Whistleblower

A big topic in recent news was about the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower. In regards to a phone call that President Donald J. Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky back in July 2019. So what exactly is a whistleblower? A whistleblower is an individual who exposes secretive information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within a private or public organization.

Currently in the United States, Whistleblowing is not illegal. However, it can get people into a lot of trouble and potentially the loss of their job. There are some cases in which the government may consider whistleblowing illegal. One whistleblower case is with Edward Snowden on him exposing the National Security Agency (NSA) about illegally tracking and viewing American citizens without a federal warrant following the USA PATRIOT Act. The Act was passed in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.

Propaganda and the Media

In today's media especially the use of propaganda has been at an all time high. Nowadays it is hard to determine what is fact and fiction from the mainstream media. What happened to how journalist report? How did we change course to decide to publish a possible false narrative to the public? Today's implications from these sort of acts have caused people to be subpoenaed to Congress, an impeachment inquire against the President of the United States, and the public not know what media outlet they can trust anymore.

These sort of acts can shape society in a very negative way. We once again are being divided. Not by race but by what side of the political spectrum we are on, whether it is Republican or Democrat. People are being judged, hurt, and possibly even killed by expressing their feelings about an individual.
This sort of situation affects individuals of all race, age, sexuality, gender, ethnicity. We are all affected on how the information is released into the public and it is up to the public to call out on major media companies for the false narrative that they may produce. That is what is great about America. The ability to call out our government, elected officials, or even media outlets on the potential wrongdoing they might have committed.
This affects me in a way because sometimes I do not even know what source to trust anymore since I can never decipher from fact or fiction. This sort of problem affects my and future generations because the precedent that we display today and especially for this upcoming election will show either how great or how doomed America is in the future.

It is up to us in the here and now to try and fix what we can. Place people accountable for the criminal actions they have committed and ensure that the government is protecting its citizens against enemies foreign and domestic.

Your Online Presence using Social Media

Social Media. The act of communication through a interactive computerized device to share information and creative ideas. In an article from DreamGrow updated in July, 2019 ranked popular social networking applications. Facebook came top with over 2.2 billion users, YouTube with 1.9 billion, Instagram following at one billion, then Twitter at 336 million. The newest social media app on the rise is TikTok a Chinese application launched by ByteDance in 2017. As of February, 2019 the app over one billion users.

The question we must ask however is what sort of footprint are we placing by participating in such applications? I have a personal website as well where I post my latest filmography and projects. I am an individual who has applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and TikTok. However, I am very conscientious with what I post on such social media platforms. The sort of personal information that I have on those services is very limited and private. I keep a relative close eye on what sort of personal information that I have online.

Personally I think the use of social media is good and bad for society. It is good because it gives users the ability to communicate with people all over the world and stay connected them. It also allows individuals to express themselves in their own ways and create interesting trends while doing it. However, their is a downside. Like every other platform out there, their is always going to be haters and people who strive to bring others down. With the greater accessibility to the apps cyberbullying has been on the rise since the early 2010s. Personally, applications like TikTok are making a good impression on society. It has allowed individuals to express their creativity and get famous while doing it. Even current celebrities such as Will Smith, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, and Howie Mandel are using it.