- Recursive Process
Final Draft:
What would you consider the most powerful way of activism in today’s world? According to Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “Making Conversation” and the “Primacy of Practice,” Appiah is a big fan of this new social activism that can come right from our very own cellular devices. However, according to Malcolm Gladwell’s “Small Change” Gladwell is not a fan of this new social activism behind the phone. I learn more towards Gladwell’s side than Appiah’s side. In Gladwell’s writing, he argues that he is worried that he has given up on social activism, because of the blunt laziness of people behind the screen, while Appiah argues that people should not be given up on because with cosmopolitanism people can agree to disagree and their for social activism would be easier to accomplish, although. Both make compelling arguments I learn towards Gladwell’s point.
To begin, Gladwell starts off his writing by talking about a coffee shop in the 1960s in Greensboro North Carolina where four college students who were black attempted to buy cups of coffee. They end up leaving the premises and they came back the next day, however, this time they have brought some friends with them. The same thing ends up happening. From then on they kept coming back with more and more people until it gained media attention, there would be photographers outside as the kids were in line. Eventually, teachers would join, sit-ins would be organized and protests would cross state lines. It would then escalate into a protest war, as members of both sides would be there including KKK members. Eventually, a bomb threat would be called and shut the whole operation down. “These events in the early sixties became a civil-rights war that engulfed the South for the rest of the decade—and it all happened without email, texting, Facebook, or Twitter.” (Gladwell 143) This is one of the reasons I agree more with Gladwell’s side because all this happened due to four kids wanted to buy coffee. They did not post about it, they did not tweet about it, they just simply used the power of action which eventually caught the media’s attention and turned into a snowball effect not just for that one location but across state lines and into other states.
There are plenty more examples of this type of activism working and making an impact in our country and the world. An example of this would be the countless Black Lives Matter protests that happened around our country back in 2020 after some of the footage of George Floyde was released to the public. This video appeared to show a police officer where he was kneeling on Floyde’s neck when he said, “I can’t breathe.” The officer proceeded to do nothing and he eventually ended up dying. There were also a handful of other tapes released to public view which sparked protests and rallies in various cities throughout the country. This is where the movement of Black Lives Matter really began to pick up. It shed light on some of the corrupt police departments throughout the country. “If Martin Luther King Jr. had tried to wiki–boycott in Montgomery, he would have been steamrolled by the white power structure. And of what use would a digital communication tool be in a town where ninety–eight of the black community could be reached every Sunday morning at church? The things that King needed in Birmingham–discipline and strategy–were things that online social media cannot provide.” (Gladwell 149). This quote talks about how all of his movement would not have been possible if it was done through social media. Instead, he found a way to reach everyone in his community at once. The way he was able to get everyone on board, as described in the quote, was through his local church. The way I connect this world example and the in-book example is that both situations were taken to the streets to fight for what they believed. They did not go straight to social media and call it a day, they set a goal for a better way of life and they fixed the problem and created a better world for everyone.
“The platforms of social media are built around weak ties.” (Gladwell 146). This quote states that social media creates weak ties because people will get too comfortable behind a screen that they will forget how true activism works. Then when people attempt to do protests and anything in person they will not get as many people. They will want to do it straight from their phones instead.
Although I do learn more towards Gladwell there is a point that Appiah makes that I do agree with. “We can live together without agreeing on what the values are that make it good to live together; we can agree about what to do in most cases. Without agreeing about why it is right.” (Appiah 47). This idea is called Cosmopolitanism, which is the main focus of Appiah’s argument. The idea, in simple terms, states that a person should practice whatever they believe in and not worry about what other people think or believe or want them to believe. If we had this type of mindset in today’s world we would have way fewer problems if people were just accepting of other people’s beliefs, cultures, and ways of life.
