Discovering Blogging

Before this quarter I was unfamiliar with internet blogging. Several months back we were asked if we had ever posted on a blog before. At the time I had not. Now I feel far more knowledgeable about blogs and their purpose.

I learned that blogs can be a great way to learn about a certain topic. To write a blog I believe that you have to put a little research and thought into your writing. Anyone can read your blog so naturally you want to provide accurate and interesting information. Even by reading someone else’s blog you can learn a great deal.

I also discovered the popularity of blogs this quarter. Blogs have really revolutionized marketing, advertising, and communication. Blogs have given common people the opportunity to permanently voice ideas to a worldwide audience. Blogs are a way for readers to become closer to the writer. Now you can read someone’s work, ask them a question, and get a response. The ability to get this close to a writer was nonexistent before blogging.

Writing my own blog this quarter has been different from any other writing that I have done before. Writing on a blog to me seemed slightly less personal. Obviously when writing on our blogs we at least have a small audience of readers, for this reason I filtered certain personal information. I don’t believe that it is required to filter personal information. Several other bloggers in the class actually did the opposite. Their blogs were entirely about personal information. This is the beauty of blogging. The ability for anyone to write about whatever they feel like. The versatility of blogging is what makes it so popular. Before this quarter I was unfamiliar with blogs; now I see their immense significance in our culture today.

Internet Blogging: Better Get Use to It

Has Internet blogging revolutionized journalism today? I believe that it has. Internet blogging has become a worldwide gateway to giving and sharing information. Because the popularity of internet blogging is still on the rise, it will continue to be a source of news in years to come.
Internet blogging allows anyone to share information or an opinion to an unlimited audience. It has become a way for fans to reach their idols, a way for Star Wars nerds to argue with Star Trek nerds, a way to find out the latest bonehead mistake by Britney Spears, or simply a way for someone keep a personal journal. The versatility of internet blogging makes it applicable to anyone. Anyone with internet access can express their views and opinions on blogs. However, there are several negative aspects to internet blogging. The potential illegitimacy of information on a blog is one downfall. Because anyone can put anything on the internet, some sources may not be true. Also, blogs can be a way to spread rumors and gossip, or they may be biased towards an opinion. Some blogs are completely slanted to one side of an argument; this can cause the information on the site to be slightly biased. Internet blogs are not perfect, but are they a huge factor in our society today? Yes, there is no doubt that they have altered the way information is exchanged today.
Why is internet blogging becoming such a huge source of information in our society? Obviously the increasing amount of access to the internet has helps flame its popularity. Sites like facebook and myspace have helped introduce a younger audience to some form of blogging. Blogs on fan sites for musicians and other celebrities have helped connect the fans to their favorite celebrities. Internet blogs have become a way to access a wealth of information through links. A good blog will direct you to more information on the subject through links to other websites; Blogs are now a spider web of information connected together like a trail of tiny threads.
The popularity of Bogging has exploded within the last ten years. In the CNN article “Blogging Goes Mainstream”, Charles Kilby (Terra Lycos' director of product marketing) states "We want to take what has been an underground phenomenon and introduce it to the masses.” The versatility of blogs gives blogging the potential to grow around the world. There are blogs on the internet right now that cover almost any subject that interests you. Blogging has an unlimited audience worldwide, and thus has an unlimited growth potential.
Blogging certainly has become a powerful force in our society. It has grown to be danger to even large businesses due to the potential of negative blog reviews of their products. David Kirkpatrick writes in his article “Why There’s No Escaping the Blog”, “Blogs are challenging the media and changing how people in advertising, marketing, and public relations do their jobs. A few companies like Microsoft are finding ways to work with the blogging world--even as they're getting hammered by it. So far, most others are simply ignoring it. Freewheeling bloggers can boost your product--or destroy it. Either way, they've become a force business can't afford to ignore.”
Not every aspect of internet blogging is positive. There are several problems with internet blogging. One such problem is the bias of information. This is not a downfall of blogs though; every other news source also suffers from this problem. Every report on TV or in the newspaper has the potential to be bias towards an opinion. In the article “Attack of the Blogs” by Daniel Lyons, Bruce Fischman (a lawyer in Miami for targets of online abuse) states, “I'd say 50% to 60% of attacks are sponsored by competitors.” With this many blog attacks online the potential for bias information is more likely. This only means that the information that you look at on blogs must be filtered carefully, just like any other source of information.
Internet blogging started out as an underground revolution, but has grown to be a massive force in our society today. It will continue to become a larger source of information in the future due to its vast audience. The internet will continue to expand around the world to more and more people. With this increase in internet access, blogs will continue to thrive and grow for many years to come. Is this good for our culture? I believe that it will only help common people share and express opinions worldwide.

