Posted on 02/04/2014 2:32:35 PM PST by SeekAndFind
For a magazine that styles itself Reason, it’s surprisingly unreasonable.
Nick Gillespie of Reason attacks Truth Revolt’s Ben Shapiro for writing that “Philip Seymour Hoffman['s] self-inflicted death is yet another hallmark of the broken leftist culture that dominates Hollywood, enabling rather than preventing the loss of some of its greatest talents. Libertarianism becomes libertinism without a cultural force pushing back against the penchant for sin; Hollywood has no such cultural force.”
It’s a point that’s rather hard to argue with. Freedom opens up the arena for individual character to define how people will use it. Freedom alone is a blank slate that allows people to impose order on their own lives.
Gillespie not only argues against it, but makes a thoroughly ridiculous argument. “Shapiro’s implication that libertarianism is the root cause of Hoffman’s overdose isn’t simply churlish and uninformed by anything resembling knowledge of Hoffman’s life, thoughts, or circumstances of death (though it is that). It is plainly nonsensical.”
That’s not what Shaprio is saying, but Reason has its theme, which is what libertarianism is being unfairly blamed for the death of a Hollywood actor and it has the solution…
“If Shapiro thought about it for a minute rather than calling up his outrage macro in Word, he might ask what sort of drug policy might lead to better outcomes. Generally speaking, people have enough trouble admitting substance-abuse problems without also having to admit that they are criminals too. Maybe legalizing or decriminalizing drugs would lead to an environment in which abuse would be minimized along with the ill effects of the black markets spawned by prohibition.”
Sure, we’ll cut down on overdoses by legalizing heroin. The needle park solution always works.
Do Hollywood celebrities abuse drugs because drug laws make them feel like criminals? Would they use less drugs if using drugs was more legally and socially acceptable?
Would Philip Seymour Hoffman have avoided overdosing on heroin if he could have bought it at the local drug store?
Since the addictive mechanism combined with tolerance, which is the effect that causes escalating drug use to achieve the same results, and the emotional cycle of self-medicating, is what causes the escalation of drug use, it’s hard to see how making an addictive drug that chemically diminishes free will is the solution to preventing drug abuse.
It’s like fighting slavery by legalizing slavery. Hoffman wasn’t abusing heroin because it was illegal. He was abusing heroin because it was available.
But the drugs aren’t free, whether they’re legal or not. Some scumbags will still be breaking into people’s homes, carjacking your family, mugging you on the street to get money for drugs. Drug addicts don’t suddenly go get jobs when certain drugs become legal.
I don’t even drink.
And I am tired of people hating me for trying to help them!
If these idiots want to kill themselves, I say let them and be rid of them. More resources left for the rest of us.
California for instance is about to run out of water... WTH are we inviting ANYONE in to our country if we don’t even have enough water and other resources for those that are already here! and if some druggie lib want to off themselves with heroin ... I say im paying !
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Agreed. I just don't believe that most people are interested in doing hard drugs. Addicts seem to live very boring, empty lives.
Ahh, but to a libertarian, it makes no difference if its marijuna or heroin.
LEGALIZE it. After all - where in the Constitution can you find laws against heroin?
/loopy lib logic
>> Libertarians claim that legalizing it ( which does not mean approving of it )
I believe the intent is “decriminalization”.
The libertarian position on drugs, is like the one on abortion, zero restrictions.
No restrictions of any kind, not on current drugs, not on any drugs or drug combos (cocktails) that people or cartels invent or create, no limits on advertising and marketing of those drugs, nothing.
Yeah, we’re so ‘pro-life’ aren’t we..
Frankly, when it comes to drugs I don’t care that much when they’re illegal what happens to the users. If they are legitimized by legalization though, then it’s sanctioned and then it is society’s fault.
One thing about heroin though is that OD’ing will still happen. People will be able to get it easier so overall use will increase as people ‘give it a shot’ like K2 or something. Then tolerance builds, they still want the nods, and a lethal dose follows eventually.
There are hypocrite ones that’ll only want pot legal, and some others not. Basically only wanting the ones they want to use legal.
The rest are just crazy.
"Freedom" as in "I don't want your tired old morality". Rebellion is paramount!
Getting "high" is all you have left after you have hit the bottom of the long slide which began with an obsession with Happiness.
"Hey, BwanaNdege, what is wrong with Happiness?" you ask.
Happiness is great, but it is not fulfilling. Mankind started with thinking, "If I could only have enough food to eat, and a dry cave to keep out the rain, snow and cold wind...oh, and that saber-tooth tiger, too."
Now. much of mankind has enough food, clothing, shelter and safety. We are reasonably happy. But that is not quite enough, so we seek Success. That too, often leaves a slight emptiness.
Excitement, that's the ticket! Action Sports! Sports cars! Sporty Women!
When Excitement does not fulfill, "Crank it up a notch!" The goal becomes Thrills, then Kicks and, finally, Get High.
The problem is that we were created, in the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever!" As Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The Joy of the Lord is your strength."
Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician & physicist, said “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”
Too often, we try to fill that vacuum with Happiness, Success, Excitement, Thrills, Kicks, and eventually that final High. With each successive, less satisfying substitute, we think that an increase in quantity will make up for the lack of quality.
Bigger mud pies will never replace a slice of Strawberry pie with oodles of whipped cream!
The joy of the Lord, knowing that you are forgiven because of Jesus' completed work, is what we were created for.
(BwanaNdege will now get down off of the Soapbox - Thus endeth today's sermon. Thank you for your patience.)
:-)
Justice Antonin Scalia says World War II-style internment camps could happen again
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3119259/posts
But at least you won't fail your drug test.
(Anarachy is not abscence of laws- it's an overabundance of laws)
Yeah, I know. my bias is on the side of freedom.
Better to have your door kicked in by armed police than armed criminals! that’s fur sure!
“RAID FILMED: Ankeny Police ‘Traumatize’ Family”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3119179/posts
Like all cults, they gear the message to the audience they are trying to convert.
To conservatives they would focus on Cannabis, to Heroin addicts or anarchists, it would include Heroin.
“How the hell does someone get into that anyway? Seriously, how does that work? You’re at a party one night and someone comes up to you and says “Hey Bud, you wanna try some HEROIN?”
From what I’ve been reading, it’s now people addicted to pain pills (Opiates) shifting over to heroin because it’s cheaper and more available.
It is drug culture. It does start with pot.
It’s a party social thing at the start.
People try white powders, snorting cocaine and meth. Usually they will snort heroin first, or smoke it off a cigarette or blow it in the the back of the throat.
They will enjoy and know people, usually cooler, who inject it.
They will try it.
Drugs are incredibly powerful and initially users have the best times of their lives when starting out.
Who didn’t see this coming?
Did you really believe them when they said it was only pot?
Wait until they want child prostitution legalized, for the childrun of course.
Of course if a druggie harms another, then he should be prosecuted. The issue is laws that prevent an adult from his private activity that does not interfere with another's freedom. Those kinds of laws are fundamentally unjust and create bigger problems than the activity itself.
Nice try, but the crowd on this board is immune to the message. Drugs kill, it's true. But so does suicide -- and it's still against the law, too.
Does anyone really refrain from committing suicide because it's illegal?
Yes. It’s an advocacy for slavery in many ways, and both political parties have been supporting it incrementally.
Don’t forget to “TAX THE HELL OUT OF IT!” The commie ‘RAT politicians are going to want their cut!
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