Fictional Reality
What a curious world we live in where reality and fiction blend together so easily. How can one keep them straight? Consider these few examples:
(1) Marijuana: Every scientific study ever conducted on the subject concludes that marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol or nicotine. No one has ever died of overdosing on marijuana (unlike alcohol), and there are no physical addictive qualities (like nicotine). Many studies go even further and cite significant health benefits for the drug. Even so, our national policy still follows the path first established in the early 1900’s when marijuana was criminalized due to its association with Mexican immigrants. Millions of dollars are spent each year prosecuting and imprisoning people (mostly young black men) for possession and sale of marijuana. Faced with the reality of the relative harmlessness of the drug, why do we still believe the fictional justification for criminalization?
(2) Safe Sex & Abortion: It is no secret that people (especially young people) enjoy sex. This is a biological reality, and rather necessary for the healthy propagation of the species. As we all know, sex can have unintended consequences. Sexual activity can spread some pretty nasty diseases. Sometimes a woman will get pregnant when she’s not prepared to be a mother. Both of these unfortunate consequences can easily be minimized by practicing safe sex. Yet in the fictional reality spun by our political leaders, it makes more sense to gloss over safe sex and instead tell young people to abstain entirely. What’s worse is that this idiotic approach actually increases the frequency of abortions because more young girls get pregnant when they are uninformed about how to avoid pregnancies.
(3) Gay Marriage: There was a time when marriage was between a man a woman and the woman became the man’s property. This was the accepted norm and any deviation from the system was seen as sacrilege and destined to undo civilization itself. Then times changed, woman began to slowly accumulate rights, and the earth somehow managed to keep from spiraling into the sun. There was a time when marriage was between a white man and a white woman, and the idea that people of two different races could wed was seen as sacrilege and destined to undo civilization itself. Again, times changed and interracial marriage became not-so-scarey and, lo and behold we’re still here to talk about it. Right now, marriage is defined as one man and one woman and the idea that two men or two women could fall in love and get married has a lot of people fearing for the second coming of Christ. And yet, when the history books are written, this chapter will close much the same as the last two. Men will marry other men, women will marry other women, and civilization will live happily ever after. Even so, one can’t escape the fictional arguments presented by the Christian Conservatives as to why we must resist this natural evolution of marriage at all costs. Do these people read history books? Do they realize how stupid they’ll sound in 10 years?
Well, there you have it. Three prime examples of a pretty obvious reality clouded by the fictional world of politics. What does it take to break through?
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 28th, 2005 by tadfad
