I have been a big guy all my life. I always felt like I could take care of myself physically. Now in my mid sixties, I can identify more with how a small person feels in a physical confrontation. When I went to college, the number of Black students was less than one tenth of one percent at my university. I came from an integrated neighborhood. In my Junior High School and on the block where I lived, I was the minority. In my High School I was one of a majority of 90%, but my fellow white college students were used to being in the 99% majority and used to using dozens of nicknames for Blacks, Italians, Jews, Hispanics, in fact every non-WASP or non-male type of person under the Sun. Everything was seen through the eyes of "I'm a WASP heterosexual male and I'm ok". My first roommate's father made over 40 times as much money as my step-father did. For my birthday, my mother sent me a box of home-made cookies. My roommate got a brand new Corvair Spider Convertible for his birthday. Is it any wonder that my roommate and I didn't see eye to eye on many topics?
I don't think that a Supreme Court made up of nine 5 foot 2 minority women would be a perfect court, but neither do I believe that a Supreme Court made up of nine clones of our founding fathers is optimum.
The hypothetical case that I used above may sound far fetched to many people. And in fact I didn't try not to make it seem that way.
Is there any analogy here between this case and the alleged rape case? Can you see how the size difference between the defendant and the alleged rape victim is analogous to the size difference between record company and the music down-loader?
In the case of the woman who had to pay almost a quarter of a million dollars for downloading less than 25 songs, the record company said that they were trying to set an example and that is a factual case. But:
If the defendant in the hypothetical case that I used above had not heard that verdict, would that make a difference in how you see the case? If the defendant had paid for the songs, but the website that charged him had no rights to sell the songs, would that make a difference in how you see the case? If the defendant had down-loaded the songs from a website that posted a disclaimer saying that they had the rights to offer the songs for free, would that make a difference in how you see the case? Would it matter to you that the record company hurts the music down-loader whether they win or lose because of the attorney fees?
Some people might answer yes to all of these questions. Some might answer no to some or all of the questions. Again, it might depend upon whether the person was a large man or a small women. I don't think that a Supreme Court made up of nine 5 foot 2 minority women would have a unanimous verdict. Nor do I believe that the verdict of a Supreme Court made up of nine clones of our founding fathers would be unanimous. But I believe that we should have neither a Supreme Court made up of nine 5 foot 2 minority women nor of nine clones of our founding fathers. Only a Supreme Court made up of people of different colors, different races, different genders, different religions and different philosophies partially based on different life styles and different life experiences can give a fair and balance interpretation of the laws of our land. The Republicans would have us believe that the four justices that make up the present conservative voting block are applying the law, but that the others sometimes are making the law up as they go along. The common religion of the four justices can not be the reason why they vote as a block so often. Right?
Is the FAA constitutional? There were no planes when the Constitution was written.
Is regulating weapons constitutional? There were no fighter planes or automatic weapons when the Constitution was written.
Should the Supreme Court be put on a quota system? I don't think so. But would it hurt to have the makeup of the Supreme Court look more like America actually looks today rather than the way many people remember? Is what many people remember factual?
I have asked more questions than given answers. I can't tell you how to think and I would not want to tell you how to think, but if you do think about the questions, your answers might not be totally different than mine. Then you will have some Empathy for Me! Is that such a bad thing?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
