Blog of Bermanism

Wil Wheaton has a very concise and clear post on his blog regarding the recent passing of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Act, which prohibits online gambling in many forums and, thus, further suppresses the personal freedoms of Americans. Check out his post for more details. I write about this because, while I agree that a large country needs laws to protect its citizens and to make a society run smoothly, I hate when other people try to pass laws or send down orders designed specifically to reduce personal freedoms. Crack should be illegal. Why? Because everyone who uses it gets addicted, fast, spends all of their money on it, all of their time getting wasted, and quickly becomes a menace to society. No possible good for the one or for the many can come from people using, buying, or making crack. The only beneficiaries to crack sales are the people at the very top of the distribution chain that are getting rich from it. Now, by the same token, I believe that cigarettes should also be illegal for many of the same reasons (plus, they’re just nasty). Alcohol, well, that one walks a fine line. Plenty of good things can happen using alcohol if it is done with safety and foreknowledge of the effects of alcohol, but it mostly causes problems.

That being said, I draw the line between what the government can control at things that are universally harmful to people. For no reason should they ban internet gambling. As quoted from Wil’s blog, which was a quote from Mr. Balko:

No one is hurt when two or more consenting adults sit down for a game of poker, be it online or in person. Why any of this should be of concern to the federal government is rather perplexing. I respect the fact that many Americans—and many members of Congress—may have moral objections to gambling, online or otherwise. To them, I’d say, simply, “don’t gamble, then.”

I agree with this so completely that I give mad props to Mr. Balko and Wil Wheaton. I take the same stance on other things like abortion. If you think it is wrong and immoral to have an abortion, then don’t do it! Don’t take away other people’s personal freedoms to abort their pregnancies because a few crack whores and prostitutes abuse the system and abort children needlessly. There are many reasons that abortions could be necessary and appropriate. Perhaps a 14 year old homeless girl was raped and her having the child would only lead to a life of poverty, mistreatment, and stunted development for the child. It is actually better off like this. Of course, adoption is always an option, but it is difficult for children to get adopted and there is a high excess of them these days. I could go on and on, and I know there are other sides to this. I actually kind of agree with the religious and moral reasons for not wanting to have abortions, but to take away those freedoms may end up further ruining people’s lives for things that they may not have had any control over.

The bottom line, laws like this assume that everyone who gambles or has an abortion is a bad person who probably rapes three year old boys and beats kittens with tennis rackets in their basements for pleasure. That is not true! In fact, recent observations are starting to show that online internet communities like MySpace and FaceBook are as addictive, if not more addictive than gambling. And, both turn out to be a great feeding ground for child predators who rape three year old boys and beat kittens with tennis rackets in their basements. If someone decides to empty their wallet online, it was a conscious decision and they can deal with the consequences. It is not for the government to regulate our bad choices in life. Part of being free is having the ability to make dumbshit choices and to be able to ruin your own life whenever you want. If it happens to take down others with you, then your more of a dumbshit than most. Most people will try to fix things they break and will avoid doing something like it again.

So, to that I say, lay off government! Just because you’re not making money on this venture doesn’t mean you should squash it!

*cough*

DRM,

*cough*

Ok, I’ve ranted enough for today. Man, I’ve been political lately. I guess I’ve sprung a leak…

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