Work Plan: History of a Public Controversy, Vaccine Mandates

TED Talk Work Day Activity Summary

Duties of each member:

• Reba – park ranger, research history of controversy, film/edit first segment
• Divyesh – goalkeeper, research argument for vaccine mandates, film/edit third segment
• Rachael – record keeper, research argument against vaccine mandates, film/edit second segment, put all segments together for final video

Timeline:

• Over Thanksgiving break, continue researching, finalize the script, and begin editing individual segments. 
• Have individual video segments completed by Friday, December 2. 
• Have segments of video combined by Sunday, December 4 to submit to peer review discussion. 
• Have final drafts of individual segments finished by Wednesday, December 7.
• Submit final video on Friday, December 9. 

Day 1:

Our group discussed many topics, including affirmative action, vaccine mandates, artificial intelligence, death penalty, minimum wage, gun control, and animal rights. 

We decided on vaccine mandates.

Day 2:

We decided to divide up the work equally, with each person researching one topic and creating a segment on that topic. We researched our topics and discussed the information we learned together. We talked about ways to make sure that our video was unified, since that might be difficult with three people editing three different sections. 

We also identified the most important parts of our research:

• Vaccine mandate definition – a requirement that states you have to be vaccinated in order to do certain things like working, traveling, and attending school 
• History of vaccine mandates
  • First mandate started in the 1850s in Michigan
  • 1990s: Childhood vaccination initiative
  • Today, nearly all states have laws pertaining to children up to 12th grade that require students to have certain vaccines in order to attend school
• Arguments against vaccine mandates: 
  • Religious beliefs
  • Concerns about safety
  • Lack of information
  • Limits personal freedom 
• Arguments for vaccine mandates: 
  • The science shows that vaccines are effective in preventing diseases.
  • Autism isn’t brought on by vaccines.
  • Vaccines save money.
  • Vaccine mandates do not infringe on rights

Day 3:

We each did more in-depth research in the time between days two and three, and then we discussed our research when we met on day three. We decided how to organize the video, including the types of pictures and videos we should include. We began writing our script and gave each other feedback on the information and visuals that we each planned to include. 

Framing the issue

Vaccine mandates are a public controversy because people have differing opinions on if mandates are ethical or not. While some people believe that it is one’s role to get vaccinated for the good of the entire community, some believe that vaccine mandates infringe on personal rights and prevent people from making their own decisions for their health. People against vaccine mandates also emphasize that, if a government pushes for vaccine mandates, then there might not be anything stopping them from pushing more mandates and stripping away more rights in the future. 

We will use charts, statistics, and medical research to show how effective vaccines might be for those who are strong proponents of them. We can have information on their side effects and how they might affect health for those concerned about side effects. 

Framing questions:

1. Where do we draw the line between infringing on rights and protecting the community?
2. Is it the government’s responsibility to overlook the community’s health or to protect fundamental rights?
3. Should medical professionals be allowed to have a say on pushing for vaccine mandates?
4. Are medical centers ultimately responsible for possible side effects and health issues resulting from vaccines?
5. How could enforcing vaccines change the way society views personal freedoms in the future?
6. How much power should schools and universities have when it comes to deciding whether or not to have immunization mandates for students?

Topic: Impact of AIDS on Public Opinion of LGBTQ Rights

Thesis statement: Following the 1980s, a swift transformation in American public opinion toward homosexuality was induced by the increase in activism and subsequent visibility of the gay community as a result of the outbreak of AIDS.

• Intro
  • People with AIDS, especially LGBTQ individuals, were isolated and shamed by the American public, yet the condition acted as a catalyst for the shift toward the acceptance of the gay community following the 1980s. This paradox leaves us with a lingering question: how can the very disease that caused an increase in the stigmatization of LGBTQ individuals simultaneously influence the public’s greater acceptance of the community?
• Body
  • Main idea: The AIDS epidemic influenced an increase in gay rights activism, resulting in greater visibility of the LGBTQ community to the American public.
    • Large-scale protests were successful in gaining national attention
      • Ex: National March on Washington
    • Sparked dialogue about gay rights among those who previously thought very little about LGBTQ issues 
    • New representation of the gay community in news outlets began the process of normalizing the existence of LGBTQ people and discussion of gay rights issues
  • Main idea: This increased visibility of the gay community caused a surge in the number of LGBTQ individuals openly expressing their sexualities.
    • As media outlets began to report on the hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ individuals that showed up to protests like the National March on Washington, Americans began to realize that homosexuality was not as uncommon as they had once believed. 
    • This realization coupled with the normalization of discussions about homosexuality created an atmosphere in which members of the LGBTQ community felt more comfortable coming out than they had in the past, leading to greater numbers of openly-gay individuals in the United States. 
    • The increase in LGBTQ people coming out led to a greater presence of openly-gay individuals in the lives of heterosexual Americans. 
  • Main idea: The surge in the number of openly-gay individuals, which promoted connections between heterosexual and openly-gay Americans, caused the change in public opinion in the United States toward LGBTQ acceptance.
    • The increasing number of interactions between straight and openly-gay Americans, whether in the workplace, on the street, or at the dinner table, reduced the stigma surrounding homosexuality. 
      • Critic Samantha Schmidt explains, “The more connections Americans made with gay or lesbian people, the more positive their attitudes toward them became – a trend social scientists call ‘the contact hypothesis.’” 
    • As their own family members, friends, and acquaintances started to openly express their sexualities, straight Americans began to define members of the LGBTQ community by more than just their sexuality
• Conclusion
  • Concluding remark

Slides:

#1: 

#2: Image from the National March on Washington

#3: Newspaper clips

#4: Graph