AUBSpring12-MCOM251

Hi, I wanted to draw your attention to this important petition that I recently signed. "Down With the MP Salaries" I really think this is an important cause, and I'd like to encourage you to add your signature, too. It's free and takes just a few seconds of your time. :p

Here are some edits (I posted it here so Dima can also see in case she wants to change more): I, the undersigned, am a taxpayer and agree that MPs should not receive exorbitantly large sums of money following their service to the country, nor should they have access to luxury items for free using revenue collected from taxes. Furthermore, I agree that MPs should receive subsidies equivalent to those of other employees and have their end of service compensation calculated in the same manner (i.e. last monthly salary*12*number of years employed). I understand that Lebanon's national debt is immense and must be cut down. Although this serves as only one step in that direction, it is, however, an important step.

wish someone tagged this earlier

True that

A slideshow of the five leading candidates for the French presidency

We wanted infotainment, we got infotainment ;-) 

This is another part of the episode, covering the Secret Service Prostitution Scandal, some replies to twitter questions and a good point made about Super PACs and their role in negative advertising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEG31QE4y9w&feature=relmfu

still makes me laugh!

"Al sama Zarqa, al Shams Safra, wa al warqa bayda"  "The white ballot is a clear statement of our discontent and frustration with the upcoming elections," "If there is a large percentage of blank ballots cast in the upcoming elections, then it may serve as an important indication of the political views here,"  "If you don't believe in any of the candidates, then why not cast a vote for a cause instead of a character?" "You can put that blank vote into good use and vote for a better future and environment," 

This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the elitist theory of democracy and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.

I really like watching documentaries and this one is an hour and 40 minutes long so I'll watch it as soon as possible :) Did you watch it Zeina? Is it worth it? Is it biased?

I did. It's a good overview of propaganda, how it started and developed. It's so interesting to see how many fabricated stories there are out there. I wouldn't say it's biased but it is very US-centric. There's a good 15minutes about "We the people" that you can skip altogether.

Hussein, Dina and I are working on Proportional Representation for our final project. Watch this episode for a briefing of the proposed electoral laws. Let us know what you think. Which law would you advocate for?

The map is a great way to keep up with the race

"because we know their future and all of our children's future is at stake in this election and I don't want to be the guy who has to sit with my granddaughter, 20 years from now, and tell stories about an America where people once were free." -rick santorum CAN I JUST KILL MYSELF NOW??

Average Daily Viewership Share in Lebanon for 2011 LBC 38.4% Jadeed: 35 % MTV 28.7% OTV 25.4% Future 16.7% NBN 12.3% Manar 12% TL: 11.6% Future News: 10.9%

The study was conducted by IPSOS not by the blogger. Why wouldn't it be accurate?

It's not about IPSOS it's about the respondents. I'm sure a lot of people, when being surveyed, will give answers according to political beliefs and not according to what TV channel they really watch...

Al jazeera's detailed updated on all steps of the US elections

This may not be a political campaign, but Invisible Children has created an ingenious advocacy campaign. My Facebook newsfeed is dominated by KONY 2012 today. Take a look. Here's the actual website: http://s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony-4.html

Definitely worth following #stopkony stream line tonight... Interesting tweets & RTs...

This is definitely a political communication campaign! You can do an interesting critical analysis and reach very interesting conclusions concerning political communication campaigns. I would be glad if we can briefly discuss this tomorrow in class. (I know 50 minutes are not enough to have discussions and go over theories so I hope we'll have time for both Kony and Obama discussions)

Interesting read.

oh so its happening in Charlotte, North Carolina.. :p im talking about the 2012 Democratic National Convention its a useful site providing info about the events the delegates and you can even donate there :p

Hahah! are you going to give us all the answers of the exam that we didn't know? :P

although the clip highlights some characteristics of viral videos, the only good thing about it is that it led me to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn9rZ5u4lLU It's a compilation of youtube's most viral videos by category.

This is a movie made and narrated by Guy Debord himself, based on his "Society of the Spectacle" - however the narration itself consists of his writings, as well as those of Marx and Hegel. It is a very critical take on Media and its effects in times of great change (ongoing industrialization and rise of consumerism). There are several parts to it, just wait till the end of the video to move on to Part 2.

Also, it brought this article to mind as a (pre-emptive) counter-argument: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201111/social-networks-what-maslow-misses-0 And got me to think of how critically Debord would view social media platforms' role in representation and spectacle (Facebook, Youtube, Blogger to a larger extent)

The article discusses polling and how accurately it reflects public opinion, the case being Netanyahu's stance on attacking Iran.