Coming To An End

I believe it is clear, my feeling on Animal Cruelty.  I do not believe any animal should suffer through their existence, and I urge all of you to be productive in helping put and end to all animal abuse.  Wether it be protesting, blogging, or making a call to animal services if you know of any animal being mistreated I urge you to take control and make sure  correct action is taken.

 I hope through this blog, my viewers have been able to take new information about Animal Cruelty.  Through the ASPCA, PETA and the general public we have been able to contain animal abuse.  Laws have been enforced and people are much more aware of the consequences for battering an animal.  I hope through the information I have provided that this will stay with my bloggers who have followed me for the last three weeks and has made a difference in your feelings of this very emotional protest.  Thank you again for all your comments and opinions you have shared with me.  

Sincerely,

Robyn Biliack 

5 Articles

1)  The first article I found interesting was courtesy of MSN.com, here I wanted to find information that I have incorporated into my own blog about the ASPCA, I found one article that spoke about mistreated horses one man was keeping on his farm that had been neglected and battered.  The ASPCA received a warrant from the courts to take these animals out of harms way and also fine the man responsible for these horses with animal abuse, a hefty fine.  The man stated that his only intention was to purchase horses from action and then turn around and see these horses to the general public.  Sadly man of the horses had been under such poor condition for so long many did not make it.  The few that did make it to recovery received help and animal clinics and human societies.  This was one story with a somewhat happy ending but of course not for all the horses.  Thanks to the ASPCA for stepping in some of the horses were saved, had it not been for the well-developed corporation these horses would have all suffered from greater harm. 

Link to article via MSN:

http://www.aspca.org/Blog/ASPCA%20Rescuing%20Over%20100%20Neglected%20Horses%20from%20Arkansas%20Farm.aspx

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2)  For the next article I researched CNN.com for articles and I found an interesting story that reached the hearts of a lot of people.  The article was about 500 animals: including sheep, ducks, goats, a peacock, horses, dogs and cats that were evacuated Wednesday from Queensland's largest animal shelter due to rising floodwaters from the Brisbane River in Australia.  Queensland animal protection group quickly put out and emergency SOS call to the whole community to take animals into their homes and foster them after the five-acre center in Brisbane was inundated.  Even though many of the people were worried because the city was under such caos hundreds of people stepped up and cared for all the animals.  Thanks to the RSPCA, which is the ASPCA’s, rescue serves the animals made it to safe homes and were cared for until the disaster was cleaned up. 

 Link to article via CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/01/12/australia.flooding.animals/index.html?iref=allsearch

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3)  My third article is also from CNN news and was about legal proceedings against a London police officer whose two police dogs died when he left them in a hot car last month. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said it would sue the officer for causing unnecessary suffering to the two animals.  The officer left two German Shepherds inside his care in the middle of the after noon with blazing temperatures, to go into the police station.  If convicted the officer faces up to six months in prison and a 32,000 dollar fine.  If it hadn’t been for the RSPCA to step into this matter, the man more then likely would have gone free.  Thankfully this issue will go to court and will get the deserved attention for the lose of two officers with fur that lost their lives.

Link to article via CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/07/21/uk.police.dogs.lawsuit/index.html?iref=allsearch

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4)  Courtesy of CNN and article titled, “Obama signs law banning “crush videos” depicting animal cruelty.”  President Barack Obama has signed a law that specifically bans so-called "crush videos", depictions of small animals being tortured to death by humans. The legislation came in response to a Supreme Court ruling this year striking down a broader congressional law dealing with animal cruelty.  This was very similar to the dog-fighting act passed, stating no dogs shall be used for recreational use or fighting.  This article was very interesting because it not only talks about this new law being passed but the controversial debate about other recent problems such as deer hunting, and depiction s of bullfighting.  I would highly recommend reading this article I learned quite a bit.

Link to article via CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/10/animal.cruelty/index.html?iref=allsearch
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5)  I found my final article on BBC new, this article was about a protest to reinstate a teacher for slaughtering a lamb to teach her students about the food chain.  This was the one article out of all the ones I have researched that I did not agree with.  The teacher basically states that she was trying to show her students the necessary means behind the food industry and the put a mental indentation in the minds.  The school bored did not see this act as a positive way of teaching and has removed her of her role at the Lydd School.  The part I did not agree with wither or not she was a good teacher was the fact that the entire school was all for protesting and petitioning to have her reinstated of her duties of a teacher at their school.  I think regardless of how great of a teach she was, she was wrong to perform this act of slaughter in front of her class in order to teach her lessons.  This was the complete wrong way of going about it and she took matters into her own hands.  Had she maybe taken then to a farm and had parent permission it would have been a different story but this was not the case. 

