As news of the Egyptian riots grows more desperate with each passing day, it’s become clear that the internet has breached the development gap from first-world luxury to humanitarian utility. Just ten years ago, the quickly-constructed riots taking place across Cairo, Alexandria and all other population centers in Egypt would not have been possible without social applications like Facebook and Twitter. These platforms are allowing resistance groups and community leaders to instantly devise demonstration objectives, protest routes and the logistics of organizing a nation-wide network of carefully-timed and targeted demonstrations with a single unilateral objective – change.

Authoritarian rulers seem keen on cutting public communication lines as a quick and dirty means to crowd control. On Friday, Egypt’s Ministry of Communication shut down the interwebs. All lines of wireless communication (save Egypt’s stock market, cheekily enough) including SMS communication stopped. This didn’t siphon off civil unrest developing in Egyptian streets (as the ministry’s thugs had intended), nor did it mask what was happening in Cairo’s streets to the world. In Egypt’s case, citizens had already organized and executed much of the infrastructure necessary for these massive riots to happen – and thanks to foreign press locked inside, the world’s eyes are closely watching every move.

As technology becomes more ubiquitous, once-luxuries like always-on, always-connected broadband (and the devices that rely on them) have become vital, necessary utilities. This week, Facebook assisted in uniting the Tunisian and Egyptian nations. Twitter isn’t just a chatterbox, it’s a logistical tool. A revolution-enabler, even. Demonstrations happening in Egypt have brought the world’s attention to President Mubarak’s crimes against the Egyptian people, and could very well lead to a meaningful political revolution. From this light, I’d argue that internet access is, without a doubt, an indisputable human right. The problem is that many developing parts of the world simply lack the infrastructure necessary to make it all happen. For example, building out high-speed communication lines throughout poor and rural communities, or educating citizens of developing nations how to use new technology. Once that infrastructure has been built out, however, information – communication – social and political organization – is suddenly accessible. Despotism is obsolete. The will of a united people can change the insurmountable. It’s happening right now.

Desk. Laptop. Headphones. Beck and Radiohead and Lady Gaga. Webcam. Eyes strain, but my heart is racing. OKCupid, Facebook inbox. Texting three friends a symphonious haiku simultaneously, it’s become abundantly clear. Virtual reality has become all but virtual. The new reality. Is it reality? That’s what it’s all about, right? Being connected to everyone and everything at every moment?

Feels like a disconnect. False contact. Disconnection. Simulation. And yet.

You love it + it loves.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past month or so, you know about the shocking rise in teen suicides across the US brought on by torrential bullying, mostly due to being gay. Several gay teens, including Billy Lucas, Tyler Clementi and Seth Walsh, have received national attention after committing suicide from being teased and tormented for their sexual preference, and school administrators have largely ignored it. So yesterday, we created Spirit Day.

People were encouraged to wear purple as a message of hope. Hope that things will get better. It goes along with the It Gets Better support campaign happening across YouTube and and interweb, sending messages to young gay people that, well – it gets better. People from all corners have been sharing their inspiring stories to instill hope in young people who are suffering.

I saw plenty of purple-clad peeps in the Twitterverse and even on the Conan CocoCam… but I didn’t many people in LA wearing purple. I didn’t go roaming the streets of Hollywood or Venice Beach seeking out GLBT-supporting people in the pouring rain or anything, but the office I work at bore no purple, and my co-workers hadn’t even heard of Spirit Day.

Which disheartened me.

Then I came across this ‘anonymous’ Tumblr post.

Okay, ignore the “fact” that he obviously doesn’t “know” how to “use” quotation marks.

This attitude of “special treatment” being given to gay and lesbian victims of abuse is wholly and fundamentally flawed. It is true that all kinds of people commit suicide. The difference here is that these suicides belong to a concentrated group of young people – kids -  who have been subjugated by intolerance not by a small group of prejudiced individuals, but by government policies, their own school administrators – even society as a whole. The torment was too much. The only way out, in their eyes, was to end their life.

If you’re skeptical about giving support and hope to a particular minority – remember Billy, Tyler and Seth. No one told them they were special, that there was nothing wrong with them. They didn’t receive comfort or love. No one told them it gets better.

We made progress with the Matthew Shepard Act, passed by President Obama, protecting gays and lesbians under the federal hate crime law. It’s not enough. Young people still feel alone, unprotected, unloved.

There is something everyone – YOU – can do. Reach out to those around you. Kindness and love do more than we could imagine. Give love. Give hope.

