One of the overlooked points about prohibition that I found interesting was that prohibition could be viewed as a means to an ends to society, in the sense that everything that is processed by society becomes generalized in its price, and respectively its use; therefore, if we begin to eliminate products from society, those items then begin to create their own economy, which, is an equally dangerous idea. So what I observe, is, that, we all walk a very fine line when it comes to our participation in society, and in general, our entire lifestyle, can be considered as an addiction, where prohibition is a solution, or a problem.
Products are used based on their price; since products are marketed to you for profits, companies are trying to convince you to buy their product. Now, y'all can sit back, drink a beer and smoke a joint, and say things like, "Life is good". Which you deserve, because you worked for an hour to earn that pleasure. But underneath, there is a war being faught in the human world, over the titleship of products. You have a choice; you can be an ignorant participant, or a willful observer. What are you going to choose? How are you going to shape the future? (started with the set-up to making a point, quickly realized this would go a lot better as a mockumentary)
We gotta take control of our lives folks! We have the power to make things for ourselves, and the power to be genuine, and unique people!
Ok, I think I know what you're talking about, or I don't... So, just, can you tell me what your point is. But make it straight to the point.
Absolutely. Prohibition pushes us to the "right" products and the "right" ways of thinking. We can see the harms in marketplace controls with the likes of Walmart. Unbalanced Trade laws (also, another gift from Nixon along with the drug war) made cheap Chinese goods the defacto consumer norm. Less and less competition could keep up with Walmart, and now the choices are fewer and fewer as to where you get your "approved" Wall Street goods. Even the choices within the limited number of stores are getting fewer and fewer. It's always been about Big Business making Big profit in a competition-free marketplace.
We don't. The power families and the politicians they own do. Companies know which "products" are in demand under a prohibitionist landscape, and they hedge their bets to profit from it while drugs are illegal. Things like guns and other "war" wares sell nicely to support prohibition. We have the media, also owned by prohibitionists, pushing agendas which further enrich them. All the special interest unions and their employees push for it. It's big business, and the same people will look to make it big in a legal landscape too. That's why these "commissions" comprised of unlikely individuals calling for a "different approach" are so curious. I mean, the "Global Commission" had Paul freaking Volker in its ranks, former Federal Reserve Chairman. What does this tell us? It's HIGHLY lucrative!
Excellent posts; you gave me some great ideas. I like to take prohibition out of context, so that it means something similar to boycott as well, from my perspective, my goals may not be to support the loosely termed "economy", but actually destroy it. To achieve this, first, though, we will need the means to support ourselves, which is a whole lot simpler than it seems to achieve. There have been very few communities that have been allowed to support themselves, such as the Amish for example, and the primary reasoning behind that is people who are capable of supporting themselves cease to be a financial asset to the global marketplace; those people who can support themselves, are also less likely to be documented by the Government and less likely to fight in wars. While prohibitionists are getting rich by marketing licensed products, counter culture groups are also getting rich by selling illegal goods; ultimately this is creating a paradoxical war within the world. All of these are reasons contributing to my decision to be bad; I like to use the word hate because it is so strong, and I thrive on negativity. Society expects me to approve of everything, as is shown by all of the buttons you can find on the internet giving you the option to like something, but the dislike button is usually non-existant or comparatively diminutive; however, my general disapproval rating of practically everything around me is ~90%, and the true beauty of it all only shines through a rare 10% of the time. All in all, for us to actually seek our own volition, and peace, as you may say you do seek, it is necessary for a great percentage of our population to return to our source; that being nature; rather than constantly sharing from the same pool of resources, such as drinking tap water from reservoirs, instead of lakes and rivers; and rather than trying relentlessly to acquire the image of a sparkling clean business person, when it is not in our best interest, and it is certainly impossible to become - we can devote our life to the wilderness, by adapting and continuing to evolve as one with the planet. The point of this thread, really, is to gain a new perspective, in a world that is constantly learning; where there are wars, and conflicting definitions; in a pre-dominantly civil society.