October 2010

BluePrint
CAMPUS
Social Media
&Politics
OCTOBER 2010
2 Campus BluePrint | October 2010
BluePrint
CAMPUS
8 ISLAM IN AMERICA
9/11 and liberalism; extremists and the American Muslim; a local mosque
faces challenges; a conversation with UNC’s MSA
16 TEA PARTIES AREN’T FREE

The Koch brothers and the financial engine behind the
reactionary movement; the roots of the xenophobia
19 THE NEW NEWS

Social media changes politics; narrowcasting and its
implications; the history of blogs; Sarah Palin’s Twitter gets
a new follower
PLUS:
6 Voter Registration 22 Narrowcasting our Generation
7 Midterm Elections 24 Blogs, Then and Now
10 Still Daring to DREAM Act? 26 Soft News, Hard News
12 Harnessing N.C. Winds 28 Small Press, Big World
13 The Rise of the Tea Party 29 Sarah Palin’s Twitterverse
17 Education at Home & Abroad 30 India’s “Rule of Law”
acknowledgements
erin becker editor-in-chief sarah bufkin, david gilmore, chelsea phipps managing editors
sally fry creative director tyler tran photo editor
laura arias-gomez, stewart boss, carey hanlin, jordan heide, troy homesley, molly hrudka, aamir latif,
zak mathews, rachel myrick, brandon wiggins, kara williams, kelly yahner staff writers
roy ellis, michael falero, carey hanlin, cassie mcmillan, ainslie perlmutt design staff
anne brenneman, molly hrudka, will lambeth copy editors
roy ellis, suzanne fleishman, caitlin graham, ainslie perlmutt, renee sullender, tyler tran photographers
Campus BluePrint | October 2010 3
FROM THE EDITOR

We’re getting a little freaked out.
An uncooperative minority party is nothing new in

Congress. But whisperings of Quran burning, a new
third party founded ostensibly on fiscal conservatism
but in practice on xenophobia and a strange mix of
epithets labeling a president who fits none of them
are all indicative of something more serious going on.
Somewhere along the line, liberals (“progressives”
polls better, but let’s call a spade a spade) became the
Unpatriotic Ones. Thing is, we like our country. A lot.
Enough to hold it to a higher standard than this.
We are patriotic. Patriotic enough to support taxes,

when they improve our infrastructure and social services and make life better for all citi-
zens.
We are patriotic. Enough to know that religious freedom means religious freedom for
everyone: to practice or not practice, to believe or not believe and to construct houses of
worship within constitutional and legal bounds.
We are patriotic. Enough to cringe at politicians who use their power to their personal
advantage, who favor rhetoric over substance, who pander to the ignorant.
We remember President Obama’s campaign promises, and we see him trying to keep
them in a political climate poisoned by irrational fear and shallow thinking. We’re patriotic
enough to know that this isn’t okay and to tell our legislators so.
In this issue, we examine some of the reasons—political, emotional and financial—for the
current state of ideological discourse. We look in-depth at social and online media’s influ-
ence on the way we talk about politics. We also analyze the disappearance of small press
and the rise of Twitter, blogs and as legitimate news outlets.
Finally, a note on the new Campus BluePrint. Despite our ideological similarities, we
knew all along Tar Heels and Blue Devils just couldn’t play nice. The partnership was crucial
to the magazine’s inception in the spring of 2009, and we had a good run. Eventually, it
was time to part ways. It wasn’t you, Duke; it was me. But really...
Happy reading, everyone!
Erin Becker
Editor-in-Chief
IndexCARD
U.S. Representative David Price
Chapel Hill (919) 967-7924
Durham (919) 688-3004
Washington, D.C. (202) 205-1784
2162 Rayburn Building

Washington, D.C. 20515
http://price.house.gov
U.S. Senator Kay Hagan

Greensboro (336) 333-5311
Washington, D.C. (202) 205-1784
521 Dirksen Senate Office Building

http://hagan.senate.gov
U.S. Senator Richard Burr

Winston-Salem (800) 685-8916
Washington, D.C. (202) 224-3154
217 Russell Senate Office Building

http://burr.senate.gov
NOVEMBER ISSUE:
SAVE THE DATE
Date a Dem Cocktail

R&R Grill, 7-9:30pm
OCT
16
Tickets available in the pit Oct. 11-15
$12 includes food
50%of adult social network users

report they access their profiles
at least every other day
100 million
registered Twitter users, 3.5 mil-
lion of which are daily users
6 of the 10
top Internet sites are social
media sites, none of which
made the list in 2005
Over
210 billion emails
sent daily
Midterm Election Primer Sources: socialmediastatistics.wikidot.com; cnn.com;

webdoctus.com; web-strategist.com
BY THE Numbers
Get out
theVOTE
By Chelsea Phipps
A
lthough the excitement at UNC is not
quite at the fever pitch of the 2008
presidential campaign, campus po-
litical organizations have already begun
campaigning for this year’s midterm elec-
tions. The College Republicans and Young
Democrats are making their presence
known both on campus and in the com-
munity as they register people to vote and
educate the electorate about candidates
running for the Senate and House of Rep-
resentatives.
“We are registering as many student
voters as we can,” David Murray, vice presi-
dent of YD, said. “We’re going in with the
idea that, Democrat or Republican, no
matter what you are, it’s important that
UNC students’ voices are represented.”
YD is partnering with the Residence Hall
Association again this year to host events
designed to encourage people to register
for voting. Murray said this was an enor-
AINSLIE PERLMUTT
mous success in 2008, judging from the
thousands of UNC students who voted in
Morehead Planetarium.
YD is canvassing and phone-banking to
support Democratic candidates, including
Elaine Marshall for U.S. Senate and David
Price of Chapel Hill for the U.S. House of
Representatives. They plan to campaign in A member of Young Democrats registers new student voters in the Pit
all parts of North Carolina, going door to ahead of November’s miderterm elections.
door to encourage Democrats to vote in
the elections on Nov. 2. Thirty-seven of the friendlier to Republicans than two years seat in the House.
100 seats in the Senate and all 435 seats ago. “We can’t let an area like Chapel Hill just
of the House of Representatives are up for “There’s a noticeable difference in the go,” Dent said. “There are people receptive
re-election. number of College Republicans,” Dent to what we have to say. We need to seek
Murray is expecting a much closer elec- said. “I think this election is going to turn them out and get them to vote.”
tion this year than in 2008. out to be in the Republicans’ favor.” In addition to serving on several panels
“We’re not as sexy because we don’t The CRs, hoping for a conservative take- together to discuss pertinent political is-
have Barack Obama on the ticket,” Murray back of the Senate and House, are mak- sues, YD and CR are also collaborating on
said. “People were just fed up with how ing an effort to be in the Pit more often, working with the Panhellenic Council and
the GOP mangled our country. It was the to increase the number of people phone- the Interfraternity Council to promote in-
perfect storm for progressives. We had banking and handing out campaign litera- creased voter turnout amongst the Greek
this incredible candidate, and students on ture and to maintain the enthusiasm they community at Carolina.
campus in 2008 came of age during the had during the last elections, all while “Both [CR and YD] are politically active,”
Bush years.” focusing more on working the campus as Murray said. “We view this as a common
The chairman of College Republicans, well as the surrounding community. Their bond, rather than seeing College Republi-
Anthony Dent, also considers this elec- goals are to keep Richard Burr in the Sen- cans as another force.” •
tion environment to be considerably ate and to get William Lawson into Price’s
STATE of theUNION By Troy Homesley
State Seats
D
PHOTO OF RAYNE BROWN FROM RAYNE4HOUSE.COM
emocrats hold a 30 to 20 majority in the North Caroli- Fourteen of the seats targeted by the Republican Party were
na State Senate, which has been in Democratic hands carried by Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain
since 1898. in the 2008 election.
The NC Republican Party, however, Among those up for re-election is incumbent Democrat and
is making a concerted effort to win House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, who faces a tough race
over six of the seven seats that against Republican Rayne Brown in Davidson County.
are being vacated by Democrats The state races are particularly impor-
in the upcoming election. Some tant because the next General Assem-
of these seats lie in territory that bly will be in charge of redrawing leg-
leans Republican. islative and congressional districts
Republicans need to win nine that will be in effect until 2021.
seats in the House of Represen- The party that wins will have a
tatives where Democrats cur- chance to redraw districts in their
rently have a 68 to 52 ad- favor, thus making it easier for
vantage. their party to win more seats
in future elections. •
Hugh Holliman Rayne Brown
National Seats
T
he outlook is uncertain for Democrats in the Nov. 4 47 are leaning Democrat, 33 are tossups and 19 are leaning
midterm elections, thanks in part to a sluggish econo- Republican.
my, high unemployment and growing concerns about The most closely disputed House of Representatives race in
the war in Afghanistan. North Carolina is in the eighth district, located slightly north-
Midterm elections are often east of Charlotte, where incumbent Democrat Larry Kissell
viewed as a referendum on has a slight edge over Republican challenger Harold Johnson.
the president and his party, In the Senate, Democrats have a solid hold on 46 seats,
and polls show that Demo- compared to 35 for the Republican Party. Each party has five
crats around the country are seats that are “leaning” their way, leaving nine that are open-
struggling due to President ly disputed.
Obama’s low approval rat- In the Senate race, incumbent Re-
ings. publican Senator Richard Burr has
In the House of Representa- a stong lead over the Democratic
tives, where every member is Party’s candidate Elaine Marshall.
up for re-election, each party Current projections by The New
has a strong hold on 168 York Times indicate that the Demo-
seats. cratic Party will keep their
In order to maintain majority in the Senate
their majority, Democrats with 52 senators and
must win 50 of the 99 lose their majority in
seats that are up for grabs. the House of Represen-
Of those contested seats, tatives. •
the attacks cannot be taken as symbols

