Kill the Messenger, Ignore the Message

There are two articles that I wrote in college that a few in the blogosphere continually quote, and misquote, to try and attack my credibility. One was titled, “Chronic Problem Chronic Solution,” and one is titled, “Honesty is so Passe”. The first is an article I wrote, I believe, when I was 19, as a Sophomore about smoking marijuana for migraines. The second was an article I wrote upon graduating. One is satire, one is about medical marijuana, you can decide for yourself which is which.

I don't necessarily agree with my everything I wrote over 10 years ago when I was in college, but I have never hidden from these articles either. Yes, in my life I smoked pot for migraines, but today I wouldn't “thank” people involved in illegal drug trade, as I did in the article. It's a little too over-the-top for most people to find humorous, or to even see my point. However, I remain opposed to the drug war, and I continue to support medical marijuana. As for my satirical piece, Honesty is So Passe, I have typically relied on people to read it for themselves, because most people can easily comprehend my frustration concerning a liberal arts education, and the lack of job training college offers. Nowadays, at the age of 31 now, I believe I am a much different person than the college student who wrote these articles, but I admire the frank and outspoken person I was then, and still feel a passion to speak out about my beliefs.

The most interesting thing about these two articles, however, is that in the age of the Internet, the stupid stuff you wrote in college just might be around 10, 20, or 40 years later. And today, as an outspoken member of the public, it's even more interesting to me that there are people who track this stuff down in order to try and discredit the messenger. Obviously, this type of argument rarely fools anyone. Most people are more than capable of noticing when people attack the messenger and not the message.

Forced vote-by-mail schemes, Diebold Touchscreen machines, and the abject failure of King County Elections department have nothing to do with two articles I wrote in college.

But for those of you that are having problems with me, as a messenger, here's the articles:

Honesty Is So Passe

Chronic Problems, Chronic Solution

Feel free to post them far and wide. If your only weapon against logic and reason is to attack and discredit those you speak against, well, to quote George Bush, bring it on.