Summary and Response to Freakonomics

Constantly in our country decisions are being made by our leaders. Each citizen in the United States only has a vote to determine who the leaders will be. We do not personally vote on the issues; we simply try to support someone who will best represent how we feel on certain issues. Our representatives are the individuals who vote and set the direction of our nation. The decisions that they make affect every citizen’s daily life. Unfortunately, I believe that some decisions made by our leaders have been based on false information. One such bad decision is the criminalization of marijuana.
One blog post conversation about marijuana legalization I found on the web is located at freakonomics. The post, titled “On the Legalization-or Not- of Marijuana,” actually contains the opinions of six different individuals. These opinions differ and show both sides of the legalization argument. The main author is Stephen Dubner, and the other five are Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Dr. Robert DuPont, Allen St. Pierre, Dr. David Murray, and Richard Lawrence Miller. Several authors are for legalization and several are against it, so both sides of the argument are presented. All of the authors in this post did an excellent job presenting their argument in short paragraphs. They got right to the point and presented their opinion on the topic.
The main author- Stephen Dubner- starts the post off explaining why he thinks marijuana should be legalized. The scenario that Stephen Dubner writes about (if alcohol and marijuana were just now discovered) brings out a great point that I agree with. I believe laws concerning alcohol would be stricter, and laws concerning marijuana would be more lenient if the two substances were just now discovered. If you take away all the predetermined false information that most individuals associate with marijuana, I believe that people would see the effects of alcohol on an individual are more dangerous than the effects of marijuana. The second author Dr. Lester Grinspoon brings out the argument that laws concerning marijuana were founded on myths. Many of these myths are unfortunately still believed by people today. Allen St. Pierre (the fourth author) discusses the possibility of legalizing and taxing marijuana. He discusses how ignorant government is by taxing tobacco and alcohol on every level, but allowing such a widely used product (marijuana) to go untaxed. I agree with him, a taxation plan would be necessary for marijuana to be legalized in the United States. Richard Lawrence Miller, the last writer, doesn’t really argue any case. He states that we have become so stubborn on issues that we refuse to see the facts. I do agree with him entirely; this is applicable to any disagreement. I think that before we make a decision, we should scrutinize and take a look at both sides of the argument.
There are two authors that discuss why marijuana should not be legalized. Dr. Robert L. DuPont (The third author) states that marijuana should not be legalized, because if it is legalized more people will use it and that will cause problems. However, I’m not sure what problems would arise if more people used marijuana. The snack food industry might see an increase in profits, but that’s not really a problem. It’s not certain that marijuana use would increase if legalized. I believe it would, but I don’t believe that in any way would it corrupt or destroy our society any more than what alcohol and other drugs have already done. The fifth author (Dr. David Murray) discusses the dangerous effects of marijuana. The problems that it causes and how it can lead to dependencies on other more dangerous illegal drugs. He states that marijuana is too dangerous to legalize due to its effects.
This blog post summarizes the main points of the entire marijuana legalization debate. Both sides of the argument are presented well, but there are a few areas that I don’t agree with. The second author compares legalizing marijuana to eliminating the speed limit. I don’t think you can compare the dangers of driving a car at 200m.p.h. to smoking weed. Driving a car ridiculously fast puts your self and others into immediate physical danger. Smoking weed only puts the user in danger of getting into trouble with the authorities. He also states that if legalized weed would become more assessable to youth, like alcohol and cigarettes. Marijuana is already more available than alcohol to youth, because it is illegal. I know from experience that getting weed in today’s high schools is easier that alcohol. For a kid to get alcohol they have to get someone over 21 who is willing to buy it for them. To get weed they just have to get a drug dealers phone number. No drug dealer is going to ask for an I.D., as long as they get their money. I believe that within several generations the public will have discovered that marijuana is not dangerous and it should be legalized.
