Understanding Battleground States Before US Elections 2020

October 26 2020

Have you ever heard about the terms electoral battlegrounds, battleground states or swing states, and then you wondered what that means?

Before every presidential election in the united states, presidential candidates often start the elections with some states that are already in their favor. We usually hear the terms “Red States” and “Blue States”, in which “Red” stands for a majority of Republicans vote, while “Blue” stands for a majority of Democrats vote.

_New York state for example hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1984 (Blue State).

_Alabama hasn’t voted for a Democratic nominee since 1976 (Red State).

“Battleground” states or “Swing” states are the “undecided states”, the sort of states where there is uncertainty upon the result of the vote, they are called battleground because they are usually where candidates compete for their support.

How do we define a battleground state?

It is usually done through looking at the polls within the margin of error and decide which party is getting more support based on the numbers that are received, or through the historical records based on what the respective state usually votes for.

According to the Vice President of North Star Opinion Research Jon McHenry, a battleground state is any state that flipped between the parties in 2016 such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Iowa. Adding to that, any state that was decided by five points or fewer in 2016 (Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, and North Carolina)

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

Constant Denunciation Lacking a Covid-19 Reparation

October 23 2020

President Donald Trump and Joe Biden faced each other yesterday for the second and final debate at Nashville before the US elections 2020 on Tuesday, November 3rd. Unlike the first debate, the second one was far soberer and controlled.

Both candidates had their microphones muted right after they use their two minutes to respond. The advantage of this is as the moderator Kristen Welker referred to when, viewers will the chance to listen to what each candidate has to say.

First and probably the most controversial subject that NBC Kristen Welker asked was about Covid-19, and what each side would do about this global pandemic if they take over the lead of the unites states, especially since around 60,000 new coronavirus cases a day are being reported across the US, up from around 50,000 a day at the start of October, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

Amid this lethal pandemic, watching the candidates accusing each other of incompetency is not going to make any progress as everyone is desperately waiting for a solution between closing down everything to avoid the spread of the virus or opening up everything so that people can put food on their table, and businesses don’t crash.

When asked about what he will do, president Trump broadly said that the mortality rate has decreased and there is a vaccine coming “soon”. The former vice president Joe Biden said that President Trump can not be trusted because in the early months of 2020, he had said that the virus will be gone by the summer and 200 000 Americans died so far because he is not competent, to which President Trump replied by saying that the way Joe Biden ran H1N1 in the Obama administration was a total disaster, and that if he was in office 700 000 would be dead.

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

The American Final Presidential Debate of 2020

October 21 2020

Since the second American presidential debate of last Thursday was cancelled as President Trump refused to participate in a virtual debate which the commission on Presidential debates intended to organize as a response to the president’s positive coronavirus diagnosis this month, the final debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will take place Tomorrow Thursday 22 october 2020 in Nashville as the Commission has announced.

The debate will start at 9:00 p.m Eastern Time (2:00 am 23 October in Algeria) covering the following subjects “Fighting COVID-19, American Families, Race in America, Climate Change, National Security, and Leadership”. The American Television Journalist from NBC Kristen Welker will be the moderator of this debate. She will open 15 minutes segment with each question, in which the candidates will have two minutes to respond, and the rest of the time will be used to facilitate the discussion on each subject. Notably, The commission on presidential debates announced on Monday that both candidates will have their microphones muted in order to avoid the chaos that occurred in the first place including crosstalk and interruption. President Trump commented on when was asked by reporters “I’ll participate. I just think it’s very unfair”

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

The Attention Economy: Why You Cannot Put Down Your Device (Part 1)

October 19 2020

Social Media, the attention economy, The Social Dilemma

When going about your daily tasks and responsibilities, you do not intentionally add a 2-hour Facebook browsing to your to-do list. The 2-hour scrolling up and down your newsfeed most likely happens out of habit, to see what is going on, and not to feel like you are missing out.

You decide to take a break during your work and probably use that time to browse social media. Then without noticing you realize that you had exceeded the time of your break. The constant flow of news and posts that keep coming up grab your attention and sometimes make you lose track of time. They also give you the feeling that you are ‘hooked’ to that platform. The latter was in fact designed to keep you engaged for as long as possible. The big tech companies spend millions to keep you on their platforms and capture your attention. This is known as ‘the attention economy’.

What is Attention?

Let us start off by defining attention and why it may be your most valuable commodity in the digital age.

