A background link: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/25/14088489-obama-us-will-do-what-we-must-to-stop-iran-getting-nuclear-weapons?lite
Although I don't agree with everything that Obama does, I agree with what he is doing here, as far as Iran's nuclear program is concerned. As a Jew I think the safety of Israel is very important and if Iran threatens that safety I believe something should be done about it. However, like Obama, I recognize the importance of trying to use diplomacy or other non-violent means for as long as possible. I wouldn't be too surprised if Obama had assigned someone to create a plan for what to do if diplomacy fails, but I don't think that Obama should have ignored Netanyahu.
In class as we continue to discuss free speech, Obama expressed what is the general consensus about one of the biggest ideas of American society. While I haven't seen the video about Muslims that Obama referenced, I agree that while it may be offensive, the video is protected by the 1st Amendment. This is a similar situation to the 'blackface parties' that I talked about in my last post.
'Till next time.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Modern Racism and College Speech Codes
Some background links:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WMBsO_95JJdVlMahc8ddLurufvYjHokQ8wrVnGAM8xA/edit?hl=en_US
https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AVf_DLqQA9ovZGZ2bTR3ZmdfMGZ6M25iNWc2&hl=en_US
This kind of behavior is despicable and idiotic. I am almost at a loss for words. I can't actually understand the purpose of these kinds of events. Why do the participants say they are fun? It bothers me to think that they were probably raised in an area that didn't discourage this kind of behavior. Colleges have speech codes that probably prevent this kind of behavior, but a website, http://thefire.org/ has some cool stuff about what rules actually go against 1st Amendment rights.
Case Western Reserve University (a private institution in Cleveland, http://www.case.edu/) received a 'red light' rating from FIRE. Reading through FIRE's explanation of the ratings for different rules, I had mixed feelings. FIRE is concerned only with legality based on the 1st Amendment and is therefore very strict about free speech restrictions so many rules that I thought were reasonable were given a 'red' or 'yellow' light rating because they didn't allow for all the freedom of speech indicated by the 1st Amendment and various Supreme Court cases. Having gone through the ratings I would say that CWRU isn't especially inhibiting. The rules seemed reasonable (although they could potentially be overbearing if enforced to the letter) and I thought that the rules were much like rules at a public high school.
Going back to the first two links, I think that CWRU would have reacted similarly to Auburn in that they would have done some investigating and punished the involved students/Greek societies. I would personally agree with this because I find the behavior of those students to be very offensive even though FIRE would probably have something to say about the constitutionality of the students' actions.
I think that FIRE is a could resource for getting an informed opinion, but because it has such a strong desire to follow the 1st Amendment to the letter (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) it rates relatively reasonable speech codes as infringing on students' rights (which I suppose technically they are although most students probably wouldn't mind).
I think that the 1st Amendment does a lot of good. It is an integral part of America and what it means to be American, but I think that it also allows for potentially too much freedom. How each person decides to interpret the 1st Amendment is their own choice, but I think that schools have a decent justification for their speech regulations.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WMBsO_95JJdVlMahc8ddLurufvYjHokQ8wrVnGAM8xA/edit?hl=en_US
https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=0AVf_DLqQA9ovZGZ2bTR3ZmdfMGZ6M25iNWc2&hl=en_US
This kind of behavior is despicable and idiotic. I am almost at a loss for words. I can't actually understand the purpose of these kinds of events. Why do the participants say they are fun? It bothers me to think that they were probably raised in an area that didn't discourage this kind of behavior. Colleges have speech codes that probably prevent this kind of behavior, but a website, http://thefire.org/ has some cool stuff about what rules actually go against 1st Amendment rights.
Case Western Reserve University (a private institution in Cleveland, http://www.case.edu/) received a 'red light' rating from FIRE. Reading through FIRE's explanation of the ratings for different rules, I had mixed feelings. FIRE is concerned only with legality based on the 1st Amendment and is therefore very strict about free speech restrictions so many rules that I thought were reasonable were given a 'red' or 'yellow' light rating because they didn't allow for all the freedom of speech indicated by the 1st Amendment and various Supreme Court cases. Having gone through the ratings I would say that CWRU isn't especially inhibiting. The rules seemed reasonable (although they could potentially be overbearing if enforced to the letter) and I thought that the rules were much like rules at a public high school.
