Quotes

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke, 1791

Our history as mankind

Sadly,

Is not a pretty one.

Blood in the dark woods and waters turned red,

Tiered doves crying above smoke filled clouds

Where are all the good men?

Animals crying and people dieing,

Religion embracing hearts,

And religion removing hearts

Where are all the good men?

Love prevented

Love imprisoned

Love enforced

Where are all the good men?

Wars over single women

Wars over what exists after our souls are free

Wars on drugs

Where are all the good men?

So evil lurks,

Among us like snakes in the thick African prairies

Rwanda

World war II

Native American Genocide,

The boy who could not take his boyfriend to prom…

Where are all the good men?

So define evil…

My evil is probably a completely different color from yours.

But what color evil is,

Where it sleeps at night

Who it pulls

Pushes

Aches for, does not matter

What matters is our voice

The song of justice and truth

Evil exists whether we wish it or not,

But we must notice it, embrace change, and push forward.

We have the power to create good

Where are all the good men?

They need to wake up!

Wake up and smell the blood!

Freedom of Religion

Yo man! Dis be da downlow bout wheder ya can light up dem blueberry bushes man!

The truth is, believe it or not, that in the United States, a Rastafarian can, (and will) smoke marijuana. In the Rastafarian religion, marijuana is a hallucinogen that brings the believers closer to divinity. It is smoked as a type of ceremony. However, this has been an issue in the United States because the possession, trafficking, and use of illegal drugs, including Marijuana, are illegal. However, is this law a violation of religious rights for Rastafarians living in America? A conservative three-judge panel said a Rastafarian could not be federally prosecuted for merely possessing marijuana, a decision that upheld a portion of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Wow, and that was coming from conservatives!) So yes, it is; and yes, they can!

The truth is, the major issue with drugs in the United States is the trafficking, selling, and violence that is attached to the “business” aspect of marijuana. Realistically, a Rastafarian is generally not seeking to sell, but using marijuana religiously and personally. Therefore, Rastafarians are cleared for owning and possessing the drug, but are subject to prosecution for selling.

The religious freedom law protects religious practices from legal interference unless the government can show a strong need for enforcement. It was prompted by a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing Oregon to enforce an anti-drug law against a Native American who used peyote for religious purposes. This is similar to the use of Mary Jane by Rastas’.

Ironically, present day, a Rastafarian can light up on the Golden Gate Bridge, but it is still illegal to smoke weed in Jamaica. That’s right, the home of Bob Marley, and no way. However, chances of getting “in trouble” for smoking weed in Jamaica is also very unlikely.

So what does this mean? Can anyone pass as being Rastafarian now and get the rights to smoke at their own leisure? Unfortunately no. The government, although unable to restrict too harshly because of the liberty to free religion, can make judgments on who is Rastafarian and not. For example, it is also a part of the religion to have a full head of dreadlocks. No white boy with a crew cut is gonna get the pass.

Dress Codes

Clothing is a very important aspect of freedom of speech. What people ware expresses who they are very much. However false perceptions of people can also form by they way people dress, and I think that is ware school are wrong. A school claims they want to conserve their students and keep them focused by making them ware certain items of clothing but in my opinion I think that they are afraid of how their school is being perceived. Controlling what people ware in school is controlling their right to express their personality. I have never heard of anyone not being able concentrate in school because of what someone else was wearing. At The School of the Arts we do not have a dress code in the academic setting but we do have a dress codes in some of the art department. For instance the drama students must ware black, and the dancers must ware either black tights and a black leotard for contemporary or a black leotard and pink tights for the ballet students. A lot of people disagree with the dress code in the art departments, the drama students are sick of wearing black every day and the dancers wish that they could ware warm ups over their leotard and tights. Although many people disagree with the dress code, I feel that in this case, there is a valid reason because if you wore warm ups every day in class for ballet, you would not get the best feedback from your teachers because they need to be able to see you whole body in order to correct you to help you improve. However, I think it is very important that there is no dress code for the academics. Having no dress code lets the people express their personality more and it makes the school more diverse and exciting. For example, the video posted on the lab is ridiculous stating that the children are not aloud to ware rainbows but are aloud to ware shirts with confederate flags on them. Dress code is just another way of controlling children as much as they can to shape them into the type of children they think they should be. We should be able to ware what ever we want to express who we are.

Freedom of Speech?

I find the actions taken by the Westborough Baptist church to be deeply disturbing. These people have very differing views on god and forgiveness than I do. However, I do not believe that their freedom of speech should be taken away or that they should be punished. Perhaps the government should look into protecting the rights of those morning at funerals though. I would also like to note the EXTREEMLY unprofessional nature of the news men covering this story. I found the retaliation of the news people to be almost as atrocious as the hatred and ignorance of the church.

First Amendment Test

My score on this was 20 out of 30 (oops!). However, I found the test to be very thought provoking. For example, I cant believe press can be put in jail for not revealing a confidential source. Although I understand the importance of the government needing access to that kind of information in order to protect the people in the case of crimes, it is scary to think that the government has the power to force someone to give the name of an anonymous source. This practice could not only lead to arbitrary fingerprinting but it also discourages people to come forward with information if they feel hesitant about revealing their identity. I would rather people feel free to give information and remain anonymous than to withhold information because they fear the government.