[extropy-chat] Alert for Suspicious Farmers' Almanacs

[Samantha Atkins]

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 17:41:09 -0800 (PST)
Adrian Tymes <wingcat at pacbell.net> wrote:

> --- Samantha Atkins <samantha at objectent.com> wrote:
> > Not one of us
> > is safe by the hands, stated intentions, written
> > policies and practices of our own government.
> 
> Well..._maybe_ by the stated intentions, if those were
> what actually got put into practice.  

When it comes to rights in the street, faced with representatives of the State, or in your home in the dead of night, or in court, those intentions, especially what is written down, can matter one hell of a lot.  It has been common practice to dismiss Constitutional arguments in most courts even high courts for some time.  Juries are commonly instructed to merely vote on whether the law was literally broken and never advised it is their right as citizens to vote whether the law makes sense or its application in a particular case makes sense.  They become the rubber stamp of what the judge wants and the validity of the law and its application gets simply assumed.

> A large part of
> the problem is that the new powers get abused in ways
> not anticipated by the statements, but easily forseen
> by students of history. 

Some of the statements are pretty darn obvious.  

> Whether or not the speakers
> of said statements also forsee the abuses is not
> provable; it is easy to imagine that they do, but it
> seems more often the case that they don't, and turn a
> deaf ear to any naysayers.  (In some cases, they so
> vigorously tune out dissent that people think they're
> doing it to justify the abuses.  I'm not exactly sure
> what their real reason is - mere pride and arrogance
> seem insufficient - but in my experience, deliberate
> covering up is usually not it.)

It is really irrelevant if the effect of leading these folks keep power and respecting their statements and believing their good intent is that millions of us are run over brutally by the State.  The power and disbelief or suspension of disbelief need to be removed.  It is not only the perps who engage in massive rationalization.  They are greatly outdone in both unconcious and willed blindness by their victims.

- samantha