A critique on Dana Muzquiz's editorial post

     On December 5, 2014 Dana Muzquiz posted an editorial on her blog titled "NYPD: Texting>African American Life". The article revolved around the events surrounding the death of one 28 year old Akai Gurley, who was supposedly shot by a New York police officer in the stairwell of an apartment building by police who were patrolling the apartment in an area they weren't told to patrol. The police officer allegedly shot Akai Gurley in the chest, killing him and he then proceeded to text his union representative rather than assist the dying man.

    The editorial is rather short, giving very little room for criticism, however, there are multiple ways this article could have been revised which would have made an incredible difference in the impact of the article on potential readers. First of all is the lack of cited sources that create a vacuum of credibility. The article links the reader to the Huffington post, which gave a relatively detailed account of the incident, but is primarily liberal which would lead some readers to find bias in her work, lowering her credibility. This could have been solved by citing more than one source or by having a more objective account of the incident rather than simply regurgitating the Huffington Post's analysis on the incident. 

    The way that the editorial also leaves out much information that was included in her link lowers her credibility on the subject as it creates the impression that she is attempting to make the incident seem more black and white than she makes it out to be. The editorial leaves out the fact that the accused officer is a relatively new officer and is inexperienced which may or may not account for the reasons behind his unwarranted patrols. The wording in the title and in the editorial gives the impression that the incident was a hate crime, and in my opinion, hate crime laws are incredibly hypocritical because the entire concept that people should be split into groups in order to affect the sentencing for a crime is ridiculous. The constant urging that crimes between races are hate crimes supports the idea that blacks are different from whites and the wording of the editorial incites that thought. 

    There was also a critical lack of analysis on the author's part as she did not give an opinion on her chosen topic as befits an editorial. The author simply restated some of the facts without giving any level of critical thinking. She also claims in her last sentence that, for a fact, the officer shot the man in the dark stairwell, even though her linked article claims that it was likely an accident. This shows an overall lack of involvement in the writing of this blog post that could have been easily alleviated had the author either chosen an article with more information or had given a critical analysis on the given facts.

The Fault in our Government

    "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." This quote from Benjamin Franklin demonstrates some of the ideals he held when this country was founded. The United States government was once the greatest in the world, but over the past couple of decades, corruption has begun to spread through the country. This is evident when you look at how the president has two terms, limiting his power to eight years, however congress has no term limits, meaning that politicians who are poor candidates, but have the resources to keep getting re-elected will continue to do so, effectively shutting down the campaigns of more qualified, but less funded individuals. 

     When the government began the tapping of phones across the country in order to attempt to locate terrorists, the government did the one thing that Benjamin Franklin warned against. Our elected officials decided on our behalf to give up essential liberty in order to obtain temporary safety. The United States is becoming more and more split, with our generation becoming a house divided against itself. Many people, including myself thought that president Obama would help bring race relations closer, and for a while, things seemed to be going that way, however with the way that things seem to be unfolding with the current status of Ferguson, it casts a darker light on the way our country is headed. Early on, Obama took firm stances on race relations early in his presidency, but he now seemed hesitant to remark on Ferguson, where race relations are hitting a fever-pitch.

     I feel as though our country needs to set priorities on what we should focus our efforts on because our country is 18 trillion dollars in debt and our foreign policy seems to change monthly, however our top priorities are social issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Granted that social issues are very important to the people, but when our number one priority is not the well-being of this country, that shows a serious lack of urgency in the people and in the officials who govern them. I believe that our government has the potential to get back on track and is able to regain our position as the greatest nation in the world, but it will take years of hard work and careful management of our assets.