We had an interesting situation at college.
A guy in our text writing class presented a blog entry for publishing which advocated a brutal death penalty. Our teacher's first reaction was forbidding the publishing of the blog. Then she reconsidered and decided to let the class decide what should be done about it.

The interesting part is this: there was more whining and groaning about the grammar and the structure then about the contents. Almost 30 people refused to take a stance on the subject and decide what can or can't be said on the net.

Now personally I prefer free speech no matter how many people you piss off. If someone takes offense they can always publish a counter argument. That's what the net is for after all if you want actually thought through opinions you usually go read a book.

In the end the decision was to let the guy publish after he has rewritten the piece and got a solid argumentation for his avocation. But I am wondering why taking a stance was so hard?
Is it because all of them are Dutch and thus have never been faced with the death penalty in any shape or form? That argument seems faulty since I have been living in the same country for more then half my life. I should have the same references as them for making a decision.
Another argument can be that I am one of the oldest people in the class and so have more life experience. Which is bull as well even if I can't form a coherent argument as to why at the moment other that the statistics of 30 people in one class having lived a very sheltered life seem impossible.

Am I expecting too much off my classmates?
Or is it reasonable to assume that you should have formed at least a vague opinion on most issues by the time you're around 20? 

The funny thing is we are actually going to be trained to write decent blogs.
Turns out even those have rules...might have been nice to know that before... Anyway it's sure going to be interesting on account on doing it in groups and having to think up themes.

Forced creativity isn't exactly something that works for me.
Well I can write on command but then I usually write shit. Admittedly it can be pointed out that I write shit regardless the circumstances but that's a matter of opinion. Because that's what blogging for privet purposes is all about isn't it? Shooting your opinions in to the stratosphere and getting something back. Good or bad it doesn't really matter as long as your ego gets petted.

Does this mean that all blogs should be read? Maybe not I sure don't expect it. But the knowledge that all of this is out there waiting and being is comforting in the dark of boredom. And really isn't all of this about boredom anyway? The only reason we resort to attention whoring is because life doesn't keep us busy or at least not busy enough.

Wonder what topic we'll end up with for the rest of the year? Should be a hoot