[extropy-chat] Rational force?

[Russell Wallace]

On 12/11/06, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> Quite true.  But there is no guarantee that south central LA will be
> reclaimed
> to civilization simply by outlawing drugs.


("by legalizing drugs", I assume you meant?)

The National Guard needs to surround
> the entire area, and drive all suspected gang members into concentration
> camps
> and restore order.  Then one by one, those found not guilty of belonging
> to
> gangs can be released.


Lee, I agree with much of what you say, and I certainly think treating
terrorists as if they were soldiers of a civilized nation is wrong. If a man
is found _after fair trial_ to be a terrorist, by all means let him be
hanged forthwith.

But suspending due process of law for your own citizens isn't just more of
the same idea - it's a completely different kind of thing, and far more
dangerous.

The alternative is to wait until slowly all of society looks the way it does
> there.


I don't think that's the only alternative. I think there are better
approaches. I think if:

the drug laws were repealed,
the labor and business laws that make it illegal for large numbers of people
to find work were relaxed enough so that everyone regardless of age, social
status, academic background etc who wanted to earn an honest living could do
so,
the ghastly tower blocks were demolished and the government got out of the
housing business,
existing laws against violent crime were enforced in a fair and unbiased
manner,

things would improve enough that the perceived need for concentration camps
would disappear.

If all the above is tried and found to be insufficient, then by all means
bring up the idea of concentration camps again, but I don't think they
should be advocated until that time.
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