Freedom of Expression

The First Amendment. One big reason why America has become a world power. Freedom of Expression lets us, as citizens, do exactly that- express ourselves. We can almost say whatever we want. We can use photos and music that we didn't create ourselves, to an extent.

But some take their Freedoms to the extreme and enjoy pushing the boundaries. There are endless examples of social media accounts being distasteful and hurtful with their Tweets or status updates. Racism, bullying, hate, etc have an easier way to reach their audiences and offend others, via the internet. Of course, most sane people are against this; myself included. But, these blogs, status updates, tweets, all seem to get plenty of views and upvotes. There is almost no way to stop this. Almost every person in the US has access to the internet. All these people with unique voices, unique blogs, unique social media pages. It isn't reasonable for us to expect people to be able to monitor all of these people to make sure nothing hurtful is being said.

RIP!: A Remix Manifesto is a documentary film on copyright laws that affect DJs, and other people's creative outlets. The manifesto presented in the documentary is:

1. Culture always builds on the past.
2. The past always tries to control the future.
3. Our future is becoming less free.
4. To build free societies you must limit the control of the past.

The documentary is so interesting because what most people would listen to and not think twice about, could very well be illegally made due to copyright laws. It is shocking to me that copyright laws have the power to hinder somebody's creative abilities to the extent shown in the film. One of my favorite rappers said it better than I could, and it seems to reiterate #4 in the manifesto. At the very end of J. Cole's 2014 Forest Hills Drive album he is saying his thank you's. Hopefully you can get past the language and hear the message:
"And all the mothaf***in' samples that cleared, thank you
Y'all be tryin' to give a n**** a hard time on the samples, man!
I'ma go to the f***in' Supreme Court
And try to make this s*** easier
For n****s like me to clear these samples, man.
If you made the f***in' music, and you made the art
And you put it into the world
I should be able to use it however the f*** I want.
I'ma pay you, I'ma give you a percentage
But you shouldn't be able to tell me I can't use it.
Ya, that's f***in'... that's f***ed up n****.
You was inspired by the world
Allow the world to be inspired by your s*** and to use your s***.
So all them people like, or whoever that don't let n****s use they s***
F*** that man. It's 2014, 2015 by the time you might hear this s***.
F*** that man we movin' on"

Topic #2:

In reply to Nolan's Blog post:

I am a little saddened by the fact that you are displeased with Ken Jeong's performance in The Hangover. Which was one of the best comedy movies in the recent years. As for the sequels... No one can argue in their favor. In my opinion he can only play one role, and everyone got enough of that one roll in the first Hangover movie. I'm also here for because I loved Community and Troy and Abed fill me with happiness. Here is a link to Troy and Abed mainly for my grade but nobody can get enough of these guys in my opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpT4ChomJ7E

But as far as your review of this show, completely agree. My favorite line is "...the child actor playing the son, who must to be a nephew of a producer because there’s no other explanation for why they put him in front of a camera." 

Oh and thank you for your blunt honesty. That was refreshing.