The sub-topic that I have decided to do my final project on is woman/gender based violence. I have chosen this topic because the reading of Ramaphele Challenges of citizenship tells us that violence is on of the challenges that the citizens of South Africa are faced with. In particular gender based violence. Ramamphele claims that “Although democracy acknowledges the voices of all citizens, the degree to which ones voice is heard depends on socio- economic status.”(2008,34) I feel that socially women have been made to feel less important than men and therefore that is why they are vulnerable to be abused by men.
The images that I have chosen for the movie are images that show victims of violence and some of the images show men beating up the women. Some of these images are sensitive but its reality.
What inspires me about this topic is that this is something that is an issue that affects everyone it might not be directly but it is affecting people in societies that we belong to.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The "Mystery virus"
For the final news portal story our group did our content analysis on what we thought was the most controversial topic at the moment. The out break of the mystery virus. This has been a headline on most if not all the newspapers recently and it has scared a lot of people.
We looked at five different newspaper articles the Times, Witness, Sowetan , The Sunday independent and the Mercury. We looked at how these different newspapers had reported on the same story: which page was the article on, how was the topic set out; the adjectives used how they affected the readers view or emotion about this virus. Were the headlines informative, sensational or neutral?
The mystery virus was identified as Lassa fever by the times and as the Arena virus by the other newspapers but what all the newspapers agreed on is that it was a mystery that has scared everyone.
We looked at five different newspaper articles the Times, Witness, Sowetan , The Sunday independent and the Mercury. We looked at how these different newspapers had reported on the same story: which page was the article on, how was the topic set out; the adjectives used how they affected the readers view or emotion about this virus. Were the headlines informative, sensational or neutral?
The mystery virus was identified as Lassa fever by the times and as the Arena virus by the other newspapers but what all the newspapers agreed on is that it was a mystery that has scared everyone.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
women in the work place
Our second article for the news story is Women in the workplace. We decided to do this story to look at the issues that are surrounding the women in the work place.
Women in the industry are increasing more and more in the industry in mass numbers. Last year approximately 1.1 billion workers out of 2.8 billion were women. This is an increase of nearly 200 million in the last ten years.
One of the challenges that women are still experiencing are higher unemployment rate and lower wages. It has been shown however, that although there may be an explosive growth in the employment rate, there is still very little development in terms of empowerment. The payment or wages are not equal as to that of what men would receive, and the employment benefits are not as great.
We look at a case study of women in the working industry and an interview with a woman in the mining industry to show some of the challenges; we looked at bias between what is characterized as male female jobs. The women in the interview admit there was a power struggle, as she, a young woman leading a higher position than the male. The man felt threatened by her and some culturally could not allow themselves to be ordered by women. It took time for her to reach an understanding with the male but after an incident where she had helped them get a raise, the male suddenly preferred her more than her male colleagues.
Women in the industry are increasing more and more in the industry in mass numbers. Last year approximately 1.1 billion workers out of 2.8 billion were women. This is an increase of nearly 200 million in the last ten years.
One of the challenges that women are still experiencing are higher unemployment rate and lower wages. It has been shown however, that although there may be an explosive growth in the employment rate, there is still very little development in terms of empowerment. The payment or wages are not equal as to that of what men would receive, and the employment benefits are not as great.
We look at a case study of women in the working industry and an interview with a woman in the mining industry to show some of the challenges; we looked at bias between what is characterized as male female jobs. The women in the interview admit there was a power struggle, as she, a young woman leading a higher position than the male. The man felt threatened by her and some culturally could not allow themselves to be ordered by women. It took time for her to reach an understanding with the male but after an incident where she had helped them get a raise, the male suddenly preferred her more than her male colleagues.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Story for news team
The story our news team is writing about is about how dependency affects dignity. In particular the elders (senior citizens) of society. As I had mentioned in my first blog posting I think that dignity can be shaped and determined by different characteristics. I think that dependency is one of those characteristics. Ones dignity may be affected by how much he/she is dependent on someone or something i.e. we all know that people who are independent are admired and praised and therefore everyone would like to be independent and not rely on anyone for anything. But this isn’t always the case with our elders
Our elders because mostly of their age are forced to become dependent on people, in most cases these are family members, old age homes and government pension grants. So we want to answer the question: How is dignity affected through dependency? Because the situation of dependency that is created is not always easy nor is it comfortable e.g. they find themselves in situations where they have become burdens on people so their dignity is affected, their dignity is also affected in that sometimes they do not get the correct respect from people. When they are trying to get grants some of the government employees do not treat them with respect when addressing or assisting them as the elders.
We have divided our work into sections: research on old age homes and reasons why old people are left there or why they become burdens. Interviews, on of the interview is with of the oldest women we have in the country and is done already and answering questions based on the overall topic. We did have ethical questions rising from this topic such as : is it right to have someone look after your parents or grand parents for you or sending them to old age homes.
Our elders because mostly of their age are forced to become dependent on people, in most cases these are family members, old age homes and government pension grants. So we want to answer the question: How is dignity affected through dependency? Because the situation of dependency that is created is not always easy nor is it comfortable e.g. they find themselves in situations where they have become burdens on people so their dignity is affected, their dignity is also affected in that sometimes they do not get the correct respect from people. When they are trying to get grants some of the government employees do not treat them with respect when addressing or assisting them as the elders.
