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The
Lewisboro Democratic
Club Essay
Contest
The
purpose of the contest is to involve students in the
political process and encourage debate on topics that
face our nation. The contest was open to all students
living in Lewisboro currently attending high school.
The judge for the Essay contest, Dee DelBello, publisher
of the Westchester and Fairfield County Business Journals
selected Andrew McCarthy as the contest winner. Ms.
DelBello is a former teacher and resides in Waccabuc,
NY.
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Contestant:
Ted Lechterman, Senior, John Jay High School
Address: Katonah, NY 10536
Instances of manipulating facts to court public approval seem
to color American History. In 1846, James K. Polk, desirous
of territories beyond the Texas border, initiated the Mexican
War under the pretense that innocent Americans had been attacked.
When the U.S.S. Maine mysteriously exploded off the Cuban
coast in 1898, yellow journalism helped President William
McKinley trump up the Spanish-American War. In 1964, an alleged
attack on an American ship in the Gulf of Tonkin was used
to justify a Communist threat. Perhaps the time was right
for George Bush's ascension in 2000, for in manipulating facts,
he has had more success in the public relations war than in
the Middle East.
Click
here to read the entire essay.
Contestant:
Zac
Mason, Senior, John Jay High School
Address:South
Salem, NY 10590
In Pursuit of the Truth and Democracy
Members
of the current administration apparently think that they and
they alone, know what is good for the American people. George
W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld, among
others, believed that "regime change" in Iraq would
improve our national security. To win support for their policy,
they resorted to twisting facts, citing sources that were
outdated, flimsy, or entirely fabricated, and suppressing
contrary intelligence. Sometimes they outright lied.
Click
here to read the entire essay.
Contest
Winner: Andrew McCarthy, Sophomore, John Jay High School
Address: Cross River, NY 10518
The justification of "spinning" information to support
a specific cause is not a question of liberal or conservative
integrity. All moral individuals, both citizens and officials,
should utilize facts rather than poorly displayed half-truths
to promote a cause. Such manipulation of information by both
the liberal and conservative ideologies mars the history of
the United States.
Click
here to read the entire essay.
The
Question:
US President George W. Bush has been criticized by some for
misrepresenting the facts concerning Iraq’s purchase
of nuclear materials from Africa in his State of the Union
address. The president, citing National Security issues, has
also come under scrutiny for his refusal to release 28 pages
of information on Saudi Arabia's culpability in the 9/11 terrorist
attack.
When does public relations “spin control”, or the
withholding of information from the public, become propaganda
and misinformation? What is the role of the news media in
this public relations war? Touch upon the ethics and the long
and short term consequences of manipulating facts to win the
public relations war or justify a plan of action. Cite specific
examples when this has been used in American History to illustrate
your theory.
The
Manuel Gordon
Award:
The $200 Manuel Gordon Award will be given to the essay contest
winner in January 2004. This award is named to honor
Manuel Gordon, the late father of Waccabuc resident Bonnie
Robins.
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Lewisboro Democratic Club
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Golden's Bridge, New York, 10526 |
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