Graduation Anticipation

Since this will probably be my last post to this class blog, I just want to say thanks to everyone for great posts, comments, and thought provoking material. I turned in my Capstone last week and will graduate in a little over a week and am thrilled! I have enjoyed our class and wish everyone the best in their continued college life, or for those of you who are graduating, great success in your chosen career.

PBS Program

Last night as I was channel surfing I came across a PBS special called "Carrier". It's a mini series about the lives of sailors living on an aircraft carrier (Nimitz) which at the time of filming was headed for the Persian Gulf. It reminded me of our class discussion last week about reporting from the enlisted person's perspective, what they do in their down time, the stress they are under, their personal struggles, etc. It was really interesting to hear from these (mostly young) people about how, when, and why they decided to join the Navy. They were really from all backgrounds, races, etc. but many joined because they felt it was something good for their country following 9/11, others saw it as a way to escape a really negative situation at home, others just wanted to see the world, get money for college, many reasons. It is shown on our local tv station KQED (Comcast Channel 9) and I think it comes on just about every night if you are interested in taking a look.

Lions for Lambs

If you have not seen the movie "Lions for Lambs" yet, I highly recommend it. It really makes you think about some difficult positions journalists could find themselves in and how quickly a "hot story" can find its way all across the networks. It fits in well with what we saw and heard about Fox news as far as how and who determines what are the big stories and how to "sell" them to the public. Besides making you think about ethics and other important issues, it also stars Robert Redford as a caring university professor who tries to bring out the best in his students so it's got some "warm and fuzzy" elements as well as a serious side.

Identify Theft

Hopefully none of you have experienced this yet, but sadly, you probably will at some point. My bank called yesterday to find out if I was in the LA area recently and of course, I knew right away that someone had once again gotten my credit card # and was having a great time at my expense. This is now the 3rd time in 2 years that this has happened to me. This time it was on my bank ATM debit MasterCard so I had to close my checking account and open a new one which is a pain in the butt. My advice is that you should review your bank and credit card statements carefully and often so that if someone does get your card # and is able to use it, you find out quickly and can cancel the card immediately. Be sure that your cards are covered against fraud too, luckily for me I have never had to be responsible for any of the charges - the stores are usually the ones who lose out. If you are an employee at any place where cards are often used as payment, ask for ID and also find out what to do if you are suspicious - can you call a manager or something? One of my cards was used at a Wal-Mart and it was a $700 purchase and they didn't even ask for ID - I am sure that employee probably doesn't work there anymore.

Censoring in the local news

Last week in the paper there was a story about a TV ad for a theatre performance that had to be pulled because viewers complained. The play was a comedy about zombies which was happening over the weekend in Monterey. Apparently part of the ad mentioned that one audience member would leave the play "with a dead body" and people found that offensive. The theatre explained that the dead body was actually just a chicken, not a human body obviously - but the ads were pulled anyway. I believe this is the same local station who was apologizing a few months ago for some "racy" Carl's Jr ads - and as it turns out, the ads in question were never even shown on that station but somehow, people thought that is where they saw them so the station was actually apologizing for ads that they never even showed! I guess my point is that I find it hard to believe that people take time out of their busy day to call a TV station over these types of incidents yet nobody seems to be complaining about the biased news content (as we saw in the "Outfoxed" film in class).

Profound definition of Free Speech from LA Times

As I was doing some research for our group dialogue project, I came across a recent article in the LA Times which I think provides a good way of thinking about what free speech is. It reminded me of what our professor asked at the beginning of the semester, which is basically, what will WE stand up for?

"We understand that the 1st Amendment serves a dual role: It protects the private right to speak your mind, but it serves an even more important structural function, ensuring open debate about matters of public importance. You might not care about that first function if you don't plan to say anything controversial. But anyone who lives in a democracy, who is subject to its laws and affected by its policies, ought to care about the second."

If you want to read the full article (it's about privacy and wire tapping):
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-sanchez16mar16,1,5756030.story

Will the flame of the Olympic torch be put out?

Recently in the news we have seen growing protests as the Olympic torch makes it's way on a global journey. Officials are now considering ending the journey due to activists opposing China's human rights policies and the situation in Tibet. I understand that the activists want to bring attention to their cause, but in a way, it seems that this is not the proper forum. The Olympics are about the best of the best competing in their sport against the world and this is dampening what is supposed to be an event that brings the world together. What do you think?

Juicy Gossip...

In the Herald last week I came across an article about web sites where people are blogging about individuals using their full names. One site is called JuicyCampus.com and someone posted that a student (name included) is having an affair with a professor and getting A's. Another site "DontDateHimGirl.com" gives information about bad potential dates, again names and cities included. And then there is RottenNeighbor.com where names and addresses are included and comments about what horrible neighbors people are - oh and did I mention this one can link you to a satellite view of said neighbors residence? In light of this week's assignment on blogging, I thought this was very timely. Is it ethical to use blogging for these really vindictive and unconstructive reasons? Seems like yet another example of how something that could be used to do such good and foster communication has turned ugly.

Freedom of Religion?

In yesterday's Herald, there was a story about a man who is receiving hate mail and harrassing phone calls because he put up a 12' wooden cross on his property in Carmel Valley. He lives on 40 acres and yes, the cross is visible from pretty far away but it is on HIS property and its a cross he constructed from 2 pieces of wood - nothing obnoxious, brightly colored, just 2 pieces of wood stuck together to form a symbol. Now the county wants him to apply for a permit which costs money and could be denied. I have pasted a link to the article if you are interested in reading more about it...
http://www.montereyherald.com/search/ci_8700529?IADID=Search-www.montereyherald.com-www.montereyherald.com

So, should we have the freedom to express our faith, religion, etc. or if someone else finds this particular symbol offensive, do we have to remove it? The land owner feels that his constitutional rights are being denied. What do you think?

