WAS BARRY GOLDWATER MISREPRESENTED BY THE MEDIA Research Paper

WAS BARRY GOLDWATER MISREPRESENTED BY THE MEDIA - Research Paper Example Media uses this phenomenon and controls us in many ways, as to how we remember events and people, thus effectively shaping our opinions. The power of media to shape opinions has always been lucrative to politicians. Consequently what the media shows us may not be the reality as portrayals and images sometimes lie in the category of paid-content, which is of course unreliable. Great leaders and politicians have always been a target for the media’s strident and harsh remarks. Barry Goldwater, â€Å"a five-term U.S. senator from Arizona and a champion of conservatism whose 1964 presidential candidacy who launched a revolution within the Republican Party† (Barnes, â€Å"Barry Goldwater†), is one victim herein. During that era he was also known as Mr. Conservative for his articulate, blunt and charismatic approach in political dealings. Politicians and leaders all over the globe still admire him for his values and have set him as a benchmark for themselves. This resea rch paper aims to briefly show how and why the media misinterpreted Barry Goldwater. Liberals during the 60’s had left no stone unturned to term Barry Goldwater as a racist and to tarnish his image in public but Goldwater stood as a man of principle and courage. He fought back to each and every allegation that was pointed towards him. It might be not be an overstatement to suggest that he had more enemies than friends but despite this fact, his political career had always been applauded. And even at this present day, it remains as interesting as it was back in the 60’s. To begin with, the first thing that needs discussion is his presidential elections in 1964 in which he had to face a crushing defeat by 16 million votes from Lyndon B. Johnson. Many factors contributed towards this but the most important of all was the misrepresentation of Barry Goldwater’s persona by the liberals. Moreover, the assassination of John F. Kennedy also contributed to his defeat, as it was discovered that he has been shot dead by someone with a Goldwater sticker on his forehead. So heartbroken was Goldwater at that time that he gave out a blunt statement, which further added to his criticism, i.e. â€Å"This is a great country, where anybody can grow up to be president...except me† (â€Å"Barry Goldwater†). Liberals were the actual culprits who misinterpreted him through media but in actuality, he was a staunch conservative with strong and practical thoughts, which if implemented, could have out casted the liberals. In the presidential elections of 1964 he was stereotyped as a nuclear war monger by the media. This was reinforced again and again by airing a television ad where a child was shown picking daisies counting down each petal till it reached one and then an atomic bomb exploding into a mushroom cloud with an announcer announcing in the background that these are the stakes so better vote for Johnson. By using tactics such as these, Goldwate r was highly misrepresented. Initially the liberals termed him as a racist because they said that he was a segregationist who would not allow equality and would not give an equal standing to every individual in the country. It all began when he insisted that he would vote for the approval of 1964 civil rights act if and only if section 2 on equal employment opportunity was removed. From then onwards, started a battle of allegations and misperceptions. People started calling him racist. They were aware

Back To School Night Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Back To School Night - Essay Example followed by a question-answer session. This will give the parents a good understanding of the academic year ahead of the child and the role they have to play to make it a success. â€Å"Unfortunately both the quality and quantity of parental contacts with the school decline as children get older†, say Puma & others (Puma et al., Strong families, strong schools, US DOE, 1994) and point to the sharply contrasting statistics for the first graders and the seventh graders. They go on to add that involved parents help students to perform better academically, stay longer in school, and have better social skills. Teachman et al., also reinforce this view pointing out that, â€Å"†¦parent-child and parent-school interaction†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is related to dropping out of high school. (Teachman et al., Social Capital and the Generation of Human Capital, Social Forces, 1997) A child who routinely expects its parents to visit the school at least during the Back to School Nights, gets used to parents Back to school night is held within the first few days of the school re-opening and is followed by more such meets – each after the successive term examinations are held and the results announced. The second, third and the fourth meetings are indeed open house meetings to take stock of the progress of the child in the school along with discussing and implementing ways to improve performance. Back to school night is an event of the evening and night. This is a time of joy and relaxation coupled with establishing or renewing relationships between the parents and the teachers. The subsequent meetings are for more serious efforts involving in-depth discussions for which sufficient time is to be earmarked to cover all aspects of a child’s progress and for all children. Thus, they are best held commencing from the morning and continued till all the