05-16-2013, 02:49 PM
It's a gradual shift. I can see the changes in attitude. Unfortunately, when you are dealing with a large group of people, change in ideologies takes time, and a lot of energy.
Look at how long it took for us as a country to finally end segregation, and feel like we are on the "outs" of racism.
Look at how easily that was undone with the recent spikes of racism towards middle easterners.
Look at how we treated LGBT people as recently as 25 years ago. And now we are finally at a point where the majority of people (58%, yes. The majority) are ok with it as someone else's lifestyle.
There are a few problems that I see that need to be handled first, but I can trace most of them back to one prevailing concept. There is an overwhelming ideology in this country that the words were
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness........ as long as your beliefs line up with mine, and you fit my world view
and
All men are created equal....... Unless you look, love, or believe outside of my worldview
Anything that doesn't match up with our world view is wrong. Anyone who lives outside of our moral "fiber" is wrong. Anyone who believes differently than us, is wrong.
I'll admit, I even feel this way at times, about certain groups of people. It's a slippery slope. I try to let people live, and love, and believe, how they please, as long as their lives aren't trampling on someone else's.
Want to believe in God? I don't care.
Are you part homosexual? I don't care.
Are you Atheist? I don't care.
As long as you aren't out there actively working to restrict the rights of someone else, (Criminally or otherwise) I don't care what you do, how do you it. I care when it starts to infringe on other people. Fundamentalist Christian Views fall into this. As do angry Atheists who go out of their way to bash those of Faith.
That's my big thing. Once I feel that we have a society that functions well at that level, I'll care about what happens with criminals more. But at this point, I see a justice system, that can't even lock up / detain / rehabilitate a woman who has destroyed a family, stolen near $50K+, and blown it all on Crack Cocaine. I'm more worried about that end of the spectrum than I am the small percentage of people (in the grand scheme of things) who end up on death row.
Because the "Non Violent Drug Offenders" as people call it, is really a large group of people that encompasses people who are wreaking havoc on families, and children, with their destructive behavior. You can say their non violent. You can say that they don't need locked up. But every time I look at my son, I see a young boy who would rather his mother be locked in a prison, where he knew where she was, and knew that she wasn't dead in a gutter from an OD, or on the run, or just flat out missing, because of her "non violent drug addiction"
Look at how long it took for us as a country to finally end segregation, and feel like we are on the "outs" of racism.
Look at how easily that was undone with the recent spikes of racism towards middle easterners.
Look at how we treated LGBT people as recently as 25 years ago. And now we are finally at a point where the majority of people (58%, yes. The majority) are ok with it as someone else's lifestyle.
There are a few problems that I see that need to be handled first, but I can trace most of them back to one prevailing concept. There is an overwhelming ideology in this country that the words were
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness........ as long as your beliefs line up with mine, and you fit my world view
and
All men are created equal....... Unless you look, love, or believe outside of my worldview
Anything that doesn't match up with our world view is wrong. Anyone who lives outside of our moral "fiber" is wrong. Anyone who believes differently than us, is wrong.
I'll admit, I even feel this way at times, about certain groups of people. It's a slippery slope. I try to let people live, and love, and believe, how they please, as long as their lives aren't trampling on someone else's.
Want to believe in God? I don't care.
Are you part homosexual? I don't care.
Are you Atheist? I don't care.
As long as you aren't out there actively working to restrict the rights of someone else, (Criminally or otherwise) I don't care what you do, how do you it. I care when it starts to infringe on other people. Fundamentalist Christian Views fall into this. As do angry Atheists who go out of their way to bash those of Faith.
That's my big thing. Once I feel that we have a society that functions well at that level, I'll care about what happens with criminals more. But at this point, I see a justice system, that can't even lock up / detain / rehabilitate a woman who has destroyed a family, stolen near $50K+, and blown it all on Crack Cocaine. I'm more worried about that end of the spectrum than I am the small percentage of people (in the grand scheme of things) who end up on death row.
Because the "Non Violent Drug Offenders" as people call it, is really a large group of people that encompasses people who are wreaking havoc on families, and children, with their destructive behavior. You can say their non violent. You can say that they don't need locked up. But every time I look at my son, I see a young boy who would rather his mother be locked in a prison, where he knew where she was, and knew that she wasn't dead in a gutter from an OD, or on the run, or just flat out missing, because of her "non violent drug addiction"
nobody ever slaughtered an entire school with a smart phone and a twitter account – they have, however, toppled governments. - Jim Wright