Iowa Restricted Speach

Even though The University of Iowa is marked with the scary, red light, of speech restriction, I believe that the restrictions are for the overall welfare of the student body. The Iowa codes says, "Personal conduct perceived as threatening or harassing is considered a violation of the Code of Student Life under a reasonable person standard even if the student did not intend to discomfort the party who felt threatened or harassed," This is of course for the best. It is simple code, and it should be the regulation for every public University. The University defines sexual harassment as: "Talks about their sexual experiences. Asks you to talk about yours. Tells sexual jokes, innuendoes, and stories, or comments (about your clothes or body, or someone else’s)." This grinds my gears a bit. I believe that anybody should actually be able to talk about there sexual experiences, it is more so an act of when, where, and the consent of the listener. I believe that these various speech codes are necessary overall, and actually contribute to the University. Iowa would not allow for the events that I witnessed in the video. They "Breech the Learning Environment," and "Represent the School In a Detrimental Way." Two clear obstructions within the Iowa guidelines. 

FIRE is basically an organization that fights to defend the free speech of students at America's colleges and universities. Their mission statement is very well thought out, it sums up the organization quite nicely. "The mission of FIRE is to defend and sustain individual rights at America's colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience — the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. FIRE's core mission is to protect the unprotected and to educate the public and communities of concerned Americans about the threats to these rights on our campuses and about the means to preserve them." They bring justice, protecting those who do not know how to protect themselves. They are promoting the core values of liberty, which is indeed admirable in this day and age. I agree wholeheartedly with there outlook on speech, and the values we must carry.

Speech is a blessing, it is something that we often take for granted. Many people around the world do not have the luck we do. But, we must not abuse it. We must remember that each person has a different set of core values, and ours often conflict with theirs. So yes, speak your mind. But also, remember the circumstances: time, place, and the emotion of the people. 

GTA V: Is It Really That Bad?

Grand Theft Auto 5 broke many records in its first days after release. 2 days after it has already made over 1 Billion dollars! While I did not take part in the craze, and buy the game, many of my friends did. I have played the game, and all of the other GTA's, and understand why people are so against it. After all, in the game you often find yourself killing prostitutes and doing meth. But hey, there is clearly a, For Mature Audiences Only, sticker on the disk, so who am I to judge?

People say that playing these violent video-games has a direct influence on a persons personality. This can be true for many people, but it is not always the case. Many recent tragedies of recent have been executed by people who played games like Grand Theft Auto V regularly. However, I do not think that it is fair to make such a drastic claim on the effects of the game as a whole. Using myself as a personal example, i was often found playing Call of Duty, Halo, or any other violent video-game. But I can honestly say that as I have grown, even playing these games, they have flew over my head. They have not played into the person I am today, at all. Although, i can see how some people should not be allowed to play them. Some people cannot handle the graphic violence, and they are often the same people who cannot decide if they can play the games or not. So yes, the games are full of violence and crude images, but no, they are not always directly influencing the player.

Are you "Syriaous": The Truth Behind Syria

There are many events that have significantly changed the way this this nation works. Events such as Columbine, and the Newtown tragedy immediately come to mind. However, none have more influence on us today than 9/11. Domestically, we see the effects of 9/11 all around us. Even here at DHS, we see improved security. People are taking precautions, so that we will not have to wait for a tragedy to happen, and it will not be too late. Also, as we saw in the video, the American Flag has become more symbolic than ever. It has become a statement, a message, a means of expressing our love for our nation. International relations were also greatly changed from 9/11. Many people, who are in my opinion racists, look at Muslims in a different way. They immediately generalize all Muslims as one certain stereotype, when this is certainly not the case. As well, the relationship that America has with many middle eastern countries has been put into jeopardy. Thus, oil and other valuable resources have also been put in jeopardy, a risk that I do not believe we can afford to push.

Personally, I believe that some sort of action MUST be taken in Syria. However, direct, boots on the ground, military enforcement is not the answer. As President Obama said in regards to Syria, "No one disputes that chemical weapons were used in Syria. The world saw thousands of videos, cell phone pictures, and social media accounts from the attack, and humanitarian organizations told stories of hospitals packed with people who had symptoms of poison gas." This is a fact, we cannot ignore it, we must respond adequately. So, we cannot ignore it, what now? Lets take action. In the Internet age we live in, lets campaign. Take our ideas to the Internet, make this into the biggest story the news has ever seen. Every channel will be glaring with the headline, "Syria." In Syria the people have no power, no potential for change. We take that power for granted in America, it is a magnificent thing. The power that we have is remarkable, and it has been displayed a lot recently. Especially with the recent movment, Occupy Wall Street, which was run via the internet. The 99%, "regular" people from all over the United States posted videos of them protesting. And thanks to the power of the internet, this movment led to change. A great model to follow.

Syria: A War Worth Fighting?

This topic should be on the top of every American's mind. While Syria seems extremely far away, even here in suburban Chicago we see the effect this country is having. My father's co-worker is Syrian and has had to evacuate his family from there home in Syria. This is a tragic time for those poor citizens. There are many hard decisions that come with the problem Syria is facing. For my dad's co-worker, he had to choose to remove his family from their home. For our president, he has to choose if he should stand back and watch, or intervene. John McCain went as far to say, "If Obama puts boots on the ground in Syria, we'll impeach him." I do not envy our president at this time. While it is easy to say, "we have to intervene", the results could be detrimental to some of our allied countries. This makes the situation very difficult to deal with. I agree that it is impossible to sit back and watch as this man gases his own people, but I do not believe an immediate military strike is the answer. Yes, as a country we must take some sort of action. I think one way to start is by showing some sort of strong, welcoming, hopeful presence on the internet. We have seen the power of the internet via Occupy Wall street and other internet-based campaigns. In fact, the internet has already brought much awareness to the topic of Syria as a whole. In general, direct military action is not the answer to this problem, it will only bring more death and suffering.