Angela Busquets

January 26, 2017

A highly debated political decision some democrats have made is to boycott the

inauguration of president elect Trump. Everywhere before the inauguration both sides hashed it

out around the United States as friends and strangers themselves debated whether or not to watch

the inauguration. Two unexpected sources of furious discussion and debate were tweets and blog

posts. These contrast two major parts of what has become the new media, Twitter and

personalized or news blogs.

Tweets are a unique writing genre, that have quickly taken over the internet. Tweets all

come from the application and website, Twitter. Tweets are pictures with a short caption that

deliver a quick pointed message. Tweets are aggressive and loud media messages, that must get

their point across in 144 characters or less. Originally tweeting was just a social media for

teenagers to post statuses much like Facebook. Gradually, however they spread and now tweets

can be taken from Twitter and used seriously in articles as evidence or most recently as a call to

action. These Tweets are political tweets and they vary in creative design depending on the

author. The tweets I intend to focus on are reactions of the proposed boycott of the inauguration

of president elect Trump. A distinct thing about tweets is that essentially, anyone can tweet, so

the message can come from our future president or your fifth-grade teacher. This is one of the

reasons Twitter has spread so quickly, it does not have a small audience. Twitter has transcended

age, gender, and every other limiting factor because it includes all and allows individuals to
openly share their political beliefs. A well written political tweet will be concise, bold, and easily

communicate what the writer feels or believes about an action and evoke a response. When CNN

tweets, being an openly liberal page, most expect something that will paint the Republicans in a

negative light. Therefore, when they tweet, Rep. Sean Duffy to lawmakers boycotting the

inauguration: Put your big boy pants on and show up, they expect to get two strong reactions.

From their supporters, they hope to cause outrage by sharing a rather childish quote from a

politician on the opposing side. The other reaction they expect is both support of the comment

from Conservatives and further critiques of the boycott. The tweet itself is only 16 words, but the

message it sends is very strong, and this is partially because it relies on pathos or pulling from

people's emotional side, to devalue Duffys ethos . It uses ethos when it uses controversial

language like comparing the protestors to toddlers, and the fact that he did this makes him lose

his ethos as Democrats and some Republicans lose their respect for him because of how he said

it. This is characteristic of well-written tweets. The responses to this include support for the

democrats choosing to boycott and attacks on Trump. This tweet happens to come from a News

article, however, most tweets are from the average individual.

Political tweets themselves tend to be an expression of how they feel about an issue or a

way to voice what they expect from other elected officials. For example, when searching the

hashtag, Inauguration Boycott, thousands of tweets pop up and the responses range from

individuals accusing the protesters of spreading hate, to everyday people asking friends, family,

and followers join in and not watch the inauguration on the t.v as their own form of protest. The

tweets that matter most however, when referring to politics are those by credible sources. For an

example, showcasing the opposite side of the argument of the boycott, here is Trump himself.

What John Lewis said about my inauguration, It will be the first one that Ive missed.
WRONG (or lie)! He boycotted Bush 43 also because he thought it would be hypocritical to

attend Bushs swearing-inhe doesnt believe Bush is the true elected president. Sound

familiar! WP Trumps Twitter account is something that has been disputed by Republicans and

Democrats alike, some applaud the unfiltered tweets that mirror his speeches while others detest

them. This leads to a broader social question is the shift from newspapers and news channels to

Twitter a positive or negative change? As technology, has grown and become more available a

steadily increasing amount people have pulled away from the traditional ways of receiving

information. Why read an article in the paper when they can pull it up on their phone or watch

the event live? Why read an article about a celebrity when you can hear from the celebrity

themselves? In fact, why even read about an entire article or watch an entire video when you can

read a short tweet that will eloquently explain the situation in something as short as a headline?

This growing problem has exploded into reality as people have chosen these new media,

updates. Instead of learning thoroughly about one topic a person nowadays is more likely to

know one or two things about 50 different topics, and this is where media forms like tweets fail.

While we appear to be a more informed, America, it is all an illusion. This system of unfiltered

democracy while promising is not enough to warrant full support as the change has not been just

radically free speech, but it from genuinely informed people to people pretending to know or

care.

