I had a post mostly written out for today, but I messed around with a couple settings on my computer, as nerds are want to do, and it crashed. Obviously this was slightly frustrating, but I'm not really too broken up about it. However, it does mean that I'm not going to put the time into rewriting it today, since I want to sleep.
I did learn something from this though; finish writing important documents before you fiddle with important settings, and you wont waste important time.
If you'll forgive me sounding slightly preachy, you just have to think about what you want to learn from things.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Friends
What makes a good friend?
Someone that will stick by you no matter what? Someone that will love you unconditionally no matter what you do to them or to someone else? No matter what other people say about you? No matter how many other friends you make? Someone that realizes you aren't always your best you?
I'm not going to answer those questions, just think about them.
Is it acceptable for someone who is supposed to be your friend to treat your best friend like garbage when you are right there, but can't actually hear what's going on? What would you do if your best friend won't even tell you what they said?
Would a good friend talk to them?
What good would it do to start talking to your other friends about them, if it will only make things harder in the end?
Someone that will stick by you no matter what? Someone that will love you unconditionally no matter what you do to them or to someone else? No matter what other people say about you? No matter how many other friends you make? Someone that realizes you aren't always your best you?
I'm not going to answer those questions, just think about them.
Is it acceptable for someone who is supposed to be your friend to treat your best friend like garbage when you are right there, but can't actually hear what's going on? What would you do if your best friend won't even tell you what they said?
Would a good friend talk to them?
What good would it do to start talking to your other friends about them, if it will only make things harder in the end?
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Free Speech
What is free speech? No, I know, its the freedom to speak freely, that's not what I'm asking. What is free speech?
Is it being told by my English teacher that we must willingly submit to at least some censorship? Incidentally, that was the last English class I took.
What our debate was about was a disagreement over my score when I told her that based upon her own system, that opinions couldn't be wrong, she had no grounds for marking me down. Ironically enough she then fell victim to Godwin's Law. I'm not certain why my analysis of Fahrenheit 451 warranted a comparison of that level, but evidently it did.
Why was I being told that my opinion was wrong because it disagreed with hers, if free speech is the expression of opposing viewpoints? Why is it the same way with radical left and right wing partisans? Why do they berate and attack any disagreement with how they see things in an effort to suppress it? Why was I being marked down for not agreeing to be censored, when the presentation of that disagreement was beyond reproach in its technical aspects? Why is it that if politicians cannot find a legitimate argument against one policy or standpoint they immediately revert to attacks on the character of the opposition? Should my past really matter in a scientific forum?
The point of the course was to learn to use the English language, wasn't it? Why then, if I was mechanically accurate to the graded subject should my opinion matter in regards to my score?
Is that free speech?
Is it being told by my English teacher that we must willingly submit to at least some censorship? Incidentally, that was the last English class I took.
What our debate was about was a disagreement over my score when I told her that based upon her own system, that opinions couldn't be wrong, she had no grounds for marking me down. Ironically enough she then fell victim to Godwin's Law. I'm not certain why my analysis of Fahrenheit 451 warranted a comparison of that level, but evidently it did.
Why was I being told that my opinion was wrong because it disagreed with hers, if free speech is the expression of opposing viewpoints? Why is it the same way with radical left and right wing partisans? Why do they berate and attack any disagreement with how they see things in an effort to suppress it? Why was I being marked down for not agreeing to be censored, when the presentation of that disagreement was beyond reproach in its technical aspects? Why is it that if politicians cannot find a legitimate argument against one policy or standpoint they immediately revert to attacks on the character of the opposition? Should my past really matter in a scientific forum?
The point of the course was to learn to use the English language, wasn't it? Why then, if I was mechanically accurate to the graded subject should my opinion matter in regards to my score?
Is that free speech?
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