Sociology 319. February 8 and 10, 2000. Rational Choice Theory (RCT) 1. Introduction. A different approach to the theory of social action from that discussed so far. How CNN Made Its Own Reporting Sound Like Blackmail. On July 2, President Donald Trump tweeted out a video showing himself, as he had appeared in a 2. Wrestle. Mania event, attacking a person whose head had been replaced with the CNN logo. Two days later, CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski wrote an article about the origins of the video and the anonymous Reddit user who had made it. The article quickly turned into a scandal for CNN, as Trump supporters and media ethicists both accused the network of blackmailing or bullying the video creator, a Reddit user calling himself Han. Asshole. Solo, by threatening to expose his real identity. ![]() The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, in his version of the indictment, argued that “one of the nation’s most powerful media corporations is explicitly threatening a critic with exposure” and that CNN had chosen to “threaten and punish a random, obscure citizen.” Right- wing Twitter accounts published the address and other personal information of Kaczynski and his family as an act of retaliation. The backlash caught CNN by surprise—in part, according to people familiar with the editing process, because the passage in the story that provoked the backlash had been written by a network executive as a defensive measure to explain their sourcing decision. The sources say the ongoing media morality play has been based on false assumptions about the purpose of the story, and about how a thorny reporting process had unfolded. The result is a case study in how not to avoid outrage. CNN published Kaczynski’s article on July 4. Earlier that day, Han. Asshole. Solo, who had originally celebrated Trump’s attention, posted a public apology for having created the GIF that went into Trump’s tweeted video, and for having posted a variety of racist memes, including a chart listing prominent Jews who work for CNN. The apology came after Kaczynski had managed to identify the user and send him an email, but before the user had responded to Kaczynski and confirmed his real name. In the piece, Kaczynski chose not to publish the user’s real name. The part of story that explained the decision, the product of internal discussions at CNN, was what critics attacked as being awkward at best and blackmail at worst: CNN is not publishing “Han. On July 2, President Donald Trump tweeted out a video showing himself, as he had appeared in a 2007 WrestleMania event, attacking a person whose head had been.A**hole. Solo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same. CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change. Persona 5 is an Urban Fantasy Role-Playing Game, and the fourth numbered sequel in the Shin Megami Tensei JRPG franchise's Persona sub-series, developed by. Chapter Three VALUE AND USES OF THOUGHT POWER Serve Others by Thought-vibrations. A true monk or Sannyasin can do everything through his thought-vibrations. Robert Cox on World Orders, Historical Change, and the Purpose of Theory in International Relations. YouTube’s Giaco Whatever, who previously terrified us with a custom Nerf blaster capable of firing foam darts faster than the speed of sound, has now designed and. Latest Stories. The Best Amazon Prime Day Deal Is a Game of Thrones Steal if ye have the coin; The Bachelorette: Rachel's 3-on-1 Probably Violates the Geneva. In this closely integrated collection of essays on colonialism in world history, Frederick Cooper raises crucial questions about concepts relevant to a wide range of. Because the passage appeared under Kaczynski’s byline, it fell to him to defend it on Twitter: “This line is being misinterpreted. It was intended only to mean we made no agreement . In the course of editing the article, a CNN source told Buzz. Feed’s Steven Perlberg, “someone . It does not sound like something a typical journalist would write on their own.”This theory was corroborated by five people with knowledge of the editorial process that led to publication. According to those people, the passage was drafted and proposed by Richard “Rick” Davis, a 3. CNN who is the network’s Executive Vice President of News Standards and Practices. It was added at or very near to the final stage of editing—long after Kaczynski had concluded his reporting. Davis’s proposed wording was not inserted by edict, nor did it fall outside CNN’s normal editorial process, said the people familiar with Davis’s involvement. Kaczynski’s article was seen by a large number of editors at the network, and it went through all of the established procedures prior to publication. The story of Han. Asshole. Solo’s apology was moving quickly on Tuesday, however, which meant that the process was not as a deliberative as it might have otherwise been. Throughout the editing and review, nobody flagged Davis’s proposed language as troublesome. There were three main reasons for this oversight, the sources said: CNN wanted to publish a timely piece, given that the apology had already been posted; Davis wasn’t asking for any parts of the story to be caveated or removed (a common occurrence in pre- publication vetting); and, perhaps most importantly, Kaczynski’s team, known as KFILE, didn’t regard the question of naming or not naming Han. Asshole. Solo as the central point of the story in the first place. Kaczynski and his KFILE colleagues, the sources said, had begun the investigation in hopes of determining the exact journey that Han. Asshole. Solo’s GIF had taken from Reddit to President Trump’s Twitter. They were especially curious about what role the White House’s social media director, Dan Scavino, may have had in finding and distributing the clip—wanting to know if Han. Asshole. Solo had been in contact with Scavino, and if so, who had initiated it. Ultimately, CNN found no cooperation between Han. Asshole. Solo and Scavino. The fact that the Trump administration had plucked this particular user out of obscurity, without his permission, made the decision not to name