Rhetoric, Media, and Civic Life: Pipe Line

In society today, we as the people choose what is important, what stays in the spot light, how long it stays. This is good in a sense because news travels faster however it is bad as well because people tend to forget the importance of what happened the week before. News is always current, however just because information is not in the “Top Stories that does not mean it is not still relevant.

Late in the last year, the Pipeline was a serious issue. This pipeline was a hot topic for a multitude of reasons. This was an underground project, which was to be worked on in the future. However plenty of controversy was created based off of the purpose, the location and the disruption it would cause. Although it would have created more jobs, they route along the ground it would take over, would ruin the ownership of peoples private land.

“The people have a say so in what happens to their surroundings.” One main point protesters were attempting to get across to the state officials. However due to misunderstanding and “force” by the city the people took action into their own hands. To not only fight for what was right but for what belonged to them. A protest was the next step. This protest kept workers from working on the pipeline. This protest gathered the community as a whole and called them together to stand for what they believe in. Using the largest emotion of “care” to reinforce why they are standing in the cold to protect what they love.

By protesting they are showing the peaceful side of the disagreement. Their character is being tested because as they walk to prevent the construction they are hazed with water and pushed to their limits by police. The people used peaceful rhetoric to display the useless need of the project. However police, who protect us, used force to attempt to break down their faith. As time went on they soon realized that would not work, and needed more assistance from police of surrounding areas.

Ironically the DAPL project was a hot topic in the Dakota area. But because they needed help, and involved enforcement from surrounding states, more people got involved. Socially, people do not get involved until it is effecting them. . The news would rather go into detail about the production being slowed, and not the land they are stealing. This was all an issue, without the rumors about race and the land they are taking is from the Native Americans. The news also neglects to go into depth about the history of how this has been happening for many generations before us. Now months after the planned project, the productive protest and fierce force the news has died down.

Other protests, like the women’s march, our new president, MLK events and other situations have made the news wave as of now. However Trump has made executive order to continue the pipeline, openly using terms like “Mediocre Negroes”, and striving to remove Muslims and Arabs from class. Trump is the president, plenty of hot topics will be in and out of the media. Touching home, souls, hearts feelings and emotions of all the people.