Civic Engagement

1. In The Trenches
Melissa Smith

2. News Story…..
Two stabbing attacks leave Europe on edge….
https://youtu.be/0fT7gJRCBIM

3. Comment I responded to….
“In other news….. policy was just signed that
would allow 10,000 Muslim refugees to enter
this country”

4. My Comment
“Not all refugees are terrorists! Most of the
refugees entering this country are trying to
escape extremists like this! They are in as
much danger as we are!”

5. Reaction…..
I checked back 24 hours later and…..
My comment received no reaction.
In fact, my comment and the original comment seems to
have been deleted.

6. Does commenting increase civic engagement?
Civic engagement is any individual or group activity addressing issues of
public concern(apa.org).
Based on some of the comments on this video, I say No. However, I do believe
commenting, in general, does increase civic engagement.
In this case, based on these comments, it seems people were just ranting and
making angry comments in reaction to the news story.
There were also stupid, random comments completely irrelevant to the news
story. (As if people had nothing better to do than to make stupid comments).

7. However...
I did want to go back and see if my comment was reacted to. I hoped it would
be because I wanted to engage this person and find out if he was just mad or
if he actually believed all refugees are terrorists?
I don’t know if engaging him/her would of changed their mind, or if they
even cared if they were wrong or not. I felt it was worth the chance though.
You have a 50/50 chance of changing someone’s mind once they are
informed of the truth. That is how change occurs anyway right? With the
start of a conversation...

8. Should comments be part of the discourse of an article?
I do believe discourse should be part of an article.
I saw some videos which had the comments section turned off. Perhaps
there should be a filter to the comments? Someone scrubbing the comments
for relevance to the story. Not allowing comments like “Anyone on here for
tiktok”.
I know this is not possible because of the amount of time and energy it would
take to scrub every comment on every news story.

9. Is Commenting an Act of Civic Agency?
YES!! Yes it is!
Civic agency brings about platform changes for politicians based on public
opinion. Civic agency brings light to public opinion on social issues and
problems. It is a public platform in which the public can collectively address
things like poverty, affordable housing, abortion, climate change and any
other public issue.
Civic agency can address political and also non political issues.

10. Civic Agency
Civic agency is what this country was founded on...DEMOCRACY!
Giving people a voice to state their opinion and decide for
themselves what is important.

11. Our 1st Amendment Right
Our first amendment right gives us the freedom of speech. It allows us to
speak for or against our government. It allows us to voice our opinion and
have our voice be heard. Whether it is live, or on a digital platform, we have
this right. Many of us don’t think twice about this right. We take for granted
our liberty to speak our mind without fear of being arrested and jailed for
opposing our government. Many people around the world still do not enjoy
this freedom.

12. In My Opinion….
Therefore, I believe, civic engagement is very important. Even if it is
displayed in stupid comments irrelevant to the issue and unrelated to
anything of importance.
It is their right.

13. References
https://www.apa.org/education/undergrad/civic-engagement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fT7gJRCBIM