cannabisnews.com: Getting Naked for The Cause Getting Naked for The Cause Posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 09:40:52 PT By Joel Miller Source: WorldNetDaily Usually when you hear about women protesters stripping to get attention for "the cause," they're the hairy-legged, Volvo-driving, Birkenstock type (as one of my psych profs used to say), going topless to stymie loggers from chopping down trees. The age-old tradition – just think of Lady Godiva going nude to get burdensome taxes lightened – has other practitioners as well. Most recently, Zambian women have sloughed shirts to protest political corruption in their government. And just this week, "Medical Marijuana Barbie" doffed her top – and everything else – on Oxford St. in London, one of the busiest shopping centers in all of Britain. According to a press release detailing the stunt, the buxom lady "climbed atop a bus stop to show her support for the worldwide campaign to legalize cannabis and to ask for the release of Colin Davies, medical marijuana patient and inmate of Strangeways Prison in Manchester, UK." That would all be pretty blasé if it weren't for the next detail: "The irrepressible MMB, complete with diamond studded tiara, entertained a crowd of thousands as she stripped to loud cheers and applause, revealing a hand-painted marijuana leaf where a fig leaf should be and the slogan 'Medical Marijuana' inscribed on her bum." That got attention alright, but from the photos accompanying the press release, it's easy to see why the audience was cheering, and it had nothing do with marijuana. Medical Marijuana Barbie is a character created by Tracy Blevins, comptroller for New York's Medical Marijuana Party, and is the star attraction of Blevins' one-woman "Medical Marijuana Traveling Circus Sideshow," designed to garner support for the legalization of medical pot. Keeping Medicine Out of Joint http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9818.shtmlBesides her breasts, the best thing Blevins has going for her cause is a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Texas Houston Medical School. "I get 'em with the Barbie and keep 'em when they hear about the Ph.D.," she told the Palm Beach Post in November 2000. But does she? Sure, parting with a bra and panties is going to pull some eyes. But what do the gawkers support, legalizing medpot or your bust? Will they become bosom buddies with the cause or simply your bosoms? Take a different example. Abbie Hoffman was big on guerilla theater in the 1960s, doing anything nutty to get attention for the antiwar, yippy movement. But as Saul Alinsky points out in "Rules for Radicals," antics aren't everything – communication of ideas is – and stunts can get in the way. If the antics are objectionable to the people to whom you intend to communicate, they won't hear the accompanying message. It's that simple. It may be in England that folks are fine with naked spokeswomen, but that doesn't play well in America, especially among the people who need convincing about legalizing marijuana the most – conservatives. Just Say 'Yes' to Drug War?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8914.shtmlAs someone who supports the legalization of cannabis completely, and not just for medical reasons, I find the antics of people like Blevins annoying. I'm a Christian, socially conservative and much prefer folks stay well-adorned in public. But beyond my scruples, I don't want the legalization movement known for shirtless stunts so much as the merits of legalization, which are many. It is like the annoyance some Libertarians feel being associated with Art Bell and Howard Stern. Guys like that can bring attention to the party, yes, but they can also make the party look like a pack of kooks. Likewise, for the sheer shock value in sporting a set of breasts, Blevins runs the risk of making the drug legalization community look like a bunch of, pardon me, boobs. Special offer: Americans have been told for 200 years that drinking alcohol is bad news – but is it? "God Gave Wine," a book by Kenneth Gentry and published by Joel Miller's Oakdown Books, details what the Bible really says about alcohol. Get it at: http://www.godgavewine.com/ Joel Miller is the book editor for WorldNetDaily. Additionally, his own publishing company, Oakdown, recently published "God Gave Wine" by Kenneth L. Gentry Jr. Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web)Author: Joel MillerPublished: Saturday, February 9, 2002Copyright: 2002 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.Contact: letters worldnetdaily.comWebsite: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Dutch Experiencehttp://www.dutchexperience.org/Euro MP Arrested on Cannabis Marchhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11580.shtmlEuro MP's Drugs Protest http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11549.shtmlPolice Station Cannabis Protest http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11414.