for the entire Muslim community.
Which perspective carries more
weight? Andrew Jones, a political sci-
ence and dramatic arts double major at
UNC, finds fault not with the legal or re-
ligious implications of the construction,
but with the methodology of those in
charge.
“They have every legal right,” Jones
said. “But if you’re trying to build bridges
with a different group of people – any
group of people – you should probably
try to cooperate with the group of people
you’re trying to gain acceptance with.”
Jones argues that the easiest way for
the Muslim-American community to be
respected is for them to compromise
with their opponents. But why would
a compromise be necessary? An evalu-
ation of the situation may give a more
complete picture.
Contrary to the violent image the faith
has acquired in recent years, the word
ISLAM
“Islam” actually means “peace through
submission to God,” while the word
“Muslim” means “anyone or anything
that submits itself to the will of God.” Is-
lamic creed is based on five main points
in
America O
or “pillars,” including: a declaration of
n Sept. 10, Wilson Library cast its faith in the oneness of God, formal
shadow over hundreds of small prayer five times a day, fasting during Ra-
American flags, all planted on madan, giving money to the poor and a
Polk Place. Nearby, pilgrimage to Mecca
By Carey Hanlin & a student-run desk Islam actually means at least once in one’s
Aamir Latif distributed stickers
that read, “9/11: Nev- “peace through
lifetime. The reli-
gion’s foundations
er Forget.” Almost submission to God.” lie in faith and com-
As the “Ground Zero nine years later, the munity, and those
wounds of that day carrying out violence
Mosque” stirs up debate are still fresh in the minds of Americans. in its name are directly violating its prin-
in New York, local Mus- It is widely recognized that the attacks ciples. Indeed, the commonly misunder-
were done in the name of Islam. But stood term “jihad,” which many take to
lims remain unphased in where have we placed the blame: on the mean “holy war” actually means “inner
their decision to build a few individuals who actually carried out struggle” and represents the countering
the attacks or on Islam itself? of obstacles in one’s daily life.
new mosque in Chapel Hill. The past few months have seen a In an attempt to demonstrate Islam’s
Campus BluePrint explores raging debate over the proposed con- message of peace and community, Imam
struction of the inappropriately labeled Feisal Abdul Rauf began working toward
the roots of the controversy “Ground Zero Mosque.” The majority of the creation of Park51, the Islamic com-
over Islam. the dispute has focused on the proximity munity center in downtown Manhattan
of the proposed site to Grounc Zero and that has lately been labeled the “Ground
the far-reaching implications that might Zero Mosque.” The label is a misnomer in
lie in the establishment of such a center. two ways. First, the building is actually a
Those arguing against the building most proposed community center open to peo-
often cite issues such as sensitivity and ple of all faiths, complete with multiple
courtesy, pointing at the fact that the 9/11 prayer spaces, a restaurant, a gym and a
bombings were carried out in the name pool. Second, the center’s location is not
of Islam. Supporters of the mosque ar- even at the designated Ground Zero site.
gue that the Al -Qaeda extremists behind In fact, it is over two city blocks away, at
[Opinion]
the site of an old Burlington Coat Factory [of MSA],” Sakahuddin said. “It would be
and out of view of the spot where the a great place for all of us to go.”
World Trade Center used to stand. Salahuddin added that the new
So does the debate simply stem from mosque will feature a common meeting
an issue of sensitivity or from a deeper ground not only for students but also for
issue of fear and intolerance toward the faculty members, graduate students and
religion as a whole? Are many Americans local residents.
holding all Muslims accountable for the “I think that the Muslim Student Asso-
9/11 attacks? Anti-Islamic sentiment has ciation and its prayer locations are cen-
come to the forefront of American me- tered around the undergraduate popu-
dia. Reverend Terry Jones’ plan to burn lation, so having a [central] location in
the Quran on the ninth anniversary of Chapel Hill for everyone is very impor-
the 9/11 attacks made nationwide head- tant,” Salahuddin said.
lines, as have a number of mosque ar- While the society has encountered no
sons around the significant op-
country. Anti-Islamic sentiment position so far,
One of the some of the so-
main arguments has come to the forefront ciety’s members
in opposition to of American media. are wary of the
Park51 is less con- added publicity
cerned with reli- that the location
gion, but instead with Imam Feisal Abdul is receiving as a result of the “Ground
Rauf ’s refusal to change to a different Zero Mosque.” Despite the extra atten-
site. Still, one has to ask: if the issue is tion, representatives of the Chapel Hill
unrelated to religion, why should this Islamic Society repeatedly stated that
“mosque” be moved in the first place? they have not faced any scrutiny thus far.
Such events demonstrate the negative “We have never faced any sort of dis-
connotation that the word “Islam” has crimination in the attempt to build the
garnered among certain communities in masjid (mosque),” said Dr. Abdul Khan,
the past decade. chair of the mosque’s establishment.
From threatening responses to Mu- So what really is the core of the prob-
hammad cartoons to France’s recent ban lem? The continued support of Chapel
on overt religious apparel, such as the hi- Hill’s proposed mosque certainly adds
jab traditionally worn by Islamic women, more weight to Jones’ argument that the
it seems the religion will never escape issue is more about cooperation than re-
the media spotlight. What few realize, ligion. Still, it is impossible to separate
however, is that Park51 received very little the Park51 debate from the topic of reli-
media attention until anti-Islam groups gion. Freedom of religion and the right
such as “Stop Islamization of America” to own and utilize property are central
began blasting the themes of American
center. Such anti- democracy. Ques-
Islamic sentiment It is impossible to tioning Park51’s le-
legally should not separate the Park51 gitimacy is a direct
have any effect on violation of these
rights guaranteed debate from the topic principles. Jones
to all Americans. of religion. might not agree
This year, the Cha- with the message
pel Hill Islamic Soci- the mosque sends,
ety put together an initiative to open its but Imam Rauf seems to think it is ex-
own community center here as a result actly the message the world needs from
of the growing Muslim population in the America. In the end, though, the more
area. The center has drawn great sup- important question might not be “what
port from the area as residents currently kind of message is being sent if the
have to drive 20 minutes to the nearest Park51 center is built,” but “what kind of
mosque in Durham. message is sent if it is not?”•
Taufiq Salahuddin, a member of the
Muslim Student Association at UNC, sup-
ports the project.
“There are a lot of Muslims on campus
– more than a hundred active members
[Opinion]
DARE TO
DREAM
An act that would provide a path to
college for undocumented students
fails in Senate
By Laura Arias-Gomez
T
he recent controversy over Arizona’s immigration law has once
again brought the policy battle to the national spotlight. When MARCH ON WASHINGTON: Undocumented students stop by
it comes to college campuses, the immigration debate focus- a rally held in front of Wilson Library against U.S. immigration
es on whether universities should admit undocumented students, policy on the way to Washington D.C. last spring.
and if so, whether public universities should offer in-state tuition
PHOTOS BY TYLER TRAN

to these students.
Those in favor of a less strict immigration policy toward higher asked to fill out an international student application.
education took a blow on Sept. 21 when the Senate failed to pass “We find out their residency status from the information that is
the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act of not provided in their application,” Garcia-Smith said.
2009 in a 53-46 vote to block the military spending bill to which Loida Ginocchio-Silva, an undocumented student who came to
the DREAM Act had been attached as an amendment. the United States ten years ago, knows the frustration felt by un-
All 40 Republican senators voted against the bill, joined by the documented students in planning for their future.
two Democratic senators from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln and Mark “I felt embarrassed about my status,” Ginocchio-Silva said. “When
Pryor and by the majority whip, Sen. Harry Reid from Nevada. Reid I realized I couldn’t apply to schools because I had no Social Se-
voted against the bill in a procedural move that allows him to re- curity number, [that’s] when my parents told me about my status.
open debate later in the session. It was difficult for a while. I worked so hard to learn the language
Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Senator and worked towards going to college.”
Richard Lugar, a Republican from Indiana, introduced the DREAM In high school, Ginocchio-Silva had not gone public about her
Act in March of 2009. If passed, the act would have granted un- legal status. She recounts it being difficult to answer her teach-
documented students who entered the country before the age of ers’ and friends’ questions about why she wasn’t going to college.
15 “conditional permanent residency status” if they attend college Some of Ginocchio-Silva’s teachers even questioned why she
or serve in the military. Upon the completion of two years of higher would take AP classes and other college prep courses, given that
education or military service, applicants could apply for permanent she would not be able to attend college.
legal residency and they would embark on a path to citizenship, Community college presents one option for undocumented
provided they maintain “good moral standing.” students in North Carolina. Like many students, Ginocchio-Silva
The DREAM Act would have alleviated the financial burden un- attended community college for two years, pursuing a degree in
documented students face while trying to pursue higher educa- sociology with the hopes of transferring to a four-year college after
tion, as the current policy prevents undocumented students from she graduated. However, due to high tuition rates she had to put
applying for federal grants, loans and most financial aid offered by her dreams on hold.
universities across the country. In North Carolina, undocumented “When I finished my last semester [at community college], I
students must apply as international students, and once accepted started working with hopes that something would happen in
they have to pay out-of-state tuition. terms of legislation or that I would be able to save up some mon-
Jazmin Garcia-Smith, assistant director of admissions at UNC, ey to go to school,” Ginocchio-Silva said.
said the largest barrier to undocumented students isn’t getting After three years of working, Ginocchio-Silva was finally able to
into UNC but rather paying the tuition. transfer to UNC-Asheville. She is currently taking only one class be-
“North Carolina has one of the fastest growing Latino popula- cause, with out-of-state tuition $2,000 for three credit hours, that
tions in the country,” Garcia-Smith said. “We have not seen the is all she can afford.
boom yet in applications. Few students get to the point of calling “I’m not eligible for federal financial aid, [and] many scholar-
and applying because they feel intimidated.” ships are not available to me,” Ginocchio-Silva said. “Private loans
Under the UNC admissions policy, however, students are never are difficult to get when you don’t have credit history.”
explicitly asked about their legal status. Instead, they are simply According to Garcia Smith, many undocumented students who
YOUNG AND OLD ALIKE: A community member joins in with UNC students last spring to rally for change in the federal and state
immigration laws concerning higher education.
are able to find the means to graduate with time on American soil that the United King- her political asylum case when she was in
a four-year degree then find themselves in dom now considers her an international high school. Her parents, however, were
limbo. They have all the preparation and student as well. not able to support her college expenses
qualifications to contribute to the U.S. “I think about the amount of money my as an international student. Mogollon at-
economy but are still barred from joining parents pay in lawyer’s fees and [about] all tended Central Piedmont Community Col-
the workforce. the issues we have had with the system, lege for two years before transferring to
“It’s sad. I’ve and I do not know Queens University.
been living here “There are people who how other people do “Last semester, I had three part-time jobs
ten years, pay tax- it,” Crownshaw said. and went to school full time,” Mogollon
es, volunteer and lose hope because “People don’t under- said. “I usually work 30-35 hours a week.”
consider myself an everything is stacked stand how difficult Even with such a full schedule, Mogollon
American. I want to the process is—even maintains a 3.7 GPA.
use my talents, but against them.” when you [speak] “When people tell me not to go to school
I’m not even given English.” because of how difficult it is, I get angry,”
that opportunity,” Crownshaw be- Mogollon said. “I’d die if I stopped going to
Ginocchio-Silva -Abby Crownshaw, lieves the U.S. im- school.”
said. UNC ’11 and a British citizen migration system is Given the obstacles both undocumented
The issue of im- partially to blame. immigrants and non citizens face in higher
migration as it “The way America’s education in the United States, the DREAM
relates to college costs and access is not system is set up perpetuates the cycle,” Act could present a solution to a problem
limited to undocumented students. There Crownshaw said. “There are people who that affects students all over the country.
are many students who are in the process lose hope because everything is stacked Despite the bill’s fate, the drive that many
of getting their citizenship who still do not against them. They feel dissuaded from non citizens have to succeed will continue
qualify as U.S. citizens and must apply as seeking out other opportunities because to propel them forward.
international students, which bars them the odds are stacked against them and “All the obstacles I faced pushed me
from federal financial aid and most private they think, what is the point of trying?” even more,” Mogollon said. “It was always
scholarships. Not all students see the situation as my goal to finish school by December 2010.
Abby Crownshaw, UNC ’11, a student from hopeless. Cendy Mogollon, a nursing ma- I was always thinking, ‘[my citizenship sta-
England, has been waiting for her green jor at Queens University in Charlotte, was tus] isn’t going to stop me.’” •
card for 12 years and has spent so much in the process of applying and processing
HARNESSING THE WIND

