Because I have a right to free speech!

Before the blog police come to get me, I guess I’ll post an update. Aside from some drama at the commune, my life these days pretty much consists of driving to and from the main campus. Consequently, I’ve become hopelessly addicted to NPR. Around lunch time, there’s a show called World View. It is a live international broadcast where people call in and ask the invited guests about political issues. Yesterday’s guests were the French journalist responsible for the apparently (as I haven’t seen them myself) inflammatory cartoon depictions of Muhammad and the Islamic activist from Denmark who distributed the cartoons in the Middle East. Since the publication and distribution, there have been several violent responses including at least one embassy bombing (I’ve not heard the details, but this is what I gathered from the discussion). People from around the world kept asking both guests why they thought they had done the right thing, and both guests kept answering that it was their right to do what they did. They also both insisted that although the violence was a direct result of their actions, they were not sorry for doing what they did. Each guest seemed to think that freedom of speech covered his own actions, but not the actions of the other, and they continued to blame each other for the violent response. I was so glad to hear someone call them on the fact that having a right does not mean that it is always right to use it. Freedom of speech stops government censorship. It does not mean that you are not responsible for the consequences when you decide to say or publish whatever insensitive or inappropriate or tasteless thing that comes into your head.

I also discovered that the women on our olympic skying team are getting screwed. The Olympic Committee, or whoever makes these things happen, has decided that they only have money to sponsor five skiers and that the money would go to the top five MEN!!! The rest of the team will have to find private sponsorship. I'm sure the budget's tight, and I completely agree with making decisions of sponsorship based on performance, but gender? What happened to Title 9?

As for the drama at the commune…
Recent events may or may not lead to the dissolution of the commune in the next 6-8 months. A new, slightly smaller and cheaper to heat commune could replace it, or members could scatter completely. I’ll keep you posted.