Liberty Frightens People

But you already told us that you're retarded. Why should we take you seriously?

 

Not Retarded -- I am Moderately Autistic and Moderately Depressed. I have a PhD in Math.

Depression is not Retardation.

 

Oh, my bad.

 

47,055 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States in 2014. Since 2000, the drug overdose death rate has gone from 6.2 per 100,000 persons in 2000 to 14.7 per 100,000 in 2014.

PS. I have a PhD but I can not function like a non-disabled person. Millions of people in USA alone fall from that position to a much worse one.

 

So, hey, you're probably familiar with Bayes' theorem, no?

What would you say the probability that all of the acts(it's practically impossible to estimate this number(it could be greater than the number of particles in the observable universe) so let's just set it at 10^80 for the sake of this question) criminalized by a series of legislatures consisting of hundreds of people seated by popularity contests held every few years over hundreds of years are moral failures if done?

 

Someone tried that...he was shot, then his bleeding body was ran over by someone late for work.
http://www.greensboro.com/news/crim...cle_88ae5476-f7f5-5ec7-8bab-b7a179017c29.html

 

That's a very big IF.

 

Probability can not exceed 1 by definition. An extremely high probability is $1-10^{-80}$.

Indeed, the probability that some laws are unjust is close to 1. And yet, if more people will choose which laws they will follow, almost certainly more harm then good will be done. Drugs are an example.

 

Maybe some laws are unjust. Maybe most people do not have a perfect moral compass.

But many people who use drugs, who commit suicide and murder consider their actions just. Sad but true.

 

Most people here believe that murder is wrong. I can say that with confidence, and I don't even know anyone here. Most people here believe that suicide is a personal decision, sad, but personal. Most people here believe that drug use is a personal choice that the state shouldn't be involved in. Most of us don't think that drug wanton drug use is a good idea, but we opine that treating it as a criminal act can only make it more likely to end up harming the person making the moral decision.

I can say all this with confidence even though I don't know anyone here. I think our moral compasses are pretty consistent, to be honest with you.

Without regard to what anyone else thinks about it, I don't think getting elected to political office does anything to help align the moral compass of anyone.

 

Most people who commit murder believe that they are justified. Many Liberals believe that assaulting people for offensive views is justified.

 

I think you should consider the mental condition of violent criminals. and inordinate portion of them(20%-40%) suffer from psychopathy. Don't you think we should ignore the moral opinions of those who can't experience empathy? I mean, it's identifiable physical defect affecting about 1% of the population. It's disability, like yours or mine, only theirs show up on MRI scans.

 

If by that you mean the possibility you're correct is a big fat zero, you're bang on.

 

I strive hard to call things as i see them and not as i wish them to be. If anything i wish i were wrong more often.

 

Oh here it comes. People who don't like Trump are not going to pay taxes or obey the laws.
Have fun with that.

 

And...thank you, you have just put into words why too much liberty, is just that.
Too much of a good thing.

Liberty good, socialist bad...put a 10-0 scale between.

 

No-one said it would or should be easy.
If you want to affect change, you need to find a way that suits you to communicate with others.
Communication is the key.

 

And some American conservative puppets think it is alright to back wanna-be dictators.

Those are reasons why arguing that we each should choose the laws we want to obey...is absurd.

 

This time you were wrong enough for a lifetime, and then some. Enjoy.

 

The very worst things done between men have been perfectly legal. Compliance with law is no excuse for being complicit with evil.
Compared to the legal evils, the illegal evil are but a nuisance. War is legal. Genocide is legal. Holocausts are legal. Slavery was, and still is in many places, legal. In many places Sharia is the law. Any evil one can imagine has been, at times, in places, perfectly legal. Any good one can imagine has been, at times, in places, completely illegal. Legal and illegal are no good measure of good and evil, or right and wrong or moral and immoral. Compliance with law is no excuse for being complicit with what is evil, wrong or immoral. We each have a personal responsibility to pick and choose which laws to obey.

 

"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere."

~Voltaire

 

Greensboro is a violent city. They transported him to a very good hospital though.

 

I don't know how or why we morphed from "liberty frightens people," which is unfortunately true (many colonists sailed for England as independence gathered steam, these including Ben Franklin's own son), to "let's pick and choose the laws we follow," with which I generally reject. That said, the American revolutionaries reached a point where enough was enough, and here we are.
Civil disobedience has its place, no?

To get back to what I thought was the main point, it is a fact that too many of us look to government to satisfy our every single want. I haven't yet heard anyone quite claim a constitutional right to government funded recreation and vacation, but is it too far fetched to see a movement for same?

 

Hmmm, I spoke too soon: "Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay." Art. 24 of The U.N. Rights of Man or somesuch posits a right to paid rest and leisure. And I see that some University level social justice warriors in the USA agree. If Democrats return to power, and they eventually shall, who is to say it won't find an honored place in their platform?