By Brandon Wiggins
D
uke Energy recently announced energy potential.
their decision to cancel a project The Department of
for building three wind turbines Energy estimates
to explore the potential of coastal wind that offshore wind
power as an energy source in the Pam- power could gen-
lico Sound off the coast of North Caro- erate up to 297.5
lina between the mainland and the gigawatts of power.
Outer Banks. This project was part of a Furthermore, a re-
collaboration with UNC that began in cent study released
2009, but it proved to be too costly to by UNC stated that
complete. Duke Energy reported that wind turbines off
the first wind turbine would have cost the coast could ulti-
$88 million, while the second turbine mately power up to
would have cost $14 million. 100% of the state’s
According to Duke Energy’s website, energy needs with-
this offshore wind project would have out causing any
been among the nation’s first. Duke significant environ-
would have provided for the installa- mental impact.
tion of the wind turbines and allowed Given the state’s
UNC to use them to study the potential potential for wind
of wind energy. energy, it is impor-
“Given that the most likely turbines tant that power companies begin giving Furthermore, Seim said there are no
to be used were rated at 3.6 megawatts serious attention to the development more plans on the part of Duke Energy
each, the maximum total generation of offshore wind turbines. There are still to install offshore wind turbines, cast-
would have been 10.8 megawatts. This questions, however, regarding the tech- ing more doubt on the viability of coast-
amount of power could support many, nology, including the effects that wind al wind power.
if not all, of the homes on Hatteras Is- turbines might have on aquatic eco- The research opportunities from these
land but is not very significant in terms systems and bird migration patterns in three offshore wind turbines would
of the total energy consumption of the their area as well as how durable they have been valuable in terms of helping
state,” said Harvey Seim, a professor of would be in the face of hurricanes. to further the process of building more
marine science at UNC who served as Ideally, this offshore project in the wind turbines off the coast, possibly
the lead for campus interactions with Pamlico Sound would have been used leading to a lucrative and clean wind-
Duke Energy on the project. as a springboard for further develop- power industry.
Although these turbines would not ment of coastal wind power, but with One cause for optimism is that Seim
have made a substantial difference in its cancellation the necessary research believes this news only represents a mi-
reducing the state’s dependence on on wind power is now more difficult to nor setback for coastal wind power. He
coal power overall, the research data it come by. is optimistic about the future potential
provided could have been highly valu- “[F]rom the perspective of answer- of wind power.
able for further wind power developing questions about the viability of this “I feel offshore wind power deserves
ment. The cancellation of this project technology in the face of strong hurri- serious consideration because the wind
represents a setback for the develop- canes and having specific and detailed resource is promising and the identified
ment of a wind-power industry in the information of their impact on avian spe- conflicts are thought to be manageable.
state. cies, the demonstration project would A project which demonstrates viability
Wind power is a promising energy have enabled research that cannot be will be key to promoting vigorous de-
possibility because it is renewable and answered in any other way,” Seim said. velopment,” Seim said.
does not produce the greenhouse gas- “In the grander scheme of offshore wind At this moment, however, the fight to
es that drive global climate change. energy development, the cost may have build an infrastructure of clean, renew-
Recently, a study conducted by the been justifiable if the answers obtained able wind power in North Carolina must
U.S. Department of Energy concluded from the studies informed and aided
Wikimedia Commons
go on. •
that North Carolina is among the top five subsequent commercial-scale develop-
states in the country in terms of its wind ment.”
TEATIME
By David Gilmore
C
arvans from around the country descended on Washington D.C. a day after the ninth anniversary of 9/11, carrying thousands of
members of the proclaimed Tea Party movement. The second annual march on the Capitol brought together a motley assortment
of libertarians, evangelicals, conspiracy theorists, Republicans, constitutionalists, Glenn Beck watchers, busniess owners, hockey
moms, farmers and others, all of whom gathered with the sole purpose of “taking back America.”
At its heart, the Tea Party is a reactionary movement, one born out of fear of change and progress, one that claims that President
Obama and his “socialist” allies are purposefully ruining our country and that a drastic change of direction is needed to right the course.
To liberals, the movement embodies a sense of fear by an increasingly small demographic that is afraid of the cultural and political
changes that are occuring in America. Darker elements within the movement hint at racism, divisionism and xenophobia. Although lib-
erals dismiss the Tea Party and its proponents as ignorant, there is no denying that the movement encompasses an angry and signifi-
cantly influential portion of the American population. And while the Tea Party’s platform has been lambasted, criticized and discredited,
its members still ardently believe in it. As bill, which will provide insurance coverage sexuals, Muslims, Hispanics, city-dwellers,
the movement becomes stronger, affect- for 32 million people, and the stimulus blacks, politicians and liberals, all of whom
ing the core of the Republican Party and package which, according to many non- have secret plans to undermine their Amer-
attracting more followers, liberals need to partisan economists, kept the economy ica. Tea Partiers have a fundamental duty,
stop dismissing the movement as part of out of recession--has been misconstrued they argue, to “take America back.”
the fringe and start questioning what the as an attempt to create a Soviet-style state. And for the Tea Party, there is no bigger
Tea Party is, why its members believe what But the Tea Party’s beliefs go beyond fear threat to America than Barack Obama,
they do and how to change those beliefs. of big government. Polls by The New York that black man with the foreign sound-
The Tea Party movement encompasses Times, Gallup, Bloomberg and The Econo- ing name, who according to many within
a wide array of individual groups around mist all found that the group is dispro- the movement may not have been born
the country which hold similar beliefs. portionately white, male, wealthier than in America, is a closet Muslim and secretly
The movement started in opposition to average, conservative, Republican and colludes with America’s enemies.
Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvest- likely to have voted for John McCain in Glenn Beck went as far as saying that
ment Act of 2009. Soon, the party took the 2008 election. Tea Party members are the President hates whites: “This president
on other conservative issues, including thus part of one of the fastest-shrinking I think has exposed himself over and over
most notably an absolute rejection of the demographic groups in the country. The again as a guy who has a deep-seated ha-
healthcare reform bill, which most of its studies also showed that, like the aver- tred for white people or the white culture.
members saw as an egregious attempt by age American, Tea Party members tend to [...] I’m not saying he doesn’t like white
the Obama administration to “socialize” be poorly informed about the realities of people, I’m saying he has a problem. This
health care. In town halls across the coun- American politics and often hold contradic- guy is, I believe, a racist,” Beck said on-air.
try, Tea Partiers railed against reform, citing tory views about the role of government in Beck’s comments about the president be-
patently false statements about govern- society. In Bloomberg’s poll, for example, came part of a much larger debate about
ment-controlled “death panels” and “keep- more than 90 percent of Tea Party backers racism within the Tea Party itself. And while
ing the government’s hands off Medicare.” said that the U.S. is moving more towards it is not fair to generalize and call the en-
The Tea Party’s staunch opposition to socialism than it is towards capitalism, but tire movement racist, studies by The New
healthcare reform is representative of the 70 percent they wanted more government York Times and the University of Wash-
movement’s overarching belief – that gov- involvement in job creation. ington found that members of the Tea
ernment is inherently bad and should be Combined, this means that members of Party were more likely to believe that “the
limited. the Tea Party have a fear about their chang- Obama administration favors blacks over
That feeling stems from decades of Re- ing place in America. They feel that their whites,” that “too much has been made of
publican rhetoric about the dangers of country is being taken away from them the problems facing black people” and that
big government, but has been exploited and given to illegal immigrants, blacks and Tea Party supporters are 25 percent more
by the movement’s de facto leaders, like a liberal urban elite who don’t care about likely to be “racially resentful than those
Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, who have lik- them, the hard-working, small-town, white who are not Tea Party supporters.”
ened the Obama administration to capital- “real” Americans, as Sarah Palin put it. So why does the Tea Party matter? It is,
ism’s great arch-nemesis: socialism. Many The fear of a changing America has been after all, a movement whose members are
Tea Party members seem to believe that ably exploited by the Tea Party’s leaders not representative of the average Ameri-
Obama came to office with the ulterior and turned into political capital. According can, who exhibit unfounded and irrational
motive of socializing the United States. to Palin and Beck and Limbaugh, Tea Par- fears of the President because of his name
To that end, everything that Obama has tiers need to fear not only big government and race, who tend to be poorly informed
proposed--including the healthcare reform and communism but immigrants, homo- about political reality, who seem to be
scared of anyone not like them – why are people bring, but it’s been a pyrrhic victory Party that is more partisan and entrenched
they important? because they are causing candidates to than ever before. Tea Partiers and other
The reality is that the Tea Party is not a win primaries that are going to lose gen- members of the far right have refused to
fringe movement, as eral elections,” cooperate on any major policy decisions
many suggest, but Jason Roberts, and have thoroughly lambasted more
an increasingly influ-
ential portion of the
“It’s a scary time to be a professor of po-
litical science at
moderate Republicans like Senator Lind-
sey Graham of South Carolina and Sena-
American population. moderate UNC, said. “It’s tor Olympia Snowe of Maine, who have
Their fears and mo- Republican if you’re a scary time to cooperated with Democrats on issues of
tives may be irratio- holding elected office.” be a moderate the environment and health care reform.
nal, but they exist Republican if Even if the Democrats don’t lose Congress
nonetheless. you’re holding in the November midterms, there is no
The distasteful but elected office.” doubt that policy-making will be harder
apparently able leadership of people like It is in this sense that the Tea Party is most than ever and that political compromise
Palin, Beck and Rush Limbaugh have gal- influential. Although 63 percent of Ameri- will be a rarity.
vanized those fears into a massive political cans do not support the Tea Party, the 23 The Tea Party movement is the not the
movement that parallels the army of vol- percent that do are loud and increasingly first of its kind. American history is littered
unteers of Obama’s presidential campaign. influential. with political groups – from farmers in the
And the results are evident. Christine In defeating the national Republican late 1800s to the xenophobes of the early
O’Donnell, the Tea Party’s newest darling, picks in Delaware and New York, the Tea 1900s to the followers of George Wallace
knocked off long-time representative and Party may have hurt its chances in the gen- in the 1960s and 1970s – who negatively
GOP favorite Mike Castle in Delaware’s eral election, but it also signaled to the reacted to change in American society.
Senate primary, and the Tea Party nominee GOP that they are a force to be reckoned But while the Tea Party may be a tem-
for New York governor, Carl Paladino, de- with. The strength of the Tea Party is likely porary movement that has grown thanks
feated the Republican establishment pick, to cause the Republican Party to move in part to the downturn in the American
Rick Lazio. in their direction, adopting some of their economy, there is no doubt that it has re-
The success of the Tea Party in elections platform points and integrating the Tea placed the Obama campaign as the most
is far more likely to hurt Republicans than Partiers into the mainstream of the conser- powerful contemporary grassroots politi-
Democrats. vative movement. cal movement in the country. •
“The GOP likes the energy that these For Democrats, that means a Republican
TEA PARTIES The Libertarian campaign in 1980 has in

