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A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce, or a tragedy, or perhaps both. -- James Madison
“When a dog bites a
man that is not news,
because it happens so often.
But if a man bites a
dog, that is news.”
- Editor John B. Bogart, New York Sun
man that is not news,
because it happens so often.
But if a man bites a
dog, that is news.”
- Editor John B. Bogart, New York Sun
About Me
Followers
forthcoming
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- 20th Century Man
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- World of Blogging (music video)
17 comments:
I remember when I was in elementary school I used to think history was stupid. I would complain to my mother about homework and ask, "Why do we have to learn this, it already happened. What does it have to do with me?" She would reply, "It's important to learn about the mistakes we made in the past so we don't make them again in the future." Eventually the light bulb went on.
That being said, history is relevant unless we chose to ignore it. I feel like that happens a lot, especially in Washington. History allows us to look back so we can look forward with more insight. Sometimes when I read this stuff I say to myself, "how could this have happened? Why did people let this happen?" I then think about the world we live in today and wonder how future generations will look at us. Let's see, wall street has drove us into a hole, the world climate is in peril, men and women are discriminated against because of their sexual preferences, we are fighting in a war with the wrong people, I mean the list goes on. We are supposed to be a relatively intelligent country. We take history classes for over a decade, but we are still making the same mistakes.
Chapter 7 of Mightier Than the Sword gives me hope. I think about the disgusting actions of the KKK and how much power they accrued. It was with the hands of a few, out of many, that they were taken down. Because of those brave few who knew better, that evil was defeated and the good prevailed. In this way, history is empowering and gives us hope. We have to stop making those same mistakes and actually start applying history to our own actions and current events. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's relevant but is meaningless when we don't put it to use.
History has never been a topic I enjoyed learning in school, but it was only because I never made the effort to actually think about it. Instead of looking at history as just a bunch of dates and wars followed by treaties we should really be applying it to real life. If you look back through our country's history you can learn a lot about the stereotypes we have, the rules and laws of society today and it can help to explain why we have certain traditions.
A lot of the time kids don't want to learn about history because they think it doesn't matter to them or effect them but the truth is history is shaping their future. Whatever happened in the past is what will shape what happens next.
A good example in Mightier than the Sword of learning explanations for certain things would be in chapter 9 which was all about Rosie the Riveter. Rosie is a classic iconic image who was the first portrait of women in general done in a positive manner. But, most people don't even know where or why she came about. Besides the fact that we should know for our own knowledge, I think people should be interested in learning about our past.
As the United States began to develop as a country unfairness and suffering resulted for many people. With industry springing forward, a laissez-faire economic policy proved to be dangerous for people working in factories,as well as dangerous for people consuming products made in factories that were not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration at the time.
The problem of immigration,which is still a problem we have today, was a lot worse as immigrants who came to America for a better life were pushed into jobs that were inhuman and dangerous, many losing there very lives. Government officials were often corrupt and bribes were a very common practice in the government. Discrimination by race,sex and religion were commonplace and acceptable.
Through the press, many of these issues came into light, and have been either resolved or decreased now because of history. Journalists and other people throughout American history have dedicated their lives to fighting for what they felt was right and contributed toward the common good. If history was irrelevant, than everything these people did would have been done in vain. What has happened in the past greatly affects the future.
Hindsight is always 20/20. History, although often seen as repetitive and boring to the younger kids who learn it on a daily basis, is so important to learn. When you learn about history as it is recorded, your fantasies wash away and you are left with the real substance. In memory, people tend to exaggerate truths even if they aren't trying to. History should keep them in check as well as help America avoid repeating some of the more terrible parts of history.
I find that personally, the chapter on women's suffrage was the most relevant to me as I am now. Soon I will have to graduate and get a real job, but I'm not so worried about it. Sometimes I forget about the people that worked night and day for so long to give me the rights that I take advantage of today. I want to believe in the press as a tool for social activism. Though it has been, the activism came from smaller papers and magazines instead of the mainstream. Mainstream media was very much opposed to giving me all of the things that I both cherish and take for granted today.
Reading about history makes me almost feel lazy. There are people who dedicated their whole lives, if not their life, to a cause that I don't really think about so often. This book makes me want to reform our information outlets and do something positive to change the way some groups are portrayed. Nothing is any worse than it was in the past and I think sometimes I try to convince myself that times are difficult. History gives me perspective.