Attention, according to William James, the American psychologist and philosopher, is “the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what may seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. …It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others.”—”The Principles of Psychology,” 1890

This means that while you are reading this, there are sounds, sights, and sensations happening in your environment that you are not paying attention to simultaneously. You narrow down your attention to focusing on these words while leaving out everything that is happening around you. Author Russell Rivlin explains in his text Cognition: Theory and Practice that “in order to sustain our attention to one event in everyday life, we must filter out other events. We must be selective in our attention by focusing on some events to the detriment of others. This is because attention is a resource that needs to be distributed to those events that are important.”

Although attention is a valuable resource to individuals, it is also highly valued by businesses. In his article ‘The Attention Economy and The Net’ published in 1997, Michael H. Goldhaber wrote that ‘the global economy is shifting from a material-based economy to one based on the capacity of human attention. Many services online are offered for free. In the attention economy, attention is not only a resource but a currency: users pay for a service with their attention.’

What Is the Attention Economy?

According to Tristan Harris, an ex-design ethicist at Google and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, the attention economy is shaping everything about contemporary life. In the Social Dilemma Netflix documentary, he says:

‘A lot of people think that Google is just a search box and Facebook is just a place to see what their friends are doing… but what they don’t realize is that these companies are competing for their attention.’

To make it simple, companies target people’s attention to make money. They have a business model that keeps people engaged on their screens for the longest time possible. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube place ads they know might interest the user and try to grab their focus ‘to increase the inventory of ad space a company can sell.’

You don’t pay to use Facebook. It is a free service. But, in fact, the service is not really free. Advertisers pay for it. That is why these companies care more about their revenue. Their ultimate goal is to keep you hooked on their product, scrolling, and browsing, choosing to use their product over the products of their competitors.

Why is Attention Fought for Today?

In his article,’In the Future, Our Attention Will Be Sold’, Mark Manson speaks about how economic scarcity changed throughout human history.

He writes: ‘The scarcity in our world is no longer knowledge. There’s an abundance of knowledge, just as there’s an abundance of labor and an abundance of land.

No, the new scarcity in the internet age is attention. Since there is a surplus of information, more information flowing through our society than any of us could ever hope to process or understand, the new bottleneck on our economy is attention. We now live in an attention-based economy.’

How Are They Trying to Get Your Attention?

Designers who design apps and sites realize that there is a highly competitive market that targets users’ attention. This is why they create some catchy designs in the hope of capturing attention.

Here are some of the trendy designs according to the Nielsen Norman Group website:

–Eye-catching animations to grab attention to a certain piece of content.

–Crowded designs where there is so much information shown at once in the hope that one piece of information would catch the user’s attention.

-Advertisement campaigns that force users to pay attention to the ad displayed. Some free games or free versions of YouTube and Spotify, for example, usually display ads where the close or ‘skip ad’ icons do not appear until the ad has displayed for a certain amount of time, forcing the user to watch the ad.

–Sites and apps are designed to send frequent and often unnecessary notifications to boost engagement.

How Is the Attention Economy Affecting You?

In an article in the New York Times, one of the first software engineers hired at Instagram, Greg Hochmuth said:

’The endpoint makes you reflect, do I want to keep browsing and clicking and being obsessed? Or do I want to do something else?’

Popular Social Media platforms are easily accessible and are designed to keep you engaged. This could make you wonder about how this engagement is affecting your life and shaping the future. Find the answers in part 2.

Author: Meriem Saoud

Sources:

-Timely Blog: https://memory.ai/timely-blog/the-attention-economy

-Mark Manson’s Website: https://markmanson.net/attention

-Nielsen Norman Group: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/attention-economy/

-Michael H. Goldhaber, ‘The Attention Economy and the Net’: https://firstmonday.org/article/view/519/440

Separating the Art from the Artist: A Debate

October 12 2020

art, artists

The recent article by a fellow member of Algerian Black Pearl: ‘Is Cancel Culture Canceling Free Speech?’ made the debate over whether you can separate the art from the artist come to mind.

The article briefly mentioned the backlash author J.K Rowling received this summer. A lot of Harry Potter fans took to social media to express their disappointment at Rowling’s transphobic comments, with most agreeing that she had now ruined their love for the series. Buzzfeed asked their community how their relationship with Harry Potter changed following the incident, with the majority of the answers deplorable.