Blogs like tweets deliver a very clear pointed message in a short post. Differences

between blogs and tweets include the lack of a defined word limit, theyre generally a more

respectable source of information, and they often also have their own websites. A well written

blog like a tweet presents a topic and gives their opinion of the facts hoping to persuade while

informing others. Blogs are very specific like tweets about what side they support, and what they
write will always clearly explain what they believe is right. A good blog has three main traits,

first of all they will be able to build a strong relationship with the reader because they intend to

have them begin to actively read the blog, and believe in what has been written (6

Characteristics of a Great Blog Post). A blog may do this by having a strong introduction, or

relating to ideals or morals that the reader may associate with/approve of. This relationship draws

the reader in and may convince them even to spread the post if they feel strongly about it.

Second, they must include useful and important information(6 Characteristics of a Great Blog

Post). Examples of this range from short videos about the topic, to pictures, to links to other blog

posts that may expand further on a presented idea. These other sources of information are crucial

to a good blog post because they keep the reader interested, make them better informed, and

allow for further research about topics they enjoyed. Last, a good blog post should make the

audience think about the topic given. Signs of a good article could be a heated comment thread at

the bottom of the blog or just the mass sharing of an article so others may chime in on what was

presented.

The American Thinker, is a very Republican blog that recently posted an article titled,

The Inauguration Boycott is Stupid, the article post continues on writing things like, John

Lewis and his very dumb boycotting cohorts are not celebrating the United States of America --

they are turning their backs on the great United States. This blog site is strongly for the

president elect, and harshly criticizes the Democrats for their choice to boycott the Inauguration.

This post is a successful blog post because the images associated with the article all depict what

he is describing and influence the reader to see the Democrats in a negative light. For example,

there is a picture of the Democrats sitting down in their staged sit in protest, and a picture of all

the Democrats who have so far agreed to boycott the inauguration. However the syntax of the
blog detracts from the overall message, by using words like dumb and stupid, that are easily

seen as immature.

An example of a better written post is the more liberal blog , The Huffington Post.

Their blogs are against-trump however, instead of directly attacking the president like the

Conservative article attacked the Liberals, the articles posted cover the issues broadly. This blog

chooses to present them in a way that lightly pushes the reader into seeing their view, attempting

to persuade the reader into believing they are not as firmly biased. In the post titled At Least 50

Democratic Lawmakers are Boycotting Donald Trump's Inauguration, they go on to explain

why the Democrats are boycotting instead of reasons why others should join the

movement(Bendery). Upon clicking the link of the blog the reader is taken to a page that starts

off with a short video of a news clip about the boycott. There are also pictures spread throughout

the article meant to keep the reader engaged and focused on finishing. The article itself presents

the issue and does not attack the other opinion, but instead hopes them to see through the eyes of

those protesting. The post does this by including the reason each person has decided to boycott,

and where they are from. It is because of actions like these that the blog appeals to a readers

logos and pathos as they make the reader feel what those protesting believe by including the facts

about the election not just their opinion. The article also includes a comment section, that allows

both sides to voice their opinion on the problem and debate back and forth why they believe they

are right. It is because of these many details that the Huffington Post provides an overall better

blog than the American Thinker, and this is exemplified by the staggering difference in

followers.
 Tweets and blog posts are both, new media. They have similar characteristics such as:

the use of pointed language, images, and a broad audience; but their overall reactions are

different. Twitter can begin social movements, deliver news quickly, and allows anyone to speak

their mind. This was exemplified in both example tweets that delivered a powerful message =,

meant to influence the reader to respond either positive or negatively without very much

information. Blogs report on social movements, take longer to write, and genuinely have specific

authors assigned to cover certain issues. In the example blog posts, one clearly addressed the

topic and attempted to passively sway people to their side, the other did not care to convince the

opposing side. Instead, the second blog post relied on drawing support from those who already

agreed with it. It is clear that these media forms will be the future, of news, however it is still

unclear whether or not this will have a positive or negative effect, only time will tell. Something

that transcends both genres is that neither has a sense of values that defines what can be

presented and what cannot, because both have the solitary goal of thoroughly expressing their

opinion or ideas about the topic presented, no matter what format this is presented in, who they

are, or what they believe.

 Works Cited

Benedery, Jennifer. "More Than 60 Democratic Lawmakers Are Boycotting Donald Trumps

Inauguration." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 2017. Web.

Collins, Cory. "6 Characteristics of a Great Blog Post." 6 Characteristics of a Great Blog Post.

PageOnePower, 2012. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.

Contreras, Raoul Lowery. "Articles: The Inauguration Boycott Is Stupid." American Thinker.

American Thinker, 2017. Web.