Today I hung out with Pat. He’s ex-Boeing, laid off two years ago. He’s 62, an avid cross country skier, and he makes his own apple cider. He’s also an ex-Republican. Naturally, I asked him why.
To my surprise, it was abortion rights that made Pat switch.
“Men can’t have babies. Until they can have babies, they shouldn’t be make decisions about abortion. Also, some time back I attended a rally, some right wing organization, where they were on about abortion. I asked the guy if he was willing to pay to raise the little bastards – by that I mean the traditional definition of the term, a fatherless child – himself. Heavens, no, he said. So I said, wouldn’t it be better to let that soul have another shot at finding a host that wants it?”
I don’t know why I was suprised by this, but I was. It’s not everyday an old guy in a Dickey jumpsuit and aviator eyeglasses tells you why abortion rights matter. I kind of think he should be the new front man for Planned Parenthood ads.
Hello,
My name is Eunseong Kim, and I am a Ph. D student at the School of Journalism at Indiana University. I am currently working on the Ph.D dissertation, and I am emailing you to invite you to participate in my survey.
The primary purpose of the dissertation is to examine blogging and its impact on people. Blogging, especially political blogging, has become a popular and important campaign method in the 2004 presidential election campaign. Supporters of presidential candidates have organized and communicated through blogging so effectively that both Democratic and Republican National Committees granted press credentials to some political bloggers. While blogging rapidly garners popularity among people, empirical examination of blogging and its impact on people have been rare. Information you provide in this survey will help us understand communication behavior (media use), political attitudes, and political behaviors of bloggers and provide a useful and important material for empirical examination of blogging and its impact on people.
Your participation in this survey is crucial to the success of this study and to understanding the effects of this new communication phenomenon. The following link takes you to the survey questionnaire. It will take approximately 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. After the data analysis, the report will be written in aggregate terms, and thus, no participant will be identified in any forms.
The URL of the survey site is http://www.hg4u.com
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
Eunseong Kim
Ph.D Candidate
School of Journalism
Indiana University-Bloomington