The Occupy Wall Street Movement began in Zuccotti Park in New York City of September 2011. The movement had tens of thousands people who had participated in this protest, as they marched across New York City protesting for a change. They wanted to protest against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics. Despite the large amounts of participation the protest received, the Occupy Wall Street Movement is an example of one of the many failed social movements around the world. One failure that occurred during this movement was that there was a lack of an agenda and a lack of clear goals. The article states, “The Occupy Wall Street Movement has been criticized for not having a set of clear demands that could be used to prompt formal policy change.” The lack of having an agenda is known for why the movement ended before they achieved any legislative changes. It is important for movements to have a set of goals and demands in order to have a clear purpose as to why they are protesting. It allows for better organization, as well as getting the message out more clearly of what the movements are fighting for.
Another failure from the Occupy Wall Street Movement is that they made a false claim about their slogan, “We are the 99%”. This slogan refers to income inequality between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population in the United States. However, it did not include the voice of the entire 99% population, such as lower class minorities. It was also known for being “overwhelmingly white” and it poorly represented the immigrant population. This made the movement known for showing lack of racial diversity, as well as inclusion. The movement received a lot of criticism for this through news outlets and articles. This failure resulted in people not wanting to be a part of this movement because they did not want to receive the backlash and hate for what the protest was receiving.
“Occupy Wall Street.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Apr. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street#:~:text=The%20Occupy%20Movement%20has%20been,achieving%20any%20specific%20legislative%20changes.
In Hong Kong, people use their cell phones to engage in and organize protests. Protests in Hong Kong took place starting in 2019 to 2020. Protests occurred “in response to the introduction by the Hong Kong government of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill on extradition”. By engaging in these protests, citizens used apps, such as FireChat and Telegram to organize these protests through the communication of these platforms. Information quickly spread and large crowds formed to protest. People also used communication platforms and apps in order to update the people of Hong Kong about the protests to let them know what was going on. Throughout the protests, tear gas was sprayed, and this enabled protesters to warn others through group chat apps, such as WhatsApp and FireChat. This demonstrates the benefits of cell phone usage in protests because people are able to communicate with others and warn them about any weapons that are being used by the police, like the spraying of tear gas. Keeping citizens is important when being involved in protests because it allows them to protect themselves and keep safe if there are deadly weapons involved.
While cell phones can be beneficial to organize protests and update society about what is happening, the use of cell phones can also be dangerous if they’re being used when participating in protests. Government officials and police were able to trace where people were in the protests by identifying their location and messages through their cell phones. An article by Insider mentions that Hong Kong seized over 3,700 phones from the people protesting leading to over 6,000 people being arrested. This shows how using cell phones can be dangerous when being involved in protests because police can identify anyone’s identity causing them to be punished. A phone that is confiscated by police allows them to go through it and search to find any information. The police searching through cell phones can result in anyone being put in jail due to involvement with the protests and for being possible suspects of violation.
https://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-police-seize-cell-phones-protesters-sparking-privacy-concerns-2020-1.
https://www.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/asia/hong-kong-internet-youth-protest/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_2019%E2%80%932020_Hong_Kong_protests#:~:text=The%20founding%20cause%20of%20the,degree%20of%20autonomy%22%20in%20general.
The meme pictured above is a child lawn mowing the yard of the White House and Donald Trump is asking the boy if he could use Twitter account since he has been banned. Trump’s Twitter account has been banned due to violating company rules with his behavior on the app. According to NPR’s podcast, Trump used his twitter account to “announce White House policy, attack rivals and widely disseminate misinformation”. His obsessive time on twitter made so many people frustrated and aggravated. After getting his account suspended, many people felt relieved that they did not have to scroll past Trump’s tweets that caused chaos at the Capitol.
This meme’s purpose is shown to make fun of Trump after his account got suspended, and he could no longer post on it. While this meme is very comedic and has people laughing about it, it also shows what society’s opinions were about Trump’s Twitter usage and how people truly felt about it. Trump asking the little boy cutting his lawn represents how desperate he is to post on Twitter and use it to spread his information. Multiple people sharing this meme with others and retweeting it shows that society agrees with the fact that Trump’s tweets were unnecessary and absurd. Many people felt angry with Trump as he obsessively used his Twitter platform, and they expressed these opinions by engaging with this meme through comedy and humor. Memes can spread very quickly through the amount of retweets and shares it receives, allowing more people to see them and express their opinions about the issue the meme portrays. With this meme becoming viral all over social media platforms, it demonstrates that so many people all agree and have the same excitement and joy over how they felt about Trump being banned from Twitter.
