1. 1.Though modern mass communication offers many advantages, it also proposes many threats. If it were controlled by a powerful minority, it could manipulate public opinion through biased reporting. And while it provides us with knowledge of public affairs through its national coverage, it may accentuate divisiveness and factionalism by connecting otherwise isolated, local conflicts into a larger conflict when it shows us conflicts about the same issue occurring in different places. It will always be true that human nature produces differences of opinion, but the media may reinforce the threat of faction and division when it publishes uninformed opinion in national coverage. According to some, media can suppress faction through education when it communicates the true nature of conflicts, but history has shown that the media give as much coverage to people who encourage conflict as to people who remove it.
2. 2. After Peter the great, seven of eight reigns of the Romanov line were plagued by some sort of palace revolt or popular revolution. In 1722, when the principal of heredity was terminated by Peter, achievement by merit became the basis of succession. As a result many tsars, including Peter, did not appoint a successor before dying. When Ivan VI was appointed by Czarina Anna, he was less than two months old. Anna was defeated by the daughter of Peter the great, Elizabeth, who ascended the throne in 1741. Boyars regularly disputed who was to become sovereign because succession was not dependent upon authority. In 1797 when Paul 1, codified the law of succession, male primogeniture became the law. One of the conspirators, one of whom was his son, Alexander 1, strangled him.
3. 3.When Truman considered the Oppenheimer committee’s recommendation to stop the hydrogen bomb project, he had to consider many issues. Russia and China had just proclaimed a Sino-Soviet bloc, so one issue he had to face was the Cold War. He was also losing support for his foreign policy among republican leaders in Congress, and when the Russians tested their first atom bomb, the public demanded that he should respond strongly. It was inevitable that Truman had to conclude that he could not let the public think he had allowed Russia to be first in developing the most powerful weapon yet. In retrospect, according to some historians, Truman should have risked taking the Oppenheimer recommendation, but he had to face political issues that were too powerful to ignore.
Seamus Kelly
ReplyDelete1.Although some potential threats exist in the modern mass communications media, there are also many significant advantages. Public opinion could be easily manipulated through biased reporting if a powerful minority should come to control it. While a wide knowledge of public affairs is a great advantage resulting from national coverage, divisiveness and factionalism can be accentuated by connecting isolated, local conflicts into a single larger conflict. Human nature produces differences of opinion, but when national coverage publicizes uniformed opinions they reinforce the threat of faction and division. Education can suppress faction when the true nature of conflicts reaches the public through the media; however, history has demonstrated that those who encourage conflict have received just as much coverage as those who have tried to remove it.
2. Following the end of Peter the Greats reign, the Romanov Dynasty experienced some form of palace revolt or revolution in the next seven of eight reigns. In 1722 Peter terminated the principle of hereditary, making achievement by merit the basis of succession. As a result, many tsars failed to appoint a successor before dying, including Peter. In 1741 Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the great, ascended to the throne after defeating Czarina Anna, who appointed Ivan VI Tsar. Succession not dependent on authority resulted in the boyars’ regularly disputing who was to become sovereign. Paul I codified the law of male primogeniture as the basis of succession in 1797, but conspirators, most likely his son among them, strangled him.
3. When President Truman was considering the Oppenheimer committees’ recommendation to stop Hydrogen bomb production, he faced many issues other than science, in particular domestic politics. The cold war was becoming a major issue following the formation of a Sino-Soviet bloc. The combination of shrinking republican support on his foreign policy, and increased pressure from the public following the successful testing of a Soviet atomic bomb, caused Truman to respond strongly. Truman concluded he could not let the American public believe that the Soviets had been allowed to develop the world’s most powerful weapon. The political issues that faced Truman were simply too great to adopt the Oppenheimer recommendation.
In order to save people from scrolling forever, I'll follow suit and post my answers here.
ReplyDelete-Stanley Kim
Though modern mass communications media have many significant advantages, some potential threats exist. The public opinion could be manipulated should a powerful minority control it with biased reporting. Although national coverage provides a wide knowledge of public affairs, it accentuates divisiveness and factionalism conflicts by altering perspectives from isolated and local into single and larger by grouping conflicts from different locations together into a single issue. The threat of faction and division may be reinforced when national coverage publicizes uninformed opinions, despite human nature producing differences of opinion. Ideally, education can suppress faction when the true nature of conflicts reaches the public through the media, but history shows us that there is as much coverage on people who encourage conflict as there is on those who try to remove it.
Seven of eight reigns of the Romanov line after Peter the Great were plagued by some sort of palace revolt or popular revolution. In 1722, Peter altered the basis of succession from principle of heredity to achievement by merit, which resulted in many tsars’ not appointing a successor before dying. Czarina Abba appointed Ivan VI, who was not yet two months old, but was defeated by Peter the Great’s daughter Anna, who ascended to the throne in 1741. The new method of succession resulted in the boyars regularly disputing who was to be the next sovereign. Paul I codified the law of succession to follow male primogeniture in 1797, but was strangled by conspirators (one of whom was probably his son, Alexander I).
When Truman considered the Oppenheimer committee’s recommendation to stop the hydrogen bomb project, he had to consider many issues. The Cold War became a pressing problem, as a Sino-Soviet bloc had been proclaimed by Russia and China. Truman’s foreign policy was losing support from the Republican leaders in Congress and the public demanded a strong response from him to the Russian’s first atom bomb test. Truman’s inevitable answer to these problems was to not let the public believe that Russia had been allowed to be first in developing the most powerful weapon. The strength of political issues Truman had to face were enough to justify his decision, although some historians believe that the risk in the recommendation was worth taking.
