EOTO (CD)

 The History of the Compact Disc (CD)

    The history of the compact disc (CD) dates back a few decades now. Development into the creation of the CD first began back in 1974, through the company Phillips. Phillips also worked with Sony to help create what would eventually become the CD. Phillips and Sony were focused on researching and developing a product that would make listening to music easier compared to the market leaders of vinyl records and cassette tapes. After years of research, Phillips finally created the first working model of the compact disc in 1979. The original prototype was 11.5 cm which was then changed to 12 cm when the product finally became available to the public in 1982. The first CD available to the public was in 1982 and it was Abba's album The Visitors. Currently the greatest selling CD of all time is the Eagles' 1976 Greatest Hits which has sold over 38 million copies. 

    As the sales of CDs grew as the 80's progressed, the market share of vinyl records and cassette tapes began to shrink more and more. 

    Around the late 80s and especially into the early 90s, it was clear that CD was the market leader and vinyl records and other older products had fallen out of the leadership position in the market. But like all new technologies, they have a rise and then they begin to fall off the top of their market. When the internet began to pick up more steam and more products and services became available through the internet, the new era of music changed the music scene once again. When streaming services became available to the public, platforms such as iTunes

which first debuted in 2001 began the decline for the CD. 

    When the CD first debuted to the public in the early 1980s, it offered something different to consumers. To be able to a smaller disc compared to a vinyl record that took up much less space in storage, was stronger and did not break as easy and ultimately led to other inventions that played it such as the boombox compared to just an old, traditional record player. Now the same thing was happening to the CD starting in the early 2000s, when streaming services became available for the first time you could have all your music downloaded onto your computer or iPod and just carry that around instead of a boombox and a huge amount of storage for CDs. 

    Similarly to any new ground breaking technology though, it took some time since the release of online platforms to really chip into the CD's lead in the market. However, it eventually did and since 2008 CD's sales have dropped by 10 million every year since then, that is a drop of 130 million sold every year up until the present year of 2021.  

    The compact disc has the honor and distinction of being the last true leader on the music market before the internet. Compact discs were revolutionary of basically taking vinyl records and making them smaller, stronger, and easier to use. I personally am not a huge fan of CDs compared to other forms of listening to my favorite music. It would seem strange for someone my age who was born and raised in the 2000s to not be a huge fan of the CD considering their sales did actually peak in my birth year of 2002. CDs took away the culture of going to a record shop as well as appreciating the artwork associated with the covers. This was a huge subsection of the music culture in the West for decades and that was removed due to the CD. To be fair, you still went to a physical store and bought CDs in a similar way to records, but it just wasn't the same culture or vibe associated with the vinyl record crowd. 

    Recently I was in an antique store while back home in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving, and I noticed CDs are now being considered an antique! Perhaps I am getting older and haven't realized that yet but it is just crazy to see something that I remember being so mainstream as a kid, which I am still a teenager by the way, is now considered an antique item. It goes to show how fast and how strong the streaming services and the age of the internet move technology and that is a testament to how fast the rate of technology is only going to continue. 

Eight Values Of Free Expression

 Eight Values Of Free Expression

    When looking at our first amendment it is so important to understand what the first amendment was not only designed for, but what it protects and acts as in practice. One of the many protections ensured in the first amendment is the protection of speech and freedom of expression. Speech does not necessarily have to always be spoken to convey a message, sometimes all it has to be is an action. The old saying "actions speak louder than words" has truth to it. Now that we discussed that the first amendment views and protects free expression just like freedom of speech, it is now time to look at what is often considered the eight values of free expression. 

    The eight values of free expression are defined as: The Marketplace of Ideas, Participation in Self-Government, Stable Change, Individual Self-Fulfillment, Check on Governmental Power, Promote Tolerance, Promote Innovation, and Protect Dissent. These are the eight values of free expression that are each highlighted and individually proposed and articulated by different thinkers. All of these values are important, obviously. However I do believe personally that certain ones are more important than others in preserving our system of government. 

    I personally believe that the second value, Participation in Self-Government which was highlighted by Alexander Meiklejohn in his work Free Speech and Its Relation to Self-Government, is the value that I believe is the most important to preserving our great republic. When the founders built America upon one of the founding principles of self-government, it was a very radical idea for the time. By taking power away from monarchies and royal families, and giving it to everyday citizens who the people had a hand in choosing is one of the most fundamental aspects and features of what made our country special and unique. Instead of a ruling class governing the public that had little to no say in the decisions of their own lives, the founders gave power to people that were selected by the majority of the population, who also lived and participated as normal citizens who had similar and relatable experiences to a large portion of the general population. 

    When you look at how our different our country would be if this aspect would be taken away is very scary. There is no longer a direct vote from the public on leaders or issues that matter. The system of checks and balances goes out the window as the rulers are no longer accountable to the people for their decision making. By taking away participants in government, America looks in a lot of ways, very similar to the feudal system of Europe. While I do believe that in any society there will always be people higher up than others, and I also believe that is not necessarily an issue, in America you have opportunities to work on yourself to build the life you desire and can bring yourself up much easier than anywhere else in the world. When you look at medieval Europe or basically anywhere else in the world, especially non-Western countries, there is a clear system from birth of who you are, and who you are supposed to be in terms of your "place" in society. There is a clear class system with those from a fundamental level are deemed "superior" and others who are "inferior" and this is almost entirely based on what family you were born into. 

