TheAgitator.com
Hate Mail
Thursday, September 26th, 2002A sampling from the inbox today:
What is it about a logical progression of where some of the drug money goes that you don’t understand? Do you think that it is impossible for the scenario’s to happen? Wake up! It’s a fact. Just because you don’t like it, or dislike the way it is put in your face, does not mean that its not probable or true. Illegal drugs are illegal. They are bad for society and cripple people. I should know, I used drugs for over 20 years. Medical marijuana, if strictly policed and it is determined by a doctor that the patient needs it, then that is fine. If the program gets a couple of people to think twice before they buy drugs then its fine by me. Your article is so weak with logic that it surprises me you are able to tie your own shoes. Why don’t you quit your whining, get out of your leftist fantasy land, and do something productive for society.
I thought I was. By the way, “sic”-ing these replies would tire Sisyphus. I’m not going to try. I’m just cutting and pasting.
You should get your facts right. You take parts, small parts of the truth, add some fiction, large amounts of fiction, and come up with a story. You should be more responsible.
Alrighty. This next one is a pretty valid point, made to me many, many times. I apologize to Mrs. Darling, my high school English teacher. I asked Fox to make the correction.
COLOMBIA is a country. COLUMBIA is a university. Please get it right next time. It’s ridiculous that you don’t know the difference.
I stand corrected.
Radley Balko is so good at misrepresenting facts and being completely one-sided that would make even the Washington Post balk. So much for Fox News’ reputation as fair and balanced.
This is a common reaction to the drug stuff I write for Fox. “If Fox is fair and balanced, how can they run something that’s against the drug war?” See “fair and balanced” to conservatives means “conservative,” just as “objective” to liberals means, well, “liberal.” Speaking of liberal, I’ve never been called “liberal” so many times in so short a span in my life.
Your article “Drug War Terrorism”, wherein you liken the US government to the terrorists, is way off base. You are the hypocrite, not the government.You know that there is a movement afoot, and has been for decades, to decriminalize not only marijuana, but also other “recreational” drugs. They know that if they can get marijuana legalized, it is a short step from there to making cocaine, heroin, and the modern party drugs legal.
Shame on you for supporting such a movement.
By the way, do you think all your readers are stupid, or did you just hope to shore up those who already favor legalizing drugs? There are more innocent people killed by drug users stealing money to buy drugs, and by the drug pushers and kingpins, than those mentioned in your article. How dare you give such a one-sided article?
I’ll go sit in the corner.
What a rambling piece of pseudo-documentary crap. The writer reaches as far back as 1992 to justify his theory that the U. S. Government is the support of international terrorism. His disjointed examples span a 10 year period of isolated actions by different agencies in different locations of the country. If the US stops buying drugs the drug trade dries up. One way to stop the flow is to talk to the consumers about the consequences of their actins, i.e. buying drugs. Apparently the writer doesn’t believe in trying to show people that there are consequences to their actions. However, it’s ok to bash the government (even if the program has value) when he wishes to make his political statement. Talk about a hypocrite!
I’ve written before about how willing liberals are to criticize the efficacy of federal programs when they disagree with the motives of those programs (promotion of marriage, for example) — and rightly so. In the same vein, isn’t it amazing how quickly conservatives embrace the federal government when they agree with its motives?
Your one-sided, selective recounting of “facts” ignores the everyday drug violence on our streets. Drugs are the number one problem facing America. Entire neighborhoods are destroyed by the drug trade and families are destroyed by the drug user. Since there is little to no actual punishment for the drug user, the problem will continue to grow. We need to identify the user (the demand) as the true enemy in the “War on Drugs.” Supply will always follow demand, this is an irrefutable truth in the world. Until we make a realistic effort to combat the demand, violence from the suppliers will continue to increase. Legalization is a slippery slope with no address of the damage done to the moral and social fabric of America. But for those unwilling to look for a real solution, it is the easiest answer.
