Malcolm L. Rigsby's Weblog

Budrus; a film by Julia Bacha and Just Vision

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:17:42 +0000

Separation of Identity.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall”.

~ Robert Frost, The Mending Wall

: Budrus

Don’t miss Budrus! A visualization of Israeli-Palestinian barriers, dialogue, and cooperative activism.

There is an old saying that goes something like this, “good fences make good neighbors.” Perhaps Robert Frost is best known for his use of the proverb in his poem The Mending Wall (1914). Logically, a fence may help parties visualize a recognized and accepted boundary line. Fences may enhance relationships by simply keeping unintended, as well as intended, encroachments upon a neighbor from occurring. However, fences may have negative connotations. A fence may limit the free exercise of natural rights. It may become a wall, where one party excludes another party from equal ingress and egress to property, free social intercourse, and self-determination. As Frost so aptly points out, “there is something in nature that inherently dislikes a wall.” Frost supports the premise that while fences do have positive uses to protect the person and property, they may become walls affecting the potential for interaction and cooperation. In short, they may become barriers to meaningful communication.

Anyone who has visited Israel and traveled to the West Bank will surely…….

Read my full review at my other blog on social media at http://socialcontexts.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/budrus-by-julia-bacha-and-justvision/

Malcolm L. Rigsby is a faculty member in the department of sociology at Henderson State University, Arkansas. He is completing his Ph.D.(abd), at Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas. In 1979 he received his B.A.T. from Sam Houston State University, in History and Education with a minor in Sociology. He holds his J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law (1989) and is a licensed attorney in Arkansas and Texas. He is active in the independent review of documentary film.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: arabfilm, Budrus, cooperative activism, Israel, Julia Bacha, Palestine, typecast

Equality and Civil Rights #12

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:33:24 +0000

The active seeking of recognition of and implementation of “civil rights” is integral to defining American democracy. It requires the balancing of the need for order and law vs. assuring freedom through limitation of the rule of central power. Yet ruling central power is integral to the processes by which authority overrides unique propensities of independent collectivities of people (states) to seek the status quo. For 1oo years the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and later futile revisions lay almost dormant until spear-headed by John F. Kennedy and posthumously enacted the 1964 Act finally emerged. What had been a law without recourse became a law with ”teeth” that allowed for mandating and enforcing accomodations that surpassed the concept of “separate, but equal”.

We often think of the struggle of the African-American when the term Civil Rights is mentioned. However, this term has meaning, both procedurally and substantively for many groups. It is in effect because of a small section of text buried in the 1866 act that civil rights has meaning for more than African Americans. Section 1981 of the 1966 act has enabled many groups defined as Native Americans/American Indians, immigrants, and with AIDS or disability. Moreover, protections offered groups of scrutiny extend to classifications by gender and sex.

http://prezi.com/qsby2iyhdng5/equality-and-civil-rights-12/

Source References:

Janda, Kenneth, Jeffrey Berry, and Jerry Goldman. 2009. The Challenge of Democracy. Boston, MA: WadsworthCengage Learning.
Shea, Daniel, Joanne Green, and Christopher Smith. 2007. Living Democracy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Schmidt, Steffan, Mack Shelley, and Barabara Bardes. 2008. American Government and Politics Today. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Miroff, Bruce, Raymond Seidelman, and Todd Swanstrom. 2007. The Democratic Debate. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Gitelson, Alan, Robert L. Dudley, and Melvin Dubnick. 2008. American Government. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Dreslang, Dennis, James Gosling. 2008. Politics and Policy in American States and Communities. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: 1866, 1964, civil disobedience, civil disobedience, civil rights, civil rights act, discrimination, EEOC, immigrants, invidious discrimination, Johnson, Kennedy, section 1981, section 1981 action, separate but equal

Civil Liberties and Order #11

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:30:27 +0000

We are said to be ”in the land of the free”. Freedoms must be balanced against restrictions. So, what does it mean to balance the need for order against the need for liberty? The constitution in its form as approved by its writers did not give a Bill of Rights to promote protections for the people. Rather, the writers of the constitution believed that the delineation of powers given the new central government were enough to protect the citizenry from oppressive government. But, the states and the people felt different. Ultimately, a Bill of Rights emerged and the constitution was eventually ratified by a majority of states. Since then we, our government’s executive, legislative, and primarily the Court have been involved in seeking to fully interpret how to balance liberty and order. Civil liberty may be called a negative right or totality of rights assuring that a central power is kept from infringing on the liberty of the masses.

http://prezi.com/wfmihzinfhyw/liberties-and-order-11/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: 14th amendment, 5th amendment, bill of rights, civil liberties, civil liberty, civility in politics, exclusionary rule, free exercise, freedom from religion, freedom of religion, liberty, miranda, negative rights, press, right to assemble, rights of accused, rigsby, scrutiny, separation of church and state, symbolic speech, unprotected speech

The Court and American Democracy #10

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:02:53 +0000

The presentation will focus on the American U.S. Supreme Court history, powers, and procedures.

http://prezi.com/ypljtf7fkk1c/the-court-and-american-democracy/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns