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #30 posted by Minstrel on February 11, 2002 at 01:17:29 PT Dre The more I think about it the more it sounds like a good idea... there are a lot of pro-legalisation hip hop artists but Dr Dre is a perfect choice. He would be more convincing than others (like Cypress Hill), and he's a big influence on young blacks too. It might have the disadvantage of alienating some of the traditionalist white supporters, but as you explained it would be worth it. What about other 'minority' groups like the gays, women, latinos? Especially gays.. I don't know much about this but it seems that drugs are a part of the 'culture'. [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on February 10, 2002 at 05:55:25 PT Street Theatre Those of you who enjoy guerilla street theatre type stuff should check out the website below. They're what Abbie Hoffman would be doing if he made robots. Check out "Little Brother", the pamphleteer-bot. Or the little remote-controlled car which can write messages on pavement as it goes... I can see a lot of potential applications of this type of technology in our movement. http://www.appliedautonomy.com/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by PastorTammyLynn on February 09, 2002 at 22:30:44 PT: Pot -n- Gawd If the streets of heaven are paved with gold, I wonder if the bud there is anything like that purple bud that was plentiful a few years back...stuff that looked like little wilted purple flowers and smelled like fresh lavender, mmmmmm. Peace! [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 22:14:54 PT EJ Good Idea I don't know how NORML decides what to do but email them maybe and tell them your ideas. They send me articles and read this site so maybe they will get an idea from what has already been talked about. Change is brought about by thinking and talking about why something should be or not be done and why. Thanks again. [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 22:10:14 PT Well we can wait, or take the lead FoM wrote:Black people need to find a way to get involved with us Well what would be wrong about NORML taking the lead and trying to diversify the face of the movement?That should be part of nurturing the next crop of activists. [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 22:08:34 PT EJ Thanks I Understand I can't put what goes through my mind in words easily because it is a very complicated and sensitive issue. I wish I could fgure out how to bring the divisions between races, religions etc. together and I know many people wish they could too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 21:18:10 PT There's a lot of reasons why we aren't mixing The activism that I have seen in the black community has been through the medium of culture. Erikah Badu named her first album Baduizm, and izm means marijuana. Dr. Dre's theme is Chronic, which means marijuana. Snoop's whole musical tour was called Puff Puff Pass, which means marijuana. The Marley remix album Chant Down Babylon had an excellent version of Rebel Music. That's not political activism like the kind that NORML does, but it is establishing a cultural front where there are accomplished artists standing for something that they believe in. These are all dedicated people.But the reasons why there aren't blacks involved in the political side of the movement is complex. It is partly because of the particular demographic of Libertarianism being mainly white upper middle class male. And a few of them do happen to be on the racist side and frankly aren't very good at seeing that in themselves.But also partly because a lot of African American political power flows through churches where people have religious and social class bias where marijuana is seen as something dragging black people down and keeping them from the upper middle class where the white Libertarians live. (That's why I got a big kick out of Snoop Dogg telling a reporter he likedto attend church regularly and he actually got them to quote him in print, something to the effect, "There's two things I love -- Jesus and weed.")And Bill Clinton had and has a lot of influence over mainstream black politics and his cruel and mendacious war against pot had way more loyalty than it should have, because of his personal history on race issues and the loyalty that engendered in the black community.That seductive SOB had people blaming marijuana for racism and poverty! Oh if only we didn't smoke weed, maybe we'd get ahead.And also because the incarceration rate is a lot higher and the education rate is lower. The political activist pool is much smaller because these guys are getting their educations in jail where thanks to TV nobody reads or writes anymore. The cultural activist pool is fine because you can mix prison with a career in music, many people have done it.And then there the tendency of black political activism to be of the left wing variety, and leftists can be very puritanical and materialistic, and even if leftists see marijuana legalization as a valid issue, it gets stuck into the dreaded decadent "personal" category, and falls to the lowest priority compared to the other "important" issues of the left wing. Left wing black intellectuals tend to decry what they see as the low class criminal decadence of rappers like Snoop and Dre.There's a lot of stuff going on to empower marijuana prohibition. It's not all just bad journalism and expensive propaganda. There are natural divisions between different interest groups that divide up the political power and keep it from looking significant to the media. [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 20:28:54 PT DankHank I never meant it in a derogatory way. That's not my nature. I meant that you need a leader to set the pace. You need a black Ethan Nadelmann or Keith Stroup or Richard Cowan or Marc Emery even. Black people need to find a way to get involved with us or any reform group or news service. If they have I didn't know they have. Just one