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Goal
Apply Jean Baudrillard’s theory about simulacra and hyperreality to help understand fake news in the age of social media
Instructions
First, read “The Precession of Simulacra” by Jean Baudrillard (1-26) and “Simulacra in the Age of Social Media: Baudrillard as the Prophet of Fake News” by James Morris.
https://archive.org/details/Simulations1983/page/n5/mode/2up
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0196859920977154
Then, write a thesis-driven essay of 1500-2000 words that responds to the following prompt:
In “The Precession of Simulacra,” Jean Baudrillard discusses what he calls the “successive phases of the image”:
—it is the reflection of a basic reality
—it masks and perverts a basic reality
—it masks the absence of a basic reality
—it bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum. (11)
According to Baudrillard, how has our culture’s relationship to and ideas about images (or representation) changed from the time of Socrates to the late 20th century, when Baudrillard wrote this text?
According to James Morris, why does the final stage of the image—the “separation of the image from reality”—”pose a profound problem” in our own age?
What kinds of evidence does Morris use in his article to support his main claims about simulacra and fake news?
Do you agree with Morris that the lack of connection of so many things posted on social media to the truth is a serious problem in our times? In your response, consider the impact of fake news stories—such as the Pizzagate conspiracy theory discussed in the documentary After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake NewsLinks to an external site.—on our society.
For full credit, please support your claims with . . .
at least two direct quotations, one or more from each source, that is
“The Precession of Simulacra”Links to an external site. by Jean Baudrillard
“Simulacra in the Age of Social Media: Baudrillard as the Prophet of Fake News”Links to an external site. by James Morris
and analysis/interpretation of these quotations.
Title
Come up with your own creative and specific title for the essay. Use the titles of secondary texts as examples, such as the title, “Violence and/or Nonviolence in the Success of the Civil Rights Movement: The Malcolm X–Martin Luther King, Jr. Nexus” by August H. Nimtz. Note that Byerman uses a catchy title (“Violence and/or Nonviolence in the Success of the Civil Rights Movement”) and a more specific subtitle (“The Malcolm X–Martin Luther King, Jr. Nexus”).
According to MLA format, your own title should be in a normal 12-point font with no underline, italics, bold, or quotation marks (except for titles of works within your title, such as “The Precession of Simulacra,” which would be in quotation marks).
Thesis
The thesis statement (which can be longer than one sentence) should . . .
Respond to the question above: Do you agree with Morris that the lack of connection of so many things posted on social media to the truth is a serious problem in our times? Explain your response.
Be arguable: a claim with which someone could agree or disagree
Be specific: state both your claim (what you believe) and your reasons (why you believe it)
Supporting your Thesis
The strength of your paper will depend on how well you support your thesis and topic statements. The essay should include analysis of multiple quotations from both sources (the texts by Baudrillard and Morris). Furthermore, each body paragraph (not including the introduction or conclusion) should include at least one quoted passage from one of the sources.
In order to ensure that this textual evidence is well integrated into your essay, you should introduce (with a signal phrase), closely analyze, and correctly cite the quotation. It should be clear how exactly the textual evidence supports your thesis and topic statements. To integrate a quotation well, try to always make a “quote sandwichLinks to an external site..”
Organization
Your thesis and topic statements should make arguable claims about specific aspects of the texts. Your essay should also include logical and smooth transitions between paragraphs, and the conclusion should not simply repeat your thesis or topic statements. Instead, in the conclusion, briefly examine the wider significance of the texts themselves and/or your critique of them.
MLA
Remember that you must correctly cite any print or web source that you quote or paraphrase. Submitting the words or ideas of someone else without proper citation is considered plagiarism.

Objective: This assignment counts towards your grade. It is important for us to be able to identify concepts that we learn in our course, in real life. As we learn about social work we learn to see the world through a social work perspective, particularly through micro, mezzo and macro lenses.
This short film is powerful because it portrays the view of someone seeing the US for the first time from their perspective. Little America describes the story of a Nigerian immigrant, who finds a connection with the Cowboy culture in Oklahoma. 1. Watch Short Film: Click play icon in box below to view film
Runs for about 32 min
2. Reflect
Reflect on all the social work concepts, theories and values you have learned up until now. Through our professional training, social workers make a commitment to empower individuals and at the same time improve society while paying special attention between interactions amongst individuals and their surroundings (recall the person-in-environmentapproach). Use introspection to reflect on the type of social work you would like to practice or eventually specialize in: micro, mezzo and/or macro:
Micro practice refers mostly to helping individuals fit better into their environments. Macro practice refers to modifying the environment so that it works better for individuals. In other words, social workers make a commitment through professional training to help people and to improve society, and to give special attention to the interactions between people and between people and their surroundings.
Mezzo Practice refers to work with families and small groups perhaps in a community setting. Many times mezzo practices is not specifically highlighted since it is sometimes subsumed under micro practice. 1. Analyze and Connect
Answer the following by making connections from the film (minimum 500 words for full credit). (total 100 points)
Choose a practice level that interests you: micro, mezzo or macro, define it (in your own words) make sure you bold the practice type you choose. (20 points) Apply: Use Iwegbuna as a case study. How would you use the practice type you chose (above) to support your client? This is a critical question: Make sure you identify the What (micro, mezzo, macro – what support are you offering and at what level) and the how (how are you implementing this support)…(30 points)
Theory: Choose a theory from Module 2 (Strengths perspective, Empowerment, Person-In-Environment Approach, etc…) define theory (bold theory of choice) and define it. (20 points)
Overall flow and structure of reflection. For example, how you connect your professional, educational experience (what you have learned in class) with Iwegbuna’s life story, observation skills, congruence. (10 points) – don’t worry too much about grammar this is not an English class 😉
Overall thoughts about the movie (any recommendations for other documentaries pertaining to social work)? (10 points)

create a paragraph for each short story, describe the plot theme symbols important during the time. Period , There is to be no plagiarism know AI , don’t use big words keep it basic make it sound good and not like you’re copying and pasting from the Internet I’m not proper speaking, but do you use complete sentences do not have to space the paragraph but space between each paragraph I have enclosed 35 stories. This is to help bring the grade up, because some papers have been poorly done