some ways been regarded as a precursor
to the Tea Party movement that arose in
AREN’T FREE
2009. The platform called for the end of
the CIA and FBI, as well as federal agen-
cies like the Securities and Exchange
Commission and the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency. It proposed to discontin-
The many tentacles of the “Kochtopus” ue Social Security, gun control, personal
and income taxes and minimum-wage
By Stewart Boss laws, while also legalizing prostitution
and recreational drugs.
A
great deal of speculation and news repeatedly funded stealth attacks on The Libertarian Party received roughly
analysis is circulating lately about the federal government, particularly the one percent of the vote in 1980. The out-
who killed climate and energy leg- Obama administration. come was significant, however, in steer-
islation in Congress this year. Amidst all After buying out their other brothers a ing the interests of the Koch brothers
the confusion and disappointment, tak- number of years ago, David and Charles from direct action in politics to changing
ing a look into the financial engine be- Koch now own virtually all of Koch Indus- America from behind the curtain, affect-
hind the Tea Party movement might give tries, a massive conglomerate headquar- ing policy ideas at their source.
us a clearer picture. tered in Kansas. As a result, the Kochs have used their
Over the last year, the Tea Party move- Koch Industries, which is the second money to shape the conservative political
ment caught widespread national atten- largest privately landscape.
tion and catapulted from its status of owned com- The Kochs
scattered grassroots anger to a power- pany in the U.S., not only
ful right-wing force, threatening not just has its hands What’s not clear is why the
funded the
Democrats but also moderate Republi- in a little bit of Tea Party is willing to follow launch of
cans. everything. Be- a movement being the liber-
But who’s footing the bill for the pro- sides operating tarian Cato
tests? In Washington, they call it the oil refineries in
bankrolled by
Institute (a
“Kochtopus.” Alaska, Minne- billionaires with their own dogged op-
Until a recent article by Jane Mayer in sota and Texas, private agendas. ponent of
The New Yorker, almost no one knew and thousands environmen-
who was pumping millions of dollars of miles of pipe- tal regula-
into the Tea Party, transforming its anti- lines, Koch In- tion), but
government rage to an organized politi- dustries also owns Brawny paper towels, they have also given generously to the
cal movement. Dixie cups and Georgia-Pacific lumber, Heritage Foundation and the Indepen-
As it turns out, the donors’ names are among a variety of other products and dent Women’s Foundation — two organi-
David and Charles Koch. businesses. The annual revenue of Koch zations that question the reality of man-
If you have heard of them, it’s prob- Industries has been estimated at $100 made climate change. They also provided
ably because they’ve been unwillingly billion. millions to create the Mercatus Center,
shoved into the media spotlight thanks Not surprisingly, the political beliefs a powerful conservative think tank at
to new exposure surrounding their gen- of the Koch brothers have much to do George Mason University that one Demo-
erous financial support of the Tea Party with their business interests. The Kochs, cratic strategist called “ground zero for
movement. David and Charles Koch have like most Tea Party supporters, want sig- deregulation policy in Washington.”
donated more than $100 million to right- nificantly lower taxes, a massive scaling Most notably, however, the Kochs are re-
wing causes. back of social services and considerably sponsible for founding the now infamous
The Koch brothers are longtime liber- less government oversight and regula- Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the
tarians from Kansas. They are also two of tion, especially involving environmental key organization linked with funding the
the richest people in the U.S. Their com- standards. Tea Party movement and training its activ-
bined fortune of $35 billion puts them But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. ists.
with the wealthiest of the wealthy; their David Koch’s unsuccessful 1980 run on The Kochs certainly aren’t the only bil-
fortune is surpassed only by Bill Gates the Libertarian ticket as Ed Clark’s vice- lionaires helping the Tea Party movement
and Warren Buffett. president sheds some light on their true right now. There is also Rupert Murdoch,
In New York City, David Koch is regarded political leanings. Koch, who was put on the wealthy mogul whose News Corp has
as one of the city’s most esteemed phi- the ticket in large part to get around cam- become an unrivaled media empire. Mur-
lanthropists. In Washington, however, he paign financing limitations, gave roughly doch, who owns a diverse range of busi-
is regarded as part of a family that has $2 million to the effort. nesses including Fox News, HarperCol-
lins, MySpace and the Wall Street Journal, has used his empire to empower conservative media outlets that are now instrumental
in spreading and promoting the Tea Party message.
As Frank Rich pointed out in a recent column in The New York Times, the Kochs and Murdoch are certainly not the first right-wing
billionaires to fund the far right. As Rich observes, you “can draw a straight line from the Liberty League’s crusade against the New
Deal “socialism” of Social Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission and child labor laws to the John Birch Society-Barry
Goldwater assault on J.F.K. and Medicare to the Koch-Murdoch-backed juggernaut against our “socialist” president.”
As the Tea Party’s political clout continues to rise, Obama and the Democrats will have to do some hard thinking how to deal
with the influence of the “Kochtopus” and find a strategy for fighting back. •
GOOD
tem would need to take place in order to change that would benefit those that are
alleviate the current situation. struggling is a fundamental flaw of both
Similarly, policy for Australia’s public ed- systems.
A
ucation system has implemented a “My Wouldn’t it be better for national govern-
“ “ Mate
School” website which publishes nation- ments to allocate funding to assist inade-
ally comparable data on Australian schools. quate schools in improving their academic
According to the Australian Curriculum As- and extra-curricular resources? This is pref-
sessment and Reporting Authority, this erable to putting money into initiatives that
will introduce a new level of transparency only serve to highlight problems rather
and accountability to the Australian school than address them.
By Kara Williams system. The My School website includes In 2008, the total funding put towards the
detailed information about the socioeco- NCLB in the United States was $24.4 billion,
nomic status of its students, the type of a 40.5 percent increase over 2001 levels
T
here are 98,905 schools in the United school and its location and educational when the Act was first passed, according
States, but only 64,546 of them are achievements. to the National Center For Education Sta-
making “adequate yearly progress,” Both the U.S. and Australia talk about tistics. Comparatively, The Sydney Morning
as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act, increasing transparency and accountabil- Herald reported that Australia’s total an-
according to the National Center For Edu- ity within their respective public educa- nual spending on education is over $37.5
cation Statistics. Only seventy percent of tion systems, but the standardized tests billion, of which a significant proportion
schools are making adequate yearly prog- and measurements currently being used was dedicated to the creation and imple-
ress, which means that thirty percent are to assess these produce inconclusive re- mentation of the My School website and
not. By this logic, thirty percent of American sults. Teachers feel compelled to teach test- NAPLAN testing.
children are being left behind in their edu- taking techniques rather than curriculum School progress reports, such as those re-
cation. to ensure that their school meets national quired by the NCLB Act and websites such
The NCLB Act is a controversial piece of leg- targets. as My School, have the potential to taint
islation that was passed in 2001 to bring Under the NCLB Act, schools that repeat- public opinion of struggling schools with-
about wide-reaching educational reform in edly miss targets face increasingly harsher out helping them and set the stage for
the United States public education system. sanctions which, after a period of time, can eventual privatization of the public school
It included the unrealistic goal of having include staff dismissals and closures. system in the United States and Australia.
all American students “academically profi- Department of Education officials have With privatization increasing dramatically
cient” by the year 2014 and the requirement said they also want to eliminate the school in the Western world, it may be time to step
for all students in school years three to ratings system built on making “adequate back and question how future generations
eight to take annual academic proficiency yearly progress” on student test scores. will be able to exercise their right to a good
tests. Increasing numbers of educators contend public education.
Based on these tests, schools have been that the NCLB Act sets impossible goals for Anna Peterson, co-chair of the Educational
“ranked.” If a child’s school does not meet students and schools and humiliates stu- Policy Committee of campus think tank the
the national standard as set out in the NCLB dents and educators when they fall short. Roosevelt Institute, said, “I would expect to
Act, their parents have the option of trans- Both of these ranking systems are inad- see a lot of changes in American education
ferring their child to another school with equate because they use a huge amount in the next few years and I think that some
transportation costs at the school district’s of funding to highlight schools that are of these reform efforts will lead to signifi-
expense or hiring private tutoring. While failing, so that there is little funding left to cant privatization.”
the Obama administration has called for a actually help them. Without significant educational policy
number of changes to be made to the NCLB Accountability is central to both the NCLB changes in the United States and Australia,
Act in their “Blueprint for Reform,” a drastic Act and the My School website, but brand- how many children will continue to be left
overhaul of America’s public education sys- ing schools without actually instigating behind? •
;)
?
[Opinion]
THE
NEW
By Erin Becker
NEWS
The general consensus is that nothing will ever be the same.
“The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet,” proclaims the September 2010 issue of Wired, explaining how applications and networks
have achieved a coup d’état over traditional web surfing. The subheading of Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi’s book
reads, “Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything.” The new movie The Social Network dramatizes the out-of-control
snowball that was Facebook’s inception. Mark Zuckerburg’s character, back in his Harvard days, sends his nascent site Facemash to
“just a couple of people.”
“The question,” he proclaims in the film, “ is who are they going to send it to?” The rest, as they say, is history.
And “who are they going to send it to” has, in many ways, become the central question of how we interact online. Whether it’s
Jan Brewer’s gubernatorial debate disaster, the latest cute puppy video, a leaked single or that ludicrously inappropriate text from
last night, the impulse is to share. Yesterday’s clipping and mailing of pertinent news articles is today’s two-click re-posting of that
hilarious Onion video on your friend’s wall: “hey man, this is SO YOU!”
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised...
BUT IT MAY BE POSTED
It’s all fun and games until our political system is irrevocably tions seem frivolous, given that the majority of communication
altered. on Facebook (at the college level, at least) is of the “dude, we
People usually trace the idea of online campaigning back were so wasted last night” variety. But the implications for our
to Trippi’s work with Dean in 2004, and common sentiment is governing structure could be serious, beginning with the type
that Barack Obama took that trend one step forward with his of person we are now more likely to elect.
online community and Internet donation system in 2008. An In Cante’s opinion, some types of candidates come across
Internet army of small-time donors turned into a machine that more favorably in online media. In 2008, Hilary Clinton branded
the Republicans’ upscale dinners couldn’t herself as “the experienced one,” in contrast
rival. What Dean began, we like to think, to Obama’s relative status as a political new-
Obama perfected, and a new age of digital Two years ago is comer. But experience and wonkishness
campaigning came to fruition. ancient history in don’t look good on Facebook, and can’t be
But let’s think about 2008. In August of effectively conveyed in 140 characters (the
2008, Facebook celebrated its 100 millionth media technology. Twitter maximum).
user. As of July 2010, however, there were There was another female candidate, how-
over 500 million unique Facebook profiles. One week last ever, who would become social media’s darling.
March, Facebook surpassed Google for the first time as the In the words of Cante, Sarah Palin has “short-circuited” tradi-
most visited site on the Internet, according to weblogs.hitsite. tional forms of media and found a niche in social networking, a
com. Two years ago is ancient history in media technology. And, platform that fits her communication style.
despite the online Dean-iacs and digital Obama donors of past “The very things for which Tina Fey mocked her are translate-
campaigns, no one has any idea what this means for politics. able to Twitter, but they look ridiculous on the national media,”
“However this plays out [in the midterm elections], it will tre- Cante said.
mendously influence the strategy of the campaigns next time Why not cut out the middleman and go straight to the people?
around,” Richard Cante, an associate professor of media and While traditional authority doesn’t work on these platforms,
cultural studies at UNC, said. an “us-against-them” attitude and an idiomatic voice fits per-
Soon after his election, President Obama hired technology fectly. Policy points are out; catchprases are in. (One wonders
czar Vivek Kundra. But we haven’t heard much from him outside how George W. Bush would have fared.)
the 2009 launch and May 2010 re-launch of a rather clunky in- “Obama had the short, sweet zingers, Palin had the colloquial
formation website, data.gov. shout-outs, and Clinton had thorough four-pronged answers,”
The question of how a president should communicate in a Cante said of the 2008 elections. “It seems to me the test case
world where press conferences seem anachronistic is not yet would be how that kind of campaign with that kind of tradi-
decided. tional authority Clinton was going for would be translate-able
Cante noted the difficulty of adjusting traditional styles to to social media.”
technological formats. Zingers and shout-outs make good Facebook statuses, but
“The style of the press secretary that has been developed over they also make policy and political issues misleadingly simple.
the years— it seems like there needs to be a whole change in Joe the Plumber was an ideological figment of our imagination.
strategy before that kind of communication can be adapted to Wall Street and Main Street are interconnected, as the 2008
Twitter,” Cante said. downturn demonstrated. If wonky policy depth is lost in trans-
Is Tweeting below a president’s dignity? Can a campaign con- lation, so are subtlety and nuance.
vey its platform points through a Facebook status? These ques- Ruby Sinreich, UNC class of ’93, is the founder and chief blog-
ON YOUR WALL.
ger of the local political site orangepolitics.com. She believes
17 percent of the traffic to dailytarheel.com comes from social
that partisan news sources play an important part in the politi-
networking sites. The newspaper tries to balance those analyt-
cal dialogue.
ics with their role as a provider of information.
“People go there because they want information from people
“You want to be writing about things people are interested
they trust, and they trust those people because they have simi-
in, but you also have a responsibility as a newspaper to inform
lar values,” Sinreich said.
readers,” Gregory said. “You want to give them what they need
to know as well as what they want to know. We haven’t been
Money talks, and it tweets. abandoning the ‘need to’ in favor of the ‘want to.’”
You put the newspaper boxes where your readers walk, Greg-
Then there’s the market aspect to all this. Although some ory argues; why not put your online news where your readers
call the media the fourth branch of government and journalists surf? It gets your paper—and the ads—to the widest audience
often style themselves as public servants of sorts, media is at possible.
its heart a business. An ad-selling business, to be exact. The
Internet makes it easier than ever for companies to know how Fifteen minutes of fame.
effective those ads really are.
In The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Trippi’s dedication Or was it 15 seconds?
reads, “To the 600,000 people of Dean for America who relit the
flame of participatory democracy.” He argues that social media In a world of instant clicks, then, it’s all about getting atten-
gave citizens a voice, reigniting democratic principles. tion. But do we really know more?
In the same way, it is possible to argue that the consumer “People will certainly talk about the decreased attention span
feedback inherent in online media has a democratizing effect. for those of us who want to get our information in the form of
A New York Times piece published on Sept. 5 on online reader- a tweet,” Sinreich said. “But on the other hand, we’re constantly
ship equates responding to consumer preferences with a kind immersed in that information; we’re swimming in it all day.”
of economic democracy. There is e-mail to check, photos to post on Facebook and The
Jeremy Peters writes, “[M]any newsrooms now seem to be re- New York Times online to peruse. We’re also getting phone calls
examining that idea [of online readership metrics] and embrac- on Skype, chats on Google and Yahoo, and—it almost seems
ing, albeit cautiously, a more democratic approach to serving old-fashioned—text messages on our phones.
up the news.” Sitting through a fifteen-minute stump speech is a lot to ask.
The question thus becomes: where will we click? “Softer” The political rally is like a ghost of a bygone era where politi-
lifestyle news usually trumps economical or political analysis. cians kissed babies and cut red ribbons outside new town halls.
What’s sexier, a piece on the urban dating scene or the urban Canvassing: is that a person knocking on my door? How quaint.
development scene? The Tea Party gets clicks, the Green Party Where will we be in 2012?
not so much. If a democracy gets you the leaders you deserve, It’s something worth tweeting about. •
online media is getting us the reporting we deserve.
Sara Gregory, UNC ’11, the community manager for The Daily
Tar Heel, analyzes traffic to the online site using three differ-
ent platforms and works as the voice of the newspaper’s Twit-
ter, Facebook and Tumblr blog. For example, she knows that
NARROW
CASTING
By Rachel Myrick
“They are giving their
audiences information,
but not giving the full
nuance.”
A
t the dawn of news media, television stations ran objec- As the next generation relies increasingly on the Internet as
tive programs to appeal to as many viewers as possible. their primary news source, narrowcasting has become asso-
Prompted by the emergence of new forms of social media, ciated with websites that target certain audiences. According
increased competition and the Internet, news sources changed to the Pew Research Center, 95 percent of adults between the
their tactics and began targeting specific groups of people. As a ages of 18-29 regularly use the Internet, compared to only 42
result, many members of the public repeatedly get their infor- percent of adults ages 65 and older. Furthermore, in a similar
mation from the same biased news sources--particularly cable study conducted by the Center, 75 percent of those polled be-
stations, blogs or websites--leaving them with an incomplete, tween the ages of 18 and 25 cite the Internet as their preferred
skewed perception of the world. news source.
George Rabinowitz is a professor of political science at UNC. “The younger generation is more Internet-oriented. They ob-
Rabinowitz teaches about narrowcasting in his introductory tain information from sources they feel comfortable with. Stu-
American government course. dents are not unusual in this regard. They [get] information
“Narrowcasting is some type of production media targeted to from sources they have confidence in. Typically, these share the
a specific audience,” Rabinowitz said. same ideological dispositions,” Rabinowitz said.
Narrowcasting, Rabinowitz said, is a more recent develop- To attract readers, sites sensationalize news, producing me-
ment in news media. In the past, broadcasting stations aimed dia that is often biased. Narrowcasting, Rabinowitz said, can be
to reach the widest audience possible. The first three major polarizing. With political news, for instance, reading continually
news networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) held the attention of over from the same sources can prompt students to favor one side
90 percent of viewers. Later, with the advent of cable and the of a political debate.
ensuing influx of independent stations, increased competition As an online editor of The Daily Tar Heel, Carter McCall, UNC ’12,
pushed stations to specialize and hone in on a target audience. can speak to the fact that more young adults are gravitating
MTV and BET, for instance, were developed to cater to a specific toward reading the news online.
demographic. “I too read most of my news online. As college [students], our
“[Cable television and Internet sites] are more likely to target generation has grown up as the Internet has expanded. With
specific audiences and use this technique because their audi- the advent of social media, I consume media not only through
ence is more likely to look at it. As a result, they are giving their going to websites but also for the social media aspects,” McCall
audiences information, but not giving the full nuance,” Rabi- said.
nowitz said. McCall feels that working for The Daily Tar Heel online has af-
TOP 10
online news
sources
1. Google News 6. Yahoo! News