“Be kind – for every person you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato

For those not in the know, I recently took a trip to Japan and Taiwan – both countries are amazing, and although I liked Japan better (Tokyo is my kind of city), the 2009 Comic Exhibition in Taipei really amazed me!

Although comparing Japan and Taiwan over the past 45 years may not yield much more than historical references to Japan’s colonial rule over the small island nation Southeast of Mainland China, the two nations share something in common that many Westerners may not know about: a love for asian animation comics, known as “anime.” I recently voyaged to Taiwan for a week to visit some friends and family and was able to stop by the 10th annual Comic Exhibition 2009 in Taipei City to experience one of Asia’s top animation conferences – it was worth the trip!

The 10th annual Comic Exhibition 2009 in Taipei is essentially a die-hard anime lover’s haven, which has been moving fans to tears since 1995: everything from material swag from Asia’s hottest comic series (including manga comic books, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, plush animals, accessories and even clothing emblazoned with comic figures and story lines) to artist and author appearances (and live drawings / writing sessions) to publishers trying to push new series debuts on fans and media buyers alike can be found at the convention. Young people are the main demographic that the exhibition caters to, predominantly those between the ages of 12 and 25, although I noticed fans as young as five or six years old clamoring for a glimpse at their favorite anime authors, actors or giveaways. Because up to 500,000 people visited the weeklong exposition, show organizers charge a small fee to enter (approximately $3 USD) to cover security and maintenance/cleaning costs.

The dominance and importance of Japanese animation series’ in Taiwan and in Asia alike cannot be understated: loyal fans often follow characters’ life stories and even try to shape their lives around their often noble and wise characteristics. Naruto for example, the longest-running and largest-followed animation series featured at Comic Exhibition 2009, features a noble and powerfully aspiring ninja who inspires followers to chase their dreams, no matter how great.

The future of the exhibition is thankfully secure, just in case you are tempted to visit in 2010: booth exhibitors have actually been turned away for the past several years due to a lack of exhibition floor space. The event rakes in over $34 million USD annually, speaking to the high importance and popularity of the exposition. The animation industry is so important to the Taiwanese economy that annual animation competitions and shows are funded by the government, fueling the industry. As an American, it was a sight for virgin eyes.

I really wasn’t planning on my next post being LGBT-related, but it came to my attention that tomorrow is the anniversary of JFK’s equality speech. It’s becoming increasingly clear that LGBT equality is the civil rights issue of the 21st Century. 46 years ago tomorrow, on June 11, 1963, President John F. Kennedy gave a landmark speech on national television supporting equality and civil rights for all, that helped pave the way for major civil rights legislation later  in the 1960’s. I think it’s time for President Obama’s JFK Moment.

When John F. Kennedy became President in January, 1961, he moved very slowly to reform and broaden the civil rights of all citizens. Kennedy knew that he needed the support of powerful, conservative, and segregationist Southern Democrats to pass his programs, but unfortunately these conservative Democrats were not sympathetic to the civil rights cause. As a result, Kennedy did very little early in his Presidency to advance equality - but the world was changing, and so was Kennedy’s time frame. On June 11, 1963, Kennedy delivered a prime-time speech to the nation which marked a pivotal moment in the civil rights era. Later that year, Kennedy was assassinated. It took all of President Lyndon Johnson’s legislative skills over the next couple of years to get a major civil rights bill passed, but it was Kennedy’s speech in June of 1963 that helped change the landscape.

If a leader is to be a great leader, he or she must lead. Kennedy saw that it was time to lead on such an important moral issue which ultimately changed the nation. President Obama, it’s your turn to do for gay Americans what Kennedy helped do for Black Americans.

Not unlike President Kennedy’s initially slow move on civil rights action, President Obama’s administration has been slow to move on gay rights. Obama campaigned strongly on behalf of the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the military - but since taking office, he has done nothing to change this policy. Many have said that with so much on his plate, he needs to prioritize and that he doesn’t want to lose the support of moderates who may support him on other issues. Even still, however, just as events in the early 1960’s moved Kennedy to act, the same is happening now in gay communities spanning every state across America.

President Obama, even with all the other issues that our country is facing, it is time to put the moral authority of the Presidency of the United States to work in supporting equality for all Americans, gay or straight. Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and come out in support of gay marriage. Just as history so strongly shines on Kennedy’s speech, which at the time was controversial and actually decreased his popularity for a short period of time with the American public, Kennedy took actions standing on the right side of history. We ask you, President Obama, to do the same.

