but they aren’t my questions. I happened across this while reading a humorous little article on Spirit. Yes, that’s the ‘Spirit’ who began to hate Mars. Any how, I thought this was at least worth sharing.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080901/engelhardt
Of particular interest to me is question 2. It is kind of puzzling, when you think of the retroactive immunity granted to the telcos and wiretapping. It’s just curious…I’m just sayin’.
Hi Prada,
Nothing much to say about this article. Just dropped by to give you this link:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Business/Default.aspx?id=224974
We’ve discussed before that most Muslims are not radical or violent. The question now becomes, what percentage is required to form a violent society if the moderates don’t stand against it and the government refuses to enforce the law. Challenging questions for the future.
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Thanks for the linkage. I read something in the same (same information different source, BBC I think) not that long ago.
If there is a refusal to enforce law, a violent society can spring out of just about anywhere. I’d say the percentage is pretty small to form a violent society, or at least the perception that the society is violent (and I’m speaking generally, nothing to do with religion) because we have something similar that here in my city.
Ask any ‘suburbian’ what the inner city is like and you’ll hear largely that it’s full of blacks raping and murdering people regularly. You’ll hear all about the drug epidemic and rampant gangs. In actuality that’s not really true.
What does that have to do with apples in an orchard? Nothin’ really. I just think sometimes its a perception issue, certainly not saying there isn’t a problem though. I agree, lots of challenging questions for the future.
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I suppose that my major point is that when the people charged with enforcing the law do not, or worse do so selectively, then it has moved beyond the realm of a “perception” issue. It is deep doo-doo.
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Sure. I can totally agree with that. Just like we see suburbian/county areas with the higher percentages of meth labs and meth distribution; however, law enforcement doesn’t spend a whole lot of time out in those areas. At least, not in any numbers like I encounter in the downtown areas. We hear about busts in spurts ‘out there’, but you can’t turn a corner in the city and not see someone pulled over or being escorted into a car because of a minor warrant. They focus more on the inner city youth that assemble in large groups for whatever purpose not necessarily causing any problems, but are monitored as if they might start a riot.
No, it’s not really the same thing. I dig where you’re comin’ from, but it’s the same principle. You see law breakers of any type emboldened when they realize that there is not going to be any retribution for their actions. You can also see that same thing when the retribution/law enforcement is so over the top that you no longer fear/care about the costs*.
*That is not an endorsement for acting like an idiot, be it blowing up markets or jumping people at a train platform.
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