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Message-ID: <12231290397.47.MCGREW@RED.RUTGERS.EDU>
Date: Sat, 16-Aug-86 12:04:51 EDT
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Posted: Sat Aug 16 12:04:51 1986
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    ... I don't look for TV to give me political reality, just movies
    and an occasional political viewpoint I am free to discard ...

  A lot of people, however, get most of their political reality from
TV.  This is unfortunate, since TV seems to have an inherent liberal
bias.  It is much easier to show one poor or unemployed person or a
ruined farm or business than it is to show the much more diluted but
equally real effect of tax increases or zoning laws.

    There is a terrible view that people will believe whatever appears
    on the screen (most often held by those whose opinion is not
    broadcast in prime-time).

  A lot of people do.  If they don't, why do advertisers pay so much
for a few seconds of air time?

    You want your views sent out?  Pay the money.  Buy the commercial
    time.

  It is hard to get libertarian philosophy across in any kind of
coherent way in 30 second spots.  Especially on a medium that is much
much better at showing the state of a candidate's teeth than the state
of the union.

    ... if everyone were to own a gun, and since a very small minority
    have any real notion of how to use one (and the judgement to know
    when to use one), things could get a little flakey.

  Well, I don't agree with L. Neil Smith that every six year old
should be given a powerful gun and ammunition.  But this idea of not
letting adult people use something because they might abuse it has to
go.  Perhaps gun use should be taught in high school?

    Shotguns don't do well against a B-52 strike (i.e. our government
    will always have bigger guns).

  Tell that to the Vietnamese.

    Smoking cigarettes is dumb, yes, but you won't get
    hepatitis from a dirty cigarette, and you can't get a 'bad batch'
    of cigarettes.

  This is because cigarettes are an accepted product, produced by
people whose careers it is to produce them, in companies which have a
lot to lose by any quality screwups.  The same would be true of drugs
if they were legalized.
  During prohibition, bad batches of alcoholic drinks were very
common.  Many people went blind or died.  But not before prohibition
and not since.

    I rather doubt that most minors are aware of the dangers of even
    'recreational' drug use. - CWM]

  Well, such dangers were certainly pointed out to Junior High School
students when I was one, 15 years ago.  Whether most students ignore
the warnings, I don't know.  It didn't help that they claimed things
about marijuana that many students knew to be false.  This really hurt
their credibility with regard to the hard drugs.
  I do not favor allowing minors to use hard drugs.  Only adults.
Same with tobacco and alcohol, which are different from the other
drugs only in that they happen to be legal already.
                                                              ...Keith

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