Written in collaboration with Student.com.

So today I received an email from the HRC Action Center alerting me of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ “yes” vote on the Matthew Shepard Act and that I should consider writing her an email or calling her staffers in Washington to give my thanks and approval. It’s not uncommon for me to get these “action alerts” from the HRC and other political organizations I support, but today, for the first time, I actually called Representative Giffords and spoke with her staffer for about a minute, discussing my approval of her vote and my hopes for her future support of issues regarding LGBT rights. I was a bit nervous, but the staffer on the line was really friendly!

Now over the past [probably four] years, I’ve become increasingly interested in politics – in 2004 I intently watched the election between Bush and Kerry (complimented by intense weekly debates in my AP U.S. Government class) and stayed up all night as the votes were counted. Border issues, immigration and the drug war have also been in my mind since that election, living so close to the border, as well as more obscure political issues that most of mainstream America probably doesn’t pay too much attention to, like whether English should be America’s “official” language (a major issue throughout Southern Arizona in ’06-07). It wasn’t until 2008 that I became impassioned with a specific issue (apart from the election), which was of course Prop 8 in California. I was studying abroad in Scotland when the issue was being debated and heavily protested in Southern California, I was really upset that I wasn’t able to be a part of the movement (specifically the protests), but I fought out in my own way with a vlog I posted on my YouTube channel.

Whether the vlog made any difference whatsoever in the outcome of the proposition’s fate I really don’t know, and to be honest, it probably didn’t do a whole lot. What I do know, though, is that it felt amazing to speak out on an issue that I knew wouldn’t be met with 100% positive attitudes – I received quite a few hate comments from that video, but even more people supported me, which felt even more amazing. I’ve spoken with lots of my friends about getting involved in politics and issues they believe in – no matter their stance – but most are completely apathetic. I understand why (especially with lame campaigns like “Vote or Die” that my generation grew up with), but at the same time – COME ON!

Nothing changes if people aren’t willing to speak up, obvious but true. Part of it, in my experience at least, is a fear of what others will think. It took me a long time to be confident enough with myself to make my beliefs known to the public, but afterward I felt like a better person, as if expressing my belief in a touchy subject was some sort of internal creative breakthrough, a new found maturity that has actually helped me grow and develop as a person. If more people realized how active participation can make you feel – and what it can accomplish (or in my case contribute to) – I’m positive the apathy people hold for politics would fade, if only slightly. If you haven’t gotten involved, it’s never too late! Learn about an issue you are passionate about and make a quick call to your congressperson and let them know how you feel. Make a YouTube video or… post a blog! Even if you don’t think you’ve made a political difference, I can almost promise you’ll feel a personal one. Excuse how corny that sounded?

Today is April 20th, 4/20, a significant day in cannabis culture which was supposedly started by a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in in 1971. Students would get together after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the Louis Pasteur statue. Since then, it has become a mainstay in cannabis culture to smoke, be merry and raise cannabis awareness every year on April 20th.

Sure, this is a fun day for pot smokers and pot haters alike to poke fun at one another, but the bigger picture I’m interested in is how much cannabis in general has come into the general spotlight in recent months. Medical marijuana has been around in California since 1996, and 12 states currently have decriminalized the plant, but in the past 12 months alone there seems to have been a huge stimulus in the public regarding marijuana policy reform. Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Arlen Spector (R-PA) recently introduced legislation into Congress to critically evaluate America’s drug prison policies(Senate Bill 714, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009), which is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Michigan and New Hampshire recently passed medical marijuana legislation allowing the  physician-recommended use of pot for patients with certain types of pain, and the drug war boiling at the Mexio-US border has sparked a nationwide debate of whether marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated just like alcohol and tobacco.

No matter which way you lean on this debate, I for one am happy that the issue is being discussed – it needs to be! The drug war is a glaring blemish on America’s law enforcement record (it doesn’t work, it never has and it never will), prisons are privatized businesses where non-violent drug offenders are being thrown into cages at a profit, the DEA treats drug users as criminals (as opposed to people who need medical help to overcome addiction), and drug dealers and cartel violence are thriving because black markets create an undercurrent of unmitigated problems. From Time Magazine’s cover story “Why Legalizing of Marijuana Makes Sense: ‘We spend $68 billion per year on corrections, and one-third of those being corrected are serving time for nonviolent drug crimes. We spend about $150 billion on policing and courts, and 47.5% of all arrests are marijuana-related.’” The U.S. is, by far, the most “criminal” country in the world, with 5% of the world’s population and 25% of its prisoners, many of which are serving for nonviolent recreational drug use charges. What does this say about our state of law enforcement and political ideology regarding the freedom of a progressive, westernized country’s people?