Link to article via BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/8513594.stm

Opinion Assignment 3

Is Klein correct in her assessment of activism today?    

Taking a deeper look into what activism is depicted as today entails, “impression”.  More times then not, people are only being active in society to better themselves but not for all the right reasons…

Thinking back to earlier times and how people went about being active in their cultures is surprisingly different form today, any where from protesting to blogging things have in deed changed.  Like I said a bit ago it is all about impressing people, whether being active can help brighten your resume or persuade someone to give you the job instead of the other person who didn’t serve food to the homeless is the breaking factor, this is what being active has become.   

Is it really less effective?

Of course in today’s society, activism is not viewed as effective or as prevailing.  Even taking in to consideration all the vast differences in technological evolution made it does not come close to matching the true dedication that was present in the past.  For example the internet, people think that because of the millions of users that occupy the internet daily that this is a better way to gain participants in a follow.  But as time has shown, blogging and creating websites to show activism has not shown as privileged as hundreds of people gathering to protest about their feelings and wants.  One might argue that the internet is a way the reach out to way more people in many areas then just one meeting place to protests.  This is true but for the intensity that follows a protest on site is much more than any website page can match. 

Other examples of activism include your wardrobe.  Wear a specific color like purple on a specific day could mean you were supporting gay rights, other everyday forms could be wearing rainbow in the early 90’s this meant you were or supported gay choices.  Other than clothing activism comes what you purchase on an everyday scale.  Whether you want to help the world to become “green” you could instead by “green” products rather than harmful things that eventually hurt our earth.  Any way you chose to be active counts, but as shown there are some ways that out way the rest. 

Less dangerous?

Many examples are a lot less dangerous today, such as what you wear or buy, these causes do make a difference in someway and are in no way shape or form hurting anyone.  It is a decision on their own to support and no one could tell you what to wear or buy.  These are your choices and your rights to follow.  Not to mention I think over all activism is less dangerous as a whole in today’s society.  You do not have riots forming from protest as often, and you do not have people in public either by themselves or in a small group trying to get their rights across to people.  You could now resort to the Internet or blog options rather than being in a place you do not feel safe in protesting movements.

 

If Klein is correct, what factors do you think have made activism by young people today different from that of the Freedom Riders or anti-Vietnam protests?

The one main thing that stuck out to me the most is that people do not want to support causes unless in some way shape or form it will better them.  Whether it be a PETA add against the wearing of animal fur, celebrities think that they are only trying to help make a choice against harming and hunting animals, when really they are just being seen in the spot light in just another form.  If they are giving back, they need to get something out of it, of course there are some people left who really do respectable things out of the goodness of their hearts, but more some now then ever this is not the case.  This has all evolved because many people now are consumed by money and fame, not by rights and morals.  It is sad to think that you could only get someone to help your cause because they know it will help put them in the spot light or make them feel better about themselves because they were nice enough to donate or help those not as fortunate then they are.  Either way times have changed and activism is still present whether for the right reason or not. 

Assignment # 3

“The observer changed the position of the observed.”  What does Gitlin mean by this?

I believe Gitlin is explaining that people reporting via the social movements have changed what is being taken from this movement.  It has of course changed the framing structure and ultimately changed the boundaries for this movement.  It is true that reports on specific events now underline certain conditions, mainly events such as wars and other significant occurrences.  Also shifting their views from one group focusing specifically on those individuals instead of the overall group’s perspective collecting false statements.  Not to mention changing or directing the individuals who are being questioned into the direction they want to go forth in making their next story.  Being easily persuaded is key for them and will ultimately help stories break headlines whether it is entirely true or not. 

Having these shift framing roles have actually helped focus the average American mind into believe what “they” want use to know and or believe in, whether it being the truth or far from it.  The structure their stories on what they believe will have high results and inevitable cause the most dramatic affect on the people receiving the information, the American population.  If sensualizing these stories did not accrue, the general public would have a much better understanding of what was really happening with current events and would not have to sift through all of the fluff added in order to make a “good story”. Sadly this will not change and we must stay on our toes about believing just anything we hear.  

Which of the protests that we have looked at thus far in the semester do you think has been most affected by the presence of media coverage and how the tactics utilized by that social movement have been impacted by such coverage?