him a simple one, these people said. But readers took the passage about the decision to mean that CNN had only granted Han. Asshole. Solo anonymity because of the apology. Even while CNN was startled by the reaction, some employees privately agreed that Davis’s language, about “CNN reserv. At the same time, according to the sources, CNN’s executive leadership resisted calls to remove the passage or clarify its meaning. Their reasoning: Any edits or changes to the article itself would suggest CNN had done something wrong, which would only embolden its army of enemies, many of whom believe the network is hopelessly biased against Trump. Instead, the network issued a statement on July 5 that said, in part, “Any assertion that the network blackmailed . They pointed out that many of CNN’s leaders aren’t regular users of social media, where much of the backlash fomented and where Kaczynski has received near- constant harassment. Davis, for example, does not appear to have a Twitter account. Kaczynski and his colleagues now find themselves in the position of trying to defend their work without defending the apparently threatening passage. And the fact that CNN has adopted a bunker mentality against pro- Trump critics suggests that the passage is here to stay. At this point, altering or removing the passage would amount to second- guessing CNN’s leadership. After all, the text employs an institutional voice—“CNN reserves the right”—in which only a handful of executives, including Davis, are allowed to write. Another such executive is Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN. The people familiar with the editorial process gave varying accounts of how closely Zucker was involved in Kaczynski’s article prior to publication, but otherwise confirmed that he was aware that the article was in the pipeline, and familiar with its contents. Zucker did not respond to a request for comment, and did not directly address the controversy in a Wednesday interview with the New York Times. CNN’s handling of the story has led to predictable consequences for Kaczynski, who continues to face threats and harassment directed at him and his family. Kaczynski referred our questions to a CNN spokesperson, who declined to discuss the network’s editorial practices. Davis did not respond to requests for comment. This story was produced by Gizmodo Media Group’s Special Projects Desk. Email the author at trotter@gizmodomedia. Social Contract Theory . Socrates uses something quite like a social contract argument to explain to Crito why he must remain in prison and accept the death penalty. However, social contract theory is rightly associated with modern moral and political theory and is given its first full exposition and defense by Thomas Hobbes. After Hobbes, John Locke and Jean- Jacques Rousseau are the best known proponents of this enormously influential theory, which has been one of the most dominant theories within moral and political theory throughout the history of the modern West. In the twentieth century, moral and political theory regained philosophical momentum as a result of John Rawls’ Kantian version of social contract theory, and was followed by new analyses of the subject by David Gauthier and others. More recently, philosophers from different perspectives have offered new criticisms of social contract theory. In particular, feminists and race- conscious philosophers have argued that social contract theory is at least an incomplete picture of our moral and political lives, and may in fact camouflage some of the ways in which the contract is itself parasitical upon the subjugations of classes of persons. Table of Contents Socrates' Argument Modern Social Contract Theory Thomas Hobbes John Locke Jean- Jacques Rousseau More Recent Social Contract Theories John Rawls' A Theory of Justice David Gauthier Contemporary Critiques of Social Contract Theory Feminist Arguments The Sexual Contract The Nature of the Liberal Individual Arguing from Care Race- Conscious Argument Conclusion References and Further Reading 1. Socrates' Argument. In the early Platonic dialogue, Crito, Socrates makes a compelling argument as to why he must stay in prison and accept the death penalty, rather than escape and go into exile in another Greek city. He personifies the Laws of Athens, and, speaking in their voice, explains that he has acquired an overwhelming obligation to obey the Laws because they have made his entire way of life, and even the fact of his very existence, possible. They made it possible for his mother and father to marry, and therefore to have legitimate children, including himself. Having been born, the city of Athens, through its laws, then required that his father care for and educate him. Socrates' life and the way in which that life has flourished in Athens are each dependent upon the Laws. Importantly, however, this relationship between citizens and the Laws of the city are not coerced. Citizens, once they have grown up, and have seen how the city conducts itself, can choose whether to leave, taking their property with them, or stay. Staying implies an agreement to abide by the Laws and accept the punishments that they mete out. And, having made an agreement that is itself just, Socrates asserts that he must keep to this agreement that he has made and obey the Laws, in this case, by staying and accepting the death penalty. Importantly, the contract described by Socrates is an implicit one: it is implied by his choice to stay in Athens, even though he is free to leave. In Plato's most well- known dialogue, Republic, social contract theory is represented again, although this time less favorably. In Book II, Glaucon offers a candidate for an answer to the question . What men would most want is to be able to commit injustices against others without the fear of reprisal, and what they most want to avoid is being treated unjustly by others without being able to do injustice in return. Justice then, he says, is the conventional result of the laws and covenants that men make in order to avoid these extremes. Being unable to commit injustice with impunity (as those who wear the