Sunday, March 19, 2006
How Free Can We Be?If we look at the definition of the freedom of the press, www.dictionary.com
will tell us that it is right to publish and disseminate information, thoughts,
and opinions without restraint or censorship as guaranteed under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The press has spread to all cultures and countries, and so it has gained much power in changing everything, from
politics to attitudes. With the press's endless effects on people, nations and governments tend to feel the right to control and censor. This fear has made countries deal differently with the way they limit the press. It's like the idea
of democracy, in which each country has its own structure of it that others
might criticize and
feel corrupted, or praise for being fair and just to its people.
As the encylopedia has noted, censorship of the press began not long after
the invention of the printing press. Pope Alexander VI issued in 1501, a
notice requiring printers to submit copy to church authorities before
publication, in order to prevent heresy. Penalties for bypassing the
censors included fines and excommunication. Some countries seem to be
more lenient with its press than others. England is a good example since in England, since most laws of
censorship were abolished after a long struggle. Yet, we see such countries
as Kuwait as still struggling with censorship, actually jailing any journalist
who would suggest overthrowing the royal regime. But there are changes
happening that gives more rights to the press. This is shown in the article http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp
edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=22741, where the parliament and the cabinet of Kuwait have agreed to let new newspapers get published. A Kuwaiti minister has responded about the press
by saying, "Kuwait does not fear freedom of expression. Fear comes only
when people are silenced".
Journalists shouldn't be held accountable legally to what they write. I
believe in Darwins Theory, of the survival of the fittest. When a person is
educated and is able to write, then therefore he or she will probably have
the better chance of writing a smart and more credible article. If a person
has an article full of obscenity and random thoughts that aren't organized,
then their audience will not be looking forward to reading another article by
the same writer. The fittest and most interesting article will be read. When
it is read and it is enjoyed, it will be the talk of the town. Therefore then, the article will be in demand and it will spread. Articles that seem to not have
sources therefore being not so credible, usually aren't what the readers are looking for, since they won't seem to be believable. And if the journalist needs
to know what he's saying is wrong, then another journalist or reader can
respond also in words in a constructive critiscm manner. So I stick to my
claim that journalists should be able to say what they want, but the reader
should be the one to judge what he or she is writing as being credible and learnable.
The freedom of the press always was and always will be a hot debate. How
much should we be able to express? What could we say? What shouldn't be? Indivisuals will always have personal opinions on this matter and this issue
will never be solved. Just like democracy, each country will continue to limit
it its own way, and the press will continue on fighting for its freedom and rights. Let's just say good luck to the press!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
BRYAN ADAMS!!!I hugged Bryan Adams.
It rocked.
I'm on cloud number 9.
I'm going to Italy on Tuesday.
I'm getting great grades.
I got "special appointments" with a South African and a German.
I HUGGED BRYAN ADAMS...
no one did but me :P my buddies only took a pic with him. I hugged. Hell Yeah.
His concert again kicked ass.
*sighs* I'll try posting our pic with him.
I hugged Bryan Adams.
It rocked.
I'm on cloud number 9.
I'm going to Italy on Tuesday.
I'm getting great grades.
I got "special appointments" with a South African and a German.
I HUGGED BRYAN ADAMS...
no one did but me :P my buddies only took a pic with him. I hugged. Hell Yeah.
His concert again kicked ass.
*sighs* I'll try posting our pic with him.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Bittersweet Birthday*I*am Legal. My birthday was a cocktail of emotions as usual. It actually hit a high hour of a lot of sadness thanks to retarded rental carshops. But I got angels of friends who saved the day. I'll include the details in the next post, cuz apparently the partying continues till tonight since we're going to the Bryan Adams concert.
Hell Yea!
