Ranting. Don't read this.

I'm blogging again. So I was looking up anti-pot ads trying to convince myself of the other side, and well, I failed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFAN3wdlrJg I found this, which I've seen before but never really thought about. 'You're not the same when you smoke' . . . . duh? You're not the same when you're drunk, you're not the same when you are with your boyfriend, you're not the same when you have a huge english paper due..... is it just me or are people different all the time?

Also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM_vLk1I6G4 . . . . ha.. . . .

Someone fight me on this. I need to be wrong.

CANCER . . . . . . or not. . . . . Rantblog.

I'm frustrated.
Frustrated that I've found so many legitimate sites that say marijuana can cause cancer. Frustrated that there are the same number of legitimate sites saying exactly the opposite. Frustrated every site has a counter, and they all make sense. And Frustrated I can't remember what vocab word means using the same word at the begging of a sentence.

I guess this can be good since I have to give both sides of the argument, but it also makes it REALLY FRICKIN HARD to make a well supported stance. My favorite argument is still the comparison between alcohol and marijuana, as in they are both bad, (( I think alcohol is worse. . . )) and so if one is legal, the other should be too. But I need better statistics on it. Blah. can't we all just get along?

Also, just out of sheer curiosity, what do people in the class think of this issue? Comment? I like opinions.



NO CANCER --> http://tinyurl.com/nsd2k (Washington Post, 2006) http://tinyurl.com/lddx3p (Alter.net, 2009)

CANCER --> http://tinyurl.com/yq792 (Missouri Department of Mental Health, 1984) http://tinyurl.com/nozx5k (Fox, 2009)

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.