Throughout all the movements we have looked at thus far, I would have to say that the one movement I feel that was mostly affected by media coverage would have to be the Gay and Lesbian rights movement.  I chose this example mainly because of the wide variety of media coverage that it entailed and how both sides of the story were covered which eventually gave people the right to make up their own minds about how they feel about this movement.  The acceptance rate for Gay people has greatly changed with positive numbers.  Whether it has been their positive protesting with students, or their smartly constructed television shows it is hard to tell, but one thing is for sure.  People are warming up to the idea of Gay acceptance.  More and more people who are gay are feeling more comfortable talking openly about their gay beliefs, which in return is helping more people come clean so to speak.  Celebrities, such as Ellen DeGeneres have helped so many people become okay with their feelings about being openly gay and she has done so much to help make sexuality of any case acceptable.  

Other shows such as Project Runway, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and Will and Grace were also other huge supporters of this new revolution.  Helping people to see clearly that Gay rights is a choice, a choice that only they can make and just like other movements should be taken into all consideration. 

It is however interesting though, that before these celebrity out burst of coming clean with their sexuality, Gay rights were not seen as openly.  These people, average people were seen as scum for not like their opposite sex and that in religion they were making the biggest sin, and so on.  With time all of these things have changed, there is however large media cover about gay marriage and whether or not it is allowed in many state across the country, some states more than others are very against this cause and will be for a long time to come.  It has widened questions about people rights and their choice, but in conclusion there will never fully be acceptance from everyone on this matter. 

It is a way of life that in some ways is new to our communities and people are not sure of this change, whether to support it or be against it, either way, it is a ongoing well known covered story that the media loves to gobble up.  

Opinion Assignment 2

If I were to create the perfect candidate to be the head of today’s women’s rights movement she would look something a little like this.  This woman would have grown up in a middle class to upper class environment, have been well educated and graduated college.  Also not have to crucial ideas on religion but have some knowledge on the matter.  She would have had brothers and sister so that she would know how to handle and talk to each sex.  Not to mention that she would be of a non- white decent, maybe entailing a Mexican or Spanish decent.  This way she would not be your average woman she would know what it was like to really fight for who you were and what you resembled.  As for her age, she would be 30-35 so that woman of all ages could relate to her and she would also be wise enough with enough years under her belt to have lived to know what was necessary to protest about.  She would be married with children that way her husband could back her up and show that is was not a burden to feel the same way as his wife’s wants and needs, and her children could see what a strong independently wonderful mother they had and that it is okay to fight for what was right. 

I think that in many ways things would have been different had Claudette Colvin been the face of social rights for woman.  Colvin was a young girl at the tender age of 15; she had found herself pregnant and not married.  You could say her life was not following the best of order.  Claudette Colvin was however the first girl to not give her seat away on a bus.  Many people have heard of Rosa Parks, this may be because of Rosa Parks’s background or manly just because it was seen more important at her time.  Nine months earlier though, Claudette Colvin’s refusal of her seat did happen, and had this been the start of the Woman’s rights movement things I believe would have gone tremendously different.  Because of her young age and status of being poor she would have put a completely different face on the first person to stand up to racial laws.  Rosa Parks was quite a bit older and had come from and educated background and had been married with many children for years.  The cover in which Rosa Park’s painted for the newly protested rights for woman became so controversially spoken about because of her status.  Had Colvin been the eye of the civil movement it is uncertain that people would have been on the defense about protesting and helping with the new development.  This issue would have been need much more development and people on board had it been this young girl to become the new face in which to follow.  Maybe things would have been different today had it been her instead of Rosa Park’s but we can only wonder about the difference now days.  Would there be racism at all? Would woman be seen as equals to men?  It can’t be answered.  But it will be interesting to see with time what is to come and  what other people shape the face of the future, with new movements and issues.

Claudette Colvin

Rosa Parks

Text Assignment 2

Can the social movement you have chosen to follow be said to have a particular collective identity or “frames(s)”?  What are these?

Within animal cruelty you have many ways of framed movements.  The whole reason as to why animal rights was developed was because more and more people we protesting and becoming aware of what the behind the scene looked like for animals such as in puppy mills. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was the first humane society to be established in North America and is, today, one of the largest in the world. Henry Bergh founded this organization in 1866 on the belief that animals are entitled to kind and respectful treatment at the hands of humans, and must be protected under penalty of law. Headquartered in New York City, the ASPCA maintains a strong local presence, and with programs that extend their anti-cruelty mission across the country, they are recognized as the highest national animal welfare organization. The ASPCA is a privately funded not-for-profit corporation, and proud to boast their more than 1 million supporters across the country. As the first humane organization to be granted legal authority to investigate and make arrests for crimes against animals, this corporation is fully dedicated to fulfilling the ASPCA mission through nonviolent approaches. This organization provides local and national leadership in three key areas: caring for pet parents and pets, providing positive outcomes for at-risk animals and serving victims of animal cruelty.  Without these three main functions the ASPCA would not have been so greatly devoted and developed as an animal rescue network, and would not have grown to its mass expansion throughout its operating years.