2. The New York Times 7. Washington Post
3. Guardian Unlimited 8. ESPN.com
4. Yahoo! Sports 9. MSNBC
5. BBC 10. Daily Telegraph
-blogpulse.com, as measured by blog
citations for September 21, 2010
forded him the opportunity to experience the future of the me- ly to comfortable sources. This is why he has identified some
dia. more innovative strategies to make sure he is getting a com-
“We actually started publishing [The Daily Tar Heel] online back prehensive look at news published online.
in 1994. We were the first college newspaper to launch a web- “I use an application called ‘Pulse’ a lot because it’s so conve-
site. I would say the impetus was accessibility. It was a new nient. It’s a mobile version of something that’s becoming very
form of media, something they wanted to explore. At the time, popular, newsreaders that aggregate RSS feeds. This way, peo-
it was a smart move because the Internet got so big,” McCall ple can bring multiple sources together into one place without
said. all the other distractions like ads and videos and stuff,” Lozzi
McCall points out online news and media have evolved not said.
only out of the ease with which students can search for specific While the effects of narrowcasting on the Internet can be po-
articles or topics, but also due to the chance to share ideas and larizing, Lozzi believes that the younger generation is aware of
responses. this effect and is working to adapt accordingly.
“I think students read the DTH online because it’s a discussion “Though the Internet has traditionally been a liberal space, it
forum. It’s a platform where they can discuss the issues they does help to eliminate biases as a whole just because there’s
read about. It’s one thing to pick up the paper and talk about so much information out there that every viewpoint is going to
the article with a friend; it’s another to discuss online,” McCall be represented. I think as a younger, more Internet-savvy per-
said. son, I go site-to-site whereas people our parents’ age may still
Like many college students, Everett Lozzi, a sophomore major- be going to specific sites to get their news.”
ing in business and history, uses the Internet as his primary Rabinowitz, however, points out that because of ease and ac-
source of news. He acknowledges the added advantage of an cessibility, people of all ages surfing the Internet for news too
open discussion forum but also notes the disadvantages of often focus solely on sources that share the same ideology.
reading news online. “This will be a characteristic of this generation. It will be a
“The positives are that it’s instant information. Students have problem to the extent that mass publics do better if they have
access to all points of view because anyone can post or blog a common understanding,” Rabinowitz said. “When the public
to the Internet. The fact that anyone can put up ‘news’ can also doesn’t agree on a problem, it is much harder to come together
be a negative in that there’s no formal fact-checking for what’s for a solution.” •
posted,” Lozzi said.
Lozzi is aware of the tendency for online readers to go direct-
1990s Internet forums called “threads” cre-