Going back to the first two links, I think that CWRU would have reacted similarly to Auburn in that they would have done some investigating and punished the involved students/Greek societies. I would personally agree with this because I find the behavior of those students to be very offensive even though FIRE would probably have something to say about the constitutionality of the students' actions.
I think that FIRE is a could resource for getting an informed opinion, but because it has such a strong desire to follow the 1st Amendment to the letter (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) it rates relatively reasonable speech codes as infringing on students' rights (which I suppose technically they are although most students probably wouldn't mind).
I think that the 1st Amendment does a lot of good. It is an integral part of America and what it means to be American, but I think that it also allows for potentially too much freedom. How each person decides to interpret the 1st Amendment is their own choice, but I think that schools have a decent justification for their speech regulations.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Remembering 9/11
Septemer 11th 2001. I was only 6 at the time so my memory of the whole thing is really vague. I think the only reason I really have any recolation at all was because my mom was out West for a business trip. Since planes were grounded immediately after 9/11, my mom couldn't fly home as planned (my aunt was taking care of me at the time) so I recall that my mom wouldn't be home on time. My grandpa, who was coming to releive my aunt by train also go turned around on his way into Chicago because I guess they shut down trains into big cities too. I guess my aunt was freaking out because she was stuck in Chicago since she couldn't leave me alone and also because everyone was worried about another attack. The thing was, I wasn't worried at all. I know for sure that my relatives didn't tell me what had happened except that my mom couldn't take a plane home so she would be late (my mom ended up taking a GreyHound bus cross country to get back home). I really can't remember much else and I'm not totally sure how I learned what actually happened then, and I guess this brings up a question of how will we teach about this event in the future...
To close I'd like to take a moment to remember not only those who perished in the Towers, the Pentagon, and in a PA field, but all the soldiers, firefighters, other civilians, too. I think it is also important to recognize all the potentially innocent Middle Easterners who have died too even though they had no terrorist connections.
To close I'd like to take a moment to remember not only those who perished in the Towers, the Pentagon, and in a PA field, but all the soldiers, firefighters, other civilians, too. I think it is also important to recognize all the potentially innocent Middle Easterners who have died too even though they had no terrorist connections.
ARE YOU READY FOR ELLECTIONS?!?!?!?! ...because I'm not....
As the election draws near, ads are filling the airwaves and the battle for America rages back and forth there will come a time when eligible voters will decide who to vote for and the ads and whatnot won't matter too much anymore. I've always leaned democratic because of the way the political Republicans always seemed excessively religious and close-minded (I'm only referring to the conservative Republicans who are against gay rights etc., I don't mean to lump all republicans together as bigots and I don't mean to suggest that there aren't any bigots in the Democratic Party either).
Now that the Conventions are over the debates should be coming up soon and the only people who still need to make up their minds are the people who actually are a part of the democratic process instead of blindly following where they're told to go. I'm not really sure how I feel about the fact that only a few people actually make conscious decisions as to who they will vote for, especially since I'm not one of them...
In other news, I get to read a book about a social issue for class. This is cool because I've always wanted to read something of that nature, but I'm too busy reading epic fantasy and I don't want to stop in the middle of a series (fantasy/sci-fi readers [and potentially others {I wouldn't really know} too] should know what I mean) in order to pick up a social issue book. I haven't decided what book or what issue but I'll probably blog about whatever one I pick when I do.
Now that the Conventions are over the debates should be coming up soon and the only people who still need to make up their minds are the people who actually are a part of the democratic process instead of blindly following where they're told to go. I'm not really sure how I feel about the fact that only a few people actually make conscious decisions as to who they will vote for, especially since I'm not one of them...
In other news, I get to read a book about a social issue for class. This is cool because I've always wanted to read something of that nature, but I'm too busy reading epic fantasy and I don't want to stop in the middle of a series (fantasy/sci-fi readers [and potentially others {I wouldn't really know} too] should know what I mean) in order to pick up a social issue book. I haven't decided what book or what issue but I'll probably blog about whatever one I pick when I do.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)