Futurelawyer

#PoetryFriday - 1969 Was A Very Good Year.

Every Friday, I try to bring another poem to life, and offer it to readers so that they will understand the meaning I intend to communicate. I remember, in 1969, sitting in the living room of a big, old house in the middle of New Orleans, close by the Loyola campus, and Miller Williams would teach intimate seminars on poetry. He wrote such beautiful verse. He was gritty, and real, and soft, and hard and his poems electrified my imagination. I found myself adopting (poorly of course), his style and tone. This little snippet, in which he discusses what poetry is to him brought back many memories. I was honored to sit at his feet, and learn how to co-create poetry with my readers.

Watch What You Say... You Might Offend Someone.

I used to think that political correctness was humorous. Watching reports of college snowflakes, who are being taught that they must be protected from hurt feelings, and need "safe spaces" to hide from the words spoken by someone who disagrees with them, I laughed more often than I worried. But, when cancel culture started taking jobs, and affecting the lives of those who ran afoul of the thought police, I gradually realized that this insanity could become an existential crisis. When Lenny Bruce crashed through the boundaries of good taste; but, only spoke words, it was wrong to act against him. But, free speech, over time, won the day, at least until a few years ago. If we allow the current climate to continue, there won't be much freedom left to protect. I was content to remain silent until the so called mainstream decided to allow looting, taking over city streets, and violent actions to occur, without consequence. When my beloved "Redskins" name was retired, I realized that we were long past the halfway point on a slippery slope to a place in which citizens would be afraid to speak, and worried about their physical freedom if they did. If you laugh, as I did, at this prescient cartoon, ask yourself whether your job, or your safety, or your personal freedom, is at risk. And, before you accuse me of violating my no politics rule, it is only coincidental that this issue has become politicized. I don't care what political party or persuasion you may espouse. Free speech is uniquely American. It is the most important freedom. And, it doesn't have a political side. 

The World Is Going Insane - Now, You Can't Say A Prohibited Word While Teaching A Law School Class

What kind of lawyers are being created by our educational system? Is the U.C. Irvine School of Law educating lawyers or triggered, self loathing, weaklings? A law professor, teaching about hate speech, and the legal questions surrounding it, quoted (you know "") the n word in her lecture. Immediately, demands were trumpeted to remove her, and she was barred from teaching 1L classes. From the post at Instapundit:

"law students will become lawyers, and will have people depending on their lawyerly brains and judgment for their lives and liberty. If they can’t hold it together in the face of a bad word, they need to find another job. So too do administrators who throw their faculty members under the bus at the least threat of complaint."

This sounds a lot like having a neurosurgeon performing brain surgery; but, you can't allow any blood on the table! I am very seldom speechless at the idiocy of this current higher education system; but, I am truly unable to properly vocalize how insane this is. This is my shocked face.

 

The Infantilization Of The American Mind.

It is slow. It is insidious. It is glacial in its corruption of the American mind. This interview with Jonathan Haidt, co-author of "The Coddling of the American Mind", is brilliant. We have raised a generation of Americans who are "triggered" my "micro-aggressions", and need "safe spaces" to avoid having their soft, malleable brains from being psychically injured by the words of others. How did this happen? Haidt traces it to around 2014 and 2015, and has an insight that struck me. My generation fought the restrictions on free speech of an entrenched bureaucracy. The coddling conspiracy has its origins in the millennials whom we have coddled their entire lives. Is it a surprise that these young people, who have been given "participation ribbons" just for showing up to competitions, feel entitled to be protected from all hurt and anguish? We need a new curriculum, a boot camp for young minds, at which we assault them with opposing ideas, and require them to formulate an intelligent response before they can pass. How will the next generation defend itself from evil in the world if they can't tolerate hostile rhetoric? 

Grammar And Punctuation Are Not A Requirement To Be A Bon Jovi Fan.

Some things are for ever, unfortunately. Like fan tattoos.

 

Higher Ed Insanity - Not Only Will We Regulate What You Say; But, Now We Will Always Know Where You Are.

Coronavirus Albion University Security App Flaws. And, to top it off, our security app has flaws. And, on top of that, the Fall semester will end by Thanksgiving. And, on top of that, we want $50,000. Hey, Albion, I wish I had a college age kid that I wanted to send to your enlightened, woke university. Mine lives at home, pays Florida tuition rates, and goes to the University of South Florida, which provides a world class education.

While We Are On The Topic Of MicroAggressions.

"FatPhobic" Micro Aggressions - This Insanity Must Stop.

Size Inclusive Mount Holyoke Lists FatPhobic Microaggressions. It is about time that my particular defect, "fatness", got equal time with all the other micro-aggressions out there. Thank you, Mount Holyoke, for standing up for fat people everywhere. We have had enough, and we want the insults to stop. In fact, fat people believe that every member of society is entitled to list everything that triggers them; and, every other citizen should be punished for every micro transgression committed. We, the fat people of America, must unite under the banner of fat inclusivity, and we demand that every organization create slots for fat people. Wow. I feel so much better. Thank you, Mount Holyoke. I wish you had been around when I was in college. I just wish I had college age kids that I could send to you to be educated about the evils of the world. But, I don't have $50,000 a year to spend on tuition, and travel to and from Massachusetts, as well as room and board, are way out of my reach. But, I assure you, if I ever have the opportunity to send a fat kid to college, Mount Holyoke is at the top of my list. Jeez.