One other point I do agree with is that Appiah states that us kids need to get away from our parents’ ideas and views and create our own thoughts. This however is no one person’s fault and more the schooling system. In school, we are taught to say and remember exactly what we are told. This leaves no time for us to think, act and speak for ourselves because if it is not what was told to us earlier then it is deemed incorrect and we will lose points. This does not get any better through high school either; it is the same stuff throughout all twelve grades of schooling. So at the end of the day, the one to blame is the schooling system. The hardest part about this though is breaking tradition/habits and that is exactly what we are in. It is all traditionally speaking and therefore will never change. One other point I feel as if I have to shed light on for Appiah is that in his perfect world there would be no hate towards any religion, no racism, and no hate of any kind. However, for the society we live in, that is not a very achievable goal, and social media only makes it worse. “There is no agreed-upon answer–and the point is there doesn’t need to be.” (Appiah 47). However, this is an unrealistic goal for society because people always believe that they need to be right and there is no other side.
On the other side of things, one thing Appiah’s ideas that I disagree with is that this new type of activism is good. I believe this “social activism” is not going to get us very far when it comes to advocating for ourselves and others. One thing that makes social activism even harder in today’s world is all the false information on the internet. It does not seem that bad at first but it can skew a lot of ideas, quotes, and thoughts of people and ruin lives. An example of this would be during the presidential election there was a lot of misinformation going around on both sides and it created even more of a hectic environment. People turned on each other like never before. It was mayhem.
With rapidly changing social media platforms and misinformation all over the place these days. Gradwell’s points and ideas are more appropriate for today’s society. While Appiah’s ideas are just simply unrealistic in today’s constantly changing world and not achievable.
Revision:
The difference between the rough and final drafts is significant with the help of using pier review and self-editing. It helped change my ideas and connect them better than they were before. As you can tell it is complete with many more examples embedded into my writing. One example is that in the 4th paragraph I could not even think of a quote to use and in the final, I was helped in my rough draft reflection I was helped and they suggested a quote that I ended up using which made my essay better than before. Another example is that at first, I did not have much of a conclusion paragraph, there was only one sentence. After I worked it out I ended up creating a full conclusion paragraph. Another example is my thesis statement. Before it was weak and did not really connect with everything. However, it then after was much better “In Gladwell’s writing, he argues that he is worried that he has given up on social activism, because of the blunt laziness of people behind the screen, while Appiah argues that people should not be given up on because with cosmopolitanism people can agree to disagree and there for social activism would be easier to accomplish, although.” This changed the wording and just the overall grade of the thesis itself. It also helped me get rid of unnecessary pieces of information. In my third to the last paragraph originally I wanted to add an online stat. However after that and talking through it I realized that it would not fit my essay as much if I added it so I took it away. I am grateful for the peer review because in the essays I would always get writer’s block and I could not think of anything to write. With the help of peer review, it helped expand my ideas with some of the ones I just use as an example.
2. Integrating Ideas:
I feel like some of my strongest qualities in writing is outside source examples as well as connection so i I would say I did pretty well in that aspect of writitng. I made sure to use quotes when comparing key components in the the texts. “In Gladwell’s writing, he argues that he is worried that he has given up on social activism, because of the blunt laziness of people behind the screen, while Appiah argues that people should not be given up on because with cosmopolitanism people can agree to disagree and there for social activism would be easier to accomplish, although.” This is one of my better quotes that I used in my essay becuase it describes a whole arguement in one quotes. It rounds up a whole arguement and text in one quotes which launched my essay. I am using my own ideas my using outside sources. In my third paragraph I brought up the Goeorge Floyde that took place in 2020 this is one example I gave in my essay: An example of this would be the countless Black Lives Matter protests that happened around our country back in 2020 after some of the footage of George Floyde was released to the public. This video appeared to show a police officer where he was kneeling on Floyde’s neck when he said, “I can’t breathe.” This was a very good example because when writing this it is still a relivent topic in our society today. My thesis is: In Gladwell’s writing, he argues that he is worried that he has given up on social activism, because of the blunt laziness of people behind the screen, while Appiah argues that people should not be given up on because with cosmopolitanism people can agree to disagree and their for social activism would be easier to accomplish, although. This shows off both texts both and shows off what side I am on.
5, 6. Citations and Local Revisions:
For citations and revisions, a lot of the information is reviewed. I learned it all a while ago in high school. It helped to review it so I stayed fresh on the material and the Ideas.
