Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Friday, May 13, 2011
I Had These Posts . . .
They were fabulous! And now they are gone. As soon as I get over that, I may write something.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Godwin's Law and PF's Corollary
facism, socialism, gingrich, newt, obama, drug, testing, mandatory, fail, hitler, nazi,
In case you've never heard of it, Godwin's Law states that "if you mention Hitler or Nazis in a post, you've automatically ended whatever discussion you were taking part in". After reading an interesting idea from Newt Gingrich (more on that later), I have come up with a corollary to Godwin's Law: invoking facism/Hitler/Nazi often enough is an effective strategy if you have something to do or say that actually is facist, and you don't want your opponent to be able to call you on it.
For example*: by David Niewert, Crooks & Liars
O'Reilly: I don't know whether you know this, but I did one of my papers at Harvard on this -- on how to reduce demand for drugs. But the United States has never figured it out. You can't lock up drug users, I mean, that doesn't work. And you can't force them into rehab, you have to want rehab, and even if you want it, it's very hard to get off hard drugs and alcohol. Very hard.
What you can do, though, is sanction people along the way. And this is what they do in Singapore. If you're caught possessing drugs -- and that means drugs in your bloodstream, they have a little hair thing, and they put it in there -- then you have to go to mandatory rehab. And they have centers where you go.
Now, they have no drug problem in Singapore at all, number one, because they hang drug dealers -- they execute them. And number two, the market is very thin, because when they catch you using, you go away with a mandatory rehab. You go to some rehab center, which they have, which the government has built.
The United States does not have the stomach for that. We don't have the stomach for that, Mr. Speaker.
Gingrich: Well, I think it's time we get the stomach for that, Bill. And I think we need a program -- I would dramatically expand testing. I think we have -- and I agree with you. I would try to use rehabilitation, I'd make it mandatory. And I think we have every right as a country to demand of our citizens that they quit doing illegal things which are funding, both in Afghanistan and in Mexico and in Colombia, people who are destroying civilization.
Conservatives have been throwing "socialist" and "fascist" at Obama nonstop since he was inaugurated (and before, really). At first, I found this to be a gross misunderstanding of both history and politics. To put Obama in the same league as Hitler represents a fundamental misunderstanding of that entire episode in our world's history. Complete, utter, fundamental history fail. To call someone both a socialist and a facist is like calling someone tall and short, fat and thin, pale and tanned at the same time. Socialism and facism are polar opposites on the political spectrum.
Now I understand why conservatives have been doing this. What Gingrich is suggesting is facism. Plain and simple. Drug test everyone and then forceably rehabilitate anyone who tests positive. The whole country is a suspect, and civil rights no longer apply. However, we cannot call Gingrich on his facism, because it looks like we're just joining in the "invoke Hitler as often as possible game", and that just makes everyone look stupid.
I suggest we replace "facism" with "Gingrichism".
Unfortunately, no matter what you call it, Gingrich's plan is foolish and dangerous, and we all might want to pay close attention from here on out to what I previously assumed were a bunch of Godwin's Law losers.
*link has video of the quoted conversation
In case you've never heard of it, Godwin's Law states that "if you mention Hitler or Nazis in a post, you've automatically ended whatever discussion you were taking part in". After reading an interesting idea from Newt Gingrich (more on that later), I have come up with a corollary to Godwin's Law: invoking facism/Hitler/Nazi often enough is an effective strategy if you have something to do or say that actually is facist, and you don't want your opponent to be able to call you on it.
For example*: by David Niewert, Crooks & Liars
O'Reilly: I don't know whether you know this, but I did one of my papers at Harvard on this -- on how to reduce demand for drugs. But the United States has never figured it out. You can't lock up drug users, I mean, that doesn't work. And you can't force them into rehab, you have to want rehab, and even if you want it, it's very hard to get off hard drugs and alcohol. Very hard.
What you can do, though, is sanction people along the way. And this is what they do in Singapore. If you're caught possessing drugs -- and that means drugs in your bloodstream, they have a little hair thing, and they put it in there -- then you have to go to mandatory rehab. And they have centers where you go.
Now, they have no drug problem in Singapore at all, number one, because they hang drug dealers -- they execute them. And number two, the market is very thin, because when they catch you using, you go away with a mandatory rehab. You go to some rehab center, which they have, which the government has built.
The United States does not have the stomach for that. We don't have the stomach for that, Mr. Speaker.
Gingrich: Well, I think it's time we get the stomach for that, Bill. And I think we need a program -- I would dramatically expand testing. I think we have -- and I agree with you. I would try to use rehabilitation, I'd make it mandatory. And I think we have every right as a country to demand of our citizens that they quit doing illegal things which are funding, both in Afghanistan and in Mexico and in Colombia, people who are destroying civilization.
