Week 5
WEEK 5 MEDIA BLOG FORUM - First Amendment
I believe the First Amendment is a very important thing to have. It allows you to voice your opinion and be yourself without getting in trouble for it - although some people do abuse it and push the limits. The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This means we have the right to freedom of speech, religion, press, peaceability and petition. We are a very grateful country to have this right as many countries don't have the same privileges.
I found the Documentary RiP! A Remix Manifesto a very interesting watch and it opened my eyes more about the First Amendment. I am a lover of YouTube an am subscribed to a lot of vloggers and active video makers so I am very aware of the music copyright mayhem. Videos often get taken down due to copyrighted music playing in the background and YouTube has made it a goal to keep videos who don't follow the rules strictly off their site. This makes it hard for YouTubers to keep their videos interesting since music is such a huge part of society and everyone loves it, so I can't even imagine how hard it is to edit videos while keeping that in mind. So, I guess I didn't find this law or point in the documentary very alarming or surprising but I have always found it interesting how strict that law is even though I understand it.
In this documentary, Mary Beth Peters stated how hard it was to say if someone could face legal trouble for their actions and it all depended on whose work was initially used and how angry it made the certain creator. I understand this and if whomevers work was used made them angry is when legal action should be taken. Of course, it is hard to predict who would get mad and who would be okay with others using and in a way "promoting" their work so creating one law where no body is allowed to use copyrighted music seems to be the only option.
Although I do understand why copyrights and limits on creativity exist, I don't believe it should be limited. Take YouTube for example. I understand that the music created by the artists is their own and should be given credit but shouldn't be limited to being able to be used in YouTube videos or any other place for that matter. Personally, if I was a musician I would be honored if someone used my work in creating their own content with credit towards me of course but I think it is ridiculous that videos get taken down due to copyrighted music laws. I also believe that limits in the First Amendment rules towards music are needed and should follow the same rules anyone else has to follow in every day life. I don't believe musicians should get anymore leeway than anyone else because in turn this could set a bad example encouraging others to follow the same path. I believe there are many times on multiple social media platforms when individuals, famous or not, take advantage of their freedom of speech using things such as derogatory language for millions to see and even bullying. One incident that was a world wide story was the moment where a famous football star refused to stand for the national anthem.
Article Link
The NFL star who's name is Colin Kaepernick refused to stand. Of course, under the first amendment, this is his right but a large issue arose and backlash was send from all different angles. Personally, I don't think this was the right thing to do on Kaepernick's behalf. He didn't appreciate those in power, such as our president, but that gave him no right to disrespect those who fight/fought for our country. He definitely went too far and disrespected America while choosing to do this. Doing this caused more famous sport players to do the same and turned into a national controversy. The actions should've been taken in response was not hate but definite punishment, which some were known to have. This was abusing their right towards free speech and their First Amendment and set a bad example as well as disrespected our country.
TOPIC 2 - WIKILEAKS
Before watching the TedTalk on WikiLeaks I had no idea what they where... maybe I should be more involved and educated on these kinds of things but I definitely learned a lot. I believe the whole concept with the WikiLeaks has good intentions and is very useful. I believe being able to know significant information as well as the ability to post anonymously is very important in this day in age. I do believe that there are way too many secrets that the government withholds from the public and that needs to be stopped. Of course, things that we genuinely do not need to know should not be released but we are part of this country and deserve to know what is happening within us and personally I do not think government officials are the only ones who should know this "top secret information." WikiLeaks allows us to access this information, which is a blessing but also a curse in some way. Of course, many people want to know what is going on behind closed doors but in some ways I think this could be very dangerous, as some have bad intentions.
With WikiLeaks, many things are misinterpreted and can result in fake news making us believe things that are not true. For example, many scandals that were happening during the Hillary and Trump election. Although not all was fake news, many things were spilled and taken out of context in my opinion.
Even though it is sometimes abused, I believe our current freedom of speech and access to information is the best it can currently be. You cant always accommodate to everyone and not everything will work out to the best of every ones wants. There will always be a problem or a dislike by at least one person with anything the country decides to do. It is very hard to please everyone. I am very honored and blessed to live in the country I do, as is everyone else in America. If a real change was needed it would've been fixed right now. I believe everyone is doing great with what we have and a stance will be taken if thought otherwise.