J.K Rowling wasn’t the first person whose art became questionable.

J.K Rowling wasn’t the first person whose art became questionable after a controversy. Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, once considered brilliant movie directors, had their credibility tarnished amid sexual abuse accusations. People were reluctant to show their appreciation for their works. The same thing happened to singers R. Kelly, and XXXTentacion whose music was bitterly received following their controversies — their accusations were sexual misconduct, and domestic abuse respectively. Streaming service Spotify had even stopped promoting, and recommending their music on their platform.

There are many other artists whose works arose the same, repeated question: can you separate the art from the artist?

To some, it is imperative.

Many people believe that separating art from the artist is mandatory. The quality of art should not depend on the artist’s character. Once it is out there, it stops belonging to the person who created it. It takes on a life of its own. When this question was asked on Reddit, one user commented: “great art is bigger than the artist who created it.” Meaning people’s interpretations of it should not be held down by external factors, such as the artist’s private life.

Reading up the context of a given piece — a novel, a song, a movie — is favorable. It gives you a contextual insight into the creator’s thoughts when delivering their art. It helps you understand how it came to exist. Though it shouldn’t force you to view it a certain way when consuming it. People react differently; what sparks up emotions in one person doesn’t necessarily mean the same for everybody else. And so: the art should not be boycotted if the artist is. In her essay, philosophy professor Jenna Thompson concluded: “We should expose the wrongdoing of artists and but we should not be prevented from admiring their works.”

Not everyone holds this same view, though. To so many others, art is an inseparable characteristic of the person that created it.

It is not possible to consider art a piece of its own, without thinking of the person who created it. Even if subtly, it will always hold undertones of its creator. This is what the opposing argument is. One cannot orchestrate an entire body of work without peppering smudges of their personality into it. It is impossible to be entirely unbiased. As one Twitter user explained it: “the work an artist creates is directly tied to their morals as a human being; one’s work and one’s values are not separate.”

Keeping an artist’s terrible character in mind will undoubtedly reflect how you consume their work. And if the artist is a terrible person, then there is no reason to give them a platform for more harm. The backlash against J.K Rowling was justified as such. The fact that she is still actively profiting from Harry Potter should be an incentive to stop supporting her work. Fans, since then, opted out of the series’ merchandise.

Their general consensus is: art does not function as a redeemable quality. People should not be excused because the art they are making is good.

An alternative: a case-by-case basis.

There is a third view of this debate, however. One that does not lean too far into either side.

A suggestion that separating the art from the artist should be done case-by-case. The artist should be censored (and boycotted) if their art directly causes harm. If their art is an expression of their beliefs, then their work as a whole should be rejected. Take Pablo Picasso for example. Considering his misogyny, his paintings of women become difficult to separate from his identity. His art directly correlates with his beliefs, and so should not be glorified. The key, therefore, is to be critical.

Sometimes, the debate even becomes futile if the artist is dead. Some people believe that since the artist is no longer benefiting from the engagement, then it is safe to consume it. Financial support is important. If you are not boosting this horrible person’s income, separating the art from the artist becomes relatively easy.

At the end of the day, art is expression. It all comes down to your own perception of it. How you individually react to its context, and the artist’s biography; whether their values represent yours or not.

Author: Nachoua Nour NAIT ALI

How Campaign Ads Are Designed on Social Media

October 10 2020

The way campaign advertisements work has changed over the years, especially due to an increase in Social Media users. However, when we look back at the past campaigns of the presidential elections in the US, the content is pretty much still the same, especially when we consider the fact that those ads are always made to provoke certain emotions.

Social Media provides more tools to target audience in comparison with TV, let alone the fact that it’s also cheaper. Campaigners today make use of those tools to target a particular audience with “A call to action” messages in form of slogans to show up at the poll cites and vote for their candidate, but are those messages designed randomly?

According to “Psychology Today”, peer-reviewed research shows that conservatives are generally more sensitive to threat and danger. In August 2020, the Trump’s campaign released a video titled “Don’t let them ruin America” and exhibiting riots breaking out in the street while Biden and the Democrats calling the latter “Peaceful Protest”. This ad provokes fear and sends a clear message to the view that the radical left ideology is taking over America to hell, and that people should vote for Trump in order to save the country from falling apart.

