Pictures That Lie

An interesting example of photo manipulation is a picture that appears to have John Kerry and Jane Fonda speaking together at an rally against the Vietnam War in the early seventies. It was used during the 2004 presidential primaries to discredit John Kerry who was running for the Democratic nomination. However, Kerry was never at an anti-war rally with Fonda. Kerry had been added to the photograph. I chose to talk about this picture because I find it very interesting how even pictures used in national elections cannot be trusted. The one who created the photo used a picture of Jane Fonda at a political rally in 1972 and a picture of John Kerry at a peace rally in 1971. He also wrote the subtitle underneath the picture speaking about the two of them. It was a harmful picture because it was used against Kerry in an attempt to ruin his reputation and keep him from winning the democratic nomination. This picture is no doubt not the only picture used in a campaign to harm one's opponent and was not the last either.

CLT

When we went to the CLT I was surprised by the place. I had no idea that it even existed, and as I learned about it, I thought about how I could use it in the future. I believe that the most useful area to me would be the area with the many computers, both Macs and PCs. I could use photoshop there which would be very useful since I don't have it on my computer. One could also use computers for designing websites, which is another useful aspect of the area. I also found the Digital Audio Lab to be interesting since it could have so many potential uses. I also liked the small classroom that you can reserve. I think it would be a wonderful place to study or work on a group project with a number of people. Over all I believe that the CLT is one of the most practical centers in the library and on campus.

Copyright

For centuries copyright has existed in the United States and debate about it has taken place many, many times. Today the internet provides numerous websites where people can illegaly download movies or music. This illegal downloading is a hot topic today. Often one hears about a student caught caught downloading illegaly and having to deal with a huge and expensive lawsuit. Like any argument, there are two sides to this debate. Some believe that it is no big deal to download music and movies for free and that the government and labels overreact to a few songs downloaded for free and preventing the owner from recieving a measly sum in comparison to what they have already earned from their work. They believe it takes too long for the copyrighted item to be free to the public. Others argue that it is the owner's property and that they deserve every cent. They are in favor of harshly cracking down on illegal downloading and holding on to that copyright for as long as possible. Personally I stand on the middle ground. I do believe that artists and producers should earn money for the hard work they put into their music or movie, but I also feel that the author's lifetime plus seventy years is a long time to keep a work from becoming free to the public. I think that the best thing would be to shorten the lifetime of a copyright and also being more lenient on those who break the law when the offender has only downloaded a few dollars worth of music. Perhaps someday this debate will end with both sides happy, but until then, illegal downloading will continue to be a problem.


Copyright by Allison Kelso is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.