The Sundance Film Festival happened last month in Utah. A January 25, 2008 USA Today article stated that a concert film closed the festival. The group was Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. CSNY fans may know that they set off their "Freedom of Speech" tour in 2006. Their Sundance film "focuses less on the band than on the people who come to see them play" (Breznican, 2008). The film captures fans as well as the band. The band is well known for their anti-war songs of the Vietnam era. Their 1972 anti-war hit, Ohio, was about the Kent State shooting of unarmed protestors. These days they're still singing out against the war and those who wage it.
We all know that Freedom of Speech is our right, but not all of us take it. Sometimes it's difficult to express views without offending someone. I once had a patient who'd been married for a long time. He told me his secret to keeping such a long marriage was to never talk about politics, religion or money. We all might do well to avoid these topics in order to avoid controversy. CSN & Y don't avoid these topics, they express their beliefs quite openly. According to their website http://www.csny.com, they have tables before their concerts manned by Iraq Veterans Against the War and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
I respect CSNY for expressing such a controversial opinion.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Don't people have anything better to do?
I got an email recently from a friend titled "Freedom of Religion." The email went like this:
Removal of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and other pastors. An organization has been granted a Federal hearing on the same subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington D.C. Their petition, number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America. They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped. This group is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from public schools. You as a Christian can help! We are praying for at least 1 million signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country. As Christians, we must unite on this. Please don't take this lightly. We ignored one lady once and lost prayer in our schools and in offices across the nation. Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice be heard. Together we can make a difference in our country while creating an opportunity for the lost to know the lord.
There are then instructions for forwarding the email with a request to send it to "Lisa Norman" at electric_yello@hotmail.com when the signatures reach 1000. There were 159 signatures by the time it got to me.
I didn't sign it nor forward it as I wanted to do some research and possibly use it for this blog first. I did have some thoughts about the email. First, I did question its validity as I couldn't see it being legal to illegalize broadcasting religion. Besides questioning the email's validity, I did think it completely wrong for the FCC to consider such a notion. Then I thought maybe it would be OK to not allow Christmas programs in public schools. Or, if this was a true consideration, perhaps a better approach would be to have multicultural programs.
So, on to the research. I found http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/Religious.html. The FCC actually had a page dedicated to debunking this rumor! If anyone should be banned here, it should be the people generating these emails. This email is libel, which is not protected by the first amendment.
Removal of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and other pastors. An organization has been granted a Federal hearing on the same subject by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington D.C. Their petition, number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America. They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped. This group is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from public schools. You as a Christian can help! We are praying for at least 1 million signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country. As Christians, we must unite on this. Please don't take this lightly. We ignored one lady once and lost prayer in our schools and in offices across the nation. Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice be heard. Together we can make a difference in our country while creating an opportunity for the lost to know the lord.
There are then instructions for forwarding the email with a request to send it to "Lisa Norman" at electric_yello@hotmail.com when the signatures reach 1000. There were 159 signatures by the time it got to me.
I didn't sign it nor forward it as I wanted to do some research and possibly use it for this blog first. I did have some thoughts about the email. First, I did question its validity as I couldn't see it being legal to illegalize broadcasting religion. Besides questioning the email's validity, I did think it completely wrong for the FCC to consider such a notion. Then I thought maybe it would be OK to not allow Christmas programs in public schools. Or, if this was a true consideration, perhaps a better approach would be to have multicultural programs.
So, on to the research. I found http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/Religious.html. The FCC actually had a page dedicated to debunking this rumor! If anyone should be banned here, it should be the people generating these emails. This email is libel, which is not protected by the first amendment.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Dr. Death?
The Friday, January 25th issue of The New York Times describes a situation in Sweden where a man was expelled from medical school after the school learned that the man was convicted in 2000 of shooting another man 7 times. The man expelled served 6 1/2 years in jail and was released on parole. He had taken classes while in jail and then enrolled in medical school. The shcool did not have any policies regarding felon students, but did expel him after the licensing agency said they would not give him a medical license even if he did complete the degree.
This is the flip side of intellectual freedom. "Intellectual freedom is our right to seek, receive, hold, and disseminate information from all points of view, without restriction, including those ideas that might be highly controversial or offensive to others" (www.ala.org/oif/basics/intellectualfreedom.htm). Usually it's the good guy wanting the bad material that we're talking about, but in this case, it's the bad guy wanting the good material.
So should he be allowed to go to med school? According to ALA's definition of intellectual freedom he should. According to a study by Copenhaven, Edwards-Willey and Byers based on former felons at Ball State, "The stigma, real or perceived, which inmates encounter once released is enough to keep many from developing social, professional or educational ties and seeking life enhancing opportunities" (2007). They also go on to write, "When the university community learns to accept this population, they can then see that former inmates can contribute to the community and are not to be feared."
But, what about a murderer? My personal opinion is that sure, he should be able to attend classes. It's the clinicals that are tricky. Considering hospitals perform criminal record checks prior to employment, chances are he wouldn't be allowed to do clinicals by the hospitals standards.
Altman, Lawrence K. "After an Expulsion, Swedes Ponder Whether Killers Can Be Doctors." The New York Times 25 Jan. 2008: A6.
Copenhaver, Anna, Tina L. Edwards-Willey, and Bryan D. Byers. "Journeys in Social Stigma: The Lives of Formerly Incarcerated Felons in Higher Education." The Journal of Correctional Education 58.3 (2007): 268-283.
This is the flip side of intellectual freedom. "Intellectual freedom is our right to seek, receive, hold, and disseminate information from all points of view, without restriction, including those ideas that might be highly controversial or offensive to others" (www.ala.org/oif/basics/intellectualfreedom.htm). Usually it's the good guy wanting the bad material that we're talking about, but in this case, it's the bad guy wanting the good material.
So should he be allowed to go to med school? According to ALA's definition of intellectual freedom he should. According to a study by Copenhaven, Edwards-Willey and Byers based on former felons at Ball State, "The stigma, real or perceived, which inmates encounter once released is enough to keep many from developing social, professional or educational ties and seeking life enhancing opportunities" (2007). They also go on to write, "When the university community learns to accept this population, they can then see that former inmates can contribute to the community and are not to be feared."
But, what about a murderer? My personal opinion is that sure, he should be able to attend classes. It's the clinicals that are tricky. Considering hospitals perform criminal record checks prior to employment, chances are he wouldn't be allowed to do clinicals by the hospitals standards.
Altman, Lawrence K. "After an Expulsion, Swedes Ponder Whether Killers Can Be Doctors." The New York Times 25 Jan. 2008: A6.
Copenhaver, Anna, Tina L. Edwards-Willey, and Bryan D. Byers. "Journeys in Social Stigma: The Lives of Formerly Incarcerated Felons in Higher Education." The Journal of Correctional Education 58.3 (2007): 268-283.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)