Dear Log,
I'm glad the Saint Paul Police Department goes to the bother of publishing pics of hookers and johns. I'm glad that the money isn't spent on hiring a webmaster for the schools or anything. Let's get TOUGH on HOES!
Re:ooh!
chromatic on 2003-06-07T16:46:28
It's too bad we're not in famine, or we could eat high school dropouts. You were kidding about the word force, weren't you?
Re:ooh!
jdavidboyd on 2003-06-07T19:03:10
kidding/dreaming... whatever
Yes, I was kidding. I consider myself an American, which means to me, to sum it up with a potential misquote "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it".
To me, America means that you can do whatever you want, as long as it does not cause damage to another individual.
I believe in total personal freedom.
I think it is pathetic that we have such a lack of educated people coming out of the school system, but I guess it is their right to be stupid. However, I certainly don't want to support such people with my tax dollars. But then what? Euthanasia? I hardly think so! But, I have NO answer.
(Are high school dropouts tasty?)Re:ooh!
brev on 2003-06-07T20:36:18
> However, I certainly don't want to support such > people with my tax dollars.
You don't get to choose.
The world is not perfectly fungible. I agree that people should suffer the consequences of their own actions, since by the same token we expect to enjoy the fruits of our own successes. But there comes a point where their fuck-ups affect the rest of us. I live in Vancouver where the city government had that attitude, result: one neighbourhood in the downtown core virtually lawless, drug-related crime affecting every other district.
I saw an interesting movie called "Fix: The Story of an Addicted City" which dealt with addicts' stories. The addicts were quick to admit that they were weaker than the rest of us -- some had problems with anger, some said they had a history of abuse but were "chickenshit" and never faced it. Mostly they hated themselves and being addicted was a sort of suicide-is-painless way out.
I dunno about this. I want to live in a free society, and that means things like hard, severely addictive drugs will be available. What do we do about people who just biologically, or emotionally, can't resist? Do we owe them anything?
