Occupy response

Cody Courtney

Eng. 102

Michael Benton

10/16/2011

Response to the occupy video.

                I had a mixture of feelings upon seeing the videos of the occupy movements that are taking place across the country. If I said that I was indifferent or didn’t care I would be lying because when I saw the videos of people being harassed and in some cases abused by the police I was angry. These people were and still are peacefully protesting what they and many others feel is a serious flaw in our society. The sheer numbers of protesters that have and still continue to pack Wall Street gives me a strange sense of pride. Americans have always been told they have a voice but that voice usually goes unheard unless spoken by an elected official. But these people are uniting as on and making their opinions heard. This clear example of our freedom of speech is simply stunning to me. Although I have not been a part of any of these movements I still feel proud that these people are standing up for what they believe in. With all the good that these movements represent some people would have you believe that these protesters are criminals that deserved to be punished. The police are abusing their power in order to try and shut down the movement. The cases of this I have seen are video footage from the Wall Street occupation. The police in the video are shown abusing their powers and the weapons that they are sworn to protect us with are being used as weapons to hurt innocent civilians. The one example that clearly sticks in my mind is where the policemen walk up randomly and sprays pepper spray into the faces of people with their backs turned and in no way doing anything illegal. This is something that can’t continue to happen. Like the video talked about the Rodney King beating, the majority of policemen have handled this protest situation professionally and treated people with respect. But there are some police officers like there always is that abuse their power. The story of the 700 people being arrested and having pepper spray applied to their eyes with q tips really got me angry. These people were not resisting or in any way attempting to harm the police. They simply sat down and interlocked their arms in a sign of solidarity. These people may have been causing problems and yes they probably should have moved when the police asked but the use of violence to this extreme measure was completely un-necessary. I have to admit that I have never been in any sort of social movement but this particular example is one that I find very interesting. I hope that the movement continues and that hopefully some change will come from this. It may not be the full change that people want but I think any sort of positive change should be counted as a win for these protesters because like their motto they are the 99% standing up to the 1%.

Paper Proposal #1

Cody Courtney

Eng. 102

Michael Benton

9/12/2011

Paper #1 proposal.

                The subject that I have chosen to write my first paper on is the “Green Scare”.  This is a reference to the “Red Scare” of the 1940’s and 50’s. Instead of the fear of communism it is the fear of terrorism that is being used to push a political and corporate agenda. According to Greenisthenewred.com, Animal rights and environmental advocates are being labeled as “eco-terrorist”. This is a subject that I find very interesting and one that I would enjoy writing about.    

                This is not a subject that you see a lot about in the media which is one reason I want to write on this subject. I think it would be interesting to learn more about the subject and as I do anything I come across that I find insightful I can add it to my paper. I don’t know much on the subject, in fact I know very little but that is why I am so interested in it.

                My ideal audience could be a wide variety of people. Whether it be activist or politicians this is a subject that both has an interest in and because of that interest would be an audience for my paper.  An ideal publication would probably be TIME magazine. Time is one of the most popular magazines in the United States so if I wanted to get my argument out into the public eye this would be a great way to do so. Another publication that would be ideal would be the Newspapers in the Major cities the U.S.  For example, The LA Times, Los Angeles is one of America’s most populated cities which is why it would be a great place to publish this paper.

                This issue is important because in our modern society the act of protesting and activists working for a cause has almost become a business. The idea that our fear of terrorism is being used as a tool to scare us into thinking that these “eco-terrorists” mean harm. I don’t think that these people mean any harm to anybody. If anything they are doing the opposite they’re trying to defend something, whether it is animal rights or an environmental cause.

                This issue is also important because it is in some ways a constitutional issue. People are having their names slandered and people are being swayed by fear in order to fit a certain agenda. Our constitutional right protects a person’s rights to protest and free speech.  This is where this issue begins to matter to a lot more people. Even if you don’t believe in the cause that is being protested you can still relate to the fact that people are being slandered for doing something that is supposed to be given to them by any means. 

                 I just found this topic as a whole as something that I found interesting and would like to write about. There is enough information on the topic that I could put together a paper that is filled with facts to support the arguments that are made. The paper would be informative and I would learn more on the subject as I look more and more into it.

