Category Archives: RS 4

Sneed, Tierney. “Fast-Food Workers to Strike to Super-Size Their Wages.” usnews.com. US News & World Report, 3 Sept. 2014. Web. 4 Aug. 2015.

The controversy I am discussing for my second essay is the raising of minimum wage. The text I chose relates to my first source because it gives exigency as to what was and still is going on in the U.S. when it comes to low wage workers.

I believe that U.S. News & World Report is a trusted source. Although the site is known more its world rankings of colleges and universities, these rankings are generally trusted and so by this standard I’m choosing to believe that its information is credible. Also since the site caters to a much broader audience than USA Today — which is evident from its title that states the source as providing a “World Report” — it has more pressure on itself to be more credible and truthful. Tierney Sneed, the author of the article, is credited in her U.S. News bio as being a “cultural and social issues reporter.” Her Twitter is also linked on her bio page and upon investigation, I discovered that her header is Nicki Minaj with a group of kids and she posts things that are mostly politically relevant with a bit of pop culture.  From looking at this as well as her other articles which mainly focus on politics, Sneed seems like a trusted reporter that cares about what she writes and is socially conscious. The article itself is very professionally written and informational. There are links to studies by places like The Center for Economic and Policy Research and the language in which it is written is very straightforward. What really gives the article credibility is the quotes the author includes from various pro minimum wage protesters and political officials.

In 2014, protesters were gathering across the country in front of fast food chains like Wendy’s and Burger King to protest in favor of raising minimum wage. The author, Tierney Sneed, includes a quote from President Obama that that states “America deserves a raise. Give America a raise.” Sneed goes on to explain that the protesters are seeking a fifteen dollar minimum wage. She cites a report by the Economic Policy institute that describes restaurant wages as being “significantly lower than those in other industries.” The author speaks with a man named Ronnie Kitchen who is protesting minimum wage as he works for Burger King and is “tired of living in poverty.” Sneed describes Kitchen’s anger with minimum wage as being fueled by the unfair pay difference between major restaurant chains’ CEOs and their workers. Employees plan on protesting at restaurants and holding press conferences in which they will voice their opinion over minimum wage and fast food chains. According to Sneed, the fast food industry is not happy with these protests and believe that labor unions are behind the employee unrest. The author highlights how the protests are causing a change in the United States. President Obama had been advocating for a raise in wages but his plans had been derailed by the National Restaurant Organization, and other organizations like it. These organizations argue that raising wages would “kill jobs and increase food prices.” Sneed describes states, such as Washington, being moved by these protests and a few politicians from both sides supporting the raising of wages.

Richardgrabman, “Web Log Comment” Alternet.org. Alternet. 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2015.

Article was originally posted to Dollarandsense.org

The controversy that I am doing is the economic benefits of pot legalization. For my paper 2 I am analyzing the articles “Pot Economics” the source that I am summarizing is a comment posted on Alternate.org reposting of the Dollarandsense.org story. This is a direct comment to the story and will help teach me about the audience that has read the article.

In regards to the credibility of the writer there is barely any. There are  two main pieces that help give the Richardgrabman credibility is that his comment is grammatically accurate which shows that he took consideration when posting the comment. The second would be the credibility of the audience. Given that he has posted a well written comment there is little denying that Richardgrabman has read the article and put his opinion in it. Moreover, Richardgrabman is a frequent commentator on Alternet stories amassing close to 2000 in his 6 year stint. The website itself Alternet.org is a website that targets the people that follow alternate media so it is probably well respected within that community.

Richardgrabman makes notes of some of the arguments of the article. He argues that while Schneider gives a nod to the potential problems with legalization in regards to Mexico and United States relations, there still the question of exportation. Richardgrabman asks what if the legalization would really help the Mexican agriculture crop as he sees it more as a grab for corporate executives (like Vicente Fox, which Schneider brought up in the article.) He then points that it would better if it didn’t happen as it would pressure the growers to want to grow excessive amounts in order to make a profit. He then follows this up with a point that marijuana crops are take a lot of water to grow and could effect Mexico hard as it has limited water resources. Furthermore, Richardgrabman addresses the comment made by Schneider about the cheapness of Uruguayan marijuana noting that the two things have nothing to do with each other. As a reply to another comment, Richardgrabman says that Uruguayan marijuana is targeted more domestically instead of for export. He emphasizes that the legalization was more so created to combat the Paraguayan marijuana problem.

Cepeda, Raquel. “Do the Grammys Have a Race Problem?” RollingStone.com. RollingStone, 05 February 2015. web. 03 August 2015.

