Corona Roberts: Social Distancing by Law

As tough as times are right now, it's even harder to keep businesses afloat, yet Crumley Roberts seems to have the right formula.  As arguably one of the biggest law firms in North Carolina, CEO Chris Roberts believes he has a duty to keep as many employed as he can, "Other law firms are forcing their employees to come in, I'm happy we don't have to do that."

Roberts stayed optimistic about the future, and hoped we'll all get back to normal soon. Roberts described how the firm has stayed open, and even praised his board of executives for their preparedness with a "Disaster Plan," that was created to go into effect in situations like these, "We were really well prepared..." 

As these tough times continue, Crumley Roberts will remain open for business, all be it online, no matter the situation. Chris Roberts believes that if we all do our part this virus will go away in no time. 

I spoke with Chris Roberts about the situation, here

What other choice do we have?

Today's world is a weird one, with so much strife going one, corruption, scandals, wars, genocides, hunger, poverty, etc. there is so much wrong that is out of our control. Yet, we decide to hear about these things and do nothing about them.

Most people today get their information online through a website article, or through an ad on social media. Yet we truly underestimate, how much of our information is getting leaked, but do we care?

Realistically, most people don't share super private information over text through Facebook, unless they're inn their 50s+. As for me? I'd rather speak face to face with those I have to tell something personal too so THEY don't go out and say it using screenshots or whatever.

I'm not too concerned with the level of information of mine that's getting leaked unless it's credit cards, social security numbers, driver's license, etc., but those things are super valuable, and quite difficult to replace. I don't think people knowing my address is too big of an issue until people start showing up at my door.

I think we as a society are too caught up in what we DON'T want people to know rather than what we WANT them to know. We're so afraid of what can harm us, where we should be celebrating what can help us, and not live in fear or concern of what we think the internet is doing to try to attack us.

I understand that it can be a little weird when you get ads about what you've been thinking about, but is it really that bad, I mean, if you need it you can go get it quickly. I think we need to take a step back and determine what really makes us upset, and what society SAYS we need to be upset about.

Besides, what else are we going to use for worldwide news? Its not like there's another internet...

Whistleblower vs "Whistleblower"

Last week a classmate described the difference between a Whistleblower and a "Whistleblower." this differentiation was pretty eye opening.

With the Trump impeachment hearings currently going on, there's a lot of talk about "whistleblowers" appearing in the White House, but it's an important distinction to make.

A Whistleblower is a "Federal employee who reports wrongdoings to better the system, and they are protected under the 1989 Whistleblower Protection  Act (WPA)"

A "Whistleblower" is "a federal employee who reports mismanagement for a political agenda." 

These differentiation's are quite important, so we understand how true some of these statements are. It's super frustrating to not know who you can trust, because of political corruption.

This fact demonstrates why doing personal research is so important. With all the biased news going on today, we need to understand the unbiased side of the story as well.

Alternative Media

What is Alternative Media?

"Alternative media are forms of media that differ from the current established mainstream, whether it be by content, format, or distribution. Alternative media can be print, digital, audio, video, and so on. In today’s society, anyone can have a platform from the comfort of their own homes, a luxury that was not available before the internet and modern technology.”

Alternative media is generally blogs that aren't like the ones I write. Alternative media online are normally very opinionated and lean towards one side of the other depending on political parties.

Some may be very neutral in what they write about, but most are not so neutral. I stumbled upon a couple that are different in their own rights in terms of where they stand.

One was a strong anti-war blog and the other a libertarian site.

I found both of these to be quite interesting you often don't hear much based on these view points which is part of the intrigue about alternative media. We often hear the main points of contention from big sources like FOX or CNN, but these other sites give us some insight into other viewpoints which should help better our understanding of the world and our issues.

Is our online privacy really private?

The debate of online privacy has been a hot topic issue in media ever since the world found out about Facebook's dark secret of the myriad of information they have taken from people for years. This should come to a shock of no one, but it has, and since people are so shocked about this issue, I'd like to explain all the other media outlets that take and use your info for their own gain.

It's almost foolish to believe that while on the internet you can act anonymously and do and say things you normally wouldn't. I can relate this to being around friends, you can say things to them that works within the context, but if a certain button is pushed, they'll be able to use it against you without the context.

So, companies can assure you that they are protecting all your info, but without the context they're only using your info to attract ads so that the website you love can stay afloat. TV and Newspapers do this all the time, as they request certain ads to be put on their networks by using their data collected from their customers.

If people knew this then they'd not be as upset because its TV and they could just move elsewhere, but because it's the internet people suddenly lose their minds.

"Facebook has revealed 30m accounts were affected in a data breach last month. The company said hackers were able to access personal information for nearly half of those accounts.

That information included name, relationship status, religion, birthdate, workplaces, search activity, and recent location check-ins. The company had initially said 50m accounts were affected."

The Rise of the Planet of the Social Medias

In 2007, Mark Zuckerberg changed the landscape of the internet forever with the introduction of Facebook to the public.

In 2019, we have Facebook, but we also have Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and so and so forth. so what created the boom of the social medias, and why are there so many today?

Before Facebook, there weren't really social media sites, and if there were they were quite closed off and exclusive to friends. An example of this would be MySpace in the early 2000s before Facebook arrived. MySpace was a social media platform, used to connect with friends, but you had to know your friend's username to connect with them.

Then, Facebook came along and made it so that you could search up any name and get back thousands of results, ultimately changing the landscape of social media to actually be social. Today, Instagram and Twitter largely overwhelm the social media platform, and its how I have met several hundreds of my classmates at High Point University.

This illustrates perfectly the Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations and Ideas to a tee. you have the Pioneers, like MySpace, the Early Adapters, like Facebook, and then the Late Adapters, like Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, before the Laggers of Reddit and Tumblr.

Myspace was only launched in 2003. Friendster gave inspiration to the founders of Myspace, and the social network was officially sent live on the web in January of 2004. After its first month online, over one million people had already signed up. By November of 2004, that number grew to 5 million. By 2006, Myspace was being visited more times than Google and Yahoo Mail, becoming the most visited site in the United States. In June of 2006, it was reported that Myspace was responsible for nearly 80 percent of all traffic related to social networking sites.

So maybe instead of Facebook, let's credit the real pioneer of the social media era, MySpace

One of Eight Values of Free Expression

Today, I will be discussing my personal pick for free expression, which is Promoting Tolerance.

In the last 20 years, there are more and more groups emerging everyday, from different sects and walks of life, that already existing groups have to become more tolerant and accepting of. I think of this in terms of the world being similar to a college campus, many different types of groups having to co-mingle within the larger society that they are apart of.

When thinking of emerging groups in the last 20 years the easiest one to pick out is the LGBTQ community, who's attendance has skyrocketed since the late 90s, but more and more people still are unable to accept the fact that there are multiple sexualities and orientations.

Gallup's LGBT estimates are based on those respondents who say "yes" when asked, "Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender?" Extrapolation to the latest census estimate of adults 18 and older in the U.S. suggests that more than 11 million adults identify as LGBT in the country today.


While many people may not like the fact that more and more people are coming out as members of this community, we all should be accepting, because they did the same for us in whatever capacity it takes. 

So, as a country, WE need to be the ones to make belongingness be for the people by the people, so that we become a stronger nation.