factors such as audience, therefore with changing circumstances comes changing contents of the text.