ring of Gyges would), and fearing becoming victims themselves, men decide that it is in their interests to submit themselves to the convention of justice. Socrates rejects this view, and most of the rest of the dialogue centers on showing that justice is worth having for its own sake, and that the just man is the happy man. So, from Socrates’ point of view, justice has a value that greatly exceeds the prudential value that Glaucon assigns to it. These views, in the Crito and the Republic, might seem at first glance inconsistent: in the former dialogue Socrates uses a social contract type of argument to show why it is just for him to remain in prison, whereas in the latter he rejects social contract as the source of justice. These two views are, however, reconcilable. From Socrates' point of view, a just man is one who will, among other things, recognize his obligation to the state by obeying its laws. The state is the morally and politically most fundamental entity, and as such deserves our highest allegiance and deepest respect. Just men know this and act accordingly. Justice, however, is more than simply obeying laws in exchange for others obeying them as well. Justice is the state of a well- regulated soul, and so the just man will also necessarily be the happy man. So, justice is more than the simple reciprocal obedience to law, as Glaucon suggests, but it does nonetheless include obedience to the state and the laws that sustain it. So in the end, although Plato is perhaps the first philosopher to offer a representation of the argument at the heart of social contract theory, Socrates ultimately rejects the idea that social contract is the original source of justice. Modern Social Contract Theory a. Thomas Hobbes. Thomas Hobbes, 1. England's history: the English Civil War, waged from 1. To describe this conflict in the most general of terms, it was a clash between the King and his supporters, the Monarchists, who preferred the traditional authority of a monarch, and the Parliamentarians, most notably led by Oliver Cromwell, who demanded more power for the quasi- democratic institution of Parliament. Hobbes represents a compromise between these two factions. On the one hand he rejects the theory of the Divine Right of Kings, which is most eloquently expressed by Robert Filmer in his Patriarcha or the Natural Power of Kings, (although it would be left to John Locke to refute Filmer directly). Filmer’s view held that a king’s authority was invested in him (or, presumably, her) by God, that such authority was absolute, and therefore that the basis of political obligation lay in our obligation to obey God absolutely. According to this view, then, political obligation is subsumed under religious obligation. On the other hand, Hobbes also rejects the early democratic view, taken up by the Parliamentarians, that power ought to be shared between Parliament and the King. In rejecting both these views, Hobbes occupies the ground of one is who both radical and conservative. He argues, radically for his times, that political authority and obligation are based on the individual self- interests of members of society who are understood to be equal to one another, with no single individual invested with any essential authority to rule over the rest, while at the same time maintaining the conservative position that the monarch, which he called the Sovereign, must be ceded absolute authority if society is to survive. Hobbes' political theory is best understood if taken in two parts: his theory of human motivation, Psychological Egoism, and his theory of the social contract, founded on the hypothetical State of Nature. Hobbes has, first and foremost, a particular theory of human nature, which gives rise to a particular view of morality and politics, as developed in his philosophical masterpiece, Leviathan, published in 1. The Scientific Revolution, with its important new discoveries that the universe could be both described and predicted in accordance with universal laws of nature, greatly influenced Hobbes. He sought to provide a theory of human nature that would parallel the discoveries being made in the sciences of the inanimate universe. His psychological theory is therefore informed by mechanism, the general view that everything in the universe is produced by nothing other than matter in motion. According to Hobbes, this extends to human behavior. Human macro- behavior can be aptly described as the effect of certain kinds of micro- behavior, even though some of this latter behavior is invisible to us. So, such behaviors as walking, talking, and the like are themselves produced by other actions inside of us. And these other actions are themselves caused by the interaction of our bodies with other bodies, human or otherwise, which create in us certain chains of causes and effects, and which eventually give rise to the human behavior that we can plainly observe. We, including all of our actions and choices, are then, according to this view, as explainable in terms of universal laws of nature as are the motions of heavenly bodies. The gradual disintegration of memory, for example, can be explained by inertia. As we are presented with ever more sensory information, the residue of earlier impressions . From Hobbes’ point of view, we are essentially very complicated organic machines, responding to the stimuli of the world mechanistically and in accordance with universal laws of human nature. In Hobbes' view, this mechanistic quality of human psychology implies the subjective nature of normative claims. So, too, the terms . Moral terms do not, therefore, describe some objective state of affairs, but are rather reflections of individual tastes and preferences. In addition to Subjectivism, Hobbes also infers from his mechanistic theory of human nature that humans are necessarily and exclusively self- interested. All men pursue only what they perceive to be in their own individually considered best interests - they respond mechanistically by being drawn to that which they desire and repelled by that to which they are averse.
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