FCC policy & the first amendment

In today's news... a good topic for discussion for our class. Should the FCC be able to fine tv companies who broadcast expletives? The FCC currently has a policy that says they can but others are appealing it as a violation of first amendment rights. One good argument is that parents have many ways to monitor what their kids are able to watch through parental controls so it's up to them to decide what words they want them to hear (or not). What do you think? Should the celebs be able to use "the F word" or other "fleeting expletives" at awards ceremonies if we assume only adults are watching? In my opinion, I don't think it's really necessary for them to swear but should someone be punished if they do?

Politicians and freedoms

So with the latest politician (the governor of NY) getting caught doing something naughty...I can only wonder what everyone thinks when it comes to the "freedom of expression" or speech, or privacy for those who are supposed to be "representing" our cities, country, etc. It seems that we are seeing more and more get caught in surfing for porn or hiring prostitutes (or messing around with an intern). It's surely been going on for years but they are getting caught more because people are listening in on phone calls, reading our emails, scrutinizing our banking activity. What do you think? Should a politician be able to have a private encounter with a call girl as long as he's doing so on his own time with his own money? For these high end services to even exist, there must be a market and a long list of wealthy clients...

Ernie & Bert, in the closet?

In our group last night we talked about the chapter and I mentioned the part about parents who won't let their little kids watch Sesame Street because Ernie and Bert live together. I found this funny in one way, but sad in another. First of all, I was a serious watcher of the show as a child and let my own kids watch it. The sexuality of these puppets never entered my mind. Just wondering what everyone else thought of this. It also reminded me of what Professor said about the student who played a murderer in a school play but then his parents didn't want him to play a gay character in another. I wonder if parents who won't let kids watch Sesame Street allow them to watch shows where people are committing crimes or behaving in other unethical ways (pick any soap opera or most sit coms).

Help Save Friday Night Lights

So one of my favorite shows is close to the chopping block... if you haven't read the book, seen the original movie "Friday Night Lights", you are missing out. It's really not as much about football as life, love, family, dreams... and the show is really great so I encourage you to read the book, rent the movie, watch reruns of the show on NBC.com and visit the site to save the show! http://www.savefridaynightlights.tv/.
Any other fans, tell me why you think this show is worthy of saving...

College Education

As we have been discussing what and how our children should be taught I got to thinking about the choices we make at the college level. I am interested in knowing about classes you have taken in college that you found especially important to you for some reason. A class that you found very interesting or one that really made you see the world in a new way.

Friend Web Sites

Can't think of anything really profound at the moment. Just wondering how many people out there use MySpace or FaceBook or similar sites. My teenage daughter spends hours on MySpace and for a site that says "a place for friends" it sure seems like it creates a lot of drama. So, are these really good places to make good friends or do they cause trouble? I'm sure some of you have great stories...let's hear 'em!

Berkeley

We talked about this a little in class last week and the news in the last couple of days shows that this is a pretty heated topic which is getting more complex by the day, so I thought I'd put it out there on my post to have people weigh in. Should a city be allowed to say that a particular group (in this case Marine recruiters) are not welcome in their city? And to add to that, should the government then be able to penalize the city for their decision? (The city could lose millions of dollars in funding). Interesting situation... I have attached a link to an article in the SF paper if you want more details.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/15/MNBDV2MEH.DTL

Why We Fight

In class last week we were discussing what free speech, freedom of the press are...etc. Someone suggested watching the documentary "Why We Fight". It was on this morning and I watched the last half with my sister. We were both crying at some of the footage of Iraqi civilians being killed by "smart bombs". It was chilling and eye opening. I was wondering if others have watched this film and if so, what they have thought about it. If you haven't seen it, check your Comcast listings because it's on again several times in the coming weeks. It really brings home what we were talking about in our group regarding how sometimes (okay a lot of the time) what we see on the news is very one sided, orchestrated with a purpose, and leaving out a lot of the information we need to be really informed on important issues like why we are building 14 permanent military bases in Iraq...
thoughts?

Election Day Blues

So today is the day, February 5th 2008. Do you know where your polling place is? I just visited mine and it was practically deserted. Just me & 2 old guys casting our votes for some Indian Gaming Regulations that I really had mixed feelings about after seeing strong commercials and literature presenting good arguments for both sides, but more importantly (I think) it was our chance to help decide who should be our next president...pretty important huh? My questions are: Are you registered to vote? Did you go vote, if so what compelled you to do so; and if not, why didn't you? You don't have to say which party you are registered as or how you voted, just wondering what the feeling is among college students.

Common Courtesy

Hello everyone in Free Speech. My capstone is on courtesy (or lack thereof) so I wanted to hear from people on a couple of items I am interested in getting some input on. Regarding cell phone use in public, do you think restaurants, banks, and other public places should post signage requesting cell phone use be outside? Are there some places that should/should not have such signage? For example, is it okay to chat in the coffee shop but not in the library? Does listening to people's private conversations annoy you or do you enjoy listening? Do you use/abuse your cell phone? Any related comments or anecdotes on this topic would be greatly appreciated! Thanks