3.05.2003
Censoship that is, I agree. All of us should be able to speak as we wish. Absolutely no argument there. The only thing that I think of is that you are judging the actions of isolated doerfler-ish mall rent-a-cops as indicative of the ideals that are held to by all law enforcement (cops, military, feds, etc). And we still have forums for free speech... but not EVERY conceivable place is the correct place to air your feelings. Malls and stores, in the end, are private property, and just as you can kick someone off your land, they can kick anyone they wish off of theirs. Now the treatment by the cops, if true, (I have no reason to question those arrested, but it is only their side) is obviously wrong. Duh.
I look at things a little differently than you, I suppose. My dad was in the Air Force ROTC when he was in college... This was as the Vietnam war was ending. A lot of the protests had ended but he still has a lot of stories of people shouting "babykiller" and other things at him as he walked on campus in his uniform. (Every Wednesday the cadets have to wear their uniforms- I am sitting across the room from a guy who has his on right now) I think that there needs to be great care taken in HOW things are said, in addition to WHAT is being said and WHO you are saying it to. The reason that many protetsters are looked down on is that there is still a bad taste in many peoples mouths that stretches back to that time.
If you are so fed up with the Imperialist United States, why not move to Canada? You have mentioned it before... Or why not wade in and do something about things in a more direct way? Run for office. I am serious. There are lots of positions at the lower levels of government that would be a place to start, and you could work your way up from there. I think that you would find that elected office is more difficult than you think. Or go back to school... This is something that has bothered me with a lot of people (not you really, just people in general) that they like to complain about things (here I am thinking particularly of energy concerns), but have no idea what they are talking about, let alone what to do about it. People protest, for instance, nuclear power, but it is by far the best course of action as far as environmental cleanliness, efficiency, safety, health and a ton of other reasons. But most of the people are just misinformed. They trust fringe datasets and biased data sources as being truth, and don't know the physics of what is happening well enough to comment. The same goes for alot of other political things. Everybody has an opinion, but nobody has any facts. I know we all make decisions the best we can, but I think that unless we have intimate knowledge of what is going on and have the knowledge to actually make an educated change, that we should refrain from speaking many times (but not all, obviously). An example would be with the war protests... I mean, really. What does Sean Penn know about anything, let alone national security, military strategy and foreign relations? What makes him an authority to be listened to? People totally blow off incredibly intelligent, capable, experienced people who are in a position to know what is going on (like Colin Powell-a guy I would like to see as President someday) and listen to people who get their data from CNN. Or worse, people who get fringe data and believe it as truth.
anyhow, I guess in the end, it doesn't matter. Even if I had something important to say, it wouldn't matter. What qualifies as important?
I look at things a little differently than you, I suppose. My dad was in the Air Force ROTC when he was in college... This was as the Vietnam war was ending. A lot of the protests had ended but he still has a lot of stories of people shouting "babykiller" and other things at him as he walked on campus in his uniform. (Every Wednesday the cadets have to wear their uniforms- I am sitting across the room from a guy who has his on right now) I think that there needs to be great care taken in HOW things are said, in addition to WHAT is being said and WHO you are saying it to. The reason that many protetsters are looked down on is that there is still a bad taste in many peoples mouths that stretches back to that time.
If you are so fed up with the Imperialist United States, why not move to Canada? You have mentioned it before... Or why not wade in and do something about things in a more direct way? Run for office. I am serious. There are lots of positions at the lower levels of government that would be a place to start, and you could work your way up from there. I think that you would find that elected office is more difficult than you think. Or go back to school... This is something that has bothered me with a lot of people (not you really, just people in general) that they like to complain about things (here I am thinking particularly of energy concerns), but have no idea what they are talking about, let alone what to do about it. People protest, for instance, nuclear power, but it is by far the best course of action as far as environmental cleanliness, efficiency, safety, health and a ton of other reasons. But most of the people are just misinformed. They trust fringe datasets and biased data sources as being truth, and don't know the physics of what is happening well enough to comment. The same goes for alot of other political things. Everybody has an opinion, but nobody has any facts. I know we all make decisions the best we can, but I think that unless we have intimate knowledge of what is going on and have the knowledge to actually make an educated change, that we should refrain from speaking many times (but not all, obviously). An example would be with the war protests... I mean, really. What does Sean Penn know about anything, let alone national security, military strategy and foreign relations? What makes him an authority to be listened to? People totally blow off incredibly intelligent, capable, experienced people who are in a position to know what is going on (like Colin Powell-a guy I would like to see as President someday) and listen to people who get their data from CNN. Or worse, people who get fringe data and believe it as truth.
anyhow, I guess in the end, it doesn't matter. Even if I had something important to say, it wouldn't matter. What qualifies as important?
< 23:02 >< /j >
