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Re: Opium [was: Re: freelance sysadmining -- superlong -- [WAS: "Red Hat recommends Windows for consumers"]]



On Sat, 2003-11-15 at 12:00, Pigeon wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 15, 2003 at 10:01:36AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
> > On Sat, 2003-11-15 at 05:08, cr wrote:
> > > 
> > > That's kinda a risky argument to rely on, since if accepted it inevitably 
> > > leads to the question - why does the US have ten times as many homicidal 
> > > criminals per capita, than other countries?   Answers in the back of an 
> > > envelope please, addressed to the Director-General, FBI, Washington (I guess 
> > > he'd dearly like to know...)     <vbeg>
> > 
> > You think the (main) reasons why the US has become a relatively 
> > violent society over the past 45 years would fit on the back of an
> > envelope?  Well, lets see what's on the top of my head:
> > - breakdown of the family
> >   - divorce/abandonment
> >   - fear by modern parents of damaging children's self-esteem
> >   - parents wanting to be "friends"
> >   - federal regs that make it financially more attractive for the
> >     father to leave.
> > - excessive amounts of TV
> > - breakdown of public morality
> >   - libertine-ism instead of liberty
> >   - for *example*, the HBOization of broadcast TV
> >   - ties in with "breakdown of the family"
> > - growth in use of illegal drugs, in past ~40 years
> >   - ties into "breakdown of the family" and "breakdown of public
> >     morality"
> 
> But these factors are not unique to the US, so they don't really
> answer the question of why the US should have a disproportionate
> number of murderers.

Hmmm.  

Inherently violent society?  No, can't be, because the US didn't
used to be violent.  Maybe there was a "latently violent tendency"
(that's not present in many other societies) just waiting for soci-
etal breakdown to manifest itself?

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ron.l.johnson@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA

"they love our milk and honey, but preach about another way of
living"
Merle Haggard, "The Fighting Side Of Me"



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