Allyn, Bobby, and Tamara Keith. “Twitter Permanently Suspends Trump, Citing ‘Risk of Further Incitement of Violence’.” NPR, NPR, 8 Jan. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/01/08/954760928/twitter-bans-president-trump-citing-risk-of-further-incitement-of-violence.
In the public sphere, the debates and discourse of the dominant public can overpower other publics and exclude them from these discourses. Counter publics are formed by their conflict with the norms and contexts of their cultural environment. Also, counter publics are created by people in marginalized groups, whose opinions and their side of the debate are not listened to. Counter publics are relevant because they bring up issues and problems that may have been overlooked, ignored, or have been ended by dominant publics. Counter publics want to challenge or counterpower the dominant public in order to have their views and opinions be heard.
An example of a counter public is the Occupy Movement. The Occupy Movement took place on September 17, 2011 at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan. Citizens protested income inequality and corporate corruption. This movement can be known as a counter public because people who feel like their opinions are insignificant or marginalized have come together to share their voices with the world. Furthermore, the Occupy Movement opens up a space for other counter public movements, such as black caucuses, LGBT caucuses, etc. to voice their thoughts that they feel like have not been heard. This was a perfect place for citizens to express their opinions on topics that they feel like have not been heard. The citizens who were involved in this movement felt that their voices were not being heard in American political and economic discourse. This protest allowed people to share their views about different issues to the hundreds of people who encountered this protest.
Habermas defines the public sphere as, “made up of private people gathered together as a public and articulating the needs of society with the state.” His criteria of a public sphere is that citizens can come together to discuss opinions relating to a certain topic of debate, which will eventually form a public opinion. I believe this can be applied to a counter public because they represent a group of people coming together to voice their point of view on a situation that they feel has been ignored or not listened to.
Jürgen Habermas and the Public Sphere, https://www.media-studies.ca/articles/habermas.htm.
“Occupy Wall Street Begins.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 14 Sept. 2021, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/occupy-wall-street-begins-zuccotti-park.
“Public Rhetoric.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 June 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_rhetoric.
The theory of cultivation states that the more we are exposed to the media, the more likely we are able to perceive our social reality as inline with the media. This means that if someone watches television and is exposed to it for a large amount of time, they will hold a view of reality that is closer to television’s depiction of reality. Long-term exposure to media structures how heavy viewers of media perceive the world. George Gerbner, founder of the cultivation theory, discovered that a person who watches violent content and programs on television for a long period of time, will perceive the world to be more violent than it actually is. This can also produce a cognitive effect, where individuals become fearful and aggressive due to the exposure of violent media.
Medical shows on television can portray cultivation. Television shows that illustrate patients with medical issues and illnesses may cultivate unrealistic expectations after a patient is hospitalized for being ill or injured. An example of this is the “Grey’s Anatomy Effect”. Patients come into hospitals with incorrect and false ideas about medical conditions and procedures because of what they’ve seen on medical television shows, such as Grey’s Anatomy. In the television show “Grey’s Anatomy”, people are more likely to die in the show after being hospitalized, which is a false depiction of reality. In the article by Pulmonology Advisor, Dr. Portanova states, “inaccurate TV portrayal of CPR survival rates may misinform patients and caregivers and influence care decisions made during serious illness and at end of life” (par. 5). This means that the more time people are exposed to Grey’s Anatomy for a long period of time, the more they are exposed to false information about medical procedures, which can negatively affect how they expect the outcome of hospital procedures to be.
I strongly think that media can change the way we look at the world. I also think that cultivation is a process that happens more often than we think. We are so attached to our favorite TV shows and our favorite video games that it affects how we perceive the world around us, even through cognitive emotions. I believe everyone could admit they have used information from a TV show and applied it to the real world. Also, a large amount of people could have believed something the characters from a show were saying, even though what they say might not be proven true. Cultivation strongly affects how we view and perceive the world, just by spending a long amount of time engaging with the media.
Haelle, Tara. “The Grey’s Anatomy Effect: When TV Warps Perception, Proactive Communication Is Key.” Pulmonology Advisor, 3 Apr. 2019, http://www.pulmonologyadvisor.com/home/topics/practice-management/the-greys-anatomy-effect-when-tv-warps-perception-proactive-communication-is-key/#:~:text=The%20Grey’s%20Anatomy%20effect%20is,real%2Dlife%20and%20television%20medicine.&text=In%20a%202015%20study%20published,House%2C%20another%20popular%20medical%20drama.