Monday, November 15, 2010

Rehabilitated?...to me it's just a made up word. A politician's word..

The Shawshank Redemption, 1994
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtwXlIwozog

1967 Parole Hearings Man: Ellis Boyd Redding, your files say you've served 40 years of a life sentence. Do you feel you've been rehabilitated? 
Red: Rehabilitated? Well, now let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means. 
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, it means that you're ready to rejoin society... 
Red: I know what *you* think it means, sonny. To me it's just a made up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. What do you really want to know? Am I sorry for what I did? 
1967 Parole Hearings Man: Well, are you? 
Red: There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/quotes


     This dialog is form one my favorite movies of all time and probably one of the most critically underacclaimed of the last 20 years. The entire movie is about justice from the perspective of Prison spectatorship and the perceived harsh life of prison. The movie underscores the long prison terms given, especially through Red, a man serving life for a murder he committed while a teenager. We have seen Red go through other parole hearings in the past attempting to feed the panel the same lines that he thinks they want to hear. This dialog brings an alternate perspective to the sentencing laws in the United States.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Five Finger Death Punch - Death Before Dishonor (explicit)

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/f/five_finger_death_punch/death_before_dishonor.html


"To the haters, the takers, the liars, all the vultures and the bottom feeding scum
The FCC, the FBI and every tin god with a badge and a gun
You talk and talk, you preach and bitch but your words don't mean a thing
You get what you give, you give what you get
Just the way it's always been

I choose death before dishonor
I'd rather die than live down on my knees
Bury me like a soldier, with my dignity!

You imitate the ostracized, put your head beneath the sand
Your cup it runneth over, must be rough to live so grand
You reap what you sew, you pay what you owe unless you bathe yourself in greed
You rob and you take, your world is fake
There's no honor amongst the thieves

I choose death before dishonor
I'd rather die than live down on my knees
Bury me like a soldier, with my dignity!

Fuck!
You're self righteous, self pretentious
Your ways are not for me
You're deluded, so confused
Your world is not for me

I choose death before dishonor
I'd rather die than live down on my knees
Bury me like a soldier...

Bury me! (Bury me!)
Bury me! (Bury me!)
Bury me!

With my dignity!"

This song came to my mind when I was reading the article about the modern neo-conservative oppression of the ostracized classes in the United States. The Band is rebelling against the government and in particular, law enforcement for being hypocritical. The band says it might not live up to their standards but at least they have their dignity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-dwBhrevgw

Monday, November 1, 2010

Newlywed shot dead after Halloween party

After conducting a quick search for on Google for "crime" and "Halloween" I found this interesting article. The article is pretty sparse and just reports that there was a newlywed woman who was murdered in Atlanta. The woman had been shot several times in her home after returning from a party and her husband has been taken into custody for the event. The report also claimed that the woman's husband was arrested for walking naked in a nearby park and was later charged. This kind of crime may be just another intoxicated violent act and in which case as college students we can see the same types of incidents around our community. I could not help but think that since it took place during Halloween, that maybe this killing was inspired by the bad energy of a morbid holiday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39945566/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/