History is undoubtedly relevant today. Our history is the basis for how and why things are the way they are in our present day. It is important for people, especially young people, to learn about the history of the world and it's cultures, ancient and modern. I don't believe that the most important thing about learning history is memorizing the dates of wars or treaties, but rather understanding why these events happened and what the outcomes were. History also provides lessons on what went wrong in the past, and what we can do to avoid those mistakes in the future. Studying our history is basically examining the evolution of our culture. It's crucial to educate the incoming generations of our history so that all is not lost. If the younger generations never learn how our country and culture developed and progressed, there is no way we will be able to carry on as a nation. Some parts of our history could be repeated (the great depression, oppression, racial discrimination, intolerance etc.).
Chapter 8 in the book Mightier Than a Sword shows an example of a historical time that should never be repeated in the future. This was a time when antisemitism pervaded American society. It's important that discrimination be studied whether the discrimination be against sex, race, or religion. These are inhumane eras throughout our history that people need to learn about in order to know right from wrong. It is important that these times be studied so that people are aware of them and how much pain and suffering they caused. If not learned, people are doomed to repeat their history.
Of course history is relevant. There is no way to conceive that it isn't. Sure, a lot of the times it's infuriatingly boring and dense, but it speaks to our own self-identity.
The history of journalism is cataloged in Streitmatter's Mightier than the Sword , and it does speak to the identity of Journalists today. By which I mean, it instills faith in me that there could be some quality Journalism that comes out of the Internet age.
One of the recurring themes in MttS is that Journalism has adapted all throughout history to fit its audience. When the audience couldn't read, papers relied on political cartoons. When the Radio came into play, it was used to broadcast messages into people's homes every night (unfortunately, the best example of this was of a horrible anti-semite, but it still counts as adapting to the times). Murrow used the television medium to help bring down McCarthy.
My point is that if you look at the heroes and villians of whatever history you're studying (world, craft, family), then it provides a good guide as to how you shape yourself.
History is relevant to news media, because it follows trends. Significant moments in journalism influence future reformists to utlize the news media to expose their cause to a mass audience. Throughout Mightier than the Sword Streitmetter shows instances in history where the news history helped to advance or sometimes slow down causes. This showed that journalism has a huge effect of public opinion. News media and other print magazines in favor or opposing causes has had major effects on the outcome in the past. In fact journalism showed its power many times, from taking down the tweed corporation to the age of muckraking. This type of reform journalism is an important moment in American history, showing the people’s power against larger institutions.
The media acted as outlet for the Americans to act out against injustices. These instances in history encouraged more revolutions to rise with the help of print journalism, radio journalism and television journalism. The past success of the use of newspapers and other journalism mediums for social activism inspired new social revolutions that instilled racism and anti-Semitism. Both the Ku Klux Klan and Father Couglihn utilized the news media to rally together people for their hate driven causes. History has shown to us that the media can both be used for good and bad, but regardless is an effective tool to motivate and rally the general public. When journalism is used for good, such as ending the Kl Klux Klan, ending McCarthyism, encouraging the advancement of the role of women, advancing the civil right movement ect., it becomes positive historical examples of how to use the tool for good.
Today we glorify these instances in news media which have changed the course of history. History is important, it is a tool to show journalists how to use the craft to make a difference. In a media saturated culture most news media has turned to rubbish. Very few good examples of journalism are glorified, people are more interested in infotainment than social reform. But if we push for journalism to once again become a tool for social reform, perhaps we can use history to reverse the way journalism is going.
When I attempted to post a response to this blog the first time I talked about how relevant history is to the present and how people should know what happened in the past in order to pave a way to to future.
I went to an all girls catholic high school where history concerning women was extremely instilled into every aspect of my schooling. In most classrooms, there is a poster of Rosie the Riveter.
This feminist icon has a lot of history behind it, history that I am aware of because my school made sure I was aware of it. I realize now though, that not everyone understands the meaning behind it and it is really sad that it almost seems like nobody wants to know either.
The chapter on women's suffrage really caught my attention the most. I agree with Kate about how reading about history makes me feel lazy. Women went through so much and worked so hard for the rights that I have today, and yet many people don't take the time to even recognize the history behind our freedom. It also makes me feel slightly embarrassed that people aren't as outspoken and driven as women in the past were.
I really believe that we need to understand history, and appreciate it as well. If we don't appreciate it, if we take advantage of recorded history, then I think we will end up in a rut or facing a a problem that we have previously faced. If we pay attention to history, we really can prevent certain things from happening again.
