Day 40.5: Social Media Theory Data Blog Post

 Primary Source #1

Background: Took place on December 10, 1989. STOP THE CHURCH was a demonstration that was organized by members of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) in response to Cardinal John O'Connor and his negligence to teach safe sex in the pulic school system as well as not promoting condom use inorder to lower the rates of AIDS infections. ACT UP was joined by WHAM! (Women’s Health Action and Mobilization), who opposed the Catholic’s position on abortions rights. Many of the members of these organizations disrupted mass by chanting that O’Connor was “killing them” and soon descended into “pandemonium.” 111 protestors were arrested.

ACT UP, Fight Back, Fight AIDS (usreligion.blogspot.com)

Primary Source #2

Background: A speech that was given by Larry Kramer in 1991 to a room full of apathetic AIDS activists. Larry Kramer was the founder of GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis) and ACT UP. Kramer, who was tired of the momentous amount of apathy that had invaded these activist groups, gave this speech to voice his frustration, anger, disappointment, and sense of being lost as to where to go from then. He stated that unless everyone stops pulling each other down instead of working together, “We are as good as dead.”

Activist Larry Kramer's 1991 Remarks on the AIDS Epidemic | NowThis - YouTube

Primary Source #3

Background: In this photo, ACT UP members and Broadway performer Mark Fotopoulos and his mother protested on Broadway on March 24, 1988. (Photo taken by Clay Walker) On March 24, 1987, ACT UP held their first ever demonstration. On the busy intersection of Broadway and Wall Street, protestors gathered to call for corporate and government action to end the AIDS crisis, which by this point had gone on for over 5 years. The demonstration caused for there to be much disruption during rush hour. The flyers announcing the protest had a list of demands that consisted of the release of life-saving drugs by the FDA, the availability of affordable drugs., educating the public to combat the spread of AIDS, and enacting policies to end AIDS-related disccrimination in the workplace, housing, insurance, and medical treatment. These demonstrations continued on throughout the following years.

ACT UP Demonstrations on Wall Street – NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project (nyclgbtsites.org)

Applying 3 Theoretical Ideas

1. (Madeleine de Scudéry: Rhetorical Conversation) Scudéry insists that in order to have a conversation, the participants involved should at least have the decency to be “agreeable.” This allows for more dialogue to build upon previous dialogue until eventually a conclusion is met that involves the similar inputs of many. With this movement and these sources, this can be applied since the members and followers of the ACT UP movement all have similar foundational views that eventually led to the formation of these demonstrations and protests. For example, members of ACT UP and WHAM! simultaneously came together at St. Patrick’s Cathedral because they agreed that the Catholic Church had voiced views that were destructive to the lives of others. This is how that protest was formed. For Kramer’s speech, it was the shared view that people need to work together in order to end the AIDS crisis that led to the delivery of this speech. For the Wall Street protests, it was the shared views of wanted affordable and effective medication to be released to the public and to end the discrimination held against those living with AIDS. All of these events were formed due to the fact that people were able to agree on certain foundational ideas in order to meet a common goal/end result.

2. (Kenneth Burke: Identification) Burke’s concept of identification can be applied here by allowing for others to see that one party, the ACT UP movement, is similar to another  party. Those in the ACT UP movement were likely to be individuals living with AIDS or those who knew others suffering with AIDS. Their movement allowed for AIDS victims to be put in the public eye. These victims include parents, children, relatives, friends, doctors, teachers, lovers, bakers, church members, etc. Everyday people who were a part of society and who were loved by others were those who were suffering with AIDS. These demonstrations allowed for the public to make the identification/connection that those living with AIDS were also everyday people that they interacted with everyday in the simplest or even in the most significant ways.

3. (Synchronic Analysis) In the picture of the protest on Wall Street, they underline and highlight the word “living” in their protest signs. By using the word “living” they weren’t just acknowledging that they were still breathing beings, but more so that their means of living was more difficult than most people’s definition of living. “Living” to AIDS patients was more aligned with the definition of “surviving.” They were surviving a virus, discrimination, dehumization, pain, etc. Sure, they were still breathing and going about their lives, but for them their days were numbered (especially when corporations and the government brush off your existence and situation). “Living” for them was a game of dodging a multitude of pain. Those with AIDS wanted to get back to a time when “living” actually felt like they could live their lives, instead of surviving each day until they could potentially die.