Current Events Quiz #2

1. Yesterdays Presidential debate allowed the competitors that were falling behind, to get screen time to assert that they still mattered, and were there to win. Donald Trump is reflecting his lead in the national polls that determine participation.

2. CIA Director John Brennan and other important people, were at UT for the unveiling of 2,500 documents given to JFK and LBJ in the 1960's. Before his speech at a ceremony in Bass Concert Hall, the CIA had been working to make the declassification possible, and the documents are now available on the CIA website. PDB means Presidential Daily Briefs, and the ones from the 1960's capture the evolution of the Vietnam War, problems with communist student protests, and conflicts with Cuba, Africa, and the Middle East. 

3. Hungary officially closed its borders, so now migrants/asylum seekers cannot cross the Hungary-Serbia border. They also fired water cannons at them, which you should definitely not do, ever. Because of the razor wire fence Hungary put up, the refugees are having to take alternate routes. Which is dangerous, because some of these routes are riddled with landmines.

4.  Ahmed Mohamed is a Muslim boy, who brought a clock he made to school to show to his engineering teacher. The teacher called the police because they are afraid of Muslims, and are also racist. The school staff escorted him outside after searching a 14 YEAR OLD BOY, and they said later it would have gone down exactly the same way if the person were of a different religion or race. Which is a lie. People were furious about the ordeal, and President Obama tweeted saying that the clock was cool, and that he should have been celebrated. Especially considering it took him 20 minutes before bed. The Irving City Council endorsed a bill that forbid judges from rulings based on foreign laws.

ESSAY QUESTION

I first heard about Ahmed through Tumblr, and I think that when it comes to newspaper editions of such controversial things, they might be better. Because journalists tell the facts, what they know (or at least most of them do), and nothing is really saturated with objectivity and biases. Whereas on social media there is no need for that, because social media is all about speaking your mind, and what YOUR views are. So, where one person might believe one thing, and talk about their side of the story, someone else is going to argue the exact opposite, and people make things up all the time online. The news value of this story has a lot of proximity and conflict, i think. If only because racism is a huge thing all around the world, and terrible things happen to POC all the time. I probably wouldn't have changed where the article went, because I agree as to where they put it. It's a political and cultural issue and it think the articles that were on the same page were also relevant to our society and things that need to change within it.