Tag Archives: current events

Social Movements and Public Policy

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Following up on our discussion today about the relationship between social movements and public policy, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell withdrew his support of the latest bill requiring a woman to have a transvaginal ultrasound before having an abortion.  Was his change of heart due to public protest and media attention or due to his own political aspirations?  Hard to tell.

See the New York Times latest coverage of the issue here.  That article also describes some of the social movement organizations on both sides of the debate.

See John Stewart’s The Daily Show coverage of the issue here.

Fox News has an article describing the protest on Monday.  Read that here.

You can also read the AP News story about the protest here.

This image comes from the Rachel Maddow blog.  You can read the blog here.  The people standing in the far left of the picture include a faculty member and students from Longwood University.

 

Media’s role in Social Movements: Stand up for Ellen

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Today, I found an article in the Huffington Post that serves as a great example of the power of media in social movements. Last week, One Million Moms (an affiliate of the American Family Association) attacked JCPenny for hiring Ellen DeGeneres based on her sexuality. In the “Gay Voices” section of the online newspaper, activist and blogger Scott Wooledge, gives reasons why the smear campaign will actually be ammunition for the LGBT community:

“The LGBT community owes a great big thanks to the “One Million Moms” (actually, closer to 40,000) for launching the best LGBT-friendly public relations blitz the community has seen in ages, and battering Christian conservative’s image in a way the LGBT community could never hope to do.”

The fact that One Million Moms is using moral judgement as grounds for employment discrimination has even gotten Bill O’Rielly talking. (In the article, there is a clip of O’Rielly passionately defending non-descrimination in the workplace.) In addition, GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has started a campaign in response, called “Stand Up for Ellen”.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-wooledge/million-moms-ellen-jcpenny_b_1272420.html

 

Thoughts?