Rob seems to be suggesting that the inequality would be hidden — i.e.
Arab-Americans would be (are being?) subject to racial profiling via
supposedly random computer checks. In such a case, I agree that there
will be less outrage than against a system in which everyone's rights
are so violated.
But if inequality is openly acknowledged and built into the law (as
would seem necessary in the case of tax rates), I think that's a
different story. Of course there has to be a feeling that the oppressed
minority does not deserve such treatment. If people actually believe
the group receiving worse treatment deserves it (i.e. the wealthy being
taxed at higher rates), then there may not be much general outrage
without a change in public opinion toward the victims.
If a bunch of studies were done showing that African-Americans were
having their tax returns audited at a greater rate than whites, it
probably wouldn't generate a large negative reaction outside the
African-American community. But if a law were passed requiring
African-Americans to be audited more frequently, you can bet that the
roar of outrage would be immediate and huge.
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
I find your points here persuasive, Rob. The Niemˆller quote comes to
mind ("First they came for. . .").From: Rob Power [mailto:robpower@robpower.com]
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 9:54 AM
To: lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [lpsf-discuss] Inequality of oppression draws attention to
it (was: Tax cut for selling land to conservationists isn't bad)I disagree. Because the masses are usually unwilling to educate
themselves
about those things outside their immediate sphere, "sharing the pain"
is one
of the few ways to educate them about government abuse. All those
Arab and
civil libertarian groups you mentioned HAVE been extremely active
since the
new rules went into place, claiming (I have no proof one way or the
other)
that the secret computer programs that supposedly pick us randomly for
those
searches are actualy skewed to pick Arabs more. But nobody cares.Similarly, how many people in America know that the gay partner of a
sick
person isn't considered "family" for the purposes of hospital visits
throughout most of America? I'd say less than 10 percent. How many
people
would know very quickly the "spouse only" rights if suddenly all of the
married couples lost those rights so that they had to endure the same
oppression as gay couples? (Of course, if we did get rid of state
marriage
overnight, the hospitals would quickly change their rules because of
the
outcry, and gay couples would benefit.It's idealistic to think that people pay more attention to the
unjustice of
unequal oppression. Maybe you do, and that's why you're Starchild.
But
you're in a very small percentage (I'd say single digits) of Americans
who
actually believe the whole "injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere"
thing. That's why most of the public has no problem with American
presidents bombing brown people, including women and children, but
gets very
upset if a white separatist in a cabin has his wife and children
killed by
government snipers. Equality of benefit and equality of pain is the
only
way to ensure that voters know that high taxes are bad by definition
and
that excessive regulation is bad by definition. We surely can't rely
on the
media or the educational institutions to teach them such things.Rob
From: Starchild [mailto:sfdreamer@earthlink.net]
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 3:06 AM
To: lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [lpsf-discuss] Inequality of oppression draws attention to it
(was: Tax cut for selling land to conservationists isn't bad)Rob,
Actually, if it were only Arab-Americans being subjected to airline
searches, while the rest of us were not, I can guarantee you that a
whole LOT of people who are relatively silent about current airport
searches would be making quite an outcry (ACLU, Arab American groups,
Muslim groups, newspaper editorial writers, pundits, Democrat
politicians, foreign governments, etc.). If any administration were
dumb enough to enact such a policy, I suspect it wouldn't last long.
Equality of oppression doesn't necessarily produce more favorable
circumstances for a return to liberty. In fact I would suggest that
inequality of oppression tends to draw attention to it.Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>On Thursday, September 4, 2003, at 11:11 PM, Rob Power wrote (in
part):Which do you think is better, Michael, a
set of airline regulations where only Arabs have their person and
property
searched, or a set of airline regulations where all races are subject
to the
same humiliating searches? If it were only the single digit
percentage of
the popluation that is Arab that were facing these stupid searches,
there
would be absolutely no outcry from the public and therefore no revolt
at the
polls to tell the politicians that what they did was wrong.To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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