[thechat] [ugh]

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Tue Jul 9 14:47:18 CDT 2002


> From: Erika Meyer <emeyer at lclark.edu>
>
> Similarly, I have read that under the communist regime in Russia,
> crime was much lower than it is now.  And under the Taliban in
> Afghanistan, crime was much lower than it is now.

don't confuse reported crime with actual crime... many 'regimes'
are known for hiding cases that would upset the populace... i had a
friend very familiar with communist and post-communist russia, and
the crime level he experienced was pretty much the same... the
difference was in visibility and specific types of crimes...

> Of course, this is assuming that crimes are only committed by people
> on the street, not by governments... it assumes that execution is not
> a crime.

or suppression of the populace, or political prisoners, etc... you get
the idea, of course...

[...]
> How to deal with criminal behavior?  Deal with social problems.
> Educate, feed, and empower people.  It oughta be a no-brainer.

social problems aren't necessarily the responsibility of government -
 especially when some governments think social programs that
work involve suppressing women... i'd rather not have a government
dictate what i need to do to in order to be successful at life...

i still like the idea of eye-for-an-eye punishment...

> But it's easier and more dramatic just to lop their heads off, I
> guess.

and kinda funny, too...


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