Last week s paragraph to rewrite

Transcription

1 Last week s paragraph to rewrite Some potential threats exist in the modern mass communications media, though there are many significant advantages. If a powerful minority should happen to control it, public opinion could be manipulated through biased reporting. And while a wide knowledge of public affairs is a great advantage that results from national coverage, divisiveness and factionalism can be accentuated by connecting otherwise isolated, local conflicts into a single larger conflict as a result of showing that conflicts about the same issues are occurring in different places. It will always be true, of course, that human nature produces differences of opinion, but the threat of faction and division may be reinforced when national coverage publicizes uninformed opinions. According to some, education can suppress faction when the true nature of conflicts reaches the public through the media, but history has shown that as much coverage is given to people who encourage conflict as to people who try to remove conflict. Though modern mass communication offers many advantages, it also poses some threats. If it should be controlled by a powerful minority, it could manipulate public opinion through biased reporting. And although national coverage promotes wide knowledge of public affairs, the media can accentuate divisiveness and factionalism when they connect otherwise isolated, local conflicts into a single larger conflict by showing that conflicts about the same issues are occurring in different places. Though human nature always produces differences of opinion, when national coverage publicizes uninformed opinions, it may reinforce the threat of faction and division. According to some, the media can suppress faction through education when they communicate the true nature of conflicts, but history has shown that the media cover people who encourage conflict as much as people who try to remove it. Despite its many advantages, some potential threats lurk within modern mass communication. If a powerful minority should happen to control it, public opinion could be manipulated through biased reporting. And although a wide knowledge of public affairs results from national coverage, divisiveness and factionalism can be accentuated when a single larger conflict is formed from otherwise isolated, local conflicts by showing that conflicts about the same issues are occurring in different places. Differences of opinion will always arise from human nature, but the threat of faction and division multiplies when uninformed opinions spread through national coverage. According to some, faction diminishes through education when the true nature of conflicts reaches the public through the media, but history has shown that people who encourage conflict receive as much coverage as those who try to remove it.

2 Bromley, Urban Life, Urban Death Outlines from the readings Claim: Convention centers within downtown districts harm urban vitality I. Comparison of Elmwood strip with vicinity of current convention center A. High level, and diversity, of street activity in one, barrenness of the other B. Perhaps surprising that downtown streets are so dead, given how many people there are in the area II. Explanation of why; the particular needs of cities (as opposed to suburbs) A. Central importance of pedestrian traffic B. Pedestrian traffic is generated by density and diversity of built environment 1. Variety of mixed-use structures spreads traffic around the clock, for constant activity 2. Close packing of structures, without gaps, encourages walking 3. Mix of new and old structures, and resulting range of costs, supports diverse uses 4. Short blocks and frequent intersections enable more people to pass by more locations 5. Deleterious effect of border zones III. Application of criteria to convention centers A. Current convention center 1. Single-use a. Concentrates pedestrian flow into brief periods, instead of spreading it out b. Total pedestrian traffic also very low, given its size 2. Inhibits pedestrian traffic past it, to destinations on either side, through: a. Size and monotony b. Disruption of street pattern (blocking Genesee and Mohawk, lengthening the walking distance between surrounding offices and retail areas) 3. Result has been to eliminate the businesses in adjacent areas B. Proposed new convention center: same problems, on an even larger scale 1. Single-use 2. Alternating flood and dearth of pedestrian traffic 3. Total traffic reduced by site captivity 4. Long stretch of monotonous, attraction-free, streetscape 5. Would replace diverse building styles and ages with huge tract of homogeneous, all-new construction

3 6. Would further disrupt street pattern, blocking more streets 7. Creates huge border zone 8. All happens regardless of how attractive or ugly it is visually; basic problem is inappropriateness of very large structures with homogenous use inside the downtown core IV. Conclusion A. Many confuse the diversity of healthy streetscape with chaos, and unfortunately try to stamp it out, replacing it with standardization; such suburbanization can only destroy a downtown district B. Public investment could be helpful, but not by funding megaprojects that destroy diversity and density; if we must have megaprojects, put them elsewhere C. What downtowns need are multiple small-scale projects, building on the unique characteristics of the area, as has happened on Chippewa Street

