From some random schmuck of an editorialist down in Georgia:
If I were dictator of this country, I would not only outlaw drug users and addicts, but I would execute them as well, so they don’t needlessly overcrowd jails. In the case of juveniles and marginal offenders that don’t necessarily deserve death, I would banish them to an island. Like on the television show “Lost,” they would live there under the loose supervision of some shadow administration. But they would basically be on their own to survive.
Then, the world’s drug-free population would get some badly needed relief on the freeway. We wouldn’t have to deal with the slow and oblivious, impaired drivers.
Old people don’t drive very well, either, you know. Execute them!
(Via Radley Balko.)
I know it’s like complaining about squeaky hinges when a hurricane has knocked down your whole house except the doorframe, but the phrase “outlaw drug users and addicts” rubs me the wrong way here. You want to criminalize what they’re doing and hold them accountable for it, I’m not going to disagree. There arguments to be made on both sides, but there’s certainly a balance to be struck. But the distinction between making a person’s actions illegal and making that person illegal is an important one, to my mind, and outlawing individuals is a concept employed far too often, in contexts far more reasonable than this.
Of course, I was just this morning thinking how nice it would be if we could ship the country’s stupid people off to an island somewhere and watch them spar in arcane competitions for the right to return home. Then I remembered I don’t actually enjoy “Survivor” all that much.
I enjoyed the mordant ralliery that the columnist used. If I thought that he honestly meant those statements, I would be the first to exclaim, “off with his head”. He might seem like a little git, butI don’t think he actually met to execute people. He trying to spark a debate. It’s easy to take shots at people without them knowing it.
Why don’t you add some real substance to your blog!
Yes, of course, no better way to spark a debate than to say outrageously stupid and inane things. I mean, I’m from Georgia, and I don’t recall the state’s biggest problem being “potheads in line at the gas station”.