Browsing the blogs

So, being under the weather isn't all that bad! Its raining today and I can sit down and look over last weeks blog posts for my free speech class. I have to say, I am impressed at how some of the students in the class are using this medium to great advantage--sharing links, ideas, stories, inviting responses and generally raising questions. So far so good. Others are a little slower to embrace the medium. I hope they will experiment with it more and give it some time. In the meantime, I thought I would share some of this week's posts that caught my eye.

Militant Otter's blog, Confessions of an Angry Blogger, contains an interesting mix of political analysis and in your face opinionatedness (is that a word?). The recent post about the city of Boston, the "lite brite" hoax, and Cartoon network is worth a look. Has the "war on terror" forced us to this? Of course, there are likely many sides to this story I am sure, but nonetheless its great food for bloggers of all stripes.

Rory's Ramblings highlights something we will be touching on this semester--what happens when active military just say no to the going to Iraq? This issue really goes to the heart of free speech and responsibility and the legal/ethical debates that such situations raise. As Rory states on the blog:

"On the one hand, as American citizens, we pride ourselves on our First Amendment right to protest our government's actions. On the other hand, to what extent do members of the military retain that right? By refusing to go to Iraq, is he exercising Free Speech responsibly or is he breaking a commitment he made voluntarily?"

These are really great questions that made me think a lot about all the free speech and responsibility issues that this war is raising. I was reminded of last spring, when Pablo Paredes, also in the same position as the soldier described in Rory's Ramblings, came to CSUMB and we went to see him speak as a class. What a powerful experience. I also recently watched the film "Sir, No Sir" about Vietnam soldiers who refused to engage in the war once the real story behind what was going on became clear. The film does a great job of getting us inside the issues from those soldiers' points of view and the consequences of their actions. I think I may show some of this film in class. This post reminded me of how important these debates are, especially now. I hope we will engage with those debates in class.

Finally this week, Escribitionist128 is making full use of the linking capacity of blogging. A recent post focused on The Free Expression Policy Project, a site I know well. I'm glad Escribitionist chose to share this with us--since it is an extremely relevant site for this class. Maybe some good project ideas for the seminars would come out of browsing around such a site.

Looking forward to this weeks discussions... and blogging. I am learning and thinking a lot.