Guidelines:
About 7 pages, but can be up to 11
Have a title
11 Times New Roman Only.
1” margins on all sides
Double spaced only (not .5, .75 or 1.5)
Use Chicago Style if citing outside material. If you use other conventions, stay consistent.
Run your general idea for the essay by me via email if you are worried about your topic
General: I wanted to make this assignment more interesting/personal/interactive, so most of the prompts have some sort of film component. However, most of the films deal with very heavy and intense subject matter, and I recognize that it would be unfair to mandate everyone to watch such content. Therefore, some of the prompts are more traditional, and require only pure engagement with academic text.
If watching the films is a hardship, as I know some of them are not free, please let me know, and I will try to arrange a way for you to see the films.
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Option 1- Democracies and Social Media
Unregulated social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have shown how easy it is to manipulate democratic processes in the U.S. and other democracies. Discuss the vulnerabilities of the current system, and how they can be addressed without compromising free speech and self expression.
Watch the two part documentary “The Facebook Dilemma”
Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T48KFiHwexM&ab_channel=FRONTLINEPBS%7COfficial
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuA4qxPbpQE&ab_channel=FRONTLINEPBS%7COfficial
OR
The Great hack on Netflix,
and read this article on Q-Anon from June 2020 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/
as well as the Fukuyama article from your HW How to save democracy from Technology. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-11-24/fukuyama-how-save-democracy-technology
Please have at least 4 other sources (2 of which must be academic) to back up your analysis. You can use class material.
Option 2: Capitalism and Alienation in the Modern World
Please Watch the film Capital in the 21st Century (2019) on Netflix.
The film is based on Thomas Picketty’s award winning macroeconomic best seller. Feel free to talk about the interrelatedness of economic and political rights as he sees them. Can you see why many governments cannot conceive of Political Rights without Social and Economic ones?
Please have at least 5 other sources (2 of which must be academic) to back up your analysis. You can use class material.
Option 3: Immigration from Latin America/ICE Deportations/Rights of Migrants
Please watch at least the first two episodes of Netflix’s Series Immigration Nation (2020)
The series explores the stories of the immigrants trying to find a new life in the United States as well as the lives of the ICE officers who are tasked with arresting them. Feel free to talk about any aspect of the immigration dilemma, and how its seen within the framework of U.S. policy and public discourse. You can talk about the concept of the “American Dream” in this essay if you wish.
Please have at least 3 other sources (2 of which must be academic) to back up your analysis. You can use class material.
CONTENT WARNING!!!: The film contains disturbing images of violence.
Option 4: Rights of LGBTQ Groups:
watch the feature film Milk (2008)
This film explores the fight for LGBT rights in 1970s San Francisco. This film builds on the concept of “unalienable rights” as defined in the Declaration of Independence. Feel free to explore the theme of expanding the rights to different marginalized groups when writing your paper. Also, feel free to write about conflicting rights and recent U.S. Supreme court cases that deal with LGBT rights and protections.
Please have at least 4 other sources (and 2 of which must be academic) to back up your analysis. You can use class material.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s&ab_channel=FRONTLINEPBS%7COfficial and
Opioids INC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvCld2vKug8&ab_channel=FRONTLINEPBS%7COfficial
Please have at least 4 other sources (3 of which must be academic) to back up your analysis. You can use class material.