Think back to the 1920s, when prohibition created huge mob empires laden with violence and dirty money to sustain citizen demand for alcohol – the public demand for alcohol was too great for the government to control, violence generated from black market providers made cities less safe, tax dollars were being fruitlessly spent to quell alcohol consumption (which were being ultimately wasted, procuring no solid decline in alcohol consumption or black market sale). This mimics the situation America faces today with marijuana. Most people do know indeed that alcohol is far more dangerous to the body than marijuana: alcohol is responsible for more than 100,000 deaths every year in the United States alone, whereas marijuana has never claimed a single life. The legalization, taxation and regulation of this substance would also pump literally billions into the economy and would help the slump America (and the rest of the world) is facing right now by simultaneously diverting funds away from the failed drug war (targeted at marijuana prohibition) and by taxing marijuana production and sales. This isn’t opinion but fact, as even Harvard University economists have released statements that break down the benefits we could reap by legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis.

I’m not a pot head, and I’m not a one-track thinker, but I do think this issue is something that needs to be addressed in a [mostly] progressive and westernized country. I do think there could be problems with legalization. Driving under the influence of any substance, including alcohol and marijuana, is a serious problem that requires serious solutions – as of yet, there is no quick and effective method of testing for marijuana in the body as there for alcohol with roadside breathalyzers. The sale of marijuana also would need to have the same strict regulations that cigarette and alcohol sales currently have to protect minors. Some say smoking marijuana affects short-term memory. These points are all valid points which need to be addressed openly and objectively. Others argue that if legalized, marijuana consumption would increase, but this seems to be a questions of personal choice that the government should not be involved in (cigarettes are horribly bad for you, we sell cigarettes with bold warnings for expecting mothers and the like), but no one has a right to tell a person what he or she can do to their own body. I’m sure there are other arguments against the legalization of this plant, but all in all prohibition has failed, it hasn’t stopped anyone who really wants to use the plant from doing so, and it has supported border violence and drug cartels which thrive on the government’s pot ban.

Because the taboo nature of pot discussion has started to erode, we have a president who unabashedly admitted to inhaling, and inhaling frequently. Legislators are slowly becoming less afraid to look “soft on drugs” and to speak out on these kinds of topics – for or against – which is a good thing for any mass-culture debate. Some may think legalization is simply common sense, but what we can all agree on (I hope) is the necessary requirement to start a conversation about the possibility and its prospective pros and cons to society. What do you think?

Is there a line that free speech can’t cross? I know yelling “Fire!” in a theater is grounds for arrest, but honestly, when religious extremists come to college campuses to scream at passers-by for being “sluts” or “homos” is there a line a university campus should enforce, to halt hate speech? I ask because it’s that time of year again – when “Brother Jed” goes around to various large university campuses to spread his hate speech against anything and anyone non-conservative, including signs that read “Homos Go To HELL” and “Masturbators are Sinners!” As if that last one didn’t encompass every single person on campus.

Huge crowds surround this man, this self-proclaimed “Foremost campus evangelist in the USA” who carries a bible in one hand and a clenched fist in the other, spouting lunatic ravings about how masturbating will send you to hell, of how dating without intent to marry will send you to hell, about how homosexuals – and those who tolerate them – are most assuredly going to hell. It’s a sad, destructive show of our first amendment rights in action. Some students gather to be funny or throw childish insults at him (or blind him with the sun using CDs, or other shows of immaturity), some gather to be entertained, and a few gather to listen and offer educated, insightful responses to this man’s hate mongering. I’ve seen the man several times and never once have I heard a student (or anyone) back him up, or offer a sympathetic opinion towards his ravings, not that I can blame any of them. As for me, I haven’t had the guts to waste my breath on him (yet), though I think in this situation, ignoring is bliss.

