June 17, 2004
Contradictions

There are people in this world who:

  • think permissiveness and personal freedom are what make America great, while also strongly supporting smoking bans and crushing cigarette taxes.
  • think evolution is just a theory, and a wrong one at that, while at the same time taking a rainbow of pills to keep themselves alive.
  • will passionately declare, in no uncertain terms, that America has become a Fascist-like police state. In public. At a rally. In a park. Owned by the government.
  • believe those with strong religious convictions are dangerous and should not be allowed positions in government, who also think Paul Ehrlich, Stephen Schneider, and others like them are above reproach.
  • think abortion should be made illegal, while at the same time opposing all forms of social welfare.
  • participate in pro choice rallies one day and visit a friend who had to go to China to adopt a child the next.
  • worry about air quality for their child while driving them to daycare in an automobile.
  • oppose any sort of amnesty for illegal aliens, while at the same time being careful to step aside as the brown guy with the leaf blower on his back walks by.
  • think the federal government should do more to help people, just before they go spend their latest tax refund check.
  • believe Michael Moore is a crusader, and Ann Coulter is a maniac.
  • believe Ann Coulter is a crusader, and Michael Moore is a maniac.
  • think our government is dangerously interventionist, while at the same time decrying free trade and job outsourcing.
  • think first amendment rights are the most important rights we have, while at the same keeping their name on the federal "do-not-call" list.
  • think the failure of biblical prophecies of apocalypse prove that book completely invalid, but the failure of environmental predictions of the same is simply due to a lack of data.
  • believe at least one of the items on this list is not a contradiction at all.

Posted by scott at June 17, 2004 10:45 AM

eMail this entry!
Comments

The do not call list is a way to prevent harassment. If someone came up to you in public, started talking to you, and you told them to go away... if they continued bothering you, you could call the police. Telemarketers are individual harassment purveyors.

They have a right to say what they want, but you don't have to listen to it. Nor do you need to let them use the phone line you pay for or your time that's worth money.

Posted by: Sherri on June 17, 2004 12:47 PM

"think abortion should be made illegal, while at the same time opposing all forms of social welfare."

i don't see how that is a contradiction. if you make murder illegal, you have to financially support those would-be murderers?

Posted by: samkit on June 18, 2004 12:16 AM

For those too dumb to use protection or so "unfortunate" as to have had an accident, some of them presumably choose abortion b/c they can't afford to support the child/ren.

So, if you tell them they can't have one, the logic here is that you ought to help them pay for the choice you're making for them.

Wouldn't be as much of a problem if people were more careful about how and with whom they have sex.

Posted by: Sherri on June 18, 2004 10:26 AM

Ha! Great list. Obviously they aren't all direct contradictions in the formal sense (people and issues being more complex than that, of course), but I see exactly what you're saying even where I might nitpick.

Posted by: Strange-Loops on June 19, 2004 07:42 PM

"i don't see how that is a contradiction. if you make murder illegal, you have to financially support those would-be murderers?"

Yes, you do. Here in America, it's called the "prison system," and it's paid for with taxpayer dollars. It costs $20,000 dollars a year to keep each inmate locked up. Most people are glad to pay that, when they see how much it costs to let murderers run free.

Posted by: Tatterdemalian on June 19, 2004 10:36 PM

"i don't see how that is a contradiction. if you make murder illegal, you have to financially support those would-be murderers?"

The proper analogy is "if you make murder illegal, you have to financially support their would-be victims".

Posted by: Ken on June 19, 2004 11:56 PM
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?