The YouTube Debates/Debacle

Even though YouTube is a forum for public debate to only a limited extent due to its censorship, it still provides a new, interesting way of reaching the masses. YouTube is often seen as a paragon of civic media in how anyone regardless of social standing can make their voice heard and as the site's slogan states, broadcast themselves. So what better way to involve the great majority of apolitical citizens than by creating a political outlet within an entertainment one like YouTube? The normal medium of news and magazines as a way to keep people politically aloof has failed and society is being forced to search for innovative ways to draw the average American into the political sphere. Allowing citizens to submit their own video questions from their own homes adds a sense of grassroots authenticity to televised political debates that often seem out of touch with the reality of the common man.

But, in the end, it falls short of civic media because civic media isn't truly civic if it is being monitored by a conglomerate news network that may have political supporters to kowtow to. Censorship strips the YouTube debates of its authenticity and eliminates its validity as a gateway into the true heart of America. CNN is free to select the questions that would be the least controversial, the easier questions the candidates would want to answer. Instead of being an uninterrupted channel of the common American's attempt at participating in a democracy, it becomes a pseudo civic media where political convenience takes precedence over the public's true concern. Despite its failings, it still is a manifestation of the need for a new public venue where the indifferent masses can inject their beliefs into mainstream politics.

The Sonic Memorial Project: A Sound Monument to 9/11

The argument being made in this website is that the emotional turmoil of an event that brought a nation to its knees needs to be recorded. By listening to the actual sounds of survivors, victims, and bystanders, we incarnate the bravery and sacrifice the world witnessed that day and form an audio monument to those who passed.

This interactive website that allows you to listen to ambient sounds and archival recordings appeals to both pathos and ethos. It primarily appeals to emotion since by listening to sounds from 9/11 people are able to mentally reconstruct that events that transpired that day and remember where they were and what they were doing. The user is forced back into the mentality of fortitude over tragedy and Sonic Memorial proves to be a testament of hope in the face of despair that tugs at one's heartstrings. In a way that is tasteful and never trite, people are reminded to pay homage to the voices and sounds in these audio archives. Sonic Memorial can also appeal to ones morality because to forget these sounds, images, and memories that formed such a defining moment in our nation's history and to discount them as relics of a disappearing past is immoral. These sounds emphasize the moral imperative of giving reverence to September 11th and to those who were affected by it.

What I found most interesting about the Sonic Memorial's form was the organization of the home page. All of the criss-crossing lines seem to form a web that connects all of the links together. It is symbolic of how all of these saved sounds collectively form a portrait of 9/11 and the range of emotions people felt that day from grief to rage. All of the photos featured on the site are partially cut off, making the scenes they depict more abrupt which also forms a striking parallel to the abrupt and unexpected attacks that rattled the American spirit and served as true test of a nation's resilience.