Preventing Drunk Driving

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Each year, drunk driving takes the lives of thousands of people. Drunk driving is a huge social problem that, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, could be alleviated with the use of special technology in vehicles that could sense whether a person is over the legal limit or not. MADD, or Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is a non-profit organization that began in 1980. MADD is devoted to fighting drunk driving and spreading awareness about the problem.

Here are some of their victories.




MADD has also helped Supreme Court "establish sobriety check points as constitutional" in 1990, and launched the website madd.org along with a program called Youth in Action in 1996. According to youthinactionri.org, "Youth In Action is a partnership between youth, adults, and community where young people are at the forefront of creating positive social change."

MADD has also spread awareness of the drunk driving problem in America by fundraising money for victims and families of drunk drivers by organizing walks and marathons, and recruiting volunteers to participate in events that raise awareness of the social problem.

According to madd.org, "MADD has saved 27,000 young lives through passage of groundbreaking public health laws." This organization that started with a couple of mothers has grown into one of the most well-known and well respected organizations in the United States. Their recruitment of people and supporters have made quite the impact on drunk driving victims and families of victims.

For more information on Mothers Against Driving, go to their website to read more about their incredible contributions

Delete Digital Drama

In my problem-solution speech, I addressed the issue of bullying and how it is affected teens and children all over the world. The stars of ABC Family’s hit shows have teamed up together with Seventeen Magazine to stop cyberbullying. They have started a campaign to “delete digital drama”. They all attended a “rally to delete digital drama” on July 14, 2011, where they raised money to send to a nonprofit organization called Stomp Bullying! . They also sold T-shirts that the celebrities advertised, and the money was also donated to this organization.

I think that this was a very effective way of service to alleviate this problem of cyberbullying. I think that children today are very impressionable and when they see the star of their favorite show they are easily persuaded to listen to them. I think that by selling the T-shirts that the celebrities are wearing, the children watching them are likely to buy the shirts. They are also advertising their campaign on ABC Family, which will influence the audience watching the channel not to cyberbully, or bully in general.

One thing that I would change about this campaign is that it only targets cyberbullying. I think that it should focus on all types of bullying and that they are all wrong. If the audience’s role models were enforcing the stop to all types of bullying, then maybe the rate of bullying would overall decrease, not just in the category of cyberbullying. Although this campaign is very good and is effective, I think that it should not just address one type of bullying.

Standing Up for Autism

In my policy solution speech, I addressed how autistic individuals are being discriminated against when applying for and maintaining jobs. Now, I want to talk about how individuals are taking matters into their own hands to help solve some of the complications of this social issue. Many individuals that are concerned with discrimination against autistics are supporting multiple societies and organizations that help the advocacy of autistic individuals. For example, the Joseph Synder Autistic Fund is a private organization that collects donations to help children that have autism receive medical care and therapy so their symptoms won’t be as severe, therefore there would be less discrimination. Although this campaign supports the awareness of discrimination by trying to hide the symptoms, other organizations support efforts that make the public feel bad for discriminating. Societies such as Free Autism Training Association have goals to blame the public for this discrimination and to use pathos to make people feel bad. This organization wants to inform and educate people about autism so there is less discrimination in the employment field.  People who are interested in autism and want to be less discriminative will join this society to become more involved with autism awareness.

            Although each of these campaigns has different objectives, their main goal is to put the problem in the hands of the audience and to ask them to make a difference. I think that both of them do a good job at advocating the discrimination against autistics and allowing different methods of helping this social issue. One involves donating money, which is quick and easy. The other takes a more hands-on approach by educating yourself about autism and how to interact with autistic individuals. Each of these methods involves self-determination. You have to want to make a difference. To make these campaigns more effective, I would want to advertise their awareness in the media. I would have never found these organizations if I was just browsing the web, I had to actually look them up. Allowing the majority of the public become aware of this social issue will allow more people to want to get involved. 

Pieing & Public Advocacy

 

No doubt you've seen video of the public pieing of Rupert Murdoch by now (if not, watch it above).  By no means is he the first public figure to come face-to-face with a big ol' helping of public humiliation.  The Washington Post offers a primer on the pie's history as a tool of activism.

Does a pie to the face count as activism?  Does it have value as a communication practice?  Is revenge really that sweet?

Public Advocacy

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During my entire high school career I was involved with a certain public advocacy group known as SADD. SADD stands for Students Against Destructive Decisions. My fellow group members and I had the task of talking to health classes each year about the millions of bad choices that high school students make. It was our job to inform them, student to student, of the many situations that they might find themselves in. We discussed topics such as drugs, alcohol, drunk driving, and the consequences that these choices have. We spoke not only to inform underclassmen, but to protect the community that we lived in. This is a great example of public advocacy because it was a group of high school students standing up and speaking for a good cause by their own free will. Now this does not mean that no one ever made bad choices after we had talked to them, but I would like to believe that we stopped some that may have made the wrong choice otherwise.

Anorexia's Living Face (CBS News)

Driving through the streets of Italy and seeing a billboard of an anorexic woman, the people are seeing first hand this women's experience and her difficulties with this dangerous disorder. This is an example of public advocacy because not only is she telling her story, she is creating awareness for others. Her immediate audience is the public at large, but aimed directly towards teenage girls who are also suffering with this disease or who think that this is beautiful.
In this case, civic engagement goes hand in hand with public advocacy. This women is involving her audience and is getting them to take action and stand up against anorexia and eating disorders. Eating disorders are very dangerous and can have several risks. They co-exist with many psychological problems and sometimes there is also the risk of committing suicide or death. Being able to speak out and inform the public about diseases like this, will hopefully be beneficial to our world as a whole and help people with eating disorders overcome their fear of food.

Mothers against drunk driving

Civic engagement is the collective actions of a group in order to address issues of public concern. This can include volunteerism, fundraising, and/or community problem solving activities. This concept also includes an individuals personal responsibility to do their part in the community. An appropriate example of civic engagement is MADD (Mothers against drunk driving). This organization's goals are to stop drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and push for stricter alcohol policies. This organization favors advocacy and education about the possible dangers that can occur from driving drunk. Civic engagement involved critical thinking and critical listening in order to take part in the organization or community action in an effective way.

MADD is a prime example of civic engagement because the individuals that take part in this organization take responsibility in their communities as well as others in order to address the concern of underage drinking and drunk driving. In modern society, one in three people will be involved in an alcohol related accident in their lifetime. Therefore, this organization is important to our society and specifically to my personal age group in order to make people aware of the consequences of drunk driving. In addition, there are specific steps that we can all take in order to protect our families from the danger of drunk driving. These policies include high-visibility law enforcement who catch drunk drivers, in-car breathalyzers, and a nationwide campaign to eliminate drunk driving and keep our futures safer.