Speech "Brace Yourselves"
From a local middle school where students watch President Obama's speech on education. Really? I feel a little embarrassed about the furor and controversy surrounding the speech...before it even happened. I am like crazy un-political but really? The polarization blows me away sometimes. I remember growing up with the Presidential Fitness Patch and Save the Earth campaigns in elementary school as a kid - things that were never really accused of bearing giant political agendas, and even if they had, I can honestly say they haven't affected my views on world and national politics in any way. I could go on about this but I'm even a little afraid of hearing more about it. I guess I just feel that living in a democracy affords us confidence in being awarded the freedom to enjoy the policies that we like and live with what we don't like, because we don't always get exactly our way. Feel free to let me know what you think.
PS, If you don't know what I'm talking about and haven't been following the story, please feel free to click HERE. from the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, and HERE from the Associated Press in Washington DC.
6 comments:
Love the photos today. I guess freedom of speech doesn't apply to Presidents or Black Presidents or any one wanting to tell kids to study hard,stay in school and wash your hands.
That first shot says it all--the flag, and those little attentive faces. Who could possibly think that kids watching their president talk about the importance of education is controversial?! But I don't live in Utah, or even the U.S., so maybe I'm missing something.
I love, love love your work!!!
Hey Mike,
Thanks so much for the support on my blog - I wholeheartedly appreciate it. If there's ever any song you'd like to see, let me know. And of course, your work is amazing and I can't wait to see more.
Thank you!
-Meg
I really liked these shots, and couldn't agree with you more!
I try not to argue with people online, but I just didn't want to leave your blog without lending some balance to the comments thus far.
I read the entire planned speech as it was made available online Labor Day, the day before it was to be given to students. I thought that it they were encouraging words and those that most certainly need to be heard by students nationwide.
My beef is simply that the President of the United States, whoever he may be at the time, has no business being the deliverer of this message. I won't argue that there were multitudes of hidden agendas of political motivation with President Obama being the face that delivered this encouragement, nor will I accept any argument that there were none.
The big picture is that, arguably, the most controversial figure in all of notoriety directly addressed the nation's youth last Tuesday at a time when their parents were not present. Replace President Obama with virtually any other similar highly controversial figure and see if you would allow them, as well, to directly have access to the youth of the nation.
Millions of those he addressed will be voters in the next Presidential election and they are being addressed in their most influential age and setting. Imagine a political figure in which you passionately do not agree with being allowed to give this same speech and depending on your imagination ability you might be able to understand why millions of your fellow Americans took issue with such a speech.
Levi,
Thanks for your comments, your insight does bring an important balance to the discussion.
Thanks again.
Mike
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