1. Although modern mass communication contains many advantages, it also presents potential threats. If controlled by a powerful minority, it could manipulate public opinion through biased reporting. And even though it gives us a wide knowledge of public affairs through its national coverage, it could also intensify divisiveness and factionalism by fusing smaller conflicts into one larger conflict when showing us similar issues are occurring in different places. Human nature will always produce differences of opinion, but the media may strengthen the threat of faction and division when it publicizes uniformed opinions through national coverage. According to some, the media can suppress faction through education by granting the public the true nature of conflicts, but the media has shown through history that people who encourage conflict receive as much coverage as those who try to remove it.
ReplyDelete2. Preceding Peter the Great, seven of eight reigns of the Romanov line were plagued by some sort of palace revolt. In 1772, Peter made achievement by merit the basis of succession by terminating the principle of heredity. As a result, he along with many tsars did not appoint a successor before dying. Czarina Anna appointed Ivan VI when he was less than two months old, but Peter’s daughter Elizabeth defeated her and ascended the throne in 1741. The Boyars regularly disputed who was to become sovereign since succession was no longer dependent on authority. Paul I codified the Law of Succession in 1797 making male primogeniture the law, but was strangled by conspirators; one of whom was possibly his son.
3. Truman faced many issues other than science when considering the Oppenheimer’s recommendation to stop the hydrogen bomb project. The cold war became an issue once Russia and China proclaimed a Sino-Soviet bloc. Republican leaders in congress began losing support for Truman’s foreign policy. And when the first Russian atomic bomb was tested the public demanded a strong response from him. It was inevitable that Truman would conclude that he could not afford to let the public think that Russia had created the most powerful weapon yet. Historians feel that the risk in the Oppenheimer recommendation was worth taking, but Truman was facing political issues that were too powerful to ignore.
1) While there are many significant advantages in the modern mass communications media, therein exist some potential threats. When a powerful minority controls the mass media public opinion is easily manipulated through biased reporting. While national coverage provides a wide knowledge of public affairs, divisiveness and factionalism can be accentuated by exaggerating reports of nonexistent conflict. It will always be true that human nature produces differences in opinion, nevertheless faction and division is reinforced when national coverage publicizes uniformed opinions. Some believe education can suppress faction when conflicts are adequately reported to the public. Unfortunately, history has shown us that as much coverage is given to people seeking to eliminate conflict, as to those who seek to encourage it.
ReplyDelete2) The death of Peter the Great terminated the principle of heredity as the basis of succession. In 1722 achievement by merit was made the basis of throne succession. Since then, public revolts or popular revolutions have plagued seven of the eight reigns of the Romanov line. This also resulted in many other Tsars, not appointing successors before their deaths. Because of this, a heated power struggle between Czarina Anna and Peter’s daughter Elizabeth ensued. Anna appointed the infant Ivan VI as Tsar, at less than two months old. Elizabeth later defeated her and ascended the throne in 1741. This succession, independent of authority, resulted in boyars regularly disputing who was to become sovereign. Paul I codified male primogeniture in 1797. However, conspirators strangled him. Rumored to be amongst them, was his son Alexander I.
3) When President Truman was considering the Oppenheimer Committee’s recommendation to cease hydrogen bomb production, he was preoccupied with domestic politics. The Cold War became a key issue when Russia and China proclaimed a Sino-Soviet bloc. After the first Russian atom bomb test made, the public demanded a strong response from him. Support for Truman’s foreign policy was already shrinking among republican leaders in Congress. Truman inevitably concluded that he could not afford to let the public think that Russia was the first to develop such a powerful weapon. Some historians agree that the risk in defying the Oppenheimer recommendations was worth it, because the political issues Truman faced were too powerful to ignore.
1. Despite the many significant advantages to modern mass communications, there do exist some potential threats. Biased reporting has the potential to manipulate public opinion if the media happens to be controlled by a powerful minority. Divisiveness and factionalism can be accentuated by connecting similar, but otherwise isolated, local conflicts into a single larger conflict. A great advantage of national coverage is the wide knowledge of public affairs that it creates. However, this national coverage can reinforce the threat of faction and division when it publicizes uninformed opinions. According to some, faction can be suppressed by educating the public as to the true nature of conflicts. However, history has shown that people who encourage conflict are given just as much coverage as people who try to remove conflict.
ReplyDelete2. Seven of eight reigns of the Romanov line that succeeded Peter the Great were plagued by some sort of palace revolt or popular revolution. This was in part due to the termination of the principle of heredity and the institution of achievement of merit as the basis of succession by Peter in 1722. Thus Peter and many subsequent tsars did not appoint a successor before dying. Czarina Anna appointed Ivan VI when he was less than two months old, but Peter’s daughter Elizabeth defeated Anna and ascended to the throne in 1741. Because succession was not dependent upon authority, the boyars regularly disputed who was to become sovereign. In 1797 the law of succession was codified to be male primogeniture by Paul I. But he was strangled by conspirators, one of whom was probably his son, Alexander I.
3. When Truman was considering the Oppenheimer committee’s recommendation to stop the hydrogen bomb project, he was faced with many issues, domestic politics in particular. The Cold War was becoming an issue as Russia and China had proclaimed a Sino-Soviet bloc. Truman’s foreign policy was losing support among Republican leaders in Congress. The public was demanding a strong response to the first Russian atom bomb test. Truman inevitably concluded that he could not afford to let the public think that Russia had been allowed to be first in developing the most powerful weapon in the world. These political issues were too powerful for Truman to ignore when weighing the risk of the Oppenheimer recommendation and he chose to continue with the hydrogen bomb project, despite the benefits that some historians believe would have come from taking such a recommendation.