4 Bromley, Blight or Opportunity? Claim: The district slated for demolition is already more productive economically than the convention center would be, and has the potential to become even more so I. Intro A. As previous article indicated, what we re against is a large, single-use structure that would damage the vitality of the area B. We re also for something: development that builds on the unique characteristics of what s already there C. So-called blighted areas in other cities have become centers of intense development, precisely because they offer cheap rent in soulful but faded buildings, as this district does II. Current economic contribution of the district, as is, compared to proposed convention center A. Total economic activity is now about $50 million; convention center would produce about $36 million of activity (if we accept the projections of its promoters) B. Would replace well-paying, full-time, high-skill jobs, with low-pay, parttime food and hotel jobs C. Even if the existing jobs were saved through relocation of the businesses (which is unlikely), we d still be spending $250,000 per job to create the crummy new jobs, and we could do far better spending that other ways III.The even greater potential of the district A. All agree that we need more residential activity downtown B. Potential for conversion to housing 1. Many other older industrial cities have successfully converted inactive commercial and industrial structures to loft-style housing 2. The architecture and location would make this a very appealing area to live in 3. Cities both larger and smaller than Buffalo, including those with equally dismal economies and inactive downtowns, have recently enjoyed a surge of interest in returning to live downtown 4. Comparable conversions of old industrial space have already happened successfully elsewhere in Buffalo C. Piecemeal conversion and in-fill would support the characteristics identified in the previous article as critical for urban vitality, and also capitalize on Buffalo s unique architectural heritage D. Rehabilitation is also better for the local economy than new construction IV. The role of government: funding megaprojects is destructive, but government could also support healthy, diverse development based on multiple, small-

5 scale projects, by reducing the cost for individuals and businesses to locate within the district A. Guarantee or provide loans that banks might consider insufficiently profitable (banks could and elsewhere do themselves do the same) B. Subsidize rental costs V. Conclusion A. These ideas may not seem fully developed compared to the convention center plans, but we don t have the resources our opponents do for hiring consultants to write reports B. A prominent firm has offered to do such a report for less than $20,000 C. The city and/or county should commission the report, so that a second opinion is available before we destroy the district

6 Bigum, Antipodean Dreaming Claim: Relying on the Internet for curricular materials, although offering some benefits, threatens to overwhelm Australian culture much as the influx of Euro- Australians earlier overwhelmed Aboriginal culture. I. Curriculum as the stories of the tribe A. Setup: his own location, and the stories he weaves together from multiple sources 1. Physically remote 2. Nonetheless in contact with many people, all over the world, via new media 3. Relies on own cultural institutions in making sense of it all B. Much the same process occurs in school 1. Schools remain important place for making sense of the world 2. Have lost some influence, but are still where the young hear the stories of our tribe 3. Those stories are what educators call curriculum C. Decrease in local control 1. Through broadcast media, outsiders (largely American advertisers) now have more influence in deciding which stories are worth telling 2. Internet provides a direct line to these influences 3. Adoption in schools has been limited II. National response: effort to restrict access (and save money) A. As top-down effort, has little support from teachers B. Deregulation: picking and choosing from abroad increasingly done directly by teachers, instead of by officials III. Globalization? A. Often called globalization B. More accurately called Americanization C. Understandable that one should be confused with the other, since so much Internet content is American IV. Parallel to experiences of indigenous Australians A. Domination by an incursion of an outside culture oblivious to the culture it is supplanting B. Could learn from the Aboriginals how to maintain own identity, in harmony with the newly dominant culture

7 For next week 1) Read Williams, Lesson Seven 2a) Prune the redundancy from this sentence: In the event that governors have the opportunity to gather and discuss matters of economic needs and issues in their respective states, it is possible that they will find a way to overcome the major problem of specifying exactly how to divide up federal resources to their different states. 2b) And likewise here (this one arrived in my recently): Please be advised that the phone problems that may have been experienced by some of you yesterday have been resolved as per our phone tech people. 2c) Where appropriate, change the following negatives to affirmatives, and do any additional editing you think useful: It seems to me that in looking at the nature of advertising, it is not illogical to start out with a statement that defines the term. This will establish a common point of reference so that we will not be subjective in our approach to a subject matter that is often the topic of emotional discussion. There is, however, no single definition or agreement for the word advertising, making the chances for possible objectivity not likely. 3) Identify a claim for an essay, and sketch the skeleton of an argument.