strong leader to lead people who don't feel comfortable in a leadership position but have a desire to help but no way to do anything about it. That's what they need. [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by Dankhank on February 09, 2002 at 20:16:05 PT: Did I read it right???????? FOM, your comment about why you think no black people have become active concerns me ...Did you really mean, (as I interpret it), that blacks inherently lack the level of dedication needed to be activists???I personally think that nude women go with practically ANYTHING!!!!! Thanks MM Barbie !!!!!!!!Death goes with alcohol ....Nothing else ... Hemp n Stuff ... [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by The GCW on February 09, 2002 at 20:08:35 PT Culture? You know, in Europe, this is more common politically, it sounds like. If it gets the attention, and the message out... Many prohibitionist in the guise of fundamentalist, may want to cage her for showing us what was given to us. Both ways. She was not being gross. What our Father gave us is not gross. Although I am uncomfortable with the idea of my daughter doing this, or being around a nude beach, this is a beautiful woman in a position to say, WE SHOULD STOP THIS FREAK SHOW, CALLED THE WAR ON DRUGS, GIVEN BY OUR GOVERNMENTS. I personaly would avoid the nude beach, but I would not prohibit them if there was enough beach for everyone. A nude beach may be a beautiful place. Perhaps we could draw the line and say if people are having sex on the beach it will aproach being gross, and those people should head into the trees. That from a Christian of the order of Christ God through the Holy Spirit of Truth.Christian clergy that insist on caging a human for using cannabis, is void of the Holy Spirit of Truth. Spreading more bad seed. It is potentially the very root of the problem!!!!!&! Clergy failing to do the work of our Father. A TRUE FUNDAMENTALIST WOULD STOP FELLOW CHRISTIANS FROM FROM ACCEPTING THE CONCEPT OF CAGING HUMANS FOR USING KANEH BOSM. Be careful not to consider Christians who claim Christianity, yet live as though they hate Christ God, with those who claim Christianity and have a relationship with the Holy Spirit of Truth, that are going to honor all the God said, including what He said on the 1st page. I bring up John 14-16, plenty, and again, it says this.On the 1st page of the Bible we are told God created all the stars and oceans. We don’t say ok, except for the Indian Ocean or that one star is bad, why is cannabis bad, when God said they were ALL good? -------------- Some Christians say the cliche, “original sin”. Is that museum Christianity? Christ God is the living God, and if there is an original sin, it still exists today in a Christ God living way. Original sin still effects us today. Isn’t the current original sin, the fact that we’re told cannabis, which is in the ALL THE GREEN PLANTS catagory, is bad? Then let a civilization go at prohibiting what God gave us? That seems more apropriatly labeled the original sin. Plus it is on the 1st page of the Bible and no Biblically written sin could preceed it, and it preceeds what some consider original sin, actually on the next page. It gives new meaning to the ORIGINAL SIN. It is the living original sin. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by rev bookburn on February 09, 2002 at 18:59:27 PT: Barbie rocks Guerrilla theater tactics, from Abbie Hoffman to Med Marijuana Barbie, have opened doors that have allowed the skewering critics to have a broader platform to articulate the cause. Barbie does not deserve to be compared with idiots like Howard Stern. She begins by getting attention and then has an opportunity to communicate her credentials and message. We are very fortunate to have a brave and brilliant warrior getting attention to this burning issue. If the 'Christian' who doesn't like nudity, maybe he can write about some isolated discussion group that the public never hears. This Reverend thanks you Barbie. Rev. Bookburn- Radio Volta [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by ekim on February 09, 2002 at 18:19:32 PT: Good point E I had hoped that we would see a CD take off on the subject. I remeber when Cannabis was up and comming then he stepped on LLs toes or mic and all hell broke out. You are right on when you say more of us people need to stand up and be counted. Remeber the Normal CD last year. Lets see a real colaberation by every type of sound out there, then we must support it.mike [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by p4me on February 09, 2002 at 18:12:46 PT Do something even if it is wrong I am glad to have this woman on our side. As a matter of fact, I am glad to have anyone on our side. The biggest problem with the reform movement is of course the tyrannical laws that inhibit people from speaking up. The problem continues because most people do not want to do anything.I am waiting for the guy that gets his property confiscated to camp at he Hall of Justice steps. I am waiting for someone to trounce through a new fallen snow and write in yellow MJ laws suck or for that matter have one of those trucks that goes around and sucks out waste from septic tanks painted up in slogans and pump the whole thing out on the courthouse steps.I applaude this woman's effort and to anyone else that does anything to change these insane laws even if some people say it is wrong.The main thing is we have to vote. What more can you say? VAAI. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 17:52:30 PT My Opinion This is one reason that I feel they're are few blacks involved in drug policy issues. It takes people to step out who have enough dedication to make it work. People will follow then. People like that are hard to come by but that's all it would take is one strong willed activist with a good idea. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by The GCW on February 09, 2002 at 17:41:11 PT Why? Maybe there are so many blacks that have been badly abused by the system that they are more afraid of speaking out. Maybe since they are jailed more, they are restrained from it by way of parole etc. Maybe since they may make less money, they have less time to spare to this effort, since they must spend more time to gather their needs.I have thought that there isn't enough pro musicians speaking out. Ziggy Marley, I thought I read, was considering the platform.Remember the felony convicts that are disinfranciased (sp)in Florida, that could not vote and it clearly cost the democrats, who made the law in the 1st place. Stats indicate most are black. That could be a starting point to consider. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 14:11:31 PT Dre's active, he could become an activist A PSA by Dr. Dre like Willie Nelson's would be good.Maybe he might not have the time or desire if he's busy doing music.His protege and partner Snoop Dogg just got busted with a pound or so of bud in his tour bus on his "Puff Puff Pass" tour. So Dre might be interested in finding the time right now. Since the marijuana laws are threatening to have a major impact on the future revenues of his record label and on his music.I find it interesting that Willie Nelson can become renowned for the marijuana smoke pouring out of his tour bus wherever he goes and he never actually gets arrested, and a young black man tries the same thing and they nail him with felony charges right away.This is essentially why marijuana became and is still illegal. Look at the power it gives to the kind of people who make achieving that kind of separation of the population their mission in life.But that's not a message that the socially privileged white men who tend to be attracted to the Libertarian philosophy can credibly deliver by themselves to Americans. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 12:53:39 PT Thanks EJ I don't know anything about modern music. I listen to my old rock and roll and the rest goes over my head. Is he an activist? Maybe he might not have the time or desire if he's busy doing music. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 12:44:44 PT Dr. Dre Dr. Dre is one of the most powerful men in hip hop, a very successful performer and entertainer and entrepreneur who is now nurturing young rap talent as a producer.His last two albums were both named after marijuana. The Chronic and Chronic 2001. Chronic is ghetto slang for marijuana. As in chronic offender, which is what marijuana laws make out of black men, thanks to the unequal manner in which they are enforced.Dre is a very articulate and measured man when he speaks, despite the nigga-bitch-ho stuff in his rap lyrics. He clearly knows who he is as an artist and as a businessman. In his VH1 biography, which is aired quite frequently, he swears by marijuana, he was introduced to good bud by his protege Snoop Dogg, and now he is a very strong believer in the positive powers of weed."Still puffin' my weed" is how he describes himself in Chronic 2001, it's his banner of resistance that he waves to everything that might change him from who he wants to be.I was really impressed by the way he spoke about his own life in his VH1 bio. He impresses me. And all I could think of watching him be so publicly open and unashamed about marijuana on TV was -- why isn't this man speaking at any NORML conferences?Maybe he's too big of a star, maybe he just hasn't been invited, I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 12:18:30 PT Dr. Dre? Who is he? I never heard of him EJ. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 12:10:08 PT Are Libertarians afraid of black men? Just a question here -- has Dr. Dre ever been invited to a NORML conference?Or is he seen as some dangerous gangster element that would only discredit the movement?I think the ghost of Harry Anslinger is chuckling to himself right now.You'd think that the population that we know statistically is the most harmed by marijuana laws would be prominent in the movement to get the laws changed.It's a politically meaningful absence. Marijuana prohibition was all about pandering to the fear of black men in the 1920s, and if that fear is not addressed now, how can the original injustice ever be undone? [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 11:55:48 PT EJ How? How can NORML attract different people to it's conventions? I thought they were open to anyone who wants to go. I've never been to one. I really don't know. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 11:35:37 PT When marijuana prohibition will end in America When the NORML conference attracts enough of the non-usual suspects so that the audience starts looking like the population that is actually being incarcerated. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by puff_tuff on February 09, 2002 at 11:27:07 PT Medical Marijuana Barbie Pictures SECURITY CLAMPDOWN FOILS MEDICAL MARIJUANA BARBIE'S VALENTINE ATTEMPT http://www.schmoo.co.uk/barbie3.htmBus Stop Strip Stuns Oxford Street Shoppers http://www.schmoo.co.uk/barbie4.