Watch out! Rant!

[kriadydragon]

I really hate it when people say stuff like "Why doesn't the government do something about it?" or "Why don't they make a law that stops them from doing that?" Because it's not that easy. Not if you don't want to trample the rights of the people not doing anything wrong.

Comments

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

YES, indeed complex.....however, that is the nation we live in.....
We must contend with people e.g. Westboro Baptist which insists on demonstrating at military funerals, a timely topic given we are almost int Memorial Day, and many other instances...
BUT that is what we pay for the price of freedom.........
If we stopped it all, then what difference would there be between us and other nations who trample on individual rights?
While I may not always agree with you, I will fight for your right to
dissent.......and many have paid the supreme price in support of that.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Exactly. We may despise what they're doing but their rights are also our rights, and we can't sacrifice our freedom just to shut up a couple of idiots. i.s. We can't let these people ruin it for the rest of us.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Very, very true. So often, just looking at one specific situation, it's so easy to say "This should be stopped! Someone needs to do something about this! It should be illegal!" And yes, maybe the problems and their solutions seem so obvious, just looking at that one situation/person that needs to be dealt with.

The difficulty is, more often than not "solutions" designed to address one problem trample in an unjustified way on the rights and freedoms of people who have nothing to do with that problem. Or the "solution" is used as justification/precedent to introduce other laws or regulations... And it turns into a mess of consequences that were never foreseen by the people crying out for government intervention in dealing with some truly crazy or malicious idiots.

*sigh*

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

And it turns into a mess of consequences that were never foreseen by the people crying out for government intervention in dealing with some truly crazy or malicious idiots.

Yes, this, exactly. It's easy to demand solutions but not easy coming up with solutions that get the job done without screwing with our basic rights.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah. And even in situations where it wouldn't involve our rights being trampled? It generally seems to involve throwing lots of money at the issue. Money which, people seem to forget, our government does not have at the moment.

But then, in general I'm inclined to think that - far more often than not - LESS government involvement, rather than more, is where solutions lie. A lot of people just seem to want the government to "take care of everything" so they don't have to. :P

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

A lot of people just seem to want the government to "take care of everything" so they don't have to. :P

This scares me because, yes, it's not just a matter of rights being trampled. There are people who won't hesitate to abuse the system (like those on food stamps who don't need to be on food stamps) and people so focused on their goal that they don't see the consequences coming. I recall hearing something about this one law passed (or trying to be passed?) in which you can't sell you home until you updated it to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Which, for people who own older homes and don't make a lot of money, that's going to be impossible.

So whenever someone spouts "They need to make a law!" I cringe.

[nefhiriel.livejournal.com]

Ugh...yes. It's so easy to say "something should be done"--and quite another thing to make that "something" happen (and decide if it truly should happen). Just because it seems obvious to a person that one course of action should be taken in a situation doesn't immediately make it so cut-and-dried for everyone. And therein lie a million complications and opportunities to step on peoples' rights...

Besides, do we really want to keep asking the government to mediate in yet more areas of our lives? C'mon. Really? XD

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It scares me, sometimes. People are so quick to want results, and to see the results happen to matter what (see my above response to Imbecamiel about updating homes to be energy efficient).

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

My brother-in-law always says: Either I'm part of the solution or part of the problem. And he is totally right. If you want something to change, you have to start doing it. Doing and saying nothing and hoping that someone else will speak at my place, will only end in desaster...being German, I have a deep understanding of the consequences if you forget that.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Absolutely yes to this. We have a group here that whenever someone tries to protest the funeral of a fallen soldier, they stand between the funeral and protestors and make sure the protestors can't be seen or heard by the people at the funeral. It's a very awesome thing.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Yes, we do something similiar when people with racists tendencies are protesting...they are allowed to do this if they are doing it by the rules (freedom of speech aso), but there is always another group contraprotesting, demonstrating that they don't agree with this kind of thinking.

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

you really don't want the government to be more invasive into our lives. People really need to have more common courtesy, kindness and respect. Then, people wouldn't be screaming for legislation to stop people from being dick wads.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Definitely. Sadly, there will always be jerks, which is why we also need to be the better person when the jerks rear their annoying heads ;)

[sherry57.livejournal.com]

Living in a country where common courtesy seems to be a thing of the past and where everyone expects the government to produce laws about everything and tell them what to do all the time so they don't have to take responsibility for their own actions....I totally agree with you on this hon.

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

I know it may seem hokey, but I take my cue from The Mounty from due South. "It never hurts to show kindness." And, say Thank you, Kindly...

PS

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

*hugs you for having to deal with stupid heads*

Re: PS

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

*hugs back*

[sherry57.livejournal.com]

I so hear you hon. Maybe if people took more responsibilty for their own lives and behaved with more humanity and compassion, we could get back to a decent world. We don't need to be tied up with millions of laws...we just need to behave properly and with respect.
Freedom of speech and action is important and so is tolerance of it. I live in a country which considers itself to have freedom of speech but I honestly feel compared to the UK where I come from, it really hasn't. It is too led by the government....the people expect the government to tell them every step of the way how to live! So Im right with your point of view when I see this in action as too many laws are to the detriment of the law abiding citizen and individualism.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Maybe if people took more responsibilty for their own lives and behaved with more humanity and compassion, we could get back to a decent world.

Exactly. I really dislike what seems to be a prevalent attitude of "it's not my fault" of people laying the blame for the consequences of their own actions on everyone and everything but themselves, and expecting other to fix the problems they should be fixing themselves.

Freedom of speech and action is important and so is tolerance of it.

Also exactly.

[susnn.livejournal.com]

Amen. Asking the government to "fix" everything really is asking for a demonstration of the laws of unintended consequences. So many laws are passed with good intentions but when the unelected bureaucrats write the enabling regulations... suddenly what the law was intended to accomplish isn't what happens.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I don't get why so many people don't seem to realize this. It's like no one cares about consequences, they just want resolution at any cost.