So first of all, can I just say…fucking Glenn Beck. He had his rally here in DC today, and because of it, there was a massive influx of old, poorly dressed white people on the metro who had absolutely no clue where they were going.
Why Glenn? Why must you torment me so and delay me when I’m supposed to visit Silver Spring? I knew your audience was ignorant, but seriously? They can’t figure out the DC metro? A monkey on crack could figure out the DC metro.
I honest to God don’t know what sort of craziness you spouted off today, and frankly, I don’t care. This is a free country, blah blah blah. (EDIT: *ALTHOUGH* according to the article I linked above, some guy said he wants to punch the president in the face. Secret Service? You hear that?) But do NOT unleash your minions on this city’s subway system. That is NOT cool.
Anyways, law school. Everything’s going well, I’ve finally started meeting cool people. The only problem here is that people are *really* liberal. Granted, I’ve been called a dirty commie more times than I’d care to admit, but everyone here is super in-your-face about it, including the professors.
Yes. I agree with you that the media distorts society’s image of gay people and that the law is negatively obsessed with sex. But like…when are we going to talk about civil procedure? That’s what this course is called, yes?
I had a terrifying moment in criminal law yesterday when we started talking about marijuana legalization. That’s one of those issues I have a visceral reaction to, and so I did my best to stay quiet. Everyone’s position was basically “oh it’s bad that people are in prison, let’s legalize everything because it’s not morally wrong!”
I brought up the fact that Mexican cartels use money from marijuana to plant car bombs in Juarez and corrupt the government, and that we should take this into consideration when we frame our debates about legalization and punishing drug crimes…and the class got super quiet. Even the professor had this weird look on his face.
I thought to myself, “oh crap. I just became *that* guy, and I pissed our pro-legalization professor off.” But apparently he mentioned the Mexico thing to later classes, so I think maybe I’m okay?
Still, that’s one thing I’ll never get about this city. People are smart and passionate about “justice.” They know the issues. But the don’t apply their arguments consistently. They will go on rants excoriating anyone who buys Coca-Cola because it funds a company that violates human rights in the Third World by not paying workers enough money.
But marijuana legalization is sacrosanct and beyond scrutiny. Criticizing people who buy marijuana is gauche, even though weed money directly fuels atrocities that make garden-variety corporate malfeasance look trivial in comparison.
There is no logical way to reconcile this. Supposedly, it is morally wrong and selfish to buy Product A because it causes problems in the Third World…but only when Product A is a Coke. When Product A is a controlled substance, all of a sudden *you* are being wronged because you have an inalienable right and freedom to consume whatever product you want.
It is a ridiculous discrepancy. Either you criticize *everybody* who buys products that foment problems in the Third World, or you take a less extreme position. All the fair trade coffee in the world doesn’t change the fact that buying weed is just as wrong, by that standard, as buying a Coke.
(By the way, when the way you judge a person’s morality is by whether or not they drink Coke or shop at Target, there’s something wrong with your moral compass.)
My message to all the well-meaning liberals in DC: think things through and stay consistent. Otherwise, you become just like the knee-jerk conservatives you criticize. And directed at everybody: stop having rallies and just shut up and let me drink my Coke Zero in peace.
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I know a guy who’s a 2L at Tulane right now. He’s getting a special emphasis in maritime law. When I first heard that, I kept wondering, “why would anyone go into maritime law? Apart from drafting boat contracts and deciding who gets to keep pirate treasure, that sounds boring and legally un-sexy.”
Then last night, I had a revelation. The Gulf oil spill is heading straight for New Orleans. Tulane is in New Orleans. Guy goes to Tulane and studies maritime law. Maritime law deals with oil spills. Guy graduates in a year, when all the investigations are over, damage has been assessed, and class-action lawsuits are in full swing.
This guy is going to make BANK. And even though I’m supposed to be a bleeding-heart, whale-huggin’, hippie liberal who loves the Earth, I–am jealous. Why are all the good environmental disasters happening *now*?
I guess what I’m trying to say is…I think Tulane Law School blew up that oil rig to give its future graduates jobs. And if so — damn. That shows your career services office CARES.
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Confessions of an Aztec Law Student 