Obviously, history should be a relevant and important topic for all people; without learning from the past we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes and perpetuate an endless cycle. Unfortunately, (and this is especially true in the media driven world we now live in) when the history books are written by the winners, and the winners are backed by and acting upon the interests of large corporations who also just happen to own and control most of the media outlets in our country, the history which we receive is not the unbiased recording of facts which we could use to learn from the past and evolve as we progress through the ages that it ideally should be.
I'm not saying you can't learn anything by paying attention to history and applying a historical frame of reference to a similar present-day situation, but that the accounts of history which are available to us are incomplete and biased - as they always have been - and that this partial picture of things can thus be rendered irrelevant by today's omni-present media which no longer seeks to bring the rest of the picture to light, but is instead a puppet of the vast corporations it once sought to combat.
Chapter 6 of Mightier Than The Sword was somewhat disheartening as I couldn't help but feel distraught by what has become of journalism and news outlets in general, in America. Chapter 6 focuses primarily on muckrakers and the journalistic effort to breakup large trusts and corporations like Standard Oil and expose corruption and corporate interests infesting the Senate. Today the news outlets that would be required to make similar efforts public to the masses are owned and operated by the very corporations they once fought. Rather than learning from these efforts and countering the effect of corporate interests on political offices, we somehow allowed the corporations to expand and consume the medium that had exposed them, eliminating (perhaps, their most) dangerous rival.
History is absolutely relevant, without question. It helps us understand where we are today and how we got here. It also helps us understand our relationships with cultures around the world. Most of us are self-absorbed to an extent and only worry about what's going on in our own lives instead of looking at the overall picture. But that's just it, there are approximately 6.5 billion people in the world and everyone has a different mindset about life. We don't know what motivates people to do certain things or why the human race cannot coincide. Many people have a certain faith that promises them a better after life and they will defend that right to the death, especially through war or other drastic measures.
While it's important for everyone to have an extensive knowledge of our history, it can only help us to a certain extent in this ever-changing world. We cannot be fully prepared for whatever disaster might strike next. We can only adapt and make the necessary changes to make the best of the situation with the knowledge at hand. 9/11 was the biggest attack on American soil in the last half century. We weren't prepared for Pearl Harbor and we weren't prepared for 9/11. But how could we have been prepared for such surprise attacks? In "Mightier Than the Sword," Streitmatter explains to us why we had such a difficult time understanding the reason for the attacks.
"Answering the why question required the news media to provide the public with an understanding of a number of complex and multifaceted international issues and historical relationships, as well as the cultural and religious differences that were related to those issues and relationships."
History is a crucial part of our lives. 9/11 will never be forgotten and I strongly believe that it should be incorporated into history lessons from now on, as it has been and will continue to be. However, future generations will perhaps experience a "September 11th" of their own and they will adapt accordingly, because the world will surely be a different place than what it is now.
History will always be relevant to people living in the present. The old cliché goes, “those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.”
In some ways I agree. But I offer my own take: Those who do not study history miss the opportunity to learn from it. I feel that take on the adage is more apt because it does not imply the cyclic nature of history.
I love history. It was my favorite subject in high school and sadly it’s a passion that has fallen by the wayside. I regret not considering a minor in history because I have heard that the combination of journalism and history is a very strong way to enter into the field of Journalism.
I’ve also heard people speak about journalism calling it “the first draft of history.”
To me, this is an interesting idea. Every day the literary equivalent of a book is published about the goings on in the today’s world. Western culture has valued these records as just that: records. News archives are superb for historical research because they give the researcher a window into the time period in question.
In this sense, history and journalism go hand and hand: one laying the foundation for the other. And in this sense I would find history to be most relevant to my work and to my life.
History is definitely very relevant. I think everyone know how the saying goes: We must understand history in order to not repeat its mistakes.
That may be an overused saying, but it is one of the most important things ever said, I think.
I agree with Marietta when she says that history is relevant unless we ignore it. It can seem boring and useless, especially when we are young, to study things in the past.
I think that Mightier than the Sword mostly proved to me that history is and will continue to be relevant. Throughout history, journalism has been a checks and balances system for this country, and they have adapted to the different media ages.
Journalism is still doing its job today too, even when it might seem like there are less muckrakers out there.
Last year I read Fast Food Nation, which outlined the fast food industry and gave an in-depth look inside of it. No matter how the mass media appears, I truly believe that there will always be journalists who chase these stories because they want to do the right thing.
