prohibition
my last rant has me thinking...
prohibition in this country failed. alcohol, of course, with the possible exception of cigarettes, though i doubt it, causes more misery, suffering and death than any other single thing in our society, and stands tallest in need of some kind of better solution... but prohibition failed.
why?
well, first of all, the very act of prohibiting something strikes an elemental chord within us human beings, (if you've ever tried to tell a 15 year he can't go over to his girlfriend's house you'll know what i mean), and the result of that chord is absolutely that we want to do it, or, at the very least, insist that authority has no right to tell us not to. it's who we are.
the other very dangerous consequence is that outlawing something puts it firmly beyond any attempts to regulate it, and the obvious result of this becomes rum runners, drug runners, and, we all have to acknowledge, back alley abortionists, all of whom bring death with them as certainly as the extra profits for themselves they earn for running an illicit enterprise. (anyone believing in the capitalist system, but not in the inevitability of illegal drugs no matter how intense the war we wage against them is an idiot--the harder the stuff is to get, the higher the profits for getting it for people--it's CAPITALISM).
well, outlawing christians didn't work for the romans, and outlawing palestinians isn't going to work for the israelis, either, if you'd like my wager on the subject. and outlawing any practice that has been practiced for centuries one way or another isn't going to stop that, either.
i have the most respect for people who prefer POSITIVE steps to address something they prefer wasn't--not the carrie nations of the world who bust up bars and human beings with bibles and hatchets, preferring to force their way onto others who will not ever accept it, not least reason for which being they are attempted to being forced to. carrie, and her ilk, i'm afraid, did more to advance the cause of violence and alcoholism in america than even al capone, who was, when all is said and done, just a simple package trade man with a few trucks and various automatic weapons. (well, they threw al in jail for tax evasion--they couldn't even get him on the alcohol rap--and it did nothing to slow the flow of booze to those who would drink it since such only increases the danger-premium on the illegal spirits, and so it goes).
so we passed a law un-passing the law that said we couldn't drink, and the guy who can be argued who has done more to save us all from demon rum, the ephemeral bill w, stands alone at the top of the temperance pyramid simply helping people not do it of their own free choice and volition. i wonder what life might be like if we all bent our considerable energies towards solving problems in that way... cuz bill w has never, to my knowledge, suggested liquor should be illegal, or was wrong in and of itself. he just helps those to see another option, and live a life that respects it.
imagine a world where all the resources, people and energy fighting the people fighting the people were instead fighting to help the *other* people (you know, the ones with the problem in the first place?) find a better path.
nobody wants an abortion. nobody. it's as simple a truth as the truth that nobody wants to be an alcoholic. and when i see organizations like sylvia's haven having to scrape and claw for simple needs for needful women and their children, i am disgusted even more that millions might be considered to be invested in waging a fight over their heads that benefits NOBODY about some nonsense that isn't any of our business.
we can persecute, fight the persecutors, or we can help.
which one are you?
prohibition in this country failed. alcohol, of course, with the possible exception of cigarettes, though i doubt it, causes more misery, suffering and death than any other single thing in our society, and stands tallest in need of some kind of better solution... but prohibition failed.
why?
well, first of all, the very act of prohibiting something strikes an elemental chord within us human beings, (if you've ever tried to tell a 15 year he can't go over to his girlfriend's house you'll know what i mean), and the result of that chord is absolutely that we want to do it, or, at the very least, insist that authority has no right to tell us not to. it's who we are.
the other very dangerous consequence is that outlawing something puts it firmly beyond any attempts to regulate it, and the obvious result of this becomes rum runners, drug runners, and, we all have to acknowledge, back alley abortionists, all of whom bring death with them as certainly as the extra profits for themselves they earn for running an illicit enterprise. (anyone believing in the capitalist system, but not in the inevitability of illegal drugs no matter how intense the war we wage against them is an idiot--the harder the stuff is to get, the higher the profits for getting it for people--it's CAPITALISM).
well, outlawing christians didn't work for the romans, and outlawing palestinians isn't going to work for the israelis, either, if you'd like my wager on the subject. and outlawing any practice that has been practiced for centuries one way or another isn't going to stop that, either.
i have the most respect for people who prefer POSITIVE steps to address something they prefer wasn't--not the carrie nations of the world who bust up bars and human beings with bibles and hatchets, preferring to force their way onto others who will not ever accept it, not least reason for which being they are attempted to being forced to. carrie, and her ilk, i'm afraid, did more to advance the cause of violence and alcoholism in america than even al capone, who was, when all is said and done, just a simple package trade man with a few trucks and various automatic weapons. (well, they threw al in jail for tax evasion--they couldn't even get him on the alcohol rap--and it did nothing to slow the flow of booze to those who would drink it since such only increases the danger-premium on the illegal spirits, and so it goes).
so we passed a law un-passing the law that said we couldn't drink, and the guy who can be argued who has done more to save us all from demon rum, the ephemeral bill w, stands alone at the top of the temperance pyramid simply helping people not do it of their own free choice and volition. i wonder what life might be like if we all bent our considerable energies towards solving problems in that way... cuz bill w has never, to my knowledge, suggested liquor should be illegal, or was wrong in and of itself. he just helps those to see another option, and live a life that respects it.
imagine a world where all the resources, people and energy fighting the people fighting the people were instead fighting to help the *other* people (you know, the ones with the problem in the first place?) find a better path.
nobody wants an abortion. nobody. it's as simple a truth as the truth that nobody wants to be an alcoholic. and when i see organizations like sylvia's haven having to scrape and claw for simple needs for needful women and their children, i am disgusted even more that millions might be considered to be invested in waging a fight over their heads that benefits NOBODY about some nonsense that isn't any of our business.
we can persecute, fight the persecutors, or we can help.
which one are you?
posted by kad barma at 11:44 AM
1 Comments:
...And speaking of prohibition, I have a hobbyhorse to jump on, so here goes: The "one ounce or less" decriminalization ballot measure in Mass. two Novembers ago.
What amazed me then was some of the Chicken Little-isms that came from opponents of the proposal. There would be chaos, it would lead to widespread public debauchery, and even borrowing right from Dr. Strangelove, there were the fears of how our "precious bodily fluids" might be altered irreparably if this were to pass.
I'm counting more than year now since it went into effect, and I just haven't seen it...not in the Globe, the Herald, the Sun, the blogs, etc. The worst fears of the prohibitionists haven't seemed to come to fruition...
The law just seems to have very quietly changed, and I hope all it means is that our police can focus on more serious crimes and our court system has been somewhat unburdened by the fact that we're now treating small-time marijuana use as a civil penalty.
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