    

    America provided something that was unique to the rest of the world and the rest of human history. The United States created a system in which the people were the employers and the government was the employees that can be promoted, hired, and fired. Participation in Self-Government is truly the glue that keeps all of the promises and protections of America together, without it there is no question the entire system falls apart. If America were to one day shift from a system of representative democracy that held checks and balances not only among the different branches and levels of government, but also on the system itself to a system of non-elected bureaucrats and a system full of corruption and greed with no accountability, looking at you Dr. Fauci and company, the entire system and fundamental ideas of America will collapse and be no more. 

    While I do believe that all of the eight values of free expression are vital to a growing and prosperous society, participation in self-government is the most important one in my opinion. It keeps the whole concept and values of America in tact and failure to secure this will lead to the ultimate downfall of America and a free society. 

The Supreme Court

  Supreme Court Discussion

    When reading this article from History Channel on the Supreme Court, certain things were new information and surprised me while other things did not. One of the biggest noteworthy pieces of information I did not know was that the Supreme Court was originally only six members. I knew the Court has not always been constantly set at a solid nine, but I previously believed the Court started with 7 instead of 6. 

    I believe that the most important take away from reading about the Supreme Court is that the Court is 1/3 of our government and has the purpose of not only keeping the Executive (President) and Legislative (Congress) branches in check, but also has a role through Judicial Review, of speaking for the entire country and has the authority to make the proclamation and enforce or dismiss specific claims or opinions on highly controversial topics at the time. My own opinion is that the Court oftentimes reflects public opinion of the time. This can be seen in cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Within just 60 years, the Court went from declaring that the term "separate but equal" was constitutional to declaring that segregating in schools was no longer allowed is a major difference in interpretation in just a couple of generations. 

    The most surprising thing I learned from reading the article was the roles and duties of the Chief Justice. Particularly that the Chief Justice has the power to dictate who will write the majority opinion, when the justice is also a member of the majority for the particular case. I also was not familiar with the Chief Justice presiding over impeachment trials of a President. 

    Overall I believe the Supreme Court is a very important branch of our government and is very unique for a few reasons. The Court is by far the least democratic branch of our government. Compared to Congress or the President where the public either directly or indirectly elects those in power, the Court is purely representative with the two branches we do elect, appoint the justices for us. I also believe the Court has a vital role in stopping overreach from the other two branches of government. One of my concerns, especially in modern times, is the Court unjustly being used for political gain as a partisan approach for as little as five justices in Washington to potentially dictate and force over 300 million Americans into policy that may be extremely unpopular or at least controversial and there is little that can be done to stop it. 

Top 5 Sources of News and Information

 My Top 5 Sources of News and Information 

    While I may only be 19 years old, my political views have changed throughout my years several times now. At times the changes are drastic and sometimes they are minor. The same thing applies to which news sources I trust with gathering current events in order to make my own independent viewpoints on the biggest topics of the time. Like everyone in the entire world, I have a bias. I hold very strong political viewpoints and by using several platforms to gather information, helps me to get a better perspective on issues. However, they all are on very different platforms and ways of showing the information they have to offer. Some do more investigating journalism, while others are largely opinion pieces. I try to hold a solid variety in the format, platform, and how professional or efficient the content of my news sources are, in order to gain enough understanding of the current situations to develop my own opinions. 

        

The Daily Wire

I can remember just a few years ago when the Daily Wire was just a relatively small conservative blog. Over the past couple years they have been one of the quicker growing platforms in the area of conservative news. When a very controversial or hot political topic is on the rise, I always check out to see the article(s) that are written on their website to see another viewpoint. What I really enjoy about the Daily Wire is that it is a pretty small company still, so a lot of the articles are written by names that are recognized easier, giving it a more friendly feel to be more familiar with those who are updating me on the news. 

 

 YouTube

    It is tough to find another platform that has some much news from so many different perspectives than  YouTube. There are so many independent and big names when it comes to news that are all on one platform. I began to get my news from YouTube back to my early teenage years and the amount of information seems to grow by the day that is on the site. 

Trafalgar Group

    This may seem like a strange one to have as a news site. However, I frequent go to the Trafalgar Group in order to gauge what public opinion is currently like in our country. Trafalgar made a name for themselves during the 2016 election in which they correctly predicted a Trump victory. They further cemented themselves as a credible pollster during the 2018 midterms, the 2020 election, and more recently in the 2021 governor’s elections in Virginia and New Jersey. We all know that media has a confirmation bias on both sides of the political spectrum, however Trafalgar, despite some labeling the group as a far-right organization has accurately predicted nearly every election in the last five years. There are times when they do get certain races wrong, but it is much closer than some of the bigger names out there. 

Instagram

Instagram is similar to YouTube in a lot of ways. It is one of the bigger social media platforms out there. However the difference between the two is there is a lot more polished and professional content on YouTube, while Instagram is filled with a lot more images and small videos, usually of front line events rather than commentary. A lot of the time Instagram will feature short, quick videos of topics or perspectives that are not covered on mainstream media. Many times I notice myself distrusting the mainstream media more and more after seeing independent people and places on Instagram. 

  

Fox News 

Fox News is a program I was exposed to through my family since I was very young. Fox has been basically my go-to site for news up until a couple years ago. Before recently, I would consume almost all of my news from Fox and did not really look into any other news outlets or platforms. My opinion has shifted to Fox being one of the places I will still frequently look to in certain situations, but will not always agree with them like I have done so in the past. I usually prefer certain news anchors and shows on Fox compared to their online articles.