That is what studying history would teach us to do, I think. Correct what is wrong.
History is probably one of my favorite things to ever learn about. Back in highschool I was obsessed with the medieval ages and anything that had to do with the dark ages of Europe. I find history a fascinating and interesting element to human society. To understand and observe how humans have evolved through time and prospered is very enjoyable to me.
I find most history to be very relevant. It's our root. It's the chronicle of a myriad of past mistakes and heroic triumphs. As warped and manipulated it may be in essence, it is still very viable and important to us today. But that's just me.
Mightier than the Sword shows history in an almost cinematic light, and maybe thats why I enjoy reading it so much. All of the chapters in the book show what I was speaking of. The fact that we can look at chapter 7 with disgust at KKK members proves that we have come far past that point. We can look on the chapter about women's suffrage with pride as we see that our forefathers (or foremothers in this case) were triumphant in their struggle for societal equality.
History is the collected memories from our past generations. These memories are to act as the trial and errors that have already happened, so that we will not repeat the same mistakes. They can also serve as the traditions we turn to when we are unsure of how to make a decision. History is very relevant, and I hope everyone's goal is to become part of history, because that is how you live forever.
Just playing off the quote in Dan's post that "Journalism is the first draft of history"... considering the state of our news outlets today (and the fact that they are nearly all owned by large corporations who fund and influence political and other newsworthy events, often indirectly so that the association between the two cannot be easily identified), how will the rough draft of history from 2000 and on look? How can the final draft be much better?
History is definitely relevant, especially in terms of journalism. You take literature and you realize how many of our ideas have been formed and reformed, rethought and changed. Thoughts about love, death, hate -- history is more than just facts, but a record of human ideas.
Reading Chapter 7 of Mightier really reminded me of current events, such as the mosque near ground zero debate, as well as the minister who wanted to hold a public gathering of burning the quran. like anti-muslim extremists, the KKK was a small group getting a big microphone. as times continue, and i believe it has a correlation with the media, sensationalist and radical political or social movements, whether they are good or bad, seem to get a lot of attention. however, it's what we record in our history books that has some sort of lasting significance (and that's only if we can trust those who control history, and its accuracy).
however, in looking at all these cases, one overall message of history is confirmed: we need to have faith in humanity in order for it to succeed. as some chapters show, some events in journalism history have proven to be successful and detrimental, but the main idea is that journalists have the potential for that sort of power. it seems that today we seem to neglect that and use it in the wrong way.
We’ve all grown up hearing the saying “history repeats itself,” but ive never really thought about it in depth until this blog.
I wasn't really sure how to approach this post being that there are so many angles to look at it from. What really stood out to me was the KKK and WW1 veteran cartoon. This really made me think, “wow history really is relevant”. This cartoon may be old but is truly deranged. I couldn't imagine living in a world where people really thought the way that these people in the klan did. And who's to say that our world wouldn't be like this if we didn't have history to refer to. By looking back at what has happened in our country we can learn from it. Im not naive and I know that there are some people who still believe and follow the wrong doing that has been in our past but the majority have learned from our mistakes.
To say that history was irrelevant would just be wrong. If we all lived our lives as if nothing has happened in the past then we would have no standards to live by and nothing to compare to. Comparing what we do now to what people have done in the past benefits us as a whole. We see the results of what has come from past actions and reflect and react on those.
From 1972-1973, two young journalists set the tone for investigative reporting in the Washington Post. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were able to crack down on the Watergate Scandal to having President Richard Nixon resign from office.
Chapter 13 of Mightier than the Sword goes in depth into how the two ambitious reporters met their challenges and accomplishes. Woodward would have an anonymous source from the executive branch of the white house feed him information on what was going on within the Nixon administration, this source was known as Deep Throat.
I believe that this history is relevant today because good investigative reporting and yellow journalism has caused big political names to be infamous in the public. For example, many of the leading men running Wall Street were cracked down for financial corruption and then arrested. Journalists also found former New York State Governor Elliot Spitzer in a prostitution scandal as well as many other former N.Y. state politicians who have been found to be corrupt. Now, the new Governor Andrew Cuomo plans to eliminate the states’ corrupt government.
If journalists haven’t acted upon corrupt politicians such as Woodward and Bernstein did with the Watergate scandal, people would still be getting screwed. I think Rodger Streitmatter’s (Mightier than the Sword) writing of history and today shows there is always corruption as history repeats itself. However, it’s up to good moral journalists to crack down on corruption and make new history.
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