I finally took the last test for the semester in Accounting Principles. Whew... it is like a big weight being lifted from my shoulders. The class really did not take up too much of my time, but it took up enough to be noticeable. I liked the prof and the class in general, but I have to admit that accounting bores the living daylights out of me. I don't know how I can be completely engrossed in a subject like calculus, but not accounting. I can't see much of a philosophical difference other than calculus seems more like philosophy (my passion), whereas accounting seems like a scheme to keep people from being able to read your books. (Not that something like that would ever happen anyway because each company has its own way of doing things regardless of how much we try to standardize things...) Anyway, I think and hope I did well. If it weren't for my respect for the teacher I would have probably blown off the class completely. Now onto the next thing... hopefully something with OS's like Unix or math. ...I really wish I had gotten an undergrad in math... too.
I was driving home from the aforementioned test and listening to WLS and really wanted to call in for once... There is a show in the evening with two news reporters (one liberal, one conservative) and the other host is a commentator that swings between ultra-liberal and ultra-conservative. They were discussing whether free speech covers something like cross burning. While I am 100% appalled by racist comments, I still feel that we as part of a free society must bear the burden and put up with idiots out there spewing hatred... Because I don't agree with what they say does not automatically mean that it is not right for them to be able to say what they want without fear of physical punishment or coercion. If we look at the problem logically, we would conclude that nothing stops us from outlawing any type of speech because we feel it inappropriate at one point in time or another - and this is a bad thing. What if we weren't able to express our opinions about what the government does with our money, or whether or not we should go to war, or if we want so-and-so in office and not his/her opponent? The what-if's become endless and we see that puting barriers in the way of people expressing their opinions (whether idiotic or not) is more harmful than it is good. We also slowly evolve into a state in which people no longer have inalienable rights, but only those that the government grants us. I don't understand why people think this is any different than a racist barring a non-racist from stating his/her opinion... logically there is no difference - and if we expect the law and justice to be blind to race, creed, beliefs, color, etc. then there must be some element of logic in what our government is allowed prohibit and what it is not allowed to prohibit, no matter how much it hurts to allow it... To one of the men on the radio: "Jay, you want freedom, but only what you consider to be permissible... that is not the definition of freedom, it is the definition of permitism..."
