oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (07/08/85)
Mr. Crane's complaint of a "double standard" for getting killed in a
war while too young to buy beer misses the point. The important
issues are two-fold.
1. It is important to teach people that society is
divided into privileged and non-privileged classes, and one's
position in one or the other is someone ELSE'S choice, having
nothing to do with one's merits.
Civics classes and due process be damned: There is NO better way of
letting people know that society operates on force instituted from
above. Getting a $50-$100 citation for having a bottle of brew will
keep him educated about the value of not getting on the authorities'
wrong side. And a cheap lesson, too. Then when the authorities tell
him to denounce his neighbor or go and kill for the cause he'll have
experience obeying, and painful reminders to try no funny stuff.
2. It is important that the police structure always have
a ready handle to grab people. That makes it easy for control
citizens without being extra-legal. Examples - unrealistically
low speed limits in certain places, or the (Washington state)
law that sez it's illegal to pass a truck within 100 yards of
an intersection.
I suspect that 70% of the time I drive I'm in violation of some law,
whether speed limits, signaling lane changes, whatever. I don't drive
drunk, have had no accidents nor citations. But if Officer Friendly
feels a need to reach out and touch me he can. That's a deterrent to
unsocial acts such as sueing the town for badfeasance, protesting
something a little more effectively than the authorities desire,
whatever. My acquaintance, an ex-con, gets pulled over just about
every time he drives in his hometown, the car searched, himself
frisked. Not accused of anything - just passing the message. He
failed to show decent respeck in his younger days --- he's learning.
Mr. Crane, there's no way to beat city hall. You have a few years
left to pay your dues. 'Til then, you have to know your place.
********************
In 1967, there was talk of lowering the drinking age to 18, so our
boys who got drafted could drink before they died. It was discussed
on a radio call-in show, and I got so tired of fulsome agreement that
I chimed in my disclaimer. The host engaged in a screaming contest
with his caller for 20 minutes but didn't seem to make much headway.
Those days I claimed the point of the Vietnam war was to teach us to
revolt against the corrupt power structure, and the more unreasonable
the laws the better the training.
I know better now.
********************
--
Oded Feingold {decvax, harvard}!mitvax!oaf
MIT AI Lab oaf%oz@mit-mc.ARPA
545 Tech Sq. 617-253-8598 work
Cambridge, Mass. 02139 617-371-1796 home