What's wrong with america? Ignorance.

[toman]

People, before you make the decision to hold an opinion on something or judge something, take a few minutes to educate yourself on the subject for two reason. One, you'll have far less chance of making an ass out of yourself by spouting off about something you don't understand, and two, people holding uninformed and ignorant opinions is the ultimate cause of other people's suffering.

What makes me post this is a clip I saw on the news a few days ago. The police had just busted a house here in my city where some people were growing some pot plants. They also had a couple young children. The news reporter was interviewing some of the neighbors and she gets to this fat dirty looking white trash woman, who when questioned is all indignant and says "Just think what could have happened if the children had eaten it!". After which the media makes no effort to correct the misinformation this ignorant woman just squirted into the homes of millions of viewers. So now we have people thinking that marijuana is a dangerous drug that when ingested by children has life threatening effects; when in fact there would be absolutely no reaction whatsoever becaue THC is only soluble in fat, and when ingested is simply digested and excreted like any other plant matter. And by doing so, we add one more reason to people's list of the evil reasons why inteligent, law abiding human beings are not allowed to grow a simple plant in their own homes, for their own use.

[BandAide]

I wonder if my daughter is smarter than other kids because she's not even 8 months old and she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, and I have never at any point, been afraid she'd eat a plant. I mean, I LOVE plants. We've got all sorts of them all over our house, and it has never been a problem. Whatta ya know.

Before I go on, I think you're being irrationally hard on the poor lady who made the dumb commment. She's just a product of popular thought. Had she been more attractive, her thoughts wouldn't have been any more to your fancy.

People are never going to agree on anything. Where there is an opinion, there is a differing one as well. When one of us feels strongly about something, anyone who disagrees seems misinformed, weak willed and all screwed up.

Frankly, I don't think people fight fairly or truthfully when debating marijuana. It seems like a gray issue that has been separated into two opposing colors and neither of them are interested in honesty. One side believes that marijuana is an evil, gateway drug that is strongly mentally addictive and overwhelmingly leads to the physical addiction of other drugs. The other side argues that none of this is true and not only is marijuana not bad for you and unaddictive, but that it is generally good for you. There are bountiful amounts of information that support both theory, so it's very easy to pick and choose your support depending on your view. Becuase marijuana is popularly depicted as a deviant substance to ingest, average people with little information will have a tendency to lean toward the information that supports our country's decision to outlaw the plant, and people who disagree with paternal laws in general and advocate marijuana use will lean toward legalization.

Unfortunately, just as there are ignorant people perpetuating inaccurate myths about the ill effects of smoking pot, there are a bunch of misinformed pot heads giggling like Beavis and Butthead and speaking slowly and with a forth grade vocabulary about the benefits of smoking herb.

[toman]

First off, I love Beavis and Butthead. :-D That said, I am harsh on ignorant, uncultured people. Everyday I look at the people around me in public and I'm irritated, because these people are no better than animals. And yes, I am the person who is always saying human being are animals, but I think the thing that makes us human is the desire to be something more. These people want nothing more; they're content to live in a cage, being force fed with a tube down their throat jacking off on impulse and flinging feces at one another. Maybe I'm a snob, I don't know. I just enjoy positive things like trying to use proper grammar, setting a table and fucking learning instead of wallowing in a heap of ignorant consumeristic crap.

[delta9]

Hear hear, Toman. A person can be intelligent and cultured. People are generally ignorant and uncultured (as well as idiotic, full of herd mentality, gullable, and other suchisms). In my quest to "Git rich or die tri'in", I intend to, and with little reservation, "fleece the sheep" as I like to call it... Ah... Social reformists and progressive intellectuals. We're an arrogant bunch, aren't we? At least we make a point to do more than take up space ;).

It's not just ignorance, though! It is also miseducation and that whole gullable thing - you know (or should by now, being here) you were taught many lies about various drugs in order to keep you off them. Anyone who has done a fair amount of indepedent research on the subject of marijuana especially will see how nothing has really changed that much today as from the first Reefer Madness campaigns, except today we're making headway and there are places moving in the right direction.

Down with prohibition of the mind.

[PEACE FROG]

Unfortunately alot of people run half cocked on assumptions, motivated by fear intentionally instilled by those who want to control them. Look at medical marijuanna, global warming(making people believe it's all a hoax to perpetuate woldwide corperate plunder), why they can even motivate people to get behind attacking other nations unprovoked. I hate negativity....I love you guys though.

[wyldflower]

"People, before you make the decision to hold an opinion on something or judge something, a few minutes to educate yourself."

Good advice. I can never remind myself of it enough, though, I still often impulsively forget to follow it.

I would also add that before you make a decision to hold an opinion about someone or judge someone you take a few minutes to walk around in their shoes, think about what things might be like from their perspective before you dismiss them, or label them, or idolize them.

[mamasharones]

I agree with all of you. Unfortuantely there are people that don't care to educate themselves and just buy into whatever TV tells them. but at the same times I constantly see those adolesant stoners that think they are all cool just because they smoke pot. Also, those people that don't have a job don't move cant support families because they're just wasting their lives away on weed. It's like the stereotype of black people. I mean I'm no racist (I'm actually a 100% latino female (1/2 puerto rican and 1/2 colombian if you care to know)) but what do you think of a black man driving a cadalac escalade wearing FUBU? Most people would pass the judgement that he's a drug dealer and that's what people think when they see some one wearing hemp or know they're a pot head; they automatically assume they're a menace to society. My fiancee and I are both biology students at Eastern Illinois. He and I are both pot smokers and we also are big on mushrooms for spiritual purposes. He's also in the bological sciences honor society. We both have never been arrested and are your regular law obiding citizens. But unfortunately not everyone is like that and it's hard when you have a few rotten apples that spoil it for the rest of us. and yes it is also unfortunate that that women said that on tv and automatically sent that message to many people but it's important that people not buy everything they hear and really pay attention to FACTS instead of opinion. Also it's important to know when people are trying to fool you and when they are presenting valuable info. Like the whole war in Iraq thing and the patriot act (which allows the goverment to tap phones, and proform anything needed if they think that your involved with terrorism with out a "search warrant") they are attaching everything to terrorism. Remember when those DUMB anti marijuana commercials started being aired and they tried convincing people that purchasing marijuana funds terrorism? I don't know about you but when I bu weed it's not from Al quaeda, it's from the guy down the block that grows it in his basement. Also, I remember seeing one of bush's people talkin on tv about how abortion funds terrorism. People get sucked into believing ridiculous crap. So I think instead of preaching how marijuana should be legal, i think we're better off in preaching how knowledge is power not prohibition or restrictions