________________
(Imagine if the prohibition that is currently tearing our society apart were aimed at a different target instead. Please don't get angry before you read it all.)
Some people are calling for an end to the war on Bibles. How can these "soft on crime" types fail to see the lives destroyed by Bibles? To give up now, through re-legalization, is to admit defeat. The law is the only thing stopping many of our fellow citizens from reading Bibles now. Lives are at stake!
Re-legalization advocates claim the Bibles themselves harm very few, rather it's the justice system and societal consequences of being caught that cause most of the problems. Nonsense!
Bibles make some people "feel good". They give them a sense of transcendence; make them believe they are a part of something "bigger than themselves"; that they are special in some way. That's delusional and can be fatal!.
Think of all the families torn apart because a parent was caught with a Bible, or even printing out Bibles to give to innocent children. Consider all the brave BEA (Bible Enforcement Administration) agents and local officers who have been killed, fighting on your behalf, in this war. Each time they go out to make an arrest they risk not coming home to their family. Behind that door they are about to kick in could be someone ready to defend their imagined "right" to own and to read Scriptures.
Consider that the majority of Americans in prison first started down the wrong track by reading or trafficking in Bibles and, once assimilated into the prison culture, got involved in other criminal activities. You say their mind is their own, and what they put into it is their business? Look at the consequences of acting on this belief.
People seem to believe it's a joke. They put Bible-related stickers and emblems on their cars. They flippantly wear clothes with Bible-inspired quotes. Bibles are illegal, and all Bible readers and Scripture pushers are, by definition, criminals! If you support them you should be arrested, too!
If Bible prohibition weren't a good idea, why is it so popular? Bible-tests are now standard practice in order to get a job- no one would want their lives or safety endangered by someone who believes they can pray and alter reality. Do you really want your brain surgeon, your airline pilot, or the teen driver on the street to believe that? This is just too dangerous to be permitted to continue without society trying to do something about it! The war on Bibles must continue, even though Bibles can probably never be completely eliminated. If it saves just one life...
(OK, back to here and now. Horrible, isn't it? Think it could never happen? If you believe the law makes enforcement right, wait until you are on the other side of the law.)
Some people are calling for an end to the war on Bibles. How can these "soft on crime" types fail to see the lives destroyed by Bibles? To give up now, through re-legalization, is to admit defeat. The law is the only thing stopping many of our fellow citizens from reading Bibles now. Lives are at stake!
Re-legalization advocates claim the Bibles themselves harm very few, rather it's the justice system and societal consequences of being caught that cause most of the problems. Nonsense!
Bibles make some people "feel good". They give them a sense of transcendence; make them believe they are a part of something "bigger than themselves"; that they are special in some way. That's delusional and can be fatal!.
Think of all the families torn apart because a parent was caught with a Bible, or even printing out Bibles to give to innocent children. Consider all the brave BEA (Bible Enforcement Administration) agents and local officers who have been killed, fighting on your behalf, in this war. Each time they go out to make an arrest they risk not coming home to their family. Behind that door they are about to kick in could be someone ready to defend their imagined "right" to own and to read Scriptures.
Consider that the majority of Americans in prison first started down the wrong track by reading or trafficking in Bibles and, once assimilated into the prison culture, got involved in other criminal activities. You say their mind is their own, and what they put into it is their business? Look at the consequences of acting on this belief.
People seem to believe it's a joke. They put Bible-related stickers and emblems on their cars. They flippantly wear clothes with Bible-inspired quotes. Bibles are illegal, and all Bible readers and Scripture pushers are, by definition, criminals! If you support them you should be arrested, too!
If Bible prohibition weren't a good idea, why is it so popular? Bible-tests are now standard practice in order to get a job- no one would want their lives or safety endangered by someone who believes they can pray and alter reality. Do you really want your brain surgeon, your airline pilot, or the teen driver on the street to believe that? This is just too dangerous to be permitted to continue without society trying to do something about it! The war on Bibles must continue, even though Bibles can probably never be completely eliminated. If it saves just one life...
(OK, back to here and now. Horrible, isn't it? Think it could never happen? If you believe the law makes enforcement right, wait until you are on the other side of the law.)
.
I would bet the Clovis News Journal editor/s did not understand the point you are making, or they thought their readers would not understand. Most likely the first.
ReplyDeleteI think he understood, but was scared because he knows how religious this area is. I don't blame him, but I was told when I first started writing for the paper that if I was worried about retribution from local "authorities" I should skip this writing gig. It seems that the same standard should apply to this situation.
ReplyDeleteI was told that most of the readers would not understand the fantasy scenario I tried to create, and they would storm the editor's office wanting to know why he thinks Bibles are destroying lives, and that my point would never be considered. I was told my mission is to make people think; not to inspire them to burn my house down.
It was suggested that, instead of Bibles, I substitute popsicles or Milky Way bars or chicken fried steak. It was claimed that this is the same concept, but I would have the community thinking along with me.
I responded that unless the banned article was important enough to the villagers that they would want to take up torches in the face of a prohibition, they would just say "what's the big deal? I'll eat Snickers instead of Milky Way."
I was also told that my writing skills were not advanced enough, nor is the newspaper audience sophisticated enough, to pull off the parenthetical set-up for the alternate reality scenario. Perhaps that's true. If so, that's the part that bothers me the most. Especially considering that I think my original version, with a different lead-in, was better, but it was at least 150 words too long for them to publish, so I spent several days trimming it down as much as I could (even though the final result was still over what I am supposed to write by 80 or so words).
I understand, and suspected this was so.
ReplyDeleteStill, makes me think of "nanny State" attitudes.
I can hear the anti-freedom zealots preaching - "If Whitney Houston had been arrested and jailed, she'd be alive today."
ReplyDeleteExcept Whitney died of a legal drug overdose, not illicit ones. So prohibition did her no good anyway.
ReplyDeleteProhibition still affects "legal" drugs. Look how ridiculous all the hoops for buying cold and allergy medicines have become- and you can get arrested if you buy "too much" in a period of time.
ReplyDeletePlus you need prescriptions for so many medicines due to prohibition. And you can get arrested for "abusing" stuff that is "legal" just as fast (or possibly even faster due to the paper trail) as for smoking crack.
There is almost no line separating "legal" drugs and "illegal" ones.
A guy on facebook posted yesterday that "Americans suck" because none of those around her saw that Whitney was killing herself with drugs, and then took the life-saving action of doing whatever it took to save her life- including tying her to her bed! I commented "Sorry, but I won't enslave someone for their own good." He then replied " ...it's just a matter of how much that person's life means to you." So, I explained further " If you don't own your life, then you own nothing. And owning something means you have the right to go so far as to destroy that which you own. Yes, it's sad and tragic, but people make choices you won't like. Some things are worse than death, and I think slavery is one of those things."
And this is why advocating liberty faces an uphill battle. The well-meaning murderers are out there, and they are serious about- something.