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Originally Posted by kennyc
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Originally Posted by kindlekitten
liquor, gambling, prostitution, drugs. you wouldn't think it would be such rocket science 'eh?
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Ah but we have the Religious Right! |
It's more than them.
A former co-worker was telling me about a talk he attended by a University of California law professor. The professor made a good case that all laws attempting to prevent things like drinking or drug use had an "us vs them" mentality. The ones controlling the society would impose restrictions on things done by those who weren't part of their group.
A good example is the prohibition against marijuana. It's a weed. It grows wild in a lot of places. A neighbor of my late grandmother and great-grandmother, who shared a house in Philadelphia, once commented "Oh, marijuana! We used to smoke that stuff all the time when I was a kid in Texas!" (Mom and I were visiting Grandma and great Grandma when Charlie stopped by to look in on them. Mom was
not pleased at his revelation, since she and I had, um, discussions on the topic.)
It didn't become criminalized until the '30s, and there's good evidence that happened because smoking marijuana was seen as popular in the black community. Can't have
us taking up
their bad habits...
Similar analysis can be applied to other prohibitions. The variables will be who "us" and "them" are. Religion is a motivating factor, but not the only one.
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Dennis