test 3 - vocab

freedom of expression

First Amendment protects us from government intrusion on speech and the press, but media corporations can largely do whatever they like.

copyright

the legal right of authors and producers to own and control the use of their published or unpublished writing, music, lyrics, TV programs, movies, or graphic art designs.

fair use

copying of copyright material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody copyrighted work

libel

defamation of character in written or broadcast form

private individuals have to prove

1) that the public statement about them was false

2) that damages or actual injury occurred (such as the loss of a job, harm to reputation, etc.)

3) that the publisher or broadcaster was negligent in failing to determine the truthfulness of the statement

obscenity

is not protected as speech if three legal test are all met

1) the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, as a whole, appeals to prurient interest

2) the material depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way

3) the material, as a whole, lacks serious literacy, artistic, political, or scientific value

digital panopticon

we now expose ourselves voluntarily for entertainment and social validation; however, age of transparency does not equal truth. in this context, we are isolated but hyperconnected.

components of a moral panic

1) concern or fear

2) hostility toward the ‘folk devil’

3) certain level of consensus about the nature of the threat

4) disproportion between the concern and the threat
5) certain degree of volatility of the concern, an evanescent or coming-and-going quality that does not characterize more ongoing threats.

The Cancel Culture Panic By

Adrian Daub

Cancel culture = political correctness

since the 1980s, public fears about progressive social change have been repeatedly repackaged under different terms, while the core complaint remains the same: that new cultural norms threaten free speech, traditional values, or social stability. though the language evolves, the style of criticism and moral panic remains consistent.

economy of attention

cancel culture tells us where to direct our attention, what deserves it, and what does not. it relies almost exclusively on anecdotes; it confers automatic relevance on what might at first glance look like minor local complications

birthplace: internet

we do live in a digital panopticon; our online personas do have a horrible way of making time irrelevant, making us identical (and accountable for) every opinion we’ve ever expressed. while the term describes a real problem, the discourse on cancel culture describes these phenomena inadequately, and in some cases, deliberately distorts them.