Difficult questions meme

[jlh]

These questions aren't that difficult, but yes, American is answering questions in terms of America. First in one-word answers:

1. Would you do meth if it were legalized?
   No.
   
2. Are you for or against abortion?
   Pro-choice.
   
3. Would our country (United States) fall with a woman president?
   No.
   
4. Do you believe in the death penalty?
   No.
   
5. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
   Yes.
   
6. Do you believe in God?
   Yes.
   
7. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
   Yes.
   
8. A twelve year old girl has a baby...should she keep it?
   No.
   
9. Should the alcohol age be lowered to 18?
   Yes.
   
10. Assisted suicide is illegal...do you agree with this ruling?
    No.
    
11. Do you believe in spanking your children?
    No.
    
12. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
    Yes.
    
13. A mother is declared innocent after murdering her 5 children in a temporary insanity case. Do you agree?
    Yes.
    
14. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
    No.

1. Would you do meth if it were legalized?
   I have no idea why it would be legalized, given how dangerous it is even to manufacture, but I like having nice skin and I don't like being high very much so that's a lot of downside with no upside. Also, plenty of people are addicted to "legal" drugs, and it doesn't make their addiction any less dangerous or harmful to themselves and those around them.
   
2. Are you for or against abortion?
   This is worded so pro-life! Come on, pro-choicer's aren't "for abortion" as a thing, but in favor of legal and available abortions. And I say this as someone who is 100% convinced that if abortion were legal in 1969, I wouldn't exist.
   
3. Would our country (United States) fall with a woman president?
   This is an absurd question, particularly as we aren't even facing it, and that isn't why HIllary lost (see the September Atlantic Monthly for a great article about why she probably did) no matter what the PUMA people say.
   
4. Do you believe in the death penalty?
   It's obvious that a legal system created by fallible humans is fallible, and a fallible legal system cannot guarantee the fair administration of the death penalty. Justice ≠ revenge, it's true, but I'm not even philosophical about this—on pragmatic grounds the death penalty is untenable.
   
5. Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
   A few years ago I was on a grand jury that dealt with only narcotics cases. Lots and lots of heroin and cocaine buy-and-busts. One day the DA came in with some marijuana case and we just threw him out, because with all the other problems, why have the cops waste their time on marijuana, which is probably less dangerous than alcohol?
   
6. Do you believe in God?
   Very recently I was talking to two good friends of mine and Christopher Hitchens came up, as Friend A had read some of his things. Friend A vacillates about God and atheism and all of that, so what Friend A had to say I wasn't particularly surprised by, nor was I particularly opposed to. But what surprised me was Friend B, who was much more solidly in the "God" camp than I'd ever supposed Friend B to be—actually, even in the "Christian" camp which surprised me even more—and we had a conversation about those Christian scientists (not Christian Scientists) who've been writing books lately about how the God v science thing is a false dichotomy. Friend A is an old, close friend, but Friend B is a newer one, and the conversation made me feel even closer to Friend B than I had before. It was refreshing to hear an intelligent person speaking about their Christian faith without the self-consciousness that has been banged into my head since college—the idea that Christianity, almost alone of all the religions, cannot be practiced or believed in by an intelligent person. Friend B is pretty fucking smart, let me tell you.
   
7. Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
   Whether we like it or not, there is a LOT of law around marriage, tax law and inheritance law and rules about who can visit you in the hospital and in jail and act as your surrogate. There are so many horrible tales of the family of a gay person who has died kicking their partner out of the house, or keeping the partner of a gay person in the hospital from visiting them, much less having a say in their treatment. Never mind that same sex partners who are from different countries do not have the advantages of marrying so they can continue to live together. Clearly, same sex marriage should be legalized if only for those practical reasons.
   
8. A twelve year old girl has a baby...should she keep it?
   A twelve year old girl who has a baby likely does not have the kind of support system that she'd need to raise the baby, given that she got pregnant in junior high. Adoption is a great solution here, I think, because she can have the opportunity to get her own life together, but still be able to be a part of the child's life.
   
