Sunday, October 03, 2010

Scapegoat! Get your scapegoat here!

In a story about books in prisons, ACLU attorney David McGuire hits a nail right on the head. Read here.

"This is yet another case of politicians scapegoating expression as the cause of serious violent crime," said ACLU attorney David McGuire.

Now, let's replace one word with a short phrase. Replace the word "expression" with the short phrase "inanimate objects" and ACLU attorney David McGuire would still be right, regardless of the inanimate objects involved. But, I would suggest that the inanimate object or objects collectively could be firearms or a knife or a rock or a pencil or a pen or a porcupine quill.

The point made by Mr. McGuire is correct. I don't know how many times I've heard someone contemptuously parrot, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people blah, blah blah..." and so on with whatever clever ending to that soundbite they have.

The fact of the matter is politicians do a lot of scapegoating and not a whole lot of anything else.

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