Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Prohibition

I will leave you with an excerpt from an article by the distinguished author and playwright Gore Vidal, in which he analyzed the American "State of the Union" in 2004. In a segment on prohibition of drugs and alcohol vs. law and order, I found this passage particularly intriguing:

Brainwashing on the subject begins early, insuring that a large crop of the coming generation will become drug addicts. Prohibition always has that effect, as we should have learned when we prohibited alcohol from 1919 to 1933; but, happily for the busy lunatics who rule over us, we are permanently the United States of Amnesia. We learn nothing because we remember nothing. The period of Prohibition called the "Noble Experiment" brought on the greatest breakdown of law and order that we have ever endured--until today, of course.

Lesson? Do not regulate the private lives of people, because if you do they will become angry and antisocial, and they will get what they want from criminals, who work in perfect freedom because they know how to pay off the police.

How about that, folks? Discuss amongst yourselves!

I'm outta here!

2 comments:

  1. That was a pretty good read. Thanks.
    And have a nice trip.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You know, it's this kind of ideas that would nail the fact that it is a waste land here. Prohibition and rules are ridiculously loose when they are needed seriously, and chocking tight when they are meaningless and should be put away especially when it regards personal freedom.
    It is a place of controversies. Take a short ride across the Gulf Street on a weekend and see by yourself. Or hey, look into your own small world and have a laugh.

    That was a good piece to share. Thanks for the highlight.

    ReplyDelete

Keep it clean, people!