In a similar fashion, campaigners often select music and images very carefully to invoke multiple emotions in certain demographics. Fear is not the only emotion that advertisers use to promote their cause, Ronald Reagan’s reelection campaign in 1984 released an ad called “Morning America” using images that depict family and economical prosperity to provoke positive feeling which sends a message that “Everything is going well under the leadership of Ronald Reagan”, even though neither the economy nor the poll numbers that he had were as good as the ad suggested. Either way, the strategy of the campaign ad is to send a message of “Hope”.

Given that advertising has become more sophisticated over years, it’s worth noting that there are no limits to how much money one can spend on advertising to reach more people, and whether someone is running for town council or running for president, advertising is always paid for by the candidates or third groups. Neither TV nor Social Media companies provide free space for ads. As the editor-in-chief of Experience, Joanna Weiss said

“There is no state TV that provides any free space for ads. Some ads are paid for by the campaigns themselves. Some ads are paid for by third-party groups, that includes these political action committees known as super packs, they are set up to support a candidate or a cause, but they’re not run by the campaign, they’re not supposed to coordinate with the campaign, they don’t have the same fundraising restrictions as a campaign, and they pour a lot of money into advertising as well.”

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

An Eye on the 2020 United States Presidential Debate

Left and Right Wing Politics Explained

October 5 2020

political spectrum

Left and Right Wing Politics Explained

If you have been exposed to any news story about politics then you must have heard the terms “Right wing” and “Left wing” thrown around. This has become even more likely with the US presidential elections coming up. These two labels seem to represent two conflicting sides of the political spectrum. Yet, both sides are quite diverse and contain many distinct groups that are commonly at odds with one another. But the ideologies of the same side share many distinct characteristics with one another that made them fall under the same label.

Origins of the Right and Left labels:

These two names refer to the seating pattern of the two opposing parties in the early French Parliament. It was the French parliament in particular due to France being one of the earliest modern democracies in Europe following the French revolution. The old monarchy and feudal system were only recently shattered. Therefore, many conflicting ideals about the proper social and economic system that would take their place started to emerge.

Beliefs of the Right wing:

Economically:

Right wing parties and politicians are very supportive of a free market capitalist system. They strongly oppose government intervention in the economy. They prefer a minimal government concerned only with defense, justice, foreign affairs, and public infrastructure. This belief stems from the idea that markets are far more efficient than any government bureaucracy. Trying to keep government spending at a minimum while putting the least amount of restrictions on private enterprise is a distinct right wing economic policy pursuit. This view is driven by ideas of renown economists such as F.A Hayek and Milton Freidman. They believe that free markets are the most efficient way of optimizing the economic output of a society. This belief is based upon the assumption that “Nobody spends money better than someone spending their own money on themselves”.

Socially:

The Right wing is notably “conservative” when it comes to social issues. Its proponents believe in the preservation of family values, traditions, and national heritage. Religious conservatism also plays a major role in right wing political views. However, not all conservatives are necessarily religious, and not all religious people are necessarily conservatives. It opposes radical, spontaneous change and prefers the path of slow gradual reform. The social beliefs of the right wing, unlike their economic beliefs, vary considerably from one region of the world to another. This is because each region commonly has its own unique set of social values and traditions. However, common conservative social stances emphasis the sanctity of marriage, traditional gender roles, patriotism, and national pride.

Beliefs of the Left wing:

Economically:

Proponents of Left wing economic views believe that government intervention is necessary in achieving economic equality especially for discriminated ethnic or religious groups. They believe that the government is an instrument for taxing the rich to acquire welfare for the poorer classes. As well as heavily regulating industries and private enterprise to protect against exploitation of workers, and environmental damage. Some far left views (mainly communism) include state control of natural resources and economic activity in order to provide equal economic benefits for all citizens. Notable Left wing economists include the co-authors of the communist manifesto Karl Marx and Freidrech Engles and modern economist, Paul Krugman.

Socially:

The political Left wing upholds the values of equality and social justice as its main points of focus. It aims to reduce wealth disparity and protect minority groups. It strives to push for racial, gender, and religious diversity in both the media and workplace. Left wing politics are also heavily concerned with women’s rights both socially and economically. As well as preserving the environment and personal individual freedom even in opposition of social norms and traditions.

Criticism of the Right wing:

Right wing views have significant opposition. Economically, many point out to the concept of Market failures as justification for government intervention even if the government has failures of its own. Many accuse right wing economic models of propagating a hierarchical economical system with significant wealth inequality. On the social front, the right wing is faced with accusations of spreading ethnic nationalism, sexism as well as causing political and social stagnation.

