Mar-ij-u-ah-nah.

Probably the easiest website to find, but also probably going to be one of my main sorces: http://www.legalizationofmarijuana.com/ I really like the myth section of it, but weather or not it's completely credible . . . . I'll compare to other sites.

Also, the video that actually got me interested in the subject of the legalization of marijuana,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXoYuqdhT8U&feature=PlayList&p=1E048B8E8A488628&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=54

I'm trying to get some of the sources she uses, but I need to start working on the con side of everything :|

Live and Let Live?

The Laramie Project isn't a new source of information for me, having seen the play twice and the movie countless times, I thought I understood the message of the movie and the ideas of the people in it fairly well. The idea on weather or not the concept of ‘live and let live’ was a positive notion wasn’t something that had crossed my mind before.
At first the idea seems like it would be good for everyone, I do my thing and you do yours. Not a big deal. The real trouble comes in when someone in the community breaks this ideal. Do the people around said person have a responsibility to stop it? Or do they simply go on living and ‘let live’ or, let it happen?
Live and let live can really only be a successful idea if everyone has reached an agreement as to how to purse it and make it fit into the community while still taking responsibility.

Exigency – Yoshimo observed people who weren’t in the ‘mainstream being discriminated against.


Purpose – to prove that the mainstream is a constantly changing thing that at one point has everyone discriminated against.

Audience – people who are ‘currently’ in the ‘mainstream’ who turn a blind eye to what is going on because they don’t have to deal with it at the moment. :

Logic – shows how people not in the current mainstream are forced to try and be more like people in the current mainstream to do simple things like hold down a job.

Credibility – Personal testimony about being a gay professor. Stories about the minority groups that were forced to conform. The pregnant woman, the Jewish man who wore the yarmulke, and the African American woman who wore corn rows, for example.

Emotion – making the connection between the audience and the stories of people discriminated against, women could sympathize with the pregnant woman, Jewish people with the man who wore the yarmulke, and so on.

Imagery – The idea of a changing mainstream.

Diction – the language of the piece is directed at a more educated audience, aka those in the mainstream.

Syntax – More eloquently written sentences for a more educated audience

Pressure to Cover

Yoshino gives several examples of people in America discriminated against for having ideas outside of the mainstream. The examples given all point to the idea of mainstream being white, Christian, straight, and male. The case examples given are all people who, for one reason or another, don’t fit the mainstream stereotype, weather it’s for a reason they can help or not. The idea that mainstream is a myth is not something I agree with, Yoshino gives conflicting points, the examples given are said to not be in the mainstream, but if there is no mainstream how can this be? Being Black, or fluent in Spanish or a pregnant woman, or a lesbian, or Jewish, are not considered in the mainstream, and are all minority groups that get overshadowed by the white, English speaking, straight, Christian men in America. A mainstream does in fact exist, and it’s something that begs the question of how accepting of a country America really is.

C.P. Ellis Credibility

I believe that C.P. Ellis' overcoming of misunderstanding and hatred is most definitely credible. The fact that Ellis was a Klan member is basically admitting that he was at one point very close minded and hateful, but by forcing himself to open his mind to what could be outside of the world he knew. I think a big part of Ellis' credibility comes from the fact that he gives reasoning to his joining the Klu Klux Klan, that he had a hard life growing up and needed someone to blame it on. Ellis' reasoning really helps build his credibility by making it easier to see why he realized he was at fault.

In my opinion, Linda was free the moment she stepped off the Flint property and escaped the abuse of Mr.Flint and is overly-cautius wife. But technically she is free when Mr.Bruce buys Linda her freedom from the Dodges. Linda seems to have the same viewpoint, she feels guilty when Mr.Bruce buys her something she feels like she already has. Even after Linda is free she doesn't feel that her troubles are over. She it still forced to cope with prejudices in the north, even if she is free, she has not escaped the hate that still follows her around.

Truth.

Linda takes a passage in the book to explain exactly what was about to happen to the audience. However she does it for a very good reason. When Linda has an affair with Mr.Sands she tells the reader before hand that she did something wrong, something she wasn't proud of, but she did it with a cause in mind. This makes it so much easier to establish a relationship with the character, because the reader feels like they're being confided in, which helps strengthen the relationship. Linda coming forward and explaining first hand that what she did was wrong and she knows it, is a huge step to the readers trusting her.

Slave Girl

The fact that this book is written by someone who experienced everything first hand makes it so much more genuine and believable then if it were written by someone who say, heard stories passed down through the family. The author is very talented at getting her audience to see her as a credible source of information, making this book one of the most important pieces when trying to understand how slavery worked and how slaves were treated each and every day. The author doesn't hold back at all and truly shows her audience everything that happens along the way, the book is straight forward, and doesn't try to cover up what slavery really was.

Socialization

Parrillo's idea of the socialization process is mainly that children learn nearly everything from their parents, from their ideas on whether or not Christina Agulara is a good singer, to whether or not the jews caused all the problems in Germany. Parents ideals get instilled in a child, and then the child tends to envelope their own ideas around the original premise. The idea of southerners being more racist then other areas of the country dates all the way back to the Civil War, slave owners in the south taught their children that black people were below them, and those chldren taught their children, and so on and so forth, thus making the south the more racist area it is today. Parrillo's idea of socialization holds true in more areas then one.

Everyone's a little bit racist (alright.)

I have a very good friend who is half pacific islander, making him half Asian. There was a day we were all hanging out at a mutual friends house and someone made an Asian joke, my half pacific islander friend got a little peeved, and none of us seemed to understand why he took it so personally. To us it was a lighthearted joke that we meant absolutely nothing by, to him it went deeper then that. Opinions weren't changed in this situation, but frustrations did grow. Although the word 'racist' was never thrown in, because it would have been to harsh for a group of 16 & 17 year olds, and as Watchel argues, it makes it impossible to have a conversation about race at all, it did cause an uncomfortable situation for us to deal with.

Jefferson is a dastard

The opposing views on Jefferson are difficult and obnoxious to comprehend. In history classes, we have been taught over and over again that Jefferson believed in white supremacy, and was a rich man who owned hundreds an hundreds of slaves. In no way did he believe in equality for all, let alone try to act on any impulse of equality. In 'Notes on the State of Virginia' Jefferson presents himself as a man who values every person, who strives to make this great nation equal for all.
The differences in the way Jefferson approaches equality could be tagged to a variety of different reasons. Either his meaning in 'Notes on the State of Virginia' were misconstrued, or historians are false in saying he was a white supremacist who owned as many slaves as he did.