Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!yunexus!geac!alias!kpicott%alias@csri.utoronto.ca From: kpicott%alias@csri.utoronto.ca (Socrates) Newsgroups: ont.general Subject: Re: Sunday shopping Message-ID: <690@alias.UUCP> Date: 22 Dec 89 14:32:41 GMT References: <89Dec20.141047est.2233@neat.cs.toronto.edu> Sender: kpicott@alias.UUCP Reply-To: kpicott%alias@csri.utoronto.ca (Socrates) Distribution: ont Organization: Alias Research Inc. Lines: 77 In article <89Dec20.141047est.2233@neat.cs.toronto.edu> mgreen@cs.toronto.edu (?) writes: >[red herring argument about freedom of religion or non-religion] > I agree with the first statement made in this posting about the government trying to tell you how to lead your life. I completely and utterly disagree with the assumption that since someone is forcing you to do something then that thing is necessarily evil. (This is what I meant by "red herring".) >How many MP's do you think aren't >married, don't have children or strong religious ties? They >all do. These are the pillars of the community. > .. and they all got elected. I guess our society still values that kind of qualities. There may be hope yet. (If only it wasn't just a political facade -- .) >Funny, but I thought that in a free society, people ought to be able >to do what they want, as long as it doesn't injure someone else. > This sounds more like anarchy to me. With any form of government people are restricted by the rules of society, whether they agree with them or not. Am I free to blackout a city by destroying a power station, as long as I make sure that no one is inside? After all, it's the looters and the National Guard that are injuring people, not me. >My wife works every other weekend and I frequently spend Sunday in my >office. It is not the end of the world. > Hard work never hurt anyone eh? Except for ulcers, heart problems, high blood pressure, etc... Hard work should be self-motivated, then it doesn't bring the attendant stress problems. People who love their work could work 16 hour days, 7 days a week without being affected. Unfortunately those are not (in 99% of the cases) the people who would be working. The people working would be the ones who have a job just to pay the bills. (Talk to checkout clerks sometime and find out how many of them have job satisfaction.) My concern is that when the extra day is introduced this type of person will gladly work it since they could always use the extra MONEY. MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! Isn't it important enough already? >There are already alot of >people who work Sunday and civilization goes on. > Herring here too. There are also a lot of people who are killed every day, and who starve every day and civilization goes on. Does that mean that noone should be stopped from killing or prevented from starving? >If this were a democracy, there >would be little dispute: polls show 70% favor Sunday shopping. > Another herring. "Polls" never represent the will of the people, only the will of the people who participate in polls. Maybe the polls were taken on a Sunday at Loblaws? (Fight herring with herring I always say.) >The real issue is not Sunday shopping but the authorian character of >the Canadian government. Are the majority of us going to let the >minority impose their views on on us with no more justification than >they thing that it's a good idea. > Isn't this what a representative democracy is all about? :-t >The people running the government, >and apparenbtly some of the posters, are still locked into a 1955 view >of society. There are still trying to impose antiquated values on a >society which has drastically changed. > The problem is that the changes are not necessarily pointing in the right direction. (Plastics, aerosols and smog should convince you of this.) Somebody (meaning us) has to watch where we are going instead of just charging headlong like a bull. There might be a bigger bull charging the other way! -- Kevin Picott aka Socrates aka kpicott%alias@csri.toronto.edu Alias Research Inc. R+D Toronto, Ontario... like, downtown "There can be no offense where none is taken" - Japanese proverb