My Debatable Citizenship
It is important to think of the question “What kind of citizen do we need to support and effective democratic society?” When thinking about the three types of people that Kahn and Westheimer speak of. First they discuss the “personally responsible citizen” who acts responsibly in their community, works and pays taxes, obeys the laws, and recycles/gives blood/volunteers in crisis. These type of citizens are definitely crucial to having a democratic society. Second they discuss a “participatory citizen” who is an active member of community organizations and they organize community efforts to care for those in need/promote economic development/clean up environment. If there were not people like this in a democracy the system would not be as effective. Finally they speak of the “Justice Oriented citizen” this is the type of person who critically assesses social, political, and economic structures to see beyond our surface causes, seeks and addresses areas of injustice, and knows about democratic social movements and how to effect systematic change. I believe that while all three of these citizens are important to this type of society and will definitely help to make a system like this run effectively, there are also people who do not fit in this description that are necessary. I didn’t think I fit into any of these categories specifically. However, I think I am just as important as any one of these types of people to a democratic system.
I personally believe that I am not only one of these citizens, but I am two. I am a “personally responsible citizen” because I take part in all of the different digital medias I am a part of. I am an active member of twitter, facebook, and now tumblr. I always obey the laws of each of these different types of media. I never post unnecessary pictures, harass fellow facebook friends, or use unnecessary language. I believe I am also a “participatory citizen” because I have had to promote events on facebook as well as Kickline, or in other words promoting development. I had to not only promote our tryouts to a wide group of people, but find out information about individuals who would be interested in our team and help them understand who we are.
I would like to be able to say, in the future, "I am a Justice Oriented citizen" so that I can further the process of enacting the media and information literacies. I want to be able to say that I can critically assess social structures to see beyond surface causes. I want to be able to see beyond the miniscule parts that tumblr has to offer. I would be honored to have someone re-blog something that I write because they feel that it relates to them or that it is something that they find interesting to read.