Conservatives have been throwing "socialist" and "fascist" at Obama nonstop since he was inaugurated (and before, really). At first, I found this to be a gross misunderstanding of both history and politics. To put Obama in the same league as Hitler represents a fundamental misunderstanding of that entire episode in our world's history. Complete, utter, fundamental history fail. To call someone both a socialist and a facist is like calling someone tall and short, fat and thin, pale and tanned at the same time. Socialism and facism are polar opposites on the political spectrum.
Now I understand why conservatives have been doing this. What Gingrich is suggesting is facism. Plain and simple. Drug test everyone and then forceably rehabilitate anyone who tests positive. The whole country is a suspect, and civil rights no longer apply. However, we cannot call Gingrich on his facism, because it looks like we're just joining in the "invoke Hitler as often as possible game", and that just makes everyone look stupid.
I suggest we replace "facism" with "Gingrichism".
Unfortunately, no matter what you call it, Gingrich's plan is foolish and dangerous, and we all might want to pay close attention from here on out to what I previously assumed were a bunch of Godwin's Law losers.
*link has video of the quoted conversation
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Potential
feminism, feminist, pregnant, law, mandatory, testing, abortion, prochoice, prolife,
Rob asks: If people are so concerned about preventing the embryo from fulfilling its potential, wouldn't forced parenthood prevent the woman from fulfilling her potential?
answer 1: in the real world, yes. that's why people tend to get upset about girls in high school having babies. very, very few of them end up graduating from college. it requires a tremendous support system and a great deal of determination.
answer 2: there's another world out there, Rob. a world in which i have no value. none at all. presumably, you find me to be valuable in some small way. you bother to read what i write, and are inspired to comment on it, so you must find some value in me. others do not. not because they don't enjoy my writing, but because i have a uterus.
children, as you have noted, are ultimately important. more important than anything else. however, once a girl reaches child bearing age, in this world, she ceases to have any value at all. her only value is in her ability to incubate babies, which is no value at all, really. any mammal can do that.
imagine a world in which you have no value outside of your uterus. you have no control over your own body. your thoughts, dreams, desires are all of no consequence at all. you are exactly the same as a dog used to breed purebred puppies for sale.
consider laws that have been proposed concerning adult citizens of the US. recently, a law was proposed to make it mandatory to test women for alcohol and drug use if they did not receive prenatal care in the first trimester or had a premature birth for no discernable reason.
think about that one for a second. firstly, it is not illegal for women to drink alcohol. secondly, it is common for women not to realize they are pregnant until the second trimester. i know 2 women in the last year for whom this was the case. (most women don't really "show" until the second trimester, and a lot of women get what seems to be their period during the first trimester. some women get it the entire pregnancy.) i know at least one of these women is a social drinker, so she certainly was drinking while pregnant. (this happens a lot, too. her baby is fine.)
i begin to see why it is common for certain groups to marry young, after a short acquaintance. if the only possible value of a women is her ability to breed, what difference does it make who she is? who cares about her personality? talents don't matter, because breeding doesn't require talent.
if you want to see where this sort of thinking eventually leads, i suggest checking out The Handmaid's Tale. or the holocaust.
Rob asks: If people are so concerned about preventing the embryo from fulfilling its potential, wouldn't forced parenthood prevent the woman from fulfilling her potential?
answer 1: in the real world, yes. that's why people tend to get upset about girls in high school having babies. very, very few of them end up graduating from college. it requires a tremendous support system and a great deal of determination.
answer 2: there's another world out there, Rob. a world in which i have no value. none at all. presumably, you find me to be valuable in some small way. you bother to read what i write, and are inspired to comment on it, so you must find some value in me. others do not. not because they don't enjoy my writing, but because i have a uterus.
children, as you have noted, are ultimately important. more important than anything else. however, once a girl reaches child bearing age, in this world, she ceases to have any value at all. her only value is in her ability to incubate babies, which is no value at all, really. any mammal can do that.
imagine a world in which you have no value outside of your uterus. you have no control over your own body. your thoughts, dreams, desires are all of no consequence at all. you are exactly the same as a dog used to breed purebred puppies for sale.
consider laws that have been proposed concerning adult citizens of the US. recently, a law was proposed to make it mandatory to test women for alcohol and drug use if they did not receive prenatal care in the first trimester or had a premature birth for no discernable reason.
think about that one for a second. firstly, it is not illegal for women to drink alcohol. secondly, it is common for women not to realize they are pregnant until the second trimester. i know 2 women in the last year for whom this was the case. (most women don't really "show" until the second trimester, and a lot of women get what seems to be their period during the first trimester. some women get it the entire pregnancy.) i know at least one of these women is a social drinker, so she certainly was drinking while pregnant. (this happens a lot, too. her baby is fine.)
i begin to see why it is common for certain groups to marry young, after a short acquaintance. if the only possible value of a women is her ability to breed, what difference does it make who she is? who cares about her personality? talents don't matter, because breeding doesn't require talent.
if you want to see where this sort of thinking eventually leads, i suggest checking out The Handmaid's Tale. or the holocaust.
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