People like “Brother Jed” beg the question of what constitutes the line of acceptance between free speech and potentially-violence-inducing hate speech? Is there a line at all? Perhaps as an educated, progressive society it is our responsibility (as believers in acceptance and shunners of hate mongerers) to simply ignore him: if the crowds stopped gathering both at my university and at any other place of higher learning “Brother Jed” frequents, he would probably stop his nationwide campus tour. Maybe he wouldn’t, but I have a feeling he would, as he is essentially marketing himself with every appearance he makes. Every student paper in the area of his appearances runs big ads with his name and website, googling “Brother Jed” comes up with tons of information and news stories. Is this man a devout follower or a marketing genius? Probably both.

I think it is every person’s right to hold whatever beliefs they wish to hold towards others, and they should have a right to voice those opinions freely – except when such opinions are violent or hateful in nature.  Drawing that distinction is tricky though – does a prejudiced comment someone makes to a friend or in private count as hate speech which should be censored? Maybe it is a matter of public space (whether said comment is printed, aired on television or the radio, or voiced in public, as with “Brother Jed”). Should some random preacher from the midwest touring the country’s biggest college campuses – purely to rile up student bodies and incite negative emotion in people – be tolerated? What do you think? I don’t necessarilly believe such radicalists should be hauled off campus, rather the ideal solution would be that society’s members would pay him no attention or acknowledgement, and his “hateful kind” would fade into the realm of obsolescence (my solution to the Phelps Family). This won’t be happening any time soon however, so maybe it would be a good idea for university campuses to begin screening public speakers’ content before they are allowed to speak on campus. Free speech is a great thing. When it puts others at risk of being seriously degraded, mentally abused or marginalized however, controlled censorship may be an option worth considering.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about my generation and what our place is in the “bigger picture” fitting between Gen X (those born pre-1980) and the Millennials (those born in the new millennium). We’ve been surrounded by technology from when we were young, we’re the generation that has been coddled with “participation awards” and we’re the generation that grew up in general prosperity, assuming the 1990s were a mostly prosperous time for most Americans (and many European countries).

We’re the first generation that thinks of a university education as standard – whereas prior generations saw a college education as something of prestige and great knowledge. A lot of universities now are putting more and more pressure on applicants to be perfect in every way (and I’m not just talking about grades). Parents push their children more and more to perform in school and in extracurricular activities – which definitely isn’t a bad thing, but it is quite a shift from how education and success were seen from past parental generations.

The political climate our generation currently sits in has a lot to do with our future impact on the world as well. It was my generation – our generation – that elected Barack Obama to office with the promise of change. Will the change come? As young adults, seeing the impact we were capable of producing will undoubtedly serve as another example of what we are capable of. Will we cure cancer, aids and Multiple sclerosis? I sure hope so – and I think we can! Am I blindly optimistic? I don’t think so.

A darker face of our generation, in my opinion, is how this increased optimism and pressure to succeed can affect those who have struggled. Be it financial or academic, social, psychological or spiritual, struggling Gen Y’ers will probably find it more difficult than past generations to talk to their peers about what issues they are dealing with. I have friends who have absolutely no idea what they want to do with their life, and feel as if they can’t talk to anyone – me included – about it, for fear of being judged as inadequate, unintelligent or simply less-gifted. It seems like everyone I know is “gifted” – in the honors program, or recipients of scholarships and merit-based grants. Where do these people turn when they feel like they are surrounded by supposed geniuses? To be honest, I’m not quite sure (but I would encourage anyone reading this to be aware of those around them).

Where am I going with all of this? I’m not quite sure, but I do know that our generation is certainly one filled with motivated, optimistic and extremely intelligent people. I’m not saying past generations were any less intelligent or motivated than we are, but the positive economic climate that many of us grew up in combined with a constant pressure to succeed and learn will most certainly shape our impact on the world in the coming decades.

I am extremely proud of my generation. We have achieved great things in the short time we have been on this planet, but we are faced with some of the biggest challenges our planet has ever seen. Global warming, oil consumption, unrest in the Middle East, nonexistent corporate morality and a lack of universal health care are just a few of the many problems our generation is practically expected to tackle (and hopefully solve). Like I said earlier, I’m not a blind optimist, but I am an optimist. We all need to be optimists, and for those who aren’t optimists – they need to be inspired by those who are.

Here’s to hope.

Honestly, I feel like I’ve let this space, my blog, go to waste. I haven’t been updating it often, and when I do the posts haven’t reflected me, what I want to do with my blog, with my online presence.

I’ve felt inspired lastely, the past week – for whatever reason – to really start shaping myself and what I present to the world. I have such a passion for things that interest me, social progression, new technology, green energy, societal development, and the like.

Expect much, much more from me. Starting now. =]