Criticism of the Left wing:

Left wing ideology is often opposed, economically, by pointing out the inefficiency of government bureaucracy. As well as welfare turning the poorer classes into a burden upon society instead of motivating them to work. On a social level, left wing politicians are accused of dividing society based on religious, and ethnic backgrounds in what became known as identity politics. The desecration of family values and traditions is also an issue often posed against the left wing. It is also confronted by the idea that it causes social unrest, instability, and radical revolt.

Condemnations of the Left-Right wing terminology:

The Left/Right-wing labels have been the subject of intensive controversy. They manage to become generalized labels that include many differing groups from Libertarians, Socialists, Anarcho-capitalists, Liberals, Fascists, and many others. And even those groups within themselves are very diverse as well. Another even more significant issue is that there are views that vary from one wing to another according to time and place. However, supporters of these labels argue that most nations either have a two party system or are diverging towards one, therefore, these political labels are simply an expression for the party duality.

Political views, affiliations, and ideologies are very diverse and complex ranging across countless social and economic issues. People are not limited to choosing between either the Left or Right wings. Their individual views are commonly a mixture of both. Yet, it is useful to understand these two designations in order to easily interpret the political landscape and understand news stories and political biases of information providers as the use of these labels is becoming more and more prevalent.

Author: Wail Rimouche:

How Often Does the Presidential Debate Change People’s Minds?

October 4 2020

Presidential debate, US elections

The US presidential debate is a big event that most American voters feel excited about every four years. It sets the stage for the candidates to defend their ideas on the country’s on-going issues, past experience in office if applicable, and argue for their projects in order to earn Americans’ support.

The US elections debate is not something required by law, It has only become a campaign tradition since 1976. Candidates have all the right to refuse or accept to debate their opponents. In 1980, Jimmy Carter declined the request to debate Ronald Reagan and John B Anderson nine days before the elections believing that a three-way debate would have strengthened Anderson’s campaign. Ronald Reagan performed very well in the first debate against Anderson, and this helped propel Reagan into a landslide victory.

The elections debates are high stakes for the candidates, especially when thinking about how the effect of their debate performance may have on the outcome of the election or the public image of the candidates in the mind of the voters. However, we often think that debates serve the interest of voters and usually change people’s minds, but to what extent can we say that this is true?

A summarized answer is… Hmm, it depends.

According to Dr. Mitchell McKinney, who is an international expert on presidential debates and has been studying debates since the late 1980s, the factors that must be in play to magnify the importance of the debates are:

1/_When the race between the candidates appears close enough.

2/_When enough voters remain undecided about who to vote for.

Do debates really matter? Do they change the outcome of the elections?

“We found that as high as 90 to 95% of all debate viewers come to the debate, particularly at this stage in this long election, as we’re just now weeks, days before the election with their minds made up and particularly in a polarized electorate, as we have here in the US committed to one candidate or the other, and those minds typically aren’t changed.” Said Dr. Mitchell Mckinney

In American Politics, the term “Swing State” and “battleground state” refer to a state that can be reasonably won by either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate by a swing in votes. The voters from these states can also be “The persuadable”. The condition that governs the battleground states are usually different in comparison with other states, and that is usually noticed in polls.

In the 2020 US Elections, for example, the polls currently show that Joe Biden has a modest national leads in some states with perhaps five or six points. However, when you drill down to the battleground states, you see a number of those swing states with perhaps Biden or Trump up by only one point or half a point like Florida or North Carolina. Therefore, when the debate is close enough, and there is enough undecided voters, the debate becomes very consequential in the outcome of the elections.

Monthly Archives: October 2020

Understanding Battleground States Before US Elections 2020

How do we define a battleground state?

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

Constant Denunciation Lacking a Covid-19 Reparation

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

The American Final Presidential Debate of 2020

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

Separating the Art from the Artist: A Debate

J.K Rowling wasn’t the first person whose art became questionable.

To some, it is imperative.

Not everyone holds this same view, though. To so many others, art is an inseparable characteristic of the person that created it.

An alternative: a case-by-case basis.

How Campaign Ads Are Designed on Social Media

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.

Read Also:

How Often Does the Presidential Debate Change People’s Minds?

Do debates really matter? Do they change the outcome of the elections?

Author: Abdelwahab Ait Tayeb.