sleepcamel.net : brad weikel

My final paper for my class in "Media and Political Engagement" was called The Baker What? - Examining the Brief Life of the Iraq Study Group Report. I'm noticing that I have a tendency to give my papers sarcastic titles. I'm not sure why. Anyway, here's a quote from the intro, which gives a solid explanation of what the paper does:

This paper is an exploration of the Iraq Study Group Report as a media product (or commodity), using a combination of quantitative data analysis, qualitative research, and the occasional speculative opinion. Further, this paper will consider how the ISG Report has been consumed by Washington, the media, and the public, and how this consumption reveals the dynamics of current discourse about US policies in Iraq in particular and, more broadly, US foreign policy as a whole.

It was pretty interesting rereading this paper today, because of the timing of its writing. I was writing it during December of 2006, and turned it in more than a week late on January 1st, 2007. The Iraq Study Group Report had been published on December 6th, so my topic was still unfolding. Bush was still locked up on his ranch, preparing to announce his new plan, which we now know consisted of a surge in troops, a moderate shift towards training of Iraqi security forces, a refusal to talk with Iran and Syria (although this policy seems to be shifting), and an additional refusal to set timelines or milestones.

My paper itself was very well written and interesting, but somewhat misguided as an academic project. It was far more journalistic than critical, and was more about historical contextualization than deep analysis. However, writing the paper turned out to be a fairly rewarding process. At the very least, it forced me to read the ISG report and a wealth of related news articles, which left me feeling well informed about US foreign policy for the first time in years. The paper was also a valuable exploration of polling. I conducted my own poll, although it wasn't particularly good, and I also relied heavily on several Pew polls. I don't know if I'll do much quantitative, social science type research in the future but, if I do, the process-learning that I went through on this paper will prove incredibly useful.

It was also very interesting to try to write an academic paper about a very current event. On the one hand, I had a wealth of information at my disposal, and allowed myself to feel that my paper was actually important. On the other hand, many of the articles I looked at were highly speculative, it was completely unclear how relevant the ISG Report would be in the long run, and it was entirely possible that my paper would turn out to be completely irrelevant within days of its completition. I don't know, necessarily, what I think this says about academia and current events, but it certainly got me thinking a great deal about the powerlessness of the academic.