9. Should the alcohol age be lowered to 18?
   Since the reason it was raised to 21 in the first place has more to do with drunk driving than anything, and since it's badly enforced (who can't get booze on a college campus?) never mind patently absurd that people can be sent to die for their country but can't drink a beer, I would say yes.
   
10. Assisted suicide is illegal...do you agree with this ruling?
    It's a messy thing, because often depression accompanies terminal illness, and separating a depressive impulse for suicide from a clear-headed sense that one's useful life is over is incredibly difficult. That said, and again on pragmatic grounds, I'm not sure illegalizing it is the answer, given that people are going to do it anyway. it seems to me that legalizing it and giving those people who are considering it access to counseling and appropriate medical assistance (well, not from doctors as that's against their oath)
    
11. Do you believe in spanking your children?
    I was spanked, and I really don't think it scarred me. But there are so many other ways to discipline that we needn't resort to violence.
    
12. Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
    I find the location of so much symbolism in the flag—mostly done by the military—to be bizarre. I'm not offended by someone burning the flag, because I find it to be a silly, empty and overdone gesture.
    
13. A mother is declared innocent after murdering her 5 children in a temporary insanity case. Do you agree?
    slytherincess referred to a specific case, and I'd follow her lead. I think insanity pleas are there for a reason.
    
14. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
    I wouldn't say afraid. I think that people will judge me for believing in God, but that might be because no one I've seen answer this survey so far does believe in God. Not that I can't disagree with my friends, but it makes me sad to disagree with something that for a lot of people is a central part of the way they look at things, and puts me on the side of the people they think are destroying the planet. That said, I've been judged for that so much in the past that I'm really used to it. If you think less of me as a person or less of my intelligence because of it, then there's really nothing I have to say about that. Besides, the whole experience of talking to Friend B makes me feel more hopeful about the matter.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The science vs. religion thing drives me crazy, because they have nothing to do with each other. I mean, unfortunately there are people on both sides who insist on putting them at odds--people who claim that God doesn't hold up to scientific proof and therefore is stupid, as if God isn't by definition *not* about scientific proof, and religious people who insist on trying to say God does fit into science, and then when the false science they come up with doesn't hold up claiming that science is worthless and evil. Also I think one can lack a belief in God without thinking it makes someone irrational to have that belief. (I just read a superhero essay about Daredevil's belief in God that this is making me think of, actually, that does put down this idea that I've also disagreed with that belief in God is something people have because they're "afraid.")

Also there's this idea that atheist=completely rational, which is also not the case. It's just the lack of belief in whatever one could call a God (or gods). I'm amazed at how many people think that not believing in any gods means you also can't believe in ghosts or aliens or reincarnation or anything spiritual at all (not to mention conspiracy theories or auras or new age medicine that doesn't actually work). STOP PRETENDING THAT THE DIVIDE IS BETWEEN RATIONAL/INTELLIGENT/SCIENTIFIC vs. GOD!!

I agree with you on 10 too. Like I said in my version I can see why it's illegal. Even if you don't think it's wrong to kill someone for any reason you can imagine it being abused to commit murder in some way. But if there were checks on it and ways of making sure it's not about something that could be helped in other ways (like depression) I can't see why someone shouldn't have the right to end life on their own terms in many instances.

[aome.livejournal.com]

My Biological Anthropology professor (ie a man who teaches evolution for a living) made it clear, up front, on day one, that whatever he taught had nothing to do with religious beliefs and that it was possible to believe in God AND evolution at the same time, citing himself as an example.

[salemdipity.livejournal.com]

I find this a very interesting meme, and I agree with all your choices bar two. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us - I adore you, you know ♥

[lillijulianne.livejournal.com]

it doesn't much surprise me that we agree on almost everything...