The media has always portrayed double standards when it comes to race whether it be music awards or casting roles for movies the dilemma is present in all types of media outlets. In the article, “Do the Grammys Have a  Race Problem?”, journalist for RollingStone magazine, Raquel Cepeda writes about the racism surrounding the Grammy awards. Cepeda writes on the issue of the white supremacy and double standards in the 2014 Grammy nominations which is related to my topic on double standards between colored and white artists in the media.

RollingStone Magazine has been around since 1967 and focuses on popular culture. The magazine can go from politics to pop culture, but it is mainly known for its music coverage. RollingStone focuses on the youth but it could be for the older generation considering it  is a mixture of different coverage. Raquel Cepeda is an award winning journalist and culture activist who has an inside on culture aspects which makes her creditable for this racial topic. She is from Dominican parents and has written a book called Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina which is about what it’s like being a Latina today. Cepeda is well educated in cultural issues making her article in RollingStone creditable and insightful to my topic.

Cepeda describes how the 2014 Grammy nominations are mostly, if not all, are white artists. She explains how the rap/hip-hop categorizes are a third white artists, which is very ironic,  when she states ” Expect the Grammys to get it wrong, at least in those few categories artists of color are expected to reign in….”. Cepeda does not hold back on the flat-out racism the grammys display by writing “On what planet did voters with the most basic knowledge of hip-hop culture and rap music think when Macklemore beat out Lamar for Best New Artist last year?” Cepeda argues that it is outrageous for a white rapper like Macklemore to be the winner of a Grammy in a rap category, which only emphasizes the double standards with race in the music industry. The world of music and media has its dark sides, but racism is one that mostly is pushed under the covers, when Cepeda describes the success of Iggy Azalea’s, a white Australian rapper. ” Her act is an inauthentic recreation of urban life that ridicules it, music’s answer to revanchist gentrification, one that desecrates the culture and the people who Azalea claims to have been inspired by.” argues Cepeda describing how Azalea’s culture appropriation is not seen as an act of racism but culture “inspired”.  Cepeda is pointing out how the Grammys are white-washed and are a double standard between white and colored artists.

Reilly, Ryan J. “50 Successful Marijuana Users Who Prove That the Person Matters More Than the Plant.” huffingtonpost.com. The Huffington Post, 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 03 Aug. 2015.

The controversy surrounding the users of marijuana is that they often fall victim to negative stereotypes. This article is related to the first one in that they both attempt to clear the negative stereotypes of those who use the drug. The first article I used from CNN portrays an everyday functional member of society that smokes marijuana. This one follows suit, but focuses on the very successful people we all know that have or currently use the drug. This source teaches me that the speaker is very informative about the marijuana debate in general. They do a great job in informing the public about the role models we have, that also happen to have smoked before. The article has a positive bias stance about the topic and focuses more on the users than the actual plant itself. He wants to make marijuana look more positive by showing us all the successful people and I believe they want to open the mind and change the perspectives of the intended audience, which seems to be those who have a negative or neutral perspective on marijuana users.

I believe the source is credible because there is a slight positive bias towards the subject about marijuana. The speakers is credible and has authority too. Ryan J Reilly has been covering law enforcement and legal news since 2009. He has written articles in the past about cannabis, but they all seem to portray a neutral, yet slightly postive-biased stance which portrays sophisticated journalism. He seems to be a part of a community of journalists who really care for the public’s best goodwill, because when he covered Ferguson, he got arrested there with a bunch of other journalists as well, which shows his passion for what he does. This particular source blows me away because 50 people are named and he cites each individual to when they claimed they  smoked. He also does not put any opinion in this article. The publisher, The Huffington Post, has been regarded as a bit of a left/liberal site. However, most of the articles are written by independent journalists, so the articles attempt to remain neutral in stance. They are very respected by most people, with Republicans having a slight nuisance about the site. The citations are also credible because they refer to the person’s interview, speech, blog, etc. to when they let the public know that they’ve used weed. The text doesn’t necessarily argue any point, but rather opens up a different perspective on the stereotypes of marijuana users.

The article starts out by outlining the controversy, that weed causes a “lack of motivation” and opponents of the drug have a bad perspective. Then he informs us of the Marijuana Policy Project, which released a list of the 50 most influential Americans who have used marijuana. Reilly says that the goal of this list was to “dispel the myth that marijuana users are losers” and to highlight that in fact, most are rather “productive and successful”. The rest of the article is the author naming all 50 successful marijuana users, in what seems like, “slightly popular/successful” to “most influential and successful”, with a cited statement of when they said they used the drug. Starting with #50: Snoop Dogg and ending the article with #1: Barack Obama. The author seems to also believe that the typical negative stereotypes regarding marijuana users isn’t true because the first sentence of the article is “these guys just blew pothead stereotypes up in smoke” which seems to be a jab at those who do hold such a negative stereotype.