:*
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Culture ShockYesterday I was printing a pic I edited in color for a MCM course..and two girls were working on the same project and were kinda useless..so superwoman me gave them i7m i7m tips to succeed :p Anyways one of them is training to be a broadcaster on Dubai TV and had a unique pretty face. So it turns out the girls mom is Lebanese and her dad is "Caucasian". In her own words she says it doesn't mean shes being racist white but that shes from a region near Russia and her dads a pure pure Caucasian (yeah i think i spelled it wrong). Anyways the really cool thing about them is the way they date. It's a tradition for them to announce a girls guy to everyone in the family. The guy who wants to date her has to go first to her home and get introduced to all the family. The reason behind that is when he knows the whole famille, he won't play around! Yea he'll be too chicken shit to do so. The cooler than that thing is, (yes something much cooler)....is that when they want to get married, they run away first, marry, then come back and announce with celebrations to come. HOW GROOVY IS THAT? The only catch is everytime she dates, all the family knows shes with him..but yea when its the big marriage thing u do it whenever u want. I am so moving there.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Bird FluYesterday, all I did was sit in my apartment...sleeping and watching T.V. And what I watched is making me think. I saw an old Oprah show about the Bird Flu on MBC4. We are gonna have a fucking epidimec people. I mean when the virus mutates the worlds gonna stop for like 5 weeks. People most at risk are the ones with good immune systems from 20-40 year olds (yup moi is in that category). So there was a suggestion from this Bird Flu expert that we need to stock up food for atleast 5 weeks. The first thing that's gonna happen when it happens is there will be shitload of panic. So after the show I called my friend up and we talked about the matter and my friends got this cool super big apartment that we sometimes hang out in when weekends come. She though with my 3 other close friends live in the dorms but we decided that we'd go there if anything happens. The thing is her bro is also in Uni and yeah I'm sure he wants him and his friends to be in the apartment aswell. Then we imagined her bro and his friends and how wild it would get. Hahahaha. Man we'd play pictionary, risk, and uno all day. But yea so this weekend were gonna atleast stock up tissue boxes and canned food for 2 weeks. We can be half prepared :P Yeah so if anyones reading this it really doesn't hurt being ready. It is a serious matter and its probably going to come faster than we expect it. Oh but we can still eat chicken so yeah my chicken nuggets are still not taken away from me ;)
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Statistics..I'm taking a real interesting sociology class with a prof. that I'm very fond of. She's Canadian and doesn't give a shit about grades as much as making everyone care about the world more. So anyways..the other day she gave us statistics she got I really don't know from where...but I thought their interesting enough to look at:
In the year of 1999:
200 richest people in the world had 1 trillion dollars so lets say 5 billion each for themselves.
582 million people belonging to 43 of the poorest countries total income was 156 billion only.
The three wealthiest people (1,2,3!!!) between them only have 146 billion.
I look at that and I'm like..*jaws drop* WTF ? Really...injustice is just too nice of a word. Let those three wealthy people cry for a while by stealing some of their millions..but don't let millions suffer. Lets do it for the majority =/ I mean yea people might be giving...but not so much is being done. it sucks. it sucks. I'm gonna try to find updated statistics soon.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy Valentines Day
Feb 14...Happy Valentines Day Everyone! Time is going by sometimes too fast. There aren't really many plans for valentines...but I *did* get a rose...from someone who wanted to throw it away hah. And I got txt msgs from guys not girls of happy valentines...but I prefer the old traditional roses way =/ Im crossing my fingers on some magical suprise that's going to happen. But you know what...last night was amazing...seriously I've had the best dream ever. I dreamt I spend a night with Brad Pitt. Seriously!!!! and I remmember being so excited and having my trusty digital camera with me and taking pictures with him but most turned out crap except the ones of me and him umm lieing in bed together LOL...And not only that..at the beginning of the dream he wasn't into me at all. But apparently I charmed him with my opinions and shit and then he got interested in me. It rocked. I mean really it did rock now i got this big cheesy smile on my face lol. Braaaad *sigh*...oh Braaad haha man his probably humping Angelina this moment. Anyways back to Valentines..hope its an enjoyable one..I remmember creating cards at school with crayola feltip pens, and crayons...those were the days..and how could I forget folding a paper in half and cutting a retarded half circle so that when I open it I get an uneven heart. :/ I hope I do something today...yea we'll see how it goes.