If one walks into Whole Paycheck and peruses the produce section, one can find "Organic Brain Support Powder" (an at-best dubious concept in the biochemistry of nutrition, function, and neurology, but that's never stopped a clever marketing campaign before…). But where's the Positronic Brain Support Powder? Or the Silicon Brain Support Powder? Isn't this discrimination from an owner whose entire business is built on data processing? Doesn't it require the immediate attention of the Heffalumps on the Senate Judiciary Committee?
- To answer my rhetorical question: Yes. Yes it does. We'd all be better off if those… individuals… would just attack Amazon because
its tax revenues don't flow to their home states or their campaign coffersit's "too big and lib'ral," instead of attacking a sitting judge who demonstrated — both in the past and before the Judiciary Committee — that she understands the difference and tension among "statement of policy regarding an offense," "tailoring of response to an offense to the evidence and sometimes-conflicting purposes of punishment," and "electoral posturing and hystrionics from those who had no opportunity to evaluate the circumstances, especially the credibility of witnesses and evidence." And did so politely (which is more than I can say for those Senators).Even in the restrictive environment of military discipline, with the rare exceptions of espionage and loss of mission capability there just could not be lock-step punishment. Even with my attitude toward drunk drivers (informed by far more-direct and more-personal engagement with the collateral damage than the respective Senators appear able to contemplate, let alone have), "give 'em the max and move on" was, and would have been, inappropriate and not consistent with maintaining good order and discipline. Instead, what should have been at issue regarding child porn is the deeper question of "Well, what tools have we provided and taken away from the judiciary in the first place, for good reasons or ill?" That, of course, might lead to treating an authentic production of R&J as "child porn," since the subjects would have been "childen" as we now define the term…
In short, the Cisco Kid was too generous to both the good faith and intellect of Senators from west of the Mississippi. (And probably to Senators from west of the Atlantic.)
- At least that's better than overt censorship. And you should ponder the need to look at an outside-the-US publication for nonpartisan commentary on aspects of the US education system… or perhaps not, given the absence of violins on television. How are the children going to learn about music — just listening to death-metal bands pontificate (especially badly) on Roman emperors? Or non-privileged-white-male perspectives on growing up?
- Maybe if we'd teach it better and stop treating basic math as a "weed-out" course, more lawyers (and, hence, junior Senators from Missouri) would actually take some so they at least understood they were making expedient and not mathematically sound arguments. Or maybe have some actual inkling of basic physics instead of just pulling their (quantum) hair out (before going to some hair-restoration clinic run by someone who actually did some calculus before medical school).
- I suppose we could just leave everything to corporate copyright transferees (as usual). Even when they're otherwise (deservedly) stymied. Both of these are slightly-less-egregious reflections of the "spoils of aggression" problem in law and policy: Law and policy tend to get made by those who have an unenlightened self-interest in the outcome and a privileged original position regarding the subject-matter (which is to say sufficient resources to out-litigate and out-lobby opposing/alternate viewpoints).
Even after all that, I have an organic diet to support my organic brain: I don't eat rocks (except, occasionally, rock-salt-crusted bagels). And the marketing-concept assholes who misappropriated a related technical term, and then altered the public's perception of its meaning out of all recognition (in the interest of enhancing the never-acknowledged white-farmer premium), can go add lots of purely organic materials to their own diets. I cannot, however, speak for the diet of the machine on which I'm typing this…