OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Tell your children, a paradigm of dope, part II

For the purposes of this article, I define a do-gooder as someone who makes it their business to continuously bemoan the sins, transgressions, imperfections, and carnal desires and activities of others. The more pernicious do-gooders also make it a point to whine about the perceived transgression to powerful ears. Whether it's about a nosy neighbor, or groups of them, such as evangelical christians, they infest the reality of just about every corner of this land. Some are do-gooders for truly noble reasons. However, as just a cursory look at the Anslinger-Hearst connection shows, some do-gooders are in the game for much more sinister personal and business reasons.

The problem with do-gooders is their modus operandi is fairly well understood, and they can be called upon seemingly instantaneously. This is especially true when it comes the evangelical crowd. A bit of preaching from the pulpit, and voila, we have a moron put back into an office for which he is clearly unqualified. A bit of righteous indignation, and voila, marijuana use and possession goes from a personal choice to a crime. A bit of fear, and voila, our personal freedoms are sold out in the so-called name of "national security".

While one would think that eventually do-gooders would realize that their "crusades" result in more trouble and problems than are actually solved, they remain pretty clueless. Do-gooders drove alcohol prohibition. While they had some infinitesimally small measure of success for the first couple of months, the eventual offspring of this period in history was an explosion in organized crime. Alcohol didn't disappear; it just spawned an unbelievably huge, multi-million dollar black market. This black market brought us Al Capone. This black market was poised to take over the sale of marijuana when it was prohibited. That's just what happened. Of course, as one would expect, the continued efforts of another generation of do-gooders the black market for weed opened the doors to the black market for other legal and illegal "recreational" drugs.

The spread of this huge black market was driven by the actions of do-gooders. From the spread of this black market, our prisons have become filled with people who simply wanted to get high on something other than booze. They did nothing different from the guy who slams three to six martinis to "relax" after a long day of work. They just happened to want to use some drug other than alcohol to aid in their relaxation.

Another thing brought to life by the spread of the black market for drugs is an incredible amount of criminal activity. The drug trade drives gang violence. From the St. Valentine's Day Massacre to the latest drive-by on the mean streets of any major American city, blood flows on a daily basis wrought by the hands of the do-gooder.

It's Not Just Drugs

Do-gooding has become a cottage industry unto itself. The actions of do-gooders have created sexual morality laws, and perhaps the most vile and pernicious group of human beings to ever draw a breath: vice cops. While I have no problem with laws against sex with minors, rape, or all other form of sexual assault, I do have a serious problem with laws that seek to modify the sexual behavior of mature, consenting adults.

Vice cops are the biggest waste of police manpower that exists. If two adults want to "get it on", and they are aware (on some level) of the consequences of their actions, then I say, let them do, "what comes natur'lee!" While I agree that decorum is always a good thing, and discretion is the better part of valor, as long as two consenting adults are willing, it's no one else's business what these people do, or whether or not someone gets paid.

But no, public outrage has to be meted upon those who are a little more randy than their puritanical brethren. People's lives are destroyed for no better reason than sexual indiscretion. I ask you, is that right, proper, or fair? People are forced to bear societal shame just because of a bigger libido. If you ask me, it almost sounds like the do-gooders are pissed off they aren't getting any! Will they ever grow tired of the scarlet "A"?

Mind Your Own Business

The best way to not become a do-gooder yourself is to mind your own business. One would think this would be a statement of the obvious. However, it seems that as each new generation of do-gooders fall in goose-step behind the next, the rest of the world forgets that the do-gooder still draws breath. And, as each generation advances, so does the encroachment of our freedoms by the do-gooder crowd.

Lest you think otherwise, the do-gooder is a creature that has been with us for some time. As a matter of fact, next to killing each other, sticking our noses (and other body parts) into the business of our "brothers" is one of mankind's perennial favorite hobbies. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that there were Cro-Magnons and other proto-humans who whiled away their hours after a successful hunt by gossiping and declaring their comparative superior righteousness. They probably burned the bringer of fire at a stake, too.

A simple cursory reading of world history is sure to show up the skeletons of an infinite number of human ills that were brought into being because someone somewhere was grossly offended, and was able to turn their offense into a bloody crusade.

It's not too far from crusade to war. While most wars wind up being over some form of money (land, resources, etc.), how many more have been started just because we can't resist meddling in the lives of others? How many rivers of gore have flown through the parched landscape of history that had their headwaters in do-gooder-ism? It could be debated that may have been one of the many reasons that we are currently embroiled in the war of a spoiled brat. I'll discuss war more in the next (and last) article in this series.

I'm Better Than You

Boiled down, that's the implied message of the do-gooder. This ignores the reality that there is no such thing as "better" when it comes to a human. We are all imperfect beings. We are all spirits in a flesh covering. There is no "better" spirit. We have our good and bad points.

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