President’s Day 2017
Every year we celebrate the former presidents
of our nation and all of the accomplishments they made. With Presidents Day
just passing last week, I thought the events in response to the holiday would
be interesting to take a look at. With Donald Trump as our president, there has
been a lot of backlash and protests. One of the most recent protests was on the
20th of February, aimed at Trump and was trending as “Not My
Presidents Day” on social media platforms. The articles I read took a look at
each point of view and gave insightful information about the protest events
held on Presidents day this year.
One of the first articles I came
across during my research on this topic was on CNN and titled 'Not My President's Day' protesters rally to
oppose Trump. In this article, several of the head protestors were
interviewed and asked about their concern of having Donald Trump as president
and why they were protesting. Most of the women just wanted to continue to make
a statement and get recognized by the media to show their distaste for
President Trump and the changes he is trying to make to this country. Olga
Lexell, one of the protestors who helped organize protests in Los Angelos,
Chicago, and New York, shares her opinion on Trump and lets the public know
where she stands by saying, "A lot of people are angry because he lost the
popular vote and is ruling like somebody who won by a landslide,". This
article is meant to reach and support the Liberals in attempt to connect and
support their beliefs in their distrust for Trump. The use of language from the
very beginning of this article already sets a negative connotation for Trump by
saying “another week, another series of demonstrations by opponents of
President Donald Trump”.
On the other hand, reading an
article from FOX news downplays the events and protests that happened on
Presidents Day this year. This article did provide the facts of what happened
on Monday, but made the efforts of the protestors sound very insignificant and
minor. This article was much shorter in length and gave the bare minimum of information.
The use of language again was an important factor of this article in showing
which side of the controversy Fox supports. Only one man was interviewed in
this article as opposed to the three women that were interviewed in the first
article that was in favor for the protests that I read. The lack of first-hand
information that was provided in this article makes it feel less passionate to
the reader, which in turn makes the reader not get as emotional involved and
care as much as someone who is reading the first article. Lastly, Fox takes one
more stab at the Trump protestors by making it a point to say, “Organizers
expect 14,000 demonstrators, but the numbers appeared only in the hundreds”,
and bring to light that their efforts were not as successful as they thought
they were.
Both articles that I researched and
analyzed provided accurate information about Trump and the protests that
happened in the beginning of the week, but they portray the protestors in
vastly different ways and their use of language is what sways the reader.
"'Not My President's Day' Protesters Rally to Oppose Trump." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.
"Protesters Hold 'Not My Presidents Day' Events across the US." Fox News. FOX News Network, n.d. Web. 24 Feb.
