Mar 08 2009
Birdie 101
We will begin with words one should be familiar with prior to reading my blog or attempting to have some form of discourse with me, ever.
As I repeatedly said in my last post, along with my helpful examples, I am not fascist. Anything said indicating should be read through the lens of either sarcasm or irony. Now we’ll focus on words that have been used in regards to me, as they are obviously misunderstood. A common understanding of the vocabulary being used is necessary to continue any form of meaningful conversation, therefore:
Now, I’m going to clarify a few points the delightful gentleman brought up.
First, I did not say being in jail put one in the same league as a murderer, rapist, or thief; I said prison. Rather specifically, too. I think that if you are in prison after having a fair trial and representation (which I said was necessary for a civilized society) then you ought to be punished. I do, in fact, understand the judicial system is not perfect and would be more than happy to entertain any solutions to increasing the accuracy of the system should the gentleman wish to put forth same. That, however, is not my focus.
Second, as to the effectiveness of my ‘homework’. I do not care if some of the prisons are growing some of their own food. I was outlining a way to make all prisons self sufficient. As in completely independent from any need to rely on the general population for their survival. As for the ER remark, when I said ‘take ‘em out of the ER’ I was referring to the interns and not the prisoners. As in the rotations interns put in at the ER or other areas of a hospital. I do apologize for not making that clear enough. I see nothing wrong with people who are considered good enough to be treating civilians to practice, instead, on inmates.
Third, if incarceration in and of itself were in fact punitive enough then the rates at which the prison population is rising would not be so dramatic. Further, it isn’t as if I suggested some form of hideous torture, I only suggested hard work. I tend to think that many people in prison would benefit from work and in fact might find a sense of pride and accomplishment in seeing their work bring forth some form of immediate result such as food, clothing, and shelter. One might even think that such an experience would make reintegration into society easier.
Finally, I don’t believe I stated my views about drug laws one way or the other. What I said was that many drug offenses do result in violent crimes and, as using and distributing drugs is illegal in this country that those found guilty should be punished for their crime. It does not matter whether you, or I, like a law. Laws can be changed if they are not suitable. The rule of law, however, must be followed or else chaos will ensue.
As for the final clichéd remarks as to labeling a person as one chooses and commenting on their choice of footwear, that is of course, the gentleman’s right.
I’d like to address again the underlying point of the first post. Prisoners should have to work. I know, in a sarcastic rant it might have been difficult for those unfamiliar with me to come away with the main idea so I’ll repeat it:
Prisoners should have to work hard and should not have time to play. I didn’t say kill them, maim them, or beat them bloody. So instead of trying to label my political fidelity how about telling me why hard work is such a horrible idea?