We have divided our work into sections: research on old age homes and reasons why old people are left there or why they become burdens. Interviews, on of the interview is with of the oldest women we have in the country and is done already and answering questions based on the overall topic. We did have ethical questions rising from this topic such as : is it right to have someone look after your parents or grand parents for you or sending them to old age homes.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
privacy is privacy
To me an issue that goes along with dignity has to be respect. Your dignity is upheld or destroyed according to the amount of respect people have for you. The respect that you have from people is something that you work for, you earn it. Ones dignity that has been gained throughout their life can be destroyed by one incidence that make people loose their respect for them.
I am speaking from experience because unfortunately I learnt the hard way that people always notice the bad in someone but and are quick to forget the good.
Recently there was an incident were my privacy was invaded. I had things that were very private on my student drive but someone invaded my private space and took what was supposed to be personal and private and made it public for everyone. When that happened people became very judgmental and came to their own conclusions. Yes my dignity was affected very badly!
But in that experience I have learnt that in life there are challenges that will try to bring you down as an person and affect your dignity but what is important is how you handle the situation because handling this in an decent, humble and respectful way makes you an dignified person.
IS THE INTERNET DEMOCRATIC?
According to Becky Hogge the internet is loosing its democracy. “Internet is starting to look more like a tool of control, not one of freedom.” (Hogge, 2007) This is happening as censorship and content filtering increases amongst countries. This was discovered by the ONI Open Net Initiative a joint initiative with the goal to monitor and report on the internet filtering and surveillance by nations. Countries studied are blocking different types of content in a variety of areas – political, social, human or minority rights and internal conflicts.
In 1994 the vice president Al Gore of United States used the metaphor an “information superhighway” to refer to the internet. Claiming that "The Global Information Infrastructure ...will circle the globe with information superhighways on which all people can travel. These highways ...will allow us to share information, to connect, and to communicate as a global community.
This was not a good choice of metaphor because people (citizens) have seen the opposite of this. “Traffic jams, accidents, the disintegration of post-WW II infrastructures.”(Druick, 1995).
I think yes the internet is democratic. But at the same time I feel that censorship is important and necessary I say this because since the internet is open for everyone people are free to say anything that they want to say people sometimes abuse that privilege People end up being exposed to hate speech, more especially in politics. Because everyone uses the internet children are exposed to pornography. So I disagree with Becky when he says that the internet is loosing its democracy I think it is being filtered for all the bad and unnecessary and what is being left is the content that is “clean”, helpful.
I am speaking from experience because unfortunately I learnt the hard way that people always notice the bad in someone but and are quick to forget the good.
Recently there was an incident were my privacy was invaded. I had things that were very private on my student drive but someone invaded my private space and took what was supposed to be personal and private and made it public for everyone. When that happened people became very judgmental and came to their own conclusions. Yes my dignity was affected very badly!
But in that experience I have learnt that in life there are challenges that will try to bring you down as an person and affect your dignity but what is important is how you handle the situation because handling this in an decent, humble and respectful way makes you an dignified person.
IS THE INTERNET DEMOCRATIC?
According to Becky Hogge the internet is loosing its democracy. “Internet is starting to look more like a tool of control, not one of freedom.” (Hogge, 2007) This is happening as censorship and content filtering increases amongst countries. This was discovered by the ONI Open Net Initiative a joint initiative with the goal to monitor and report on the internet filtering and surveillance by nations. Countries studied are blocking different types of content in a variety of areas – political, social, human or minority rights and internal conflicts.
In 1994 the vice president Al Gore of United States used the metaphor an “information superhighway” to refer to the internet. Claiming that "The Global Information Infrastructure ...will circle the globe with information superhighways on which all people can travel. These highways ...will allow us to share information, to connect, and to communicate as a global community.
This was not a good choice of metaphor because people (citizens) have seen the opposite of this. “Traffic jams, accidents, the disintegration of post-WW II infrastructures.”(Druick, 1995).
I think yes the internet is democratic. But at the same time I feel that censorship is important and necessary I say this because since the internet is open for everyone people are free to say anything that they want to say people sometimes abuse that privilege People end up being exposed to hate speech, more especially in politics. Because everyone uses the internet children are exposed to pornography. So I disagree with Becky when he says that the internet is loosing its democracy I think it is being filtered for all the bad and unnecessary and what is being left is the content that is “clean”, helpful.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Dignity
The concept of inherent human dignity means that everyone is born with dignity. It is part of the human being. Everyone has the right to have their dignity respected and protected along with that right comes the responsibility of earning that respect. The concept of dignity is a social concept structured by people so therefore the characteristics and qualities of a dignity may vary from person to person. I also feel that even though you are born with dignity u actually inherit it once you enter a part of life that you are proud of because dignity can be about feeling important and valuable and this feeling is brought by knowing you have achieved and succeeded. But if you do things that are not correct you will loose your dignity people will have no respect for you.
An example of a person that I feel has demonstrated what I feel is a characteristic of human dignity is Nelson Mandela. He has gained respect and honour from me because he has earned it .He is a well-groomed, grounded man.
An example of a person that I feel has demonstrated what I feel is a characteristic of human dignity is Nelson Mandela. He has gained respect and honour from me because he has earned it .He is a well-groomed, grounded man.
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