What Makes Social Networks Work

Another student in my Media and Politics course made what I thought was a very smart comment during this morning’s lecture.
We were talking about what motivates readers to post political comments on blogs or social networking sites — or just on online articles in general.
We looked at the 800+ comments on a story from a supposed conservative columnist as to why Sarah Palin should withdraw from the Republican ticket.  Other examples were viewer responses to CBS news anchor Katie Couric’s recent sit-down interview with Palin and messages from supporters posted to facebook.com campaign groups.
The student said that people join in discussion boards on various sites, because, in a way, they feel comfortable in that environment, as if they are having a familiar, “dinner table” conversation with someone else rather than the reality of the situation: they’re communicating with someone they’ve probably never met and probably never will meet; someone who might live thousands of miles away and, with whom, they share little in common aside from an interest in a particular news story or viewpoint.

Republicans Take Issue with Foreign Oil at RNC

Like many Americans, I took time last week to watch the spectacle of national political convention round two. In case you missed it, it was the Republicans this time around.

I was able to garner a first, real live look at vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; I heard statements from “Independent Democrat” Sen. Joe Lieberman, Conn.; and while driving to Kansas City Thursday night, I listened to as much of John McCain’s nearly hour-long acceptance speech as my car’s antennae  would allow.

Balloons poured down at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., last week.

 

I won’t dwell on how the two executive heads of the current administration were noticeably absent in St. Paul.

I won’t go into my impression of Palin, the “pit bull”-esque hockey mom, and what I thought of the hoopla surrounding the pregnancy her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol.

And while I’d like to delve into so many issues surrounding both the Democratic and Republican conventions, I’ll instead stick to one sharp image that, for me, has remained long after the flashbulbs have faded and the confetti has been swept up.

That image came during a speech Wednesday by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Like many of his Republican cohorts and Democratic counterparts, Giuliani shared his views on what could be the key issue in the 2008 bid for the White House: “energy independence.”

After relaying his party’s “all of the above approach including nuclear power and, yes, off-shore oil drilling,” Giuliani laughed, clapped his hands and echoed the chants of the GOP faithful, exclaiming, “Drill Baby Drill!”

Posters on display at the RNC displayed some attendees' clear feelings on how to solve America's energy crisis.

 

The reaction of the crowd reminded me of what a Beatles concert must have been like during the British invasion.

I guess I just don’t understand what all the excitement was about.

Obama’s Acceptance Speech: Ideal

Toward the end of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech Thursday, I leaned over to ask a fellow reporter who — like me — was covering a watch party at the Blue Note in downtown Columbia what her thoughts were.

“He’s too big for his shoes,” she replied.

I assumed she was referring to the Illinois senator’s pledges to: 1) end the war in Iraq; 2) make health care accessible to all; 3) put America’s youths through college, 4) end U.S. reliance on oil from the Middle East and 5) create 5 million American jobs over the next decade — all while still managing to “cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families.”

Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for U.S. president, smiles during his acceptance speech Thursday night in Denver.

 

 

As a college student who relies on student loans to pay for school, as someone who hasn’t been able to afford health care on my own and because I had to wait tables for two years while earning a meager hourly wage as a newspaper reporter before coming back to school, all of this financial support sounds great.

The more than 300 Obama supporters at the Blue Note Thursday sure seemed to agree. “Yes we can!” they chanted amongst banners that read “hope” and “change.”

Maybe it’s the cynic in me, or maybe — in an attempt to remain an objective journalist — I was consciously trying to distance myself from all of the political rhetoric. But the question keep lingering in my head while watching Obama’s historic address: How’s he going to pay for all this?