Peer Pressure?

Teen arrested for damage
when his diamond belt buckle
gouges floor while break dancing.

The more I think about John Yoo’s flawed and pathetic legal advice to Bush/Cheney, the madder and more outraged I become. This was not merely a case of “bad judgment,” it was so unbelievably awful it actually makes bad judgment look virtuous. In effect, Yoo’s decision about torture, unlimited and absolute Presidential power, implies that when it comes to human affairs there is no law, no morality, and no justice of any kind. So much for the Magna Carta, the U.S. Constitution, habeas corpus, the Nuremberg trials, and International law, all irrelevant, swept away by a sycophantic ass-kissing puppy of a lawyer trying to please his master. The greatest achievements of human law and jurisprudence become meaningless if a single individual has the power to override them at will. This is a decision so monstrous in its implications for human societies it goes beyond even the absurd. And who is the most pleased person who actually boasts it was this decision that gave him the legal justification he needed for torture and war crimes, why none other than the most evil and sadistic monster in American history, Dick (the Slimy) Cheney. The fact that there are still those who apparently revere Cheney and still listen to him demonstrates just how sick some members of our society have become, even ignoring the fact that he has been wrong about everything. Similarly, I find it almost impossible to believe that John Yoo continues to be a Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley (of all places). These legal charlatans and Bush/Cheney cannot be allowed to get away with their abominable behavior. To do so will be an admission for all the world to see that the United States of America is not a nation of laws but, rather, a nation of evil greedy men willing to go to any lengths to preserve their power.

No public option? President Obama has released a document stating what he would like in a Health Care Bill. There is no public option. He has said previously, more than once, that he would like a public option. A majority of Americans in virtually every state in the union are in favor of and want a public option. The Democrats are poised to pass health care by reconciliation (51 votes) whether Republicans want it or not. So why is no public option included? As far as I can tell it’s because Democrats are a collection of the worst and most pathetic cowards on earth. Apparently the House says they would support a public option if the White House would, and the White House says they would support a public option if the House did, but neither one wants to lead the way. Now that’s what you call determination, the courage of your convictions, full speed ahead, our way or the highway, do or die, 54-40 or fight, Remember the Alamo, I regret I have only one life to give to my country, and blah, blah, blah. I suppose I would support a public option, if only because that would be better than nothing at all, but as far as I am concerned as long as the Insurance industry remains in on any deal it’s not going to be serious health care reform.

Apropros of nothing at all, I have been thinking about the phenomenon of “peer pressure.” I hear this quite often now, usually when someone is explaining why a child has gone wrong or at least done something wrong. This is usually defined as, and thought of as, your peers somehow coaching you, or encouraging you, or forcing you, or pressuring you somehow to do something you might not otherwise do. This is, I guess, a pretty good excuse for a young person doing something he/she should not have done, or would not have done, had it not been for this pressure from his/her peers. Based strictly on my own experiences I don’t think this is the way peer pressure actually works, at least not the way it worked in my case. While it is true that I did things my peers did, that we should not have been doing, I do not recall a single instance of being pressured by my companions into doing something. The pressure came from within myself. I wanted to do the things my friends were doing. No one gave me a cigarette and instructed me to smoke it (or I would be teased or beaten or anything). When I saw them smoking I wanted to smoke too. Similarly, no one ever forced me to drink beer, no one even offered me my first beer. I voluntarily chose a beer and drank it (and hated it at the time). But I was not going to let my friends think I was more well-behaved than they were. No one bullied or taunted me to go out and lose my virginity, I lost it because all my friends were losing theirs and I did not want to be outdone. I suspect no one really gives in to peer pressure unless they want to, although their wanting to is certainly related to what their peers are doing. I’m sure there are cases where kids are shamed into doing something by peer pressure, but I am equally sure the motivation in many cases is far more subtle than that. Peer pressure is similar to concepts like “stress,” and “depression,” and sometimes even “autism” or “schizophrenia,” that are used as explanations for behavior, but often explain nothing at all. Perhaps John Yoo could claim peer pressure, or better yet, that old favorite “the devil made me do it.” He certainly can’t claim any legal precedent.

LKBIQ:
There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.
John Adams

TILT:
Sarah Palin is never going to be a candidate for President.