It was once thought to be a fact that marijuana was dangerous thus it was outlawed and has remained outlawed for decades by the federal government. I think through time many people have discovered (some through personal experience) that it is actually not dangerous. Still some, for one reason or another, feel that it is hazardous. I feel that when compared to cigarettes, alcohol, and even legal prescription drugs, it is not. Our current government is working hard to keep marijuana illegal, by influencing the public into thinking that it is a dangerous drug using anti-drug ads, and programs. For example one commercial I saw was set in a fast food drive through. The commercial showed a group of young people pulling out of the drive thru. Just as they do this a little girl on a bike rides out in front of their vehicle, and they slam on the brakes skidding to a stop just before they hit the girl. The next scene shows them pulling out of the same drive thru smoking a joint. This time when the girl rides out in front of the vehicle they hit her before stopping. The first time I saw this commercial I had to laugh simply because of how ridiculous it is. I couldn’t believe the brainwashing bull shit that was being pushed. I don’t think there is any statistical data to back up the message that marijuana will effect your reflex driving. The other message I got from the commercial was, by using marijuana you’re putting other peoples lives at risk. By using marijuana you will probably hurt someone. I think that it’s unbelievable and shocking that we are so clearly being exposed to a message that is untrue. Unfortunately, this message gets through to a lot of people.
I believe that right now there are too many people who think that marijuana is too dangerous to be legal in this country. I will take at least several decades before there are enough people that realize it was criminalized based on myths. Even then I do not think it will be legalized unless the government can find a way of making money off of it. Taxing it would most likely be the only way for that to happen. For now we are forced to live under laws that were formed based on untrue ideas, and laws that we didn’t vote to establish. The unfortunate part of all this is that I don’t see this changing anytime soon.
Today, most people are willing to simply form an opinion based of false information or on what someone around them believes. I think that before a decision is made concerning this topic, you must first look at both sides of the argument. I have looked at both sides of the argument, and I believe that marijuana is not dangerous and it should be legalized in this country. I hope that before you make a decision concerning this subject, you would look at both sides of the argument as well.

Rock and Roll

Today I would like to look at one of the most notorious effects of marijuana. On my last post I looked at drugs in movies; this week I decided to focus on marijuana and another form of entertainment- music. On a web page called Marijuana Uses, Peter Webster writes “One of the more remarkable effects noticed in the state of consciousness brought on by marijuana use is a greatly enhanced appreciation of music. The effect seems to be almost universal, and does not seem to fade with experience in the use of marijuana, as do certain other effects typically noticed by novice users.” Many musicians have embraced this effect of marijuana, and produced music to appeal to marijuana users. Certainly musicians like Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, or even Snoop Dogg stand out as a few of the obvious musicians to associate themselves with drug usage. I believe there are a large number of musicians have specifically targeted marijuana users as their audience. Certainly since the jazz and rock and roll movements drugs have become an influence on musicians worldwide. Legendary Music Festivals, like Woodstock, known for drug usage have been permanently pressed into our cultures history. Locations like Haight-Ashbury became famous for “psychedelic rock” concerts. Since that time drugs have continued to be an influential part of the music scene. Today, I think it’s hard to separate the drug use and music development worldwide.