from GristDavid Simon: I don't think we have the stomach to actually evaluate it.Bill Moyers: What do you mean?David Simon: Again, we would have to ask ourselves a lot of hard questions. The people most affected by this are black and brown and poor. It's the abandoned inner cores of our urban areas. As we said before, economically, we don't need those people; the American economy doesn't need them. So as long as they stay in their ghettos and they only kill each other, we're willing to pay for a police presence to keep them out of our America. And to let them fight over scraps, which is what the drug war, effectively, is. Since we basically have become a market-based culture, that's what we know, and it's what's led us to this sad denouement. I think we're going to follow market-based logic right to the bitter end.Bill Moyers: Which says?David Simon: If you don't need 'em, why extend yourself? Why seriously assess what you're doing to your poorest and most vulnerable citizens? There's no profit to be had in doing anything other than marginalizing them and discarding them.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Bill Moyers asks about the futility of the drug war in Baltimore
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there is no drug war...anywhere....
ReplyDeleteDEA head quoted as saying we are in effect successful in stopping 10% or less of the drug traffic in this country. 90% goes undetected and
unenforced....
The term "drug war" is a feel good term.
Drugs ARE everywhere, across America. But in "polite society" it's just accepted.
ReplyDeleteIn poor neighborhoods the presence of drugs and the so called War On Drugs, is a useful tool for manipulating the population. The cops can always stop someone, frisk 'em, run 'em in, on "suspicion" of "holding."
The whole thing is self-sustaining. It'll never end.
Sherry, TAB, and Nota;
ReplyDeleteYou have all pointed out correct and very alarming facets of this situation. I would draw your attention back to what Moyers is getting at, what he has dug into and gotten Simon to speak of; that the American economy doesn't need them, they are surplus. We can, and should make the leap from this, that this evolving economic model is going to spit out other groups too, "right to the bitter end" as he says. Who will it be, men of a certain age, certain trades, religions, in Utah will it be non Mormon?
I think the next group they were targeting was equipment salesman from Kansas......LOL....
ReplyDeleteDrug war is just a big toilet for society to flush its money down. Politicians support it just like they support wars, to avoid looking soft on crime or not supporting our troops. Still very few people willing to speak out, and not enough awareness of what a waste of money this all is.