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 11:23:28 PT Women's Sugffrage is important to learn from It's too bad the Libertarians are so dominated by the usual white males, because there is a lot to be learned about social change from the Suffrage movement, Unfortunately, the majority of the white male Libertarians that I have met personally have not seemed to be interested in any history but the history of other white males.But maybe that's because I went to Caltech, where that's practically the religion. There are all kinds of lessons about race and activism and conservative/radical tension and how to use it and how NOT to respond to it, that could be learned.One of the major major MAJOR mistakes that was made in the Women's Suffrage movement was failing to address racism, not dealing with racism and anti-immigrant sentiments in the movement. Those issues took people out of the movement who had been very valuable to it.Libertarians have not been very successful at addressing the racial issues of marijuana prohibition. How many black people are going to be at the NORML conference? If there is any community that should be outraged at marijuana prohibition -- it should be the most-jailed community of all.You're never going to get Democrats on board with nothing but the usual unbroken sea of white male faces. That's just a fact. You can carp all you want about whether that is right or fair, but carping about it won't change anything.At least a pair of naked female breasts have something to offer beyond that boring same old same old.Alice Paul and her followers dressed up as Greek Goddessess parading in front of the White House calling Woodrow Wilson a tyrant -- it was a break from the same old same old of conservative careful feminine Women's Suffrage activism.The pubic did not agree with Alice Paul or support her but she gave them something to talk about that was new and different, and Woodrow Wilson could not compete with that.And he lost the media competition. He had no choice but to run to the conservative suffragists to end it in a way that he could claim that he had won. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by E_Johnson on February 09, 2002 at 11:04:52 PT The good activist, bad activist game This same kind of good activist, bad activist tension existed in the Women's Suffrage movement but in the end it worked out when they worked it together.It was the same thing then -- there was a radical section of the movement and a conservative section of the movement.What happened in the end? A game of good suffragist, bad suffragist with Woodrow Wilson in the middle.The bad suffragists under the leadership of the radical lesbian feminist Alice Paul started picketing the White House at the end of WWI. They wore funny flamboyant cosumes, some of them, and carried politically offensive signs comparing President Wilson with Kaiser Wilhelm, alleging that Wilson was a tyrant and an opponent of democracy because of the obstace he presented to women's suffrage.So Wilson had them all arrested and thrown in jail. Where they produced more radical theater in jail in the form of public statements and hunger strikes. They put on a great media show, and public sentiment turned against Wilson. These women did not represent the mainstream, but they gave good media and the press rewarded them with front page coverage and the public lapped it up.That was where the conservatives came in. Wilson had tea with Carrie Chapman Catt, who of course assured Wilson that she deplored the tactics of the bad feminists and had nothing to do with that lesbian weirdo Alice Paul.And Wilson got to have it both ways -- getting the blessings of the good feminine tea-drinking patriotic activists while being able to deplore the shameful conduct of the bad unfeminine hunger striking incarcerated unpatriotic activists.And that's how women finally got the vote after 75 years of trying. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 11:01:16 PT Thanks Hope I put Joel's articles in the article. Maybe I should have put them at the bottom where I normally do. I was trying something different. Sorry. Keeping Medicine Out of Joint http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9818.shtml Just Say 'Yes' to Drug War? http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8914.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Hope on February 09, 2002 at 10:45:48 PT urls References in article at WND site include this other article written by Mr. Miller last May that I had missed completely and a picture of Tracy....shirt on.http://www.spintechmag.com/0105/jm0501.htmhttp://www.cannabisculture.com/library/images/uploads/2074-Barbie_clipped.jpg http://www.spintechmag.com/0105/jm0501.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 09, 2002 at 10:17:44 PT SpaceCat I sure haven't looked for the pictures. LOL! I guess it's not interesting to me. I don't think getting naked will help us get the laws changed but will work against us. Why do magazine like High Times and Cannabis Culture have an area called Bud Babes I think it's called? Cannabis and naked woman don't seem to go well together. Alcohol and naked woman do though. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by SpaceCat on February 09, 2002 at 10:12:21 PT He's right, you know I'm not all that conservative (whatever that means) so my first thought was the fundamental MCP response:Where are those pictures? :) [ Post Comment ] Post Comment