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You have finally landed on the one page on this entire site (and on the entire internet for that matter) that is purely without bullshit... my soapbox page. There are a lot of times during our show that, whether it's because of time constraints and other obligations, I don't always get to address some issues that I feel don't get the attention they deserve. There are even more times when I just don't feel like waiting until the show the next day to get some things off my chest. Thus, I have started the "Rob's Soapbox" page. If you have clicked on this page looking for someone to coddle your fragile sense of self-esteem, or tell you what you want to hear or to reinforce your outdated world view, then exit this page right now and go somewhere else. If you are in search of the last forum for reason and common sense left in the world, then sit back, relax, and enjoy. I make only one promise with this soapbox page... if you read long enough and often enough, you will eventually be offended. So here's my latest soapbox. Listen up, 'cause you just might learn something...

 

March 27th, 2006

WELCOME TO AMERICA; WHERE YOU’RE ALWAYS INNOCENT UNTIL WE MAKE UP SOMETHING THAT PROVES YOU GUILTY

The emotions, feelings, fears and paranoia’s of America continue to rule our society in more and more ways.

The trend had started long before 9/11 as we passed silly laws designed to prevent the infinitesimally improbable from happening. For example, we force kids to dress in full body armor before getting on a bike to prevent the .00001% of fatal bike accidents that occur in this country each year. We continue to force car manufacturers to install safety cameras on the rear bumpers of SUV’s so that parents won’t back over their own children in the driveway. We’ve even, in many schools, outlawed games like tag (it makes the kids feel bad) and any game that requires physical contact (they might get hurt). The list of asinine things we’ve created in our coddling of the American child and our failure to hold parents responsible is mind-numbing.

There is something worse, though. Most horrifically, we continue to dismiss our own personal freedoms and constitutional protections in the name of “security.” We have passed law after law in this nation out of fear which results in the stripping away of our personal rights. For example, last year California ignorantly voted to created what I call the “you’re innocent until we find you doing something that makes you guilty” law by allowing police to collect our DNA simply upon arrest and holding that DNA in their national database (just in case you have the audacity to be in the wrong place at the wrong time someday, this DNA file will make it much easier to frame you).

The coup de gras, of course, has always been the brilliant way we used the worst cretins in our society, child molesters, to scare people into thinking that we needed to force people to “register” with the government. So, we force convicted felons of various crimes to “register” across the country similar to the Nazi Germany regiment of forcing all citizens into a database (only to be used later for such innocent things as, oh, I don’t know, cooking people alive!) If you’d like to read more irrefutable logic on the horrors of the predator registry policy, read this past soapbox.


click here to read my archived Soapbox on this issue


Of course, the reason I so passionately cite all of these things is because it creates a slippery slope that slowly takes away all of our freedoms. The more we strip away at our rights, the fewer of them we have and, congratulations, America, we’ve found a new way to destroy our freedoms and society in one fell swoop. Not content with simply creating DNA databases in case someone commits a crime later, we have now begun the new process I call “you’re innocent until we make up something that proves you guilty.”


Much was made this week about a new sting operation in Texas, during which, police raid bars and arrest people for being drunk. Their official line is that they (the po-po) are enforcing laws about public drunkenness, which is of course, pure bullshit. This operation is entirely about convicting people of crimes they haven’t committed yet, in this case, driving drunk. In fact, many Texas officials have publicly stated that, and in their minds, that justifies the operations. You can read about the stings at this link:

click here for the news story...


The saddest thing about this is the lack of outrage. Oh sure, a few people have mubled about it, but for the most part our ignorant society simply shrugs its’ shoulders and utters one of two pathetic phrases; either A) “whaddya gonna do?” or B) “Well, at least they’re getting drunks off the street.”


The second statement, of course, is most appalling because it is both factually incorrect and it is said in a way meant to justify the means via a positive, albeit fictional, result. Using the logic that arresting innocent bar patrons for being drunk because they MIGHT drive leads us to confiscating all guns in America, implanting curfews and tracking our every movement because any one of us may, at any time, commit a crime.


The sad truth that our politically correct, namby-pamby society continues to fail to accept is that people in America are going to make stupid choices that result in horrible outcomes and there is nothing that we can do to stop it. Yes, we can try to contain it, but when those containment efforts strip away at our personal rights and freedoms, the cost is too high. Kids are going to fall off of their bikes and cry, and occasionally, one might even die. While that is tragic, it is also inevitable in a free society. Grown adults are going to make the poor decision to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking too much at a bar, a ball game, a friend’s house or a restaurant. Sadly, in some cases that will lead to innocent life being taken from us. We can educate, we can patrol and we can try to contain that stupid behavior as much as possible, but in the end, people are going to die, which is inevitable in a free society. America is supposed to be free, and there are costs, personal and tragic, that come with that. If you think I’m wrong, try looking at a few societies that aren’t free, like China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Certainly there people never die, do they?



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