ated to allow communities to share
virtual messages
STAT 1994 First blog, Links.net, cre-
EET
133
ated by Justin Hall
1996-7 Matt Drudge begins a gossip

newsletter called the Report,
million blogs indexed launches Drudge Report the
by Technorati since Some of the first major blogger en- next year
2002 gines launch: LiveJournal, Xanga and
Blogger 1999
500 million active

Facebook users
1.3
million dollars
2004
Facebook launches
raised in one day
for U.S. Sena-
tor Scott Brown 2003
through his blog 2005 Presidential candidates How-
2006 The Huffington Post launches
ard Dean and Wesley Clark be-
come the first to use blogs and
Twitter launches as an alternative to The the Internet as a major focus of
Drudge Report their campaigns
2010
5.4 million
people
follow President Obama
on Twitter
BLOGS
THEN
AND
NOW
By Sally Fry and Erin Becker
R
emember Xanga and LiveJournal? was Merriam Webster’s Word of the Year. themselves, they did think blogs will be
We do too, unfortunately. In that time, over a dozen blog engines an integral piece of the 2012 campaign.
If you’re a college student, the op- developed, including Blogger, which was Polled bloggers felt that blogged news
portunity to “blog” your every comment, acquired by Google in 2003. Also in those during the election was as accurate as
question and complaint came around ten years, Blogads launched, making the traditional news media and often signifi-
just in time for you to broadcast your professional blogs attractive to advertis- cantly more up-to-date.
pubescent drama to the entire Internet ers, which became important for political Politics, it seems, is the new frontier in
community. Don’t worry, though; unlike fundraising in recent years. the blogosphere. Like in any industry,
now, no one really listened or cared. In 2004, the definition of blogging professional bloggers cater to the desires
Today, chances are you--or someone you changed rapidly. Facebook launched that of their audience. Due to the growing de-
know--has a blog. According to Technora- February, and blogging quickly reached mand, blogs are increasingly important
ti, by 2007 there were more than 112 mil- out to the new medium of social media. in political, amateur journalism.
lion blogs for your reading pleasure. That Status updates were introduced almost
number increases every year. three years after the initial launch. Twitter Last year’s protest of the presidential
Just think: millions of blogs on pretty launched about the same time. election in Iran exposed the international
much anything you could ever imagine Status updates made blogging easy importance of political blogging. The Ira-
and some you never would. For example, for men and women of few words with nian government blocked Facebook, Twit-
in Canada there is a self-described femi- a lot to say-- apparently, a larger popula- ter and various other online communities
nist hippie-redneck mother writing about tion than one would assume. (There’s a during the protests, demonstrating their
politics, music and her love for the Grate- Hemingway in all of us, it seems.) Writing concerns about its democratizing influ-
ful Dead. And we thought we’d seen it all! a 500-word blog post is intimidating to ence.
It may seem hasty to reminisce about a some, but everyone can figure out how Even though these events were tragic
concept that has only been around for a to tweet a quick musing. With Facebook for free speech, it showed the world just
little over a decade, a la “I Love the New and Twitter, a new form of communica- how important the blogosphere is as a
Millennium” on VH1. But the way we com- tion was born. vehicle for revolution and as a reliable
municate has changed so rapidly already media source.
that it’s important to prepare for the im- For the Politco Just like Facebook helps us find the
plications-- most notably, in the world of in All of Us nearest parties at a moment’s notice,
politics. blogs can be the impetus for rallies, pro-
Self-expression and sharing expertise tests and movements, with hundreds of
Welcome to the may be the ultimate motivation for most RSVPs pouring in within a few hours. The
Blogosphere bloggers, but political blogging is catch- continuing globalization of free speech
ing up. According to bloggers and the call for revolution in countries
At about the same time Internet went from a recent Technorati like Iran and even our own gives us an
public in the early 1990s, techno-nerds poll, over 50 percent opportunity to hold our governments
began communicating online through said politics has been accountable, reach millions with similar
virtual message boards called and will continue to complaints and push forward the policies
“threads” and listservs. In 1994, col- be the field blogging we actually care about.
lege student Justin Hall created the impacts the most. The organizational power of the online
first online diary, Links.net. It was a com- Even though the community is still developing. It prom-
prehensive guide to the Internet and the majority of blog- ises to lead us towards a more demo-
first self-published, intimate description gers polled didn’t cratic and opinionated society. That’s
of everyday life. write about the 2008 something we should strive for-- even if it
Flash forward ten years and “blog” U.S. presidential election comes in 140-character bursts. •
SOFTHard
NEWS News
By Jordan Heide
“T
he Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” have revolu- Only when Jon Stewart replaced Kilborn in 1999 did the show
tionized political media since their debuts on Comedy develop a poignant political fervor. The addition of Ben Karlin,
Central. However, when compared to their influence, former editor of The Onion, as executive producer also helped
their legitimacy as credible sources for unbiased political infor- shape the program as a political satire.
mation is significantly more ambiguous. “The main thing, for me, is seeing hypocrisy. People who know
“The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are “soft” news better saying things that you know they don’t believe,” Karlin
sources, providing politically-oriented news in a satirical and said in an interview, of his decision to adopt a political focus
amusing manner. They present the fumbles of government of- for the show.
ficials and fellow pundits, underscoring the incompetency of Since the arrival of Stewart and Karlin, “The Daily Show” has
our nation’s administration and the tendency of newscasters to won an impressive thirteen Emmy awards. The success of the
erroneously interpret political insight. show encouraged Comedy Central executives to develop a spin-
Although captivating, the shows are a deviation from the ob- off featuring Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert.
jectivity that defines journalistic integrity. The purpose of these The intent of “The Colbert Report” is to parody radically conser-
outlets is not to inform but to entertain. vative pundit programs by mirroring the format of “The O’Reilly
Cynicism and discontent are the prevalent themes of “The Factor.”
Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” and have been shown The effects of the show have been remarkably wide spread; in
to negatively affect audience perceptions of politicians. Accord- 2006, Merriam Webster declared “truthiness,” a term coined by
ing to a study conducted by Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan S. Colbert, as the Word of the Year. In 2008, the American Political
Morris of East Carolina University in 2006, “Watching political Science Association reported that Democratic politicians who
jokes made at the expense of presidential candidates on “The appeared on the show consistently experienced a 40 percent
Daily Show” … lowered viewers’ ratings of these candidates.” increase in fiscal donations for the 30-day period following
Nevertheless, many Americans rely on “The Daily Show” and their appearance.
“The Colbert Report” as consistent sources of news. The shows Despite their influence, or perhaps because of it, “The Daily
draw an average of 1.6 million viewers and 1.2 million viewers, Show” and “The Colbert Report” have been criticized for con-
respectively. taining a recognizable liberal bias that arguably impedes their
Most notably, “The Daily Show” receives more male viewers ability to deliver impartial news coverage. Indeed, prior to
in the 18-34 age range than bona fide news sources such as Barack Obama’s victory, Stewart and Colbert blatantly preyed
“Nightline” and “Meet the Press,” according to CNN. upon Republican incumbents for comic relief.
Yet Jon Stewart denies the pervasive effects of “The Daily “I think we consider those with power and influence targets
Show” as an influential source of political information for the and those without it, not,” Stewart said.
nation’s youth. Similarly, Colbert said prior to the Obama victory,“We are lib-
“When people say that kids are getting most of their news eral, but ... if liberals were in power it would be easier to attack
from me ... the truth is I know they’re not,” Stewart said in an them. ... Republicans have the executive, legislative and judicial
interview. “If they came to our show without knowledge, our branches, so making fun of Democrats is like kicking a child; it’s
show wouldn’t make any sense to them. ... So, they’re not get- just not worth it.”
ting their news from us, they’re coming to us to find out what Yet Stewart has been an unequivocal critic of the Democratic
the funny is on it.” Party as well. In an interview with Larry King in 2006, he lament-
“The Daily Show,” initially hosted by Craig Kilborn, originated ed the ineffectiveness of the Congressional Democrats.
as a commentary on popular culture and entertainment news. “I honestly don’t feel that [the Democrats] make an impact,”
“If they came to our show without knowledge, our

