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Tuesday, February 01, 2005

A third of surveyed high-schoolers would opt for government oversight of media
(American Samizdat group blog)
A new survey of 112,003 students released today finds that one in three say the press ought to be more restricted -- and 36% think newspapers should get 'government approval' before stories are published.

(It would seem that the generation right behind us, the "MTV Generation," is just primed for a demogogue. Give them a telegenic, airbrushed face who only speaks in simple slogans, and they'll be sold. Consider simpleton Dubya 2.0 as still a beta version; he has only mastered the "simple slogans" part. I guess, this is a sign that I'm getting older, but the kids today are just soft; they are coddled more, they read less, they explore less -- unless it's to look for video game "cheats" on the Net -- and they consume more. Just the perfect population to be told what to do, what to buy, and what to think. Trust me, the kids behind us will just sit back and let others handle all the messy stuff for them, but unlike PLAYSTATION2, there is no reset button in Life. And who can we blame for all of this? The generation of current parents ahead of us, the Baby Boomers! Now you know why my blog's called "caught in between." Feh! I'm serious about this: can I stop this world, and get off so that I can find a sane one to live in? )

« 9:20:26 PM »    

, Separate Is Not Equal - Brown v. Board of Education
(Smithsonian)
"Had there been no May 17, 1954, I'm not sure there would have been a Little Rock. I'm not sure there would have been a Martin Luther King Jr., or Rosa Parks, had it not been for May 17, 1954. It created an environment for us to push, for us to pull. We live in a different country, a better country, because of what happened here in 1954. And we must never forget it. We must tell the story again, over and over and over."
U.S. Rep. John Lewis at a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education at Topeka's First United Methodist Church

(I agree that the U.S. probably is a different country because of what happened in 1954. The jury's still out on whether or not it's better. When I look around at the state of my people today, in lots of ways, I could make a strong case that it's worse than it's ever been. But we must remember and reflect upon history in order to measure where we've gained ground, and where we've lost. Moreover, I really think it's important to dwell on the really ugly history. Because everytime I hear someone tell me "things are better" -- when they're really not -- I want to say: "do you really think human nature has changed that much in 10, 30, 50, 100 years?" If a man was happy to stand on my great-grandfather's throat, why should I feel comfortable thinking his great-grandson wouldn't do the same to me, if given the chance? )

« 9:20:15 PM »    

, Slavery and the Making of America
(PBS.org)

(I wanted to start off Black History Month with an anchoring post that points all the way back to the beginning of the horror show. I'll build it out from here. )

« 1:14:42 AM »    


4/3/2005; 3:39:59 AM - Lawrence Green


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