Reply #124: Well, we won't agree but at least it's polite ;)

[Asgaya Dihi]

I read what you said fine, thanks for repeating it though ;)

I suppose ego is all a matter of perspective. For me it drives me nuts to see pot activists talking about rights, but when we mention that it's how we deal with the other drugs that cause more damage they don't want anything to do with the subject. They don't care about rights, they just want to get high. The average cop is easier to talk about legalization and regulation with than it is with some pot activists. Same with a lot of others, our corner of the world is more important than most, at least to us.

Seems to me I stated a fairly simple thing to start this, it takes guts to stand in the middle and we could do with more asking people who they are rather than with telling them. Somehow that turned into several posts with you, over I'm not sure exactly what. That I don't put the same priority on this issue as you do? That I don't see it from your perspective? I'm not sure myself. I do appreciate that you've been polite and such, but what seems like a simple thing turns into a pain in the ass more often than not.

I don't see ego in what I've argued here, though I guess I'm as prone to it as anyone and might not see what you do. Seems to me I've been more on the defensive, mostly for stating a view. Could have asked me about things rather than assuming. Take issue with, as in debate or discuss, clarify, or any damned thing else you'd like. Why does it have to mean confrontation? Hell, it meant nothing but it isn't worth the debate, which I don't seem to have avoided anyway. Oh well.

The world is full of issues, I looked for the one that caused the most damage. If you can explain how anything else causes more I'd shift in a heartbeat. This one single choice, let's have a drug war, has killed people in gang wars, driven newly single mothers into poverty with no way to raise or feed their kids, has financed death squads and revolution as well as many of the suicide bombers that we face. It has decimated large chunks of our inner cities and the black population in particular with one young black man in eight between the ages of 25-29 being behind bars as we speak. Now. Then we put roadblocks in front of them with loss of benefits, loss of education, and a criminal record and wonder why so many go back behind bars again. All for one single choice, one that we can change today if we wanted to in favor of regulation, let's have a drug war.

I don't have time for ego, if you can show me where it is I'll kill it in a heartbeat. Personally, I think a lot of others could tie their issues into mine and do a lot more good in the end. Many are related, but they are fighting the symptoms rather than the cause.

Been nice talking with you, thanks for the polite discussion.