Drunks and Hope....
I emailed this to Chuck the other day... and decided that it would make a decent post today.
Start of email.....
The last paragraph of your last post today really left me wanting to
say something… no disagreement, or whatever… just wanted to say
something…
I am so happy to read things like that last paragraph. It's this type
of action that turns a bunch of people living together into a
community. All members of a society are the police. Every citizen
has a duty to help and protect others. The official police are just
the only members of society that are paid to engage in this behavior
full time.
The citizen police is an idea that has become less popular and is
partially to blame for our current plight both from the aspect of the
community being the police and from the police forgetting they are
part of the community. Every person has a natural right for
self-defense and that right extends to assisting those who cannot help
themselves.
It's only when people place all their faith in a governmental
organizations for their needs that apathy becomes the norm. "It's not
my job" or "I'm not a cop" that leads to the type of rationalizations
that let people get hurt in plain view of others. I place the blame
for this trend solely on backs of elected officials who increased
their influence by deepening the dependence individuals have on the
government.
Your comment about drunks saving the day was in jest, but I think
something very honest and positive can be seen in that. Drunks act on
impulse and feelings rather that thought and logic. Behavior like
that is one of the reasons I value drinking with others, you get a
better glimpse of a mans mettle when he's had a few. Seeing drunks
rush to the assistance of a lady shows me that real social values have
only slipped just out of sight, and that the instincts that made
America what it is are still there just waiting to be brought to the
surface.
Otter
Start of email.....
The last paragraph of your last post today really left me wanting to
say something… no disagreement, or whatever… just wanted to say
something…
I am so happy to read things like that last paragraph. It's this type
of action that turns a bunch of people living together into a
community. All members of a society are the police. Every citizen
has a duty to help and protect others. The official police are just
the only members of society that are paid to engage in this behavior
full time.
The citizen police is an idea that has become less popular and is
partially to blame for our current plight both from the aspect of the
community being the police and from the police forgetting they are
part of the community. Every person has a natural right for
self-defense and that right extends to assisting those who cannot help
themselves.
It's only when people place all their faith in a governmental
organizations for their needs that apathy becomes the norm. "It's not
my job" or "I'm not a cop" that leads to the type of rationalizations
that let people get hurt in plain view of others. I place the blame
for this trend solely on backs of elected officials who increased
their influence by deepening the dependence individuals have on the
government.
Your comment about drunks saving the day was in jest, but I think
something very honest and positive can be seen in that. Drunks act on
impulse and feelings rather that thought and logic. Behavior like
that is one of the reasons I value drinking with others, you get a
better glimpse of a mans mettle when he's had a few. Seeing drunks
rush to the assistance of a lady shows me that real social values have
only slipped just out of sight, and that the instincts that made
America what it is are still there just waiting to be brought to the
surface.
Otter
posted by The Management at 9:30 AM
3 Comments:
Before you get carried away extolling the virtues of drunkenness, don't
forget that drunks acting on "impulse and feelings" rather than "thought
and logic" results in a LOT more rapes and drunk driving accidents than in
people rushing to the aid of others. I'm not suggesting that everyone who
drinks is a rapist and/or drunk driver, but the absense of thinking is a
bad thing more often than a good one. Not always, but often.
I'll give you the comment about the drunk driving, but not the Rapes. If you rape someone while drunk, you are a rapist.
It's not an excuse that you were drunk. A drunken rapist is a sober person who thinks rape isn't all that bad. A violent drunk is a violent person. A depressed drunk is a depressed person. I've said it before; it's a lot harder to hide what you are feeling while intoxicated.
There are very few people I've grown to trust that I didn't spend some time drinking with them. True honesty is hard to come by in the land of double speak. I like any windows into a person I can get.
The Vikings, when holding leadership meetings, would have two votes. The first vote took place sober, the second after several hours of heavy drinking. If the votes didn’t match, they would re-debate and revote.
The point I was making was that in their hearts those men wanted to help. Sober, they may not have taken action. It speaks well for those who now don’t take action, but with a shift of social perception would.
Am not suggesting a life inebriated, I just pointing out a few positives for tying one on.
Otter
I think you're right if we're talking about serial rapists, but what about something like date rape? Actually, the more I think about that, the more I think you're right. Most of us, even inebriated, know better than to rape. While alcohol may take away some inhibitions, it doesn't take it all away and turn us into complete slaves to id and appetite. So, I'll give you that one. It's a good point.
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