The Executive Branch #9

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 22:03:30 +0000

Here we look at the duties and powers of the President of the United States. Importantly we consider how the president receives his power of authority and when questionable how he/she expands those powers. We balance the power of the president against the safeguards inherent to the Congress and to the Courts. As we progress, you will see that the personal “qualities” of the president complement his/her popularity and how successful he/she is in getting things done. The president is particularly interested in public opinion. Last we will look at the role of the U.S. President in the International forum.

http://prezi.com/m2o-ojdtgwah/the-executive-branch/

Source References:

Janda, Kenneth, Jeffrey Berry, and Jerry Goldman. 2009. The Challenge of Democracy. Boston, MA: WadsworthCengage Learning.
Shea, Daniel, Joanne Green, and Christopher Smith. 2007. Living Democracy. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Schmidt, Steffan, Mack Shelley, and Barabara Bardes. 2008. American Government and Politics Today. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Miroff, Bruce, Raymond Seidelman, and Todd Swanstrom. 2007. The Democratic Debate. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Gitelson, Alan, Robert L. Dudley, and Melvin Dubnick. 2008. American Government. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Dreslang, Dennis, James Gosling. 2008. Politics and Policy in American States and Communities. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: Article 2, Bay of Pigs, Carter, cold war, congress, Crisis, Cuba, divided government, executive branch, executive office, executive order, gridlock. partisanship, hot war, iran, Iraq, Johnson, Kennedy, Kuwait, legislative liaison, mandate, NATO, Nixon, Peace, presidential power, u.s. president, UN

Congress #8

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:27:56 +0000

We look at how congress is a playing ground of competing interests. Competition hopefully leads to a trim, efficient, and effective system that promotes public policy while supporting political policy and agendas. Balancing agenda that may conflict with public opinion is often on the table. Agenda theoretically should promote the needs and interests of the people while assuring goals of the nation to provide for order and equality. Hence, the need to preserve freedom which is often valued highly by the citizenry is off set by need for order and protection of the minority. We consider the pluralist goals and the majoritarian goals in this review of the processes of Congress, procedures, balances, and behaviors.

http://prezi.com/nqbwkpraptb2/congress-its-operation-and-effect/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: due process, filibuster, house, parliamentarian, political process, procedure, representative, response, responsive government, senate

Defining Participation in Democracy #7

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:57:54 +0000

How do you define rule by the people? Participation is key to the phrase “rule by the people”. Key questions are: 1. How much action or voice arises to the level of participation; and 2. What kind of action or voice defines participation.

http://prezi.com/hkwo-uy0kcpn/public-participation/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns

Mass Media and the Culture of Democratic Government #6

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:34:17 +0000

In this prezi we review some of the characteristics of mass media. We look at media as a powerful creative source that some argue creates democratic ideals. We also examine mass media as a tool by which the populous communicates with government. From this perspective mass media helps create an atmosphere fostering a responsive government.

http://prezi.com/ldonzb5xt5hm/media-the-people-and-the-government/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: culture industry, democracy and media, democratic process and media, Egypt, facebook, mass media, mass media and democracy, media and democracy, media and social websites, media as culture, revolution, Socializing networks, twitter

Political Opinion: Shape and Stability #5

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:54:21 +0000

This prezi covers how Public Opinion emerges and how if may affect governmental policy. We take a brief look at how socialization helps people develop values, beliefs, and learn normative behavior. From this basis emerges a commonality within a people while enabling diversity in particular values and beliefs. These values become opinion and when organized have potential to become politicized through interest groups. All along the way of this developing process we see many group characteristics emerge.

Public opinion and political culture: Can “the people” be fooled? With the many events that have rocked the world these last couple of weeks one must contemplate the power of third party foreign governments, as well as one’s own domestic government to “play the fishing line” for all it is worth. How much of what the people believe they want from a responsive government is in actuality based upon the ability of governing powers to “issue frame” and “spin” ideals through the political system? Aided by mass media does the political system spin a mythical definition of order, freedom, and equality? Is public opinion an “evolution” of the overall socialization process that comes with life’s course? If so, then perhaps public opinion is balanced and reflects the true desires of emancipation and civil society, where all voices have some means of being heard. Conversely, where political and capitalistic self-interests of the status quo are provided too great a measure of power the beliefs, values and intersts of the public may be skewed. We thus enter into a quandry; whether the peoples voices are being heard, or whether the people action simply reflects the position taken by the super ideological powers that be.

http://prezi.com/iqyxztk4xzll/public-opinion-formation/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: conservative, democracy, distribution, factors, family, ideology, interest groups, liberal, libertarian, majaritarian democracy, opinion, pluralist democracy, political division, political ideology, political socialization, religion, social groups, socialization, stable distribution

Federalism #4

Malcolm L. Rigsby — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:45:07 +0000

Who rules?: The Question of How to Balance Dividion of Power

This prezi examines the theory behind and the realities of how the National centralized government and the States balance power and authority in a pluralist and responsive representative democracy with the goal to recognize and provide for the needs of the citizens of the U.S.

http://prezi.com/2piqycbarexy/federalism/

Source References:

Filed under: U.S. National Concerns Tagged: antifederalists, Art 1, Federalism, federalists, grants, mandates, preemption, supremacy clause