The “everyday violence” is the result of the black market for illicit drugs, not the drugs themselves. As far as “demand” goes, people have been putting chemicals into their bodies for as long as there have been chemicals and bodies. Do you really think that the United States federal government, suddenly, today, has the answer and the solution to “why people use drugs?”
The DEA and others have made mistakes in their war on drugs; but until people realize that cocaine, marijuana, etc. will ruin their lives, somebody has to do something to stop them from killing themselves and ruining the lives of others. Regarding your “research”, I bet there are more instances of drugs financing terrorism than there are of innocents killed by “narcs” in their search for drugs.I’m tired of hearing the “Let’s just decriminalize drug use because it isn’t the problem” crap! If you want to advance the “Ban drugs when alcohol and tobacco are banned” theme, that’s fine with me because I don’t use that poison, either! Bottom line is: If you have any positive input on how to solve America’s problems, I’m sure George W would like to hear from you. If you do, info a copy to me because winter is rapidly approaching, and I need firestarters for my fireplace.
Why does someone need to do something to stop people from hurting themselves? Why should the government take money from me and use it to prevent you from harming yourself? And where does it end? Should the government stop you from drinking, too? Should the government force you to wear your seatbelt? Should the government make you eat dark, leafy green vegetables? Should it instruct you to wipe from front to back, and not vice-versa?
I should add that positives outnumbered negatives by about 2-1. And I’ll get to some of the more interesting comments later. But the nastier replies are much more fun to read.
I thought your article was spot on. Do this to reply to the critics. Type “Go Pound Salt” and then copy it and paste it in a reply to every nasty letter. It will save you some time and everyone will get a nice personal response.
If I were any more cynical, I might think these people were drug dealers themselves. After all, drug dealers have an obvious interest in keeping drugs illegal, as you know, to keep the prices high. Remember the fable of the Baptists and the bootleggers?
I don’t find the hate mail too fun to read personally. I just get depressed at the high level of ignorance and brainwashed rhetoric that is still out there.
Radley, please continue to utilize your exceptional talent and extensive communication network to expose this injustice whenever possible. Step it up, acually.
Thanks again!
I’d like to see a comparison made between the level of violence that stemmed from the banning of alcohol, then the difference when prohibition was repealed. Also at the same time, the level of violence due to illegal drugs currently, and lets see if the lifting of the drug prohibition would also cause a similar trend, whether that be an increase or decrease.
Usage will not stop no matter what is done. Accept that fact, and deal with the black market problems instead.
(Just think of the tax revenue)
quick note: the gov’t does make us wear seatbelts. seatbelt laws. sometimes though it IS for our own good. my father has worked in safety for almost 20 years now and i’ve seen and heard about some pretty gruesome deaths that could’ve been prevented. i agree that we can’t have the gov’t telling us what to do on everything but some things people just won’t do on their own. it’s not a pity that the gov’t DOES make laws like this….it’s a pity they HAVE TO.
Seems to me the “anti-drug” crowd is always trying to make it a moral issue. Why? What does morality have to do with altering your state of mind?
I can see the actions you may take while under the influence of drugs can be morally wrong, but were the catholic priests under the influence when they committed moral offenses? Nope. Were the Enron execs under the influence when they screwed people out of retirement checks? Nope.
The biggest backer of the Taliban was the U.S. Govt. and that is a fact.
Hugh – I don’t think the “anti-drug” crowd is making drug use a moral issue. Getting high is the same as getting drug as far as morals go.
This issue is using drugs is dangerous, not only to your body, but also because it alters your mind, which can cause harmful actions. Of course this can also happen when you are drunk. However, you can drink (a small amount) without altering you mind. You wouldn’t do that with drugs.
OK. Letâ??s totally eliminate all illegal drugs, once and for all, and letâ??s do it right this time. Here is what we as a nation will have to do:
Search every nook and cranny of every place capable of hiding even one gram of heroin or one tiny tab of LSD. But wait, people will only hide the drugs in the places that have already been searched, so weâ??ll have to lock them up while weâ??re doing it. This process should take several years, a force of thousands of police/military/drug dogs, and billions of bucks.
