Position Statement Assignment:
| Assignment Author | Zsuzsanna Nagy |
| What is the Title of the Assignment? | The Nazi salute picture that divided an American town |
| The photograph under discussion |  |
| Is this a… | Written Assignment |
| What Course Learning Objective Does the Assignment Satisfy? | Written Communications, Social Reasoning and Ethical Responsibility |
| Assignment description | Position Statement Guidelines for review.
Each year, members of the junior class at Baraboo High School pose on the courthouse steps for parents and other residents. The photograph at issue was taken of about 60 male high school students, many of them making what appears to be a Nazi salute. The photographer was a parent, Pete Gust, whose son is in the picture. Gust said he asked the students to wave goodbye to their parents. The photograph was available for purchase on the photographer’s website, later it was deleted. However, the image went viral. It has been described as offensive, hurtful, hateful and insensitive. Some of the students on the photo argued that it was just a joke. The school district decided not to punish the students for their actions because of their First Amendment rights. Baraboo is a town of 12,000 people 40 miles northwest of Madison, and the seat of Sauk County. The population is 94 percent white, according to the 2010 census. Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/ For this assignment, thoroughly research the incident, the photograph, its criticisms, and its consequences. Argue your position on what you believe an ethical photographer and an ethical student should do when faced with similar circumstances. Reflect on the situation that the photographer was in when he was taking the photo and examine his actions. Consider issues of cultural representation and performance (posing and posturing for the sake of making a photo). Intentionality of the participants is an important question too. What did the students wish to say about themselves by their participation in the photo? How was it interpreted? Did the students and the photographer anticipate the attention? If not, why not? Consider the role that social media and the internet. Reflect on the long-term consequences of this occurrence in the lives of the the students and in the life of the community. How do unintended audiences react to the image? What assumptions would they make about the participants in the photos? For example, what would a corresponding Israeli high school student make of the image and the people in it? Would he/she see it as a joke or something more revealing about American culture? Is the image evidence of current social climate? Why this image now? Finally, who is the author of the photo? Did all the participants share in the authorship by their cooperation in the gesture? Did social pressure play a role? |
| Written Communications | Use of credible and relevant sources, Use of language that conveys meaning clearly |
| Social Reasoning and Ethical Responsibility | Ethical self-awareness, Social and ethical issue recognition |
| Use of credible and relevant sources | Background research is important to understand the incident. Use high-quality, credible, relevant sources to develop ideas. Note that evaluating internet sources can be challenging.
Do not plagiarize, instead paraphrase the author’s point and add a citation. Ensure accuracy. This assignment asks you to form an opinion about the ethics of this situation, however to make that decision you should thoroughly understand the situation and look at the photo in question. |
| Use of language that conveys meaning clearly | Writing clearly and concisely means choosing your words deliberately, constructing your sentences carefully, and using grammar properly. By writing clearly and concisely, you will get straight to your point in a way your audience can easily comprehend. In order to succeed in your communication task, you need to keep your audience’s attention.
Choose words that most clearly convey your opinion. Eliminate unnecessary phrases. Use clear and straightforward language. Shorten wordy phrases. Replace vague words with specific ones. Write in active voice (Active voice: Gary threw the ball. Passive voice: The ball was thrown by Gary.) Pay attention to sentence length. Use short sentences to emphasize a point, use longer sentences to connect ideas. Revise, revise, revise. |
| Ethical self awareness | Examine whether the photographer acted ethically, and what you believe an ethical photographer should do when faced with similar circumstances. To answer this question you can put yourself in the photographer’s shoes and speculate on what you would do as a professional photographer under similar conditions. Address the professional and personal dilemmas he faced and why he faced them. |
| Social and ethical issue recognition | Identify and be clear about all ethical issues (societal, individual, professional) in the given situation. Have an open mind. You cannot search for facts if you have already made up your mind. It is often difficult to resolve ethical dilemmas but that is not a reason to give up trying to understand what the right thing is to do. Remember, an ethical issue is often perceived differently by those involved. Ethics is composed of various moral theories and values which may differ from one society to the next and often varies even within a given society or group. In addition, people of the same cultural background and with the same worldview might perceive a problem differently depending on their proximity and involvement in the situation. |
| Website/URL for additional material you wish students to review for the assignment | http://inamerica.blogs.cnn. |
| Additional material decription | Read about this incident at PSU from 2012: Penn State students denigrate Mexicans in party photo. |