I believe the First Amendment is a very important thing to have. It allows you to voice your opinion and be yourself without getting in trouble for it - although some people do abuse it and push the limits. The First Amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." This means we have the right to freedom of speech, religion, press, peaceability and petition. We are a very grateful country to have this right as many countries don't have the same privileges.
I found the Documentary RiP! A Remix Manifesto a very interesting watch and it opened my eyes more about the First Amendment. I am a lover of YouTube an am subscribed to a lot of vloggers and active video makers so I am very aware of the music copyright mayhem. Videos often get taken down due to copyrighted music playing in the background and YouTube has made it a goal to keep videos who don't follow the rules strictly off their site. This makes it hard for YouTubers to keep their videos interesting since music is such a huge part of society and everyone loves it, so I can't even imagine how hard it is to edit videos while keeping that in mind. So, I guess I didn't find this law or point in the documentary very alarming or surprising but I have always found it interesting how strict that law is even though I understand it.
In this documentary, Mary Beth Peters stated how hard it was to say if someone could face legal trouble for their actions and it all depended on whose work was initially used and how angry it made the certain creator. I understand this and if whomevers work was used made them angry is when legal action should be taken. Of course, it is hard to predict who would get mad and who would be okay with others using and in a way "promoting" their work so creating one law where no body is allowed to use copyrighted music seems to be the only option.
Although I do understand why copyrights and limits on creativity exist, I don't believe it should be limited. Take YouTube for example. I understand that the music created by the artists is their own and should be given credit but shouldn't be limited to being able to be used in YouTube videos or any other place for that matter. Personally, if I was a musician I would be honored if someone used my work in creating their own content with credit towards me of course but I think it is ridiculous that videos get taken down due to copyrighted music laws. I also believe that limits in the First Amendment rules towards music are needed and should follow the same rules anyone else has to follow in every day life. I don't believe musicians should get anymore leeway than anyone else because in turn this could set a bad example encouraging others to follow the same path. I believe there are many times on multiple social media platforms when individuals, famous or not, take advantage of their freedom of speech using things such as derogatory language for millions to see and even bullying. One incident that was a world wide story was the moment where a famous football star refused to stand for the national anthem.
Article Link
The NFL star who's name is Colin Kaepernick refused to stand. Of course, under the first amendment, this is his right but a large issue arose and backlash was send from all different angles. Personally, I don't think this was the right thing to do on Kaepernick's behalf. He didn't appreciate those in power, such as our president, but that gave him no right to disrespect those who fight/fought for our country. He definitely went too far and disrespected America while choosing to do this. Doing this caused more famous sport players to do the same and turned into a national controversy. The actions should've been taken in response was not hate but definite punishment, which some were known to have. This was abusing their right towards free speech and their First Amendment and set a bad example as well as disrespected our country.
TOPIC 2 - WIKILEAKS
Before watching the TedTalk on WikiLeaks I had no idea what they where... maybe I should be more involved and educated on these kinds of things but I definitely learned a lot. I believe the whole concept with the WikiLeaks has good intentions and is very useful. I believe being able to know significant information as well as the ability to post anonymously is very important in this day in age. I do believe that there are way too many secrets that the government withholds from the public and that needs to be stopped. Of course, things that we genuinely do not need to know should not be released but we are part of this country and deserve to know what is happening within us and personally I do not think government officials are the only ones who should know this "top secret information." WikiLeaks allows us to access this information, which is a blessing but also a curse in some way. Of course, many people want to know what is going on behind closed doors but in some ways I think this could be very dangerous, as some have bad intentions.
With WikiLeaks, many things are misinterpreted and can result in fake news making us believe things that are not true. For example, many scandals that were happening during the Hillary and Trump election. Although not all was fake news, many things were spilled and taken out of context in my opinion.
Even though it is sometimes abused, I believe our current freedom of speech and access to information is the best it can currently be. You cant always accommodate to everyone and not everything will work out to the best of every ones wants. There will always be a problem or a dislike by at least one person with anything the country decides to do. It is very hard to please everyone. I am very honored and blessed to live in the country I do, as is everyone else in America. If a real change was needed it would've been fixed right now. I believe everyone is doing great with what we have and a stance will be taken if thought otherwise.
Comments
Post a Comment