Compare and contrast the framing of the social movement you are following to those of the pro-life movement and the environmental movement.  Does the movement you have chosen seem to have a particular iconic “face”, such as Rosa Park or Cindy Sheehan?  Does the social movement appear to have strategies for attracting and retaining members, and what are those strategies?

I believe that when people think of the ASPCA they have hope, hope for the animals in constant suffrage and torture.  This foundation has become so big because of the many people wanting to help support their beliefs and expand its knowledge with millions of people.  As asked if I think The ASPCA foundations could side more with Rosa Parks way of social protest or Cindy Sheehan, I would have to say that both Lady’s demonstrate features that the ASPCA would have followed.  The ASPCA first started because they were tired of seeing animals tortured and nothing was done to stop it, the same was as why Rosa Parks watched as people mistreated her for decades because of her race and gender.  She finally had enough, just like the founder of ASPCA.  Animals had been abused enough and they must muster up the start of the end of animal abuse. 

Of course the ASPCA has definite strategies that attracts viewers to help with their on-going cause.  I’m sure you have been watching t.v. when you see the commercial come on for the ASPCA, it usually has footage from animals, cat’s and dog’s that have been abuse, neglected, or mistreated and abandoned.  These adds for the ASPCA, what is actually happening to these pets or animals is true and quite real.  They do not sugar coat or make it easier to digests for their viewers they simply want you to know that this animals has lived a life of hell, and for small donations you can help save lives of these innocent animals.  Many people are pet lovers and this message shoots out to them across the nation.  Gathering many supports and people protesting for animal rights as well.  You will usually hear a famous artists song like, “In the Arms of an Angle” by Sarah Mclachlan.  Who also at the end of the commercial speaks out about how you can personally help animals in need.  Having famous actors or singers is also helpful in reaching across to the general public gaining fans and viewers. 

Describe the persons who have been primarily responsible for framing the social movement you are following and the persons who might join the movement.  What are the salient characteristics such as race, gender, socioeconomic class, religion, political affiliation that would describe the person who joins the social movement?  What intersectionalities may be present in the members of the movement you are following, and what difficulties or challenges may be posed by such intersectionalities?

The founders of the ASPCA have been most recognized for shaping the heart of the ASPCA, however many well known celebrities have been responsible for the appearances on the commercials and advertisements for the ASPCA.  The people most likely to join the ASPCA or donate to their cause would be people who love and adore their pets.  I don’t believe that race, gender or socio-economic class or religion play a crucial role in promoting help to the ASPCA, I think it has more to do with the kind of person you are and what you think is important.  Of course being financially stable is in deed helpful because you would be more likely to donate or share a larger donation with this foundation.  As for race and gender, I do not think either of these to tactics applies to this matter. 

What are the consequences of the movement you are studying being framed in this particular way?  Who may be excluded?

The main consequences I can think of for the ASPCA movement would be people’s knowledge.  Even though this helps in many ways, because more and more people know about this protest and donate to it, many people think that because it is a larger corporation and has grown to a well-known size, they might not be as prompt to help with it.  Brushing it aside or maybe donating to another cause because of its progress.

The only people that this foundation can exclude would be the people who support facilities such as, puppy mills, food production industries for meat, and so on.  They will in return lose revenue because of less people purchasing their products.  However the ASPCA is not looking to shut down these industries, mainly just to have these palaces provide better care and treatment for their services.   

Are there ways in which the social movement you have chosen might be reframed to be more inclusive?

I think that the ASPCA has done a incredible job of taking such a serious matter and making it heard world wide.  No laws would have ever stood had the ASPCA not been formed.  I am not sure what other ways they could have bettered themselves as a foundation, because they have clearly become a house hold recognized group and many people do donate and help with their causes to better all animals.   Time is there only object, the sky is the limit and regulation and rules that can be made in order to help animals and their futures.  I for one will be waiting to see what other measures are enforced from the ASPCA in order to help generations of animals to come.