There's no hypocrisy to wanting to ban pot and not tobacco. The problem is people are looking at this from a health issue, which isn't where the relevant distinction lies. I can smoke a cigarette and drive faster than 3 MPH in the fast lane. I can drink a beer and not be drunk. But who can smoke a joint without getting high?
So the problem isn't whether one option is "healthier" or not. The problem is whether you're in control of your own actions or not. Narcotics makes people do stupid things that are detrimental to society as a whole. *THAT* is the relevant difference, not what it does to your health.
Of course it's also possible that Bellesiles is just an idiot who got played by a college student who didn't want to show up in class, so invented the excuse of a brother who got killed in Iraq. Indeed, were it not for his previous fraud, that's where I would lean. But certain things happen when you cry wolf....
If 500 SEIU thugs showed up on my front lawn, there would be 500 SEIU thugs getting an education in 2nd Amendment rights.
Wow, someone wasn't paying any attention in 2003 when the media tried their hardest to make sure the Iraq War didn't happen, nor the excessive New York Times articles ripping on the PATRIOT Act. Remember how they said they were going to get Kerry an extra 10 points by their coverage?
Even if you have a piss-poor memory, Voice of tReason, that doesn't mean we do.
Comedy Central = Dhimmi Central.
One would be nice. All the stoners I know are the ultimate slackers and pretty much good for nothing. Talking to them is next to impossible because the conversation consists of them saying: "Lemme tell ya something--this is so good--Okay, it's--I got something for ya--okay, ready for this?" for an hour. And at some point they usually hit me in the shins with their skateboard, which I tend not to enjoy. If they get in a car, they go 7 miles an hour, so it takes them four hours just to get to 7-Eleven, at which point they buy ever freaking microwave burrito in the place.
I'm just wondering who smokes a lot of pot and doesn't do any of that.
I don't really care whether it's legalized or not. But can you show me a stoner who's actually a productive member of society?
The original Red Dawn was the awesomest lame movie ever made.
I'm not sure I agree with the thesis here. On the one hand, life is extremely complicated. To depict any aspect of it in film, books, or other media is to trivialize everything. I mean, think about what would happen if you tried to write down every single event that happened to you in one particular day--from the second by second details to the thoughts in your head. It would be overwhelming trying to produce that and it would practically useless to everyone who wants to see it. So the task of film makers is to weed through and highlight certain aspects. And that's why even documentaries wouldn't solve the problem (if it was a problem).
Ultimately, you cannot judge a film or book as trivializing evil unless it pretends it didn't happen, or rationalizes the evil, or excuses it. If it says "This isn't a full representation, but we're going to treat it AS EVIL" then I do not think that trivializes it, it is just a limitation of the medium.
Liberals always do what they accuse others of doing.
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Opus