The Citizenship Question Will Make For An Inaccurate Representation of The U.S.

The U.S. national government should not adopt the idea to include the citizenship question on the 2020 Census again. This is because the question will lead to an inaccurate representation of the United States. The Census accounts for many things: Demographics, federal aid, businesses, how the House and Senate are divided among the states, etc. To many, this may not seem important but let’s phrase it another way: The Census is an important national government evaluation because it is the reason we live the way that we do. It helps distinguish how much help we need for everyone. It is also here to make sure communities and districts are accurately represented.

What if you add another question that could potentially change the whole meaning of The Census? The question of citizenship can change the accuracy of The Census. The last time this question was used was in 1950. Using it can impose inaccurate data for the following years. For many, specially immigrants, this poses a potential danger for their stay in the United States. Without the participation of undocumented residents or those of mixed status, the whole community and district they live in is at stake. Because The Census happens every 10 years, the states with the most population can greatly decrease causing a dramatic change in the apportionment of congressional seats. That is, the data collected to determine the number of seats each state should have in the U.S. House of Representatives will change.

One thing that needs to be pointed out is that it’s not the non-participants fault. Even though The Census protects the privacy of those who participate in it, many will still fear of their information being used against them. Most of these people who fear this are immigrants and because of their abstentions, the demographics will be inaccurately represented. This can reduce help from the government towards it’s citizens and non-citizens.

So, why is this question still happening? It’s probably going to happen because Secretary Of Commerce Wilbur Ross said it should. He wrote an explanation on his decision saying that he acknowledged the advice of professional administrators to not reintroduce the question but that he would still do it. Ross wrote that there was no “empirical support” for their belief. Also, when the decision was being made there was no question for clarification in the White House when White House press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders mentioned that the question had already been used in 1965. The Census couldn’t have happened in 1965 because The Census only happens every ten years.

This imposes an idea that the whole purpose of The Census now, is to see who is legal or not. In order to run an accurate census on the year 2020, the administration needs to ensure the people that their information will be confidential and that their information will not be released to any immigration service because that’s the main reason why many won’t participate.

Russian Propaganda Is Spreading on Reddit

Melissa Ryan is an author at Media Matters For America and writes why it’s important for everyone to know about Russian Propaganda spreading on Reddit. The blog, titled “Russian propaganda is rampant on Reddit. Here’s why it matters”, is directed to everyone because she wrote “Here’s why it matters”. Even though she didn’t include a “you” in the title, she used third-person perspective to give that approach to readers.

Ryan starts her blog by writing that the CEO of Reddit, Steve Huffman, knew about Russian propagandists using Reddit. One big reason why this came to light was because, “...the Senate intelligence committee had expanded its Russian interference investigation to include Reddit and Tumblr”; Reddit responded by disclosing their efforts to do something about it. Ryan wrote Huffman admitted that Russian trolls had weaponized the platform and that the company cooperated with the investigations as asked. Huffman added that the misinformation would be difficult to solve because there was “a thousand shades of grey” between the truth and the fiction. Reddit now faced the same scrutiny as the other media platforms did such as Twitter, Facebook and Google.

Ryan also wrote that Reddit was a different targeted platform because, the volunteered moderators on the Russian propaganda page would generally respond to questions when an announcement was made. This means that the page was always in tact and active on the issue to strangers and to the known alike.

Ryan makes an important point by saying that a subreddit as close to the Russian Propaganda one is r/The_Donald. Ryan mentions that the subreddit has most of the site held hostage. Also, redditors claim the subreddit was invaded by Russian trolls and that the subreddit itself made it look like the platform wasn’t taking the Russian Propaganda seriously.

Huffman addressed the criticism by responding to comments saying that banning them won’t solve anything but that maybe, they’re own dysfunction will. Redditors didn’t respond so happily as they downvoted his comment in a record-breaking 6,000 times.

Ryan’s response was her saying that no matter what the issue is, tech platforms will not change unless it’s profitable or if the users put enough pressure for them to change. Ryan also mentions that Reddit works better to solve these type of media problems than others do. One reason is because there’s a public forum where users can speak directly to the company’s leadership which makes it easier for the media to boost the conversation.

Her conclusion focuses on the point that actions speak louder than words and that Reddit’s unique way of structuring the community can be the new “advocacy model” for other tech platforms to follow.

I believe her blog did bring importance into the issue of Russian propaganda spreading in Reddit because she used expert evidence to support her claim. She never went off topic and kept her points clear, short and didn’t include much bias in them. Ryan’s evidence was factual because it had direct links on them.