Response # 1" HACKED "

Hacker- A person that illegally gains access and sometimes tampers with information in a computer system. This is the definition of a hacker as given in a Merriam-Webster dictionary. This is also probably what the majority of people think of when they hear the word. With all of the technology in today’s world and with technology still increasing in use and intelligence hackers are becoming more and more of a threat. Hackers just don’t stick to computers now days they can hack into cell phones, video game systems, and basically anything that people use to share information. I actually have had a recent encounter with hacking. I had ordered something online and I had thought everything had gone through smoothly. About a week later I get a call from my bank saying that somebody in Georgia had used my card number and racked up over 5,000 dollars worth of charges on it. I know that the site was legitimate because I had used it before and nothing of this sort had happened. The hardest part of determining who a hacker could be is the fact that it could literally be anybody. My senior year of high school I took a computer elective class and in that class was a foreign exchange student from the Ukraine. At first I thought he was just a normal kid until he showed me what he could do with a computer. He in a matter of minutes got into our schools computer system and proceeded to “hack” into all of his teacher’s grade books. After changing his grades he began to play with the grades of others raising them or lowering them based of whether he liked the person or not. I was so amazed that he simply took down our schools computer system with the same amount of effort that it takes to log into facebook. After he had finish altering grades he showed me his grand finale. He shut down every computer in the entire school. The one catch to this seemingly perfect prank was the fact that his computer was the only one to not shut down making it easy for the teacher and our I.T supervisor to locate the computer that caused the chaos. Although they completely redid the computer security system Dmitri still got into the system again and again, although never causing the chaos he did the first time. Hacking is avoidable but inevitable. The more and more that people rely on technology the more risks they take of getting hacked. They sell programs and systems to stop people from hacking into your technological devices it’s only a matter of time before some guy in his mom’s basement finds a way around your protection. I know not every hacker out there is a man and I’m sure the majority don’t leave with their mothers but its how I like to picture them because of my unfavorable view of what they do. With all the hacking going on in the world today I feel that it is only a matter of time until someone becomes smart enough to hack into a government system and begins to cause chaos. Then the threat of hacking goes from bad to catastrophic.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hacker

Where i stand

Response # 2 "Its just business"

The Union: The Business behind Getting High.

                                Marijuana has always been a huge issue in the United States. Whether it’s the debate on the legalization of pot or just some poor guy getting arrested for possession it is without a doubt one of the most controversial substances of all time. I feel no shame in saying that I am a huge supporter of the legalization of marijuana as well as a user. This strong belief that I have that marijuana is not something to be punished for but rather studied and practiced has led me to write several papers for school on the subject in the past. So when looking through the list of articles and video clips from which we were to choose one and write a response to, this was an obvious choice for me.

                                I watched this documentary and can say that with all that I knew about marijuana this video enlightened me a great deal. Some of the things I learned from the video were that even though I knew marijuana used to be legal in our country I had no idea just how big it was. Now this doesn’t mean that everybody used to sit around and blaze up all day, but the hemp that comes from the marijuana plant used to be one of the biggest cash crops in the world. The very country that we live in that seems so set against the idea of legalizing marijuana was once very much funded off the revenue the plant made. Our declaration of independence was written on hemp paper. The first marijuana law in our country was a law ordering citizens to grow it. With so many negative thoughts and what seems to be false knowledge on the subject of marijuana and the effects it has when used it is likely that we will never see it legalized.

                                One of the more interesting things the video showed was the first man to ever be convicted of a marijuana crime. The movie didn’t give his name but they showed a picture and told that he had been given 4 years for having 2 joints. For those unfamiliar with pot two joints may be the equivalent of 1 gram of weed probably even less. I currently have 2 friends who are brothers that have 5 years probation for the cultivation and trafficking of marijuana so I am very familiar with the exact repercussion accompanied with pot. Still I see no reason as to why marijuana should remain illegal. In my opinion and that’s all that I have in this case, I think that the benefits outnumber the dangers by a substantial amount.

http://dialogic.blogspot.com/2009/12/union-business-behind-getting-high.html

5 questions

Where are you from?
Im from Versailles Ky. Its a small town right outside of lexington. The only claim to fame that it may have is the Woodford Reserve Distillery.

What is your experience with writing?
I dont hate writing, but im not about to take it up as a hobby anytime soon. If its a subject that i like or something that matters to me i enjoy it alot more.

What do you believe in?
ill let you know when i figure that out myself.

What kind of popular culture do you consume?
im a big movie guy. i love to go to the movies or watch the classics at home. love to watch sports year round there isint a sport i find boring.

Why are you in college?
because its the next step for me in my life and its the key that unlocks alot of doors.