Fighting Human Injustice Through Video

In our class, Dr. Voth constantly stresses the importance of communication as a means to fight injustice int he world. On the first day of class, he quoted Eli Wiesel in saying, "What harms the victims most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander." Throughout this course, we have examined the way communication can shape society by looking at colonialism, the Civil Rights Movement, philanthropic organizations, podcasts, videos, case studies, massacres, and genocides (to name a few). In each of these analyses, we see the great impact that communication has on a society - either through its presence...or its absence. As good communicators, we should strive to promote high discursive complexity in our society, and as Americans or inhabitants of the United States, we are in the position to exercise such freedom. Check out the following videos of individuals who have exercised, and continue to exercise, high discursive complexity. See how their messages are equipped to inspire and challenge the world.

1. Musician and activist Peter Gabriel shares his very personal motivation for standing up for human rights with the watchdog group WITNESS -- and tells stories of citizen journalists in action.

Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/peter_gabriel_fights_injustice_with_video.html

2. In this provocative talk, journalist Andrew Mwenda asks us to reframe the "African question" -- to look beyond the media's stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent.

Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/andrew_mwenda_takes_a_new_look_at_africa.html

3. In an engaging and personal talk -- with cameo appearances from his grandmother and Rosa Parks -- human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson shares some hard truths about America's justice system, starting with a massive imbalance along racial lines: a third of the country's black male population has been incarcerated at some point in their lives. These issues, which are wrapped up in America's unexamined history, are rarely talked about with this level of candor, insight and persuasiveness.

Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice.html