Lesson 6.2: John Stossel video

The video I watched for this assignment was a dialogue between John Stossel and some members of Fox News over the legalization of marijuana and all drugs because the current drug laws are not preventing access to them. Stossel believes that all drugs should be legalized because keeping them illegal isn't working to keep them out of people's hands. Stossel calls it "modern day prohibition", which makes sense on some levels.

The opposition believes that keeping drugs illegal will make it harder for people to gain access to drugs, and that making access to drugs hard for people will save lives. A guy in the video comments that if crack were legal when he was a kid, he wouldn't be where he is right now.

Both sides definitely have valid points. I believe drugs should be legalized, because the economic benefits far outweigh the concerns to health and safety. Honestly, making drugs illegal hasn't made it any harder to acquire them. Walk around Anchorage for any length of time and you will find someone who will offer you a hit of coke, marijuana, or whatever. Talk about drugs to people long enough, and someone will offer you some. Drugs are everywhere, and they aren't going away.

Prohibition for alcohol didn't work, either. All it did was give rise to powerful gangsters like Al Capone, and this is what making other drugs illegal is doing today.

The video can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teLEp7KCcTE

Lesson 6.1: Internet Chat Rooms

Internet chat rooms are a dangerous place for little kids to go to because of the anonymity of the internet and the predators that are present everywhere. I figured this was the argument partly because of the letter to the editor I read about whales needing silence to not become beached, and because chatrooms can be very dangerous for the naive.

I am of the generation that grew up with the internet (Not to be confused with the generation that was born with the internet). I've been on a computer since the age of 3, and I have been to chatrooms as a kid. The exchange of personal information is common there. Most of it is harmless, but there are predators out there who take advantage of the nonchalant manner in which we share personal information with strangers online.

One need to look no further than Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" to understand that this is really the case. Kids are naive, and their need for an authority figure early in life can lead them to take commands from people that they really shouldn't take commands from.

Another thing about chatrooms is that a lot of them are unmoderated. They can also be very busy. When you have lots of people talking at once, it can become overwhelming, and a kid who is exploring the internat and all it has to offer may be tempted to cross boundaries he or she is not supposed to cross, and the results can be disasterous.

Lesson 5.5: Writing Techniques

I would say that the most useful technique I have found is the use of pro-con clauses. With pro-con clauses, you can brainstorm different ideas for supporting or disagreeing with an argument. These pro-con clauses can be (at least, I believe they can be) combined into a thesis statement. They can also be used seperately, to give supporting data to a thesis.

An early example of this, is in the first lesson, when I was trying to figure out ideas for why joining a fire department was a good thing, I'm pretty sure (it's been awhile) that I did a pro-con clause, selected about three reasons why, and combined them into one thesis statement, and provided my own supporting details there.

I have been tending to take the pro-clause in an argument, because I like to think positively rather than negatively.

Lesson 5.4: What I've learned about myself

I have learned that I am capable of being a good writer and getting back up even in the face of adversity. My thumbdrive crashed recently and I lost about two lessons of Anthropology and half of lesson 5 from English, all of which I had to redo, and all of which I honestly didn't feel like redoing. Dropping out of English was an idea at this point, but I presevered, got the lessond done, and moved on to do the journal entries, which I am doing now.

I've learned about myself that I am much stronger than I think.

Lesson 5.3: What I have learned from the textbooks

I have learned several things from the textbook, such as a process for how to form an argument, to what an argument is, to several other things. I have learned that there is a certain way to cite references, and that citations are needed when quoting someone. I have also learned various nuances of the MLA format.

I have also learned that, while I am a good writer, I can always become better, because there are certain techniques for getting ideas, such as free-writing, clustering, or idea mapping. I have learned ideas on how to flesh out ideas, so that they are more than just a sentence, and to form a thesis statement and be able to support said thesis.

Lesson 5.2: My instructor's expectations

I have learned that my instructor expects me to be timely, responsible, and cite things correctly. I have also learned that she expects me to get an A, because she knows that I definitely have potential to do so. I have also learned that if I run into difficulty, that it is my responsibility to get back on track, which I am at this point.

Lesson 5.1: A problem other students might be having

One problem I think other students are having is this assignment. I think students are having a problem with it because I know I was. The assignments are confusing, and we had three of them. The amount of pre-writing that we need to do is quite a bit, and each assignment was quite involved. a lot more than what we have done up until this point.

Still, the assignment is done, and I think now that it is, the other assignments will be a lot easier to accomplish.