After this is done, these anti-drug forces will have to ensure that no drugs are ever grown, produced, smuggled or imported into the country again. This will mean sealing off our borders entirely, and keeping tabs on every farm, household, and business in the country. Mandatory weekly urine and blood samples for the general population will help. Constant monitoring and surveillance will obviously be necessary, so a permanent paramilitary force will have to be established.
Since people will still want to destroy themselves, you will then have to expand the list of substances to include spray paint and other inhalants, diet pills, prescription medications, bad food, caffeine, etc. Every purchase will need to be examined, every item within a household scrutinized in this light. People that are caught would be forced into mandatory rehabilitation programs to protect them from themselves. They will be branded as criminal to drive home the point.
Sound preposterous? Certainly. However, anything falling short of this drastic approach will forever be ineffective, and continue to doom us to wasting money, persecuting our own population (actually, waging war against them), and contributing further to this asinine idea that people can ever be protected from themselves.
After wading through the fundamentally flawed statistical data provided by the anti-drug movement provided in the column, it is apparent who is behind this idea.
Remember the Partnership for a Drug Free America? Thatâ??s right, the â??this is your brain on drugsâ? people, well hereâ??s an interesting tidbit to perhaps explain some of their motives (from http://www.fair.org).
â??For a group fighting drug abuse, the Partnership has taken cash from some odd partiesâ??including American Brands (Jim Beam whisky), Philip Morris (Marlboro and Virginia Slims cigarettes, Miller beer), Anheuser Busch (Budweiser, Michelob, Busch beer), R.J. Reynolds (Camel, Salem, Winston cigarettes), as well as pharmaceutical firms Bristol Meyers-Squibb, Merck & Company and Proctor & Gamble (Marin Institute Backgrounder, 2/97).
The only problem for 99% of the users of drugs is with the self-righteous, hypocritical people who insist on making them illegal. Robbery, murder, crime, etc. are not the result of the drugs themselves, rather they are a result of their illegality and that they must be purchased through the resulting black market this illegality creates.
The assumption that most often underlies the arguments of these modern-day prohibitionists is that tightening policies and further violating our liberties will somehow directly result in a reduction in demand and supply of drugs. In fact, not a dent has been put in either one in over thirty years of trying. As long as there is money to be made, American ingenuity will always find a way to bring a product to market.
THAT LAST COMMENT IS FACT THAT IF YOU OVER DO ANYTHING, BAD RESULTS WILL OCCUR. WHEN OUR COUNTRY REALIZES THAT THE PURITAN WAYS OF LOGIC ARE OUT DATED THEY’LL CHANGE THEIR BELIEFS THAT NO HARM CREATED IS NO HARM DONE. THE FUNNY THING IS THAT UPTIGHT PEOPLE THINK “THE DRUG WAR IS KEEPING IT OUT OF MY SUBURBS” I’VE GOT NEWS FOR YAH SWEETHEART IT’S THERE ALONG WITH YOUR TAX DOLLARS BEING DROPPED INTO YOUR SEWAGE TANK.
LAST COMMENT BEING HUGH. ACTUALLY THE LAST COMMENT WAS WELL DONE.
I was delighted to see the article. Conservatives who are naive enough to continue support the misguided and hysterical War on Drugs arm the liberals with the argument that conservatives lack intelligence. Conservative, to me, means my money, family and activities are not the responsability of the big nanny government. And that what anyone chooses to do privately with their own bodies is the business of government, can only go down in history as one of the great contridictions in our otherwise free society. That “Freedom” coming with a lot of intricate moral and legal qualifications.
I just wanted to say “AMEN” to your last paragraph that dealt with individual and personal responsibility. As a kid, I needed parents to guide my growth and get my life started properly, but I’m past that stage of life; I’m an adult human being, able to decide for MYSELF what’s good for me; how I want to live my life and what I feel is right to put into MY BODY. I don’t need the government of my country telling me, WHAT’S RIGHT FOR ME! Even if they could!
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