RoR: Forum

I could never understand how someone who wasn't a terrorist could fail to report someone who was. Surely, I thought, if you know that the person kneeling next to you is thinking of blowing up a subway, you'd tell the police, regardless of whether you were both Muslims!

I recently realized that it's not that simple. I don't know the statistics, but I'm sure that a lot of young adults have a friend who periodically drives drunk. How many of those teens report their friend to the police? Almost none. How many will rationalize, "Well, sure it's dangerous, but they probably won't actually kill anyone?"

Now imagine that you're a Muslim who has a friend who talks approvingly about bombing. Are you going to turn them in just for thinking about it, or listening to radical imams? Or are you going to rationalize, "Well, sure it's dangerous, but they probably won't actually kill anyone?"

One more thought: In 2001, 3,000 Americans were killed by the 9/11 attacks, while more than 17,000 were killed by drunk drivers, according to CBS News. Why do we not have a national War on Drunk Driving? Why do we not search for aspects of teen culture to blame for 17,000 deaths each year, as we search for aspects of Muslim religion to blame for the 3,000?

Chris

Post 1

Monday, August 1, 2005 - 9:47am

We do - and they're MADD as hatter people...

Post 2

Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - 3:59pm

Unsubstantiated insults aren't constructive. Care to explain/expand on what's wrong with MADD? Does MADD (or anyone) actually talk about/blame teen culture the way many Americans (including some writers on this site) blame Islam for terrorism?

Chris

Post 3

Thursday, August 4, 2005 - 5:22pm

"Why do we not search for aspects of teen culture to blame for 17,000 deaths each year, as we search for aspects of Muslim religion to blame for the 3,000?"

Perhaps because teens are only some of the ones responsible for the 17,000 annual deaths caused by drunk driving?

Drunk driving accidents are tragic, but they are not given a pass in our culture the same way that Muslims give a pass to terrorism. We spend a great deal of time and money on public ad campaigns warning against drunk driving, and arresting and prosecuting those who do it. The penalties should be stiffened, absolutely, but your contention that we have failed to meaningfully combat drunk driving is absurd on its face.

I'm actually sort of proud to be from Montana, the state that got an 'F' from MADD ... given that some of the factors that led to that grade include our unwillingness to make failure to wear a seatbelt a primary traffic violation, to lower the legal limit for BAC, and to ban open containers in cars. In fact, MADD was also instrumental in raising the drinking age from 18 to 21.

Maybe one of the factors that causes people to drive drunk in this country is the hysterical stigma attached to drinking by organizations like MADD? (Not trying to hijack the thread here, just pointing up one possible alternative to Chris's formulation.)

Post 4

Friday, August 5, 2005 - 9:16pm