The United States of Perversity

From time to time I go swimming at the local YMCA. One of the more peculiar institutions I have encountered there is called "Community Service".

Quite simply this is a form of punishment meted out to people for smoking pot.

The hypocrisy of USA laws is obvious. In the first place, the laws as written serve only a small number of people. (The corruption of the system is well-documented elsewhere. It is at the point that businesses literally write the laws to favor their interests.)

In the second place, punishing someone for smoking (or even selling) pot can't be compared to the injury caused by alcohol--a completely legal drug. (There is a puritanical campaign against those who drive drunk; but, frankly, as I have said before, alcohol ain't the problem. The problem is a lack of public transport.)

But, most ugly of all is the idea that some forms of work constitute punishment. As one man told me: his Community Service was, in effect, the requirement that he work for nothing. (Now, I must confess that I don't know the details here. Is he not paid at all? Or is he paid next-to-nothing?)

What hypocrisy! Who contributes to the society? Not the creators of advertising. Not politicians. Not bankers.....Who contributes? The guy who empties out the garbage does contribute. Without garbage collection, there would be no society. But those who are mere parasites---and here one could include corrupt judges---are not punished and mistreated.....

Here is work, something that genuinely helpful, and it is treated as though it were shameful! Apparently the manufacturer of weapons used to kill innocent civilians---as weapons always do---has more respect than someone who actually contributes something positive. The society has things upside down. There should be no shame associated with emptying out a garbage can. And there should be no shame associated with the desire to get "high" and forget one troubles. As one sociologists put it, the question to ask is why, in the first place, people want to get high?

But, to ask that question would require greater maturity and culture than is to be found in the world's most destructive empire.

The USA is a very strange place. (gmooh)