show wouldn’t make any sense to them.”
Stewart said in an interview with Campus Progress. “They have 49 percent of the vote and three percent
of the power. At a certain point you go, ‘Guys, pick up your game.’”
University of Pennsylvania communications professor Xiaoxia Cao found that “The Daily Show” can
serve as a politically informative source for viewers who do not typically pursue political knowledge.
“Exposure to “The Daily Show” is positively associated with political knowledge on the part of audience
members who normally do not consume traditional news,” Cao said in a 2008 article.
Cao’s findings indicate that consistent viewers of soft news outlets are equally as informed about poli-
tics as non-viewers who rely solely on traditional news sources for political information.
Still troublesome, however, is the degradation of political incumbents that tends to reinforce viewer
dissatisfaction with the current political scheme. UCLA’s Matthew Baum discovered in a 2005 study that
“exposure to candidate interviews on [soft news] programs… has led apolitical voters to favor the candi-
date of the opposition party,” which is consistent with the findings of Baumgartner and Morris.
With an air of irony, Stephen Colbert once exclaimed, “Jon always said ‘The Daily Show’ has no political
impact...We’re going to go ahead and pick up that gauntlet and change the world!”
So far, “change the world” has been just about right, for both Stewart and Colbert. •
rallyTO RESTOREsanity
October 30 in Washington, D.C.
In response to Glen Beck’s “Restoring Beck, the event is
Honor” rally in August, Jon Stewart will
host a “Rally to Restory Sanity” on the Na-
meant to encourage
reasonable dialogue
OCT
30
tional Mall in October. on both sides of the
The rally is billed as non-partisan, a gath- aisle. Or maybe just
ering for “the people who think shouting provide a few laughs
is annoying, counterproductive, and terri- for everyone.
ble for your throat,” according to the web- As of press time,
site rallytorestoresanity.com. there were nearly 170,000 people listed
While Stewart has taken many a dig at “Attending” on the rally’s Facebook page.
[Opinion]
SMALL PRESS
Big World
Why big media may not be so bad
By Molly Hrudka
W
hen you hear the phrase “corporatization of mass me-
dia” or “disappearance of small press,” you can’t help
but picture giant, impersonal corporations tearing
through small town America and taking over locally owned
newspapers. Though it is true that the world’s media is being
consolidated in the hands of fewer and fewer companies, it
may not be such a bad thing after all.
Rick Bean, publisher of the Herald Sun, a daily newspaper
published in Durham by Paxton Media Group, agrees. “Contrary
to public perception, there’s not a lot of animosity against Cor-
porate,” Bean said.
Each paper owned by Paxton Media group still operates in-
dependently, but with the added support of the Corporation.
“We are very decentralized. We expect people to run their pa-
pers like they would if they were a family business,” Bean said. The current state of the economy has a direct impact on
Mark Schultz, editor of the Chapel Hill News, which is pub- the newspapers’ income. Most of a newspaper’s funding, Bean
lished by the McClatchy Company, also sees corporate owner- estimates about 75 percent, comes from advertising. As other
ship as a benefit. companies are forced to make cuts in their budgets, the adver-
“When we have corporate support, it allows us to spread tising sections in papers are severely depressed. This has left
our expenses. There are ways to be more efficient with corpo- local newspapers struggling to adjust.
rate ownerships,” Schultz said. Being one of many branches “We’ve done a lot to change the way we sell advertising;
owned by the same company allows for distribution of staff [we’re trying to] make it more affordable for smaller business-
and resources. While there are many benefits to corporate es,” Bean said.
ownership, there are also a few downsides. Unfortunately, this is not enough to cover losses. To make up
“When you’re part of a larger company that is publically trad- for the lack of income generated from advertisements, most
ed, there are quarterly financial goals of the corporation that newspapers have had to make cuts to their staff. While cuts
may not be the same as the goals of the individual unit. If of up to 70 people may sound significant, Bean points out
the company has to make cuts to reach a quarterly goal, then that, comparatively speaking, the number of layoffs was not
those cuts may be spread across all parts of the company,” as high as in other industries affected by the economic down-
said Schultz. turn such as tobacco processing, which sometimes saw cuts
In the past, Schultz explained, the Chapel Hill News has between 200 and 300 people. The Herald Sun has adjusted to
also been forced to absorb additional debts when McClatchy a smaller staff by making more of an effort to share resources.
bought another company. Overall, though, the consensus The Chapel Hill News has been forced to cope with staff de-
seems positive. creases as well.
“It’s a benevolent relationship; everyone who works for Cha- “We are using freelance writers and interns more often, and
pel Hill News and the News and Observer are very happy to the editors are writing more,” Schultz said.
work for McClatchy,” Elliot Warnock, sports editor of the Chapel Even with cuts, both the Chapel Hill News and the Herald Sun
Hill News, said. are still devoted to local journalism above all else. Schultz,
So if it’s not Corporate Ownership, what is reason for all the Warnock, and Bean all point out that if anything has to be
photo by Renee Sullender
layoffs in the newspaper industry? Schultz, Warnock and Bean sacrificed, it will be the volume of state, national and interna-
agree that it is the economic recession. tional stories.
“In all businesses, the world is so different than it was four “We’re trying to make sure we stay with the local community.
or five years ago; that’s the economic downturn we’re living We want the people who are reading our stories to be the ex-
in,” Bean said. act same people that are in the paper,” Warnock said. •
SARAH’S
media change her political dynamic? To
answer these questions, I put myself in
the place of an ardent Palin
supporter, creating @sarah-
twitter
verse
palin4eva, my secretive out-
let for my inner Palin-lover.
Hoping that Twitter would
make Palin more approach-
By Kelly Yahner able in her non-Mama Griz-
zly state, I attempted to
T
here comes a time in a woman’s life reach out.
when she must strike out on her own After tweeting such heart-
in the world. You may call it growing warming things @SarahPali-
up. Sarah Palin calls it “going rogue.” nUSA as “PALIN 2012!!!!1” “You
Palin, a self-described “maverick” decided are my hero! Want to be like you
to “go rogue” when tweeting about plans some day! Such a great role model!”
to build a community center and mosque and “Sarah Barracuda better be
near the site of Ground Zero in New York ready to eat Obama for breakfast in
City. #Election2012!” I waited anxiously
“Ground Zero Mosque supporters: at my computer, longing for Sarah to
doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does acknowledge my existence.
ours throughout the heartland? Peace- While waiting for Sarah to reciprocate namely the Governator of California, for-
ful Muslims, pls refudiate,” Palin said in a my feelings, I was surprised by mer Vice President Al Gore, and current
now-deleted July tweet. @teapartynation, who began following President Barack Obama, try to reach out
Minutes later, Palin changed the (non) me within 2 hours of my foray into Twitter- to constituents and improve communica-
word “refudiate” to “refute” in another verse. Feeling welcomed by my right-wing tion between citizens and government us-
tweet. Trying to make light of the situation, brethren, I began following such notewor- ing Twitter and Facebook.
Palin followed up with a joking message thy names as @johnboehner, @karlrove, Sarah Palin, however, tends to put her
about her error, saying “‘Refudiate,’ ‘mis- and, in the same vein, personal agenda before connecting with
underestimate,’ ‘wee-wee’d up.’ English @justinbieber. followers, preferring to promote her
is a living language. Shakespeare liked to I began to notice that @SarahPalinUSA books, speeches and other paid engage-
coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!” simply re-tweeted comments from Fox ments. It really is Palin first in
According to Merriam Webster, “refudi- News’ Greta Van Susteren and conserva- @SarahPalinUSA, after all.
ate” was its online search of the summer. tive radio host Mark Levin, among others. Twitter does not make Palin any more
A Google search of “Sarah Palin refudi- Very rarely does Palin tweet an original accessible to the American public, even
ate” comes up with 912,000 responses, thought, preferring to echo the sentiments though her tweets are regularly reported
far surpassing the previous No. 1 search of Fox News, Tea Party candidates and oth- in the news due to America’s fascination
of “Sarah Palin breast implants” by about er conservative news sources. Yet Palin’s with the USA’s First Maverick. Maybe in-
600,000 hits. Over 50 different national re-tweets are still continuously picked up stead of @SarahPalinUSA, she should
and international news sources covered by mainstream media from both sides of become @SarahPalinForFoxNewsAndPeo-
the “refudiate” bonanza, some criticizing the aisle, perhaps for being so Fair and pleWhoContributeToMyPAC.
her error, some criticizing her comparing Balanced. After waiting one long, painful week for
herself to Shakespeare and some “refudi- America has some sort of odd fascina- Sarah to acknowledge my existence, I was
ating” claims that Palin is and will be an tion with Palin. Increasing curiosity over unfulfilled. While several members of my
unfit leader if she decides to run for presi- her possible 2012 presidential run, her res- conservative family decided to follow my
dent owing to her magical ability to make ignation from governor and her incessant alter ego on Twitter and direct message
up words. need to give herself nicknames are only a me asking if I was actually Palin’s daugh-
In the world of Twitter, @SarahPalinUSA few of the many reasons why Palin is con- ter, I decided to throw in the towel on
really does not dominate. She has 244,972 stantly in the news. Sarah.
followers on Twitter. Barack Obama has By using social media outlets, many can- Instead, I found a new role model, since
5,319,063, and Lady GaGa takes the crown didates make themselves more accessible being graced with the honor of @KarlRove
with 6,154,287. When it comes to Twitter, to the American people, casting them- following my Twitter account. As a long-
Sarah Barracuda obviously doesn’t win selves as average, approachable people. time fan of his political ideologies and his
the popularity contest, but nevertheless Palin’s Twitter name even suggests her personal divorce rate, I felt right at home.
she is one of the most mentioned Twitter accessibility to all Americans. Although His acceptance of my right-wing alter ego
accounts in mainstream media. Palin does not hail from one of the con- and his use of Twitter to plug his personal
The real questions: Why do we care about tiguous 48 states, the USA at the end of agenda led me to make a change. You can
Palin’s tweets? How does her use of social her Twitter name suggests who is No. 1 now tweet me @karlrove4eva. •
in Sarah’s life: America. Other politicians,
THERULEOFLAW:
India’s Judiciary System
By Sarah Bufkin
A
lthough it is slightly comical and largely embarrassing to fices of the State Department of Labour, nursing my fourth cup
admit, I flew off to India this May filled with a sort of mis- of chai as the assistant labor commissioner attempted for the
sionary fire. I almost resonated in my cramped seat with fourth time to answer the question I had posed.
idealism and expectation. Finally, he headed for a cabinet, shuffled through a few hun-
For the next two months, I would volunteer with an NGO in dred sheets of crumpled paper, and pulled free a packet. Tossing
Rajasthan, India called the Mine Labour Protection Campaign, it at me, he nodded and said, “Look at the numbers. Maybe then
working to promote the rights of the state’s marginalized mining it will make sense.” Sense being, of course, a relative term.
population and, most specifically, to address the serious issue The numbers reflected the cases relating to child labor filed in
of child labour in the industry. Fantasies of exposé journalism the Bundi district’s court system back in 1997. Eighty-five cases
pieces and successful litigation and a flush of government offi- of child labor reported during the calendar year were in the haz-
cials newly converted to this conception of “human rights” circled ardous industries; 243 cases of child labor in the nonhazardous
PHOTOS BY ALEX PAN

