In which I alienate half my readership

[sabotabby]

Try as I might, I just can't get excited over Proposition 19.*

I mean, this isn't an ideological stance or anything. I think that pot should be legal. The War on Drugs is ridiculous and responsible for the destruction of countless lives. It's just not an issue that I would, personally, get all activist-y about. The older and more curmudgeonly I get, the less I care and the more I wish people would get up in arms over things like convictions based on evidence obtained through torturing a child.

It might have something to do with so many of the most vocal potheads, and pot-legalization activists, are libertarian douchenuggets like this guy, and don't care about the human rights of anyone but potheads. Pot is almost worse than alcohol for bringing out the douche in people who already have latent douche tendencies. Also it smells godawful.

Anyway, those of you who are having elections right now, I hope yours go better than ours did.

* The fact that I'm Canadian might have a wee bit to do with that; Americans didn't exactly get excited over Ontario's municipal elections.

Comments

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm not going to lose any sleep over pot as long as it's legal to beat your children but illegal to get an abortion.

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

Having read the articles you linked, I really want to move to Canada, or some other, more humane country. I hear Vancouver is nice.

[sabotabby]

I think it's important. Just...way down the scale of importance.

[jackspryte.livejournal.com]

Exactly. As far as issues go it's of small import. If this was somebody's most "involved" flavour of activism I'd be somewhat less impressed.

Of course I'd never be disrespectful to them but being able to "get your pot on" just isn't as big a deal as, you know human rights, dignity, crimes against humanity, poverty etc. etc.

[tanyahp.livejournal.com]

I also will not lose sleep over pot legalization, but I think that it actually is illegal to beat your children.

[akisawana.livejournal.com]

Only if you leave marks. Even then, there needs to be evidence of a pattern documented by a third party. Unless you put the child's life in imminent danger, and that falls under reckless endangerment more often than not. I've never heard of someone being charged with criminal abuse of a child without rape and/or life-threatening injuries/deficiencies being involved.

A law is meaningless if it is not enforced.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Christ. Is it? Here (UK) it is legal to beat your children and legal to get an abortion. Oddly enough, I think the people who are pro beating-children tend to be the ones most anti-abortion. Very confusing. But generally people in the UK are pro legal-abortion AND pro-beating-children.