through my consciousness as I picked through the incomprehen- industries. Of those 85 cases, only 29 were ever prosecuted in
sible airplane curry for vegetables. the courts.
How ignorant I was. I arrived in India cloaked in my sense of In 28 of the cases, the employers suffered no penalties, no con-
privilege and in my intellectual arrogance to find that just be- sequences, not even a slap on the wrist. In one case, the court
cause I could think and that I had studied India’s current predica- charged a fine of 200 rupees (US$4). Out of the 243 nonhazard-
ment did not mean that I knew a thing about the situation on the ous cases, only three were prosecuted. The court did not penalize
ground in the city of Jodhpur. the employer in any of them.
What in the U.S. would have been an investigative spread on The numbers astounded me. India’s court system redefines the
the front page of every major newspaper or a lawsuit settled for entire conception of a case backlog; a recent government study
millions out of court was simply an accepted social norm in In- cited by the India’s NDTV estimates that the high courts and the
dia—namely, that child labor exists, that it is prevalent, and that subordinate courts face backlogs of 3.8 million and 26.4 million
the government is not willing, or at this point even able, to re- cases, respectively.
move children from its workforce. According to the Times of India, a high court justice stated in
As soon as I arrived for work at MLPC the first day, I had al- March of 2010 that it would take the Indian judicial system a total
ready fixed my hopes on the judiciary system as the mechanism of 320 years to slog through all of the 31.28 million cases cur-
by which human rights rently pending, without
would prevail over ex- A Western education cannot in itself taking into account the
ploitation and injustice. addition of new cases
After all, India is lauded constitute a means through which to solve over that time period.
as the world’s most pop- the world’s ills. As such, the indepen-
ulous democracy, as an dent, impartial and fair
example for the rest of judiciary on which we
the developing world to emulate, as the heroic foil to the nefari- Americans so pride ourselves has been crippled and rendered
ous rise of its northern neighbor, China. pragmatically useless in the Indian system of governance. In fact,
When my supervisor didn’t show the same level of enthusi- legal philosopher Jeremy Waldron has argued that the courts,
asm about the idea, I sunk into confusion. Why not? Wasn’t the when kept impartial and fair, are more than just one of the prac-
purpose of the court system to enforce and interpret the laws tical manifestations of a government that practices “the rule of
created by the people’s elected representatives? law,” but that the courts are essential to the very conception of
My confusion evaporated a couple of weeks later, however, as the rule of law itself. In his self-named “proceduralist model,” the
I perched on a lopsided aluminum chair in one of the district of- judiciary is not incidental, not a by-product of a democracy, but
IN THE MINES: (clockwise from top left) A child stirs in its makeshift crib in the courtyard of one of the mining settlements around
Kota in Rajasthan, India; children play in one of the daycare centres run by a local NGO, the Mine Labour Protection Campaign, in
Kota’s mining community; a boy cuts slag stones into cobble stones for export at the mine site.
one pillar of the foundational platform miners and their children have no such A Western education cannot in itself
upon which democratic government is forum; they do not believe in the power constitute a means through which to
built. of their courts. Neither did the assistant la- solve the world’s ills. Democracy cannot
Waldron references two main roles that bor commissioner that served me chai and be transplanted into a soil so different
the courts fulfill in a law system: as the en- spoke with me for an hour or so one af- from that of its origin and be expected to
forcer, one that can hold both the citizens ternoon in July. From looking at Waldron’s grow into an exact mimicry.
and the officials themselves accountable premise, one Do I see the in-
for adherence to the laws and as a public would think that eptitude of the In-
forum, one in which citizens may come to the Indian gov- The divide between the dian judiciary as a
argue the laws both as to their legal mani- ernment is cur- ideal and reality is often deep flaw within
festations of the general societal norms rently a system its government?
and as to their interpretations in specific, that does not tremendous. Yes. Do I wish that
individual cases. comply with the the Indian peo-
In his paper, “The Rule of Law as the rule of law. ple had a viable
Theatre of Debate,” Waldron claims that “a But one thing that India has taught public forum to air grievances and argue
society is ruled by law in this sense when me, and taught me well, is that the divide their own legal regime? Yes. Do I think we
power is not exercised arbitrarily, but only between the ideal and reality is often tre- are too quick to preach where we should
pursuant to intelligent and open exercises mendous. The rule of law is, after all, sim- instead attempt to bridge the divide be-
of public reason in institutions and forums ply another political ideal that we Western tween theory and practice? Yes; 1.15 billion
set up for that purpose.” thinkers bandy about in our exegeses on times, yes. •
But in the mining district of Kota, the the state of world affairs.
VOTE
Elaine
MARSHALL This publication was paid for at least in
part by UNC student fees
U.S. SENATE

October 2010

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