Check out this email I received today. Of course I had to respond. This is the stuff that gives Chris a big rubbery one.
Sent by Ginger;
I typed in my address 1st and then I tried just the road I live on and got more results when I just put in my road.
Forwarded from Marianne;
This is VERY interesting! See who your neighbors are. After you type in your address, it pinpoints all the people close to your home that have been convicted of ANY felonies. Then you just click on the red pins/balloons on the map and it gives you the offenders name, age, and felony offense. Better to know than not.
http://www.felonspy.com/search.html
My Response:
Ginger (and everyone else);
The link is a nice graphic, but you still get better results by checking the states online sex offender registry. The unfortunate sides of both is that offenders don't always register as they're required to and that otherwise harmless behavior could cause one to be placed on there (think the kids in Farmington who were sending pictures of their own genitals to each other before you reply). Honestly I believe a large reason such criminals exist is because they have failed to socialize and see people as persons rather than objects.
To sum it all up, the list isn't all that accurate and really only promotes a form of vigilante justice which in some cases may be entirely unwarranted. If the individual is so concerned about the guy next door, how about we educate our children on what behaviors to avoid rather than living in fear. This is just another example of how our own government promotes a fear based society rather than one of individual and national growth.
Go outside, get to know your neighbors. When you see them, smile and say hi. Don't let the phrase, "How ya doin?" be used as a passing salutation. Most say it without realizing they've made an invitation for you to talk; use it. In turn don't offer some disgenuine reply; you've been asked a question, answer it!
Now I should offer the disclaimer that no I am not on there nor do I affiliate anyone who is. The reason though such things piss me off is that one; we have a criminal justice system that we pay for. Two; it is not necessarily applied correctly (again the kids in Farmington). Three; lists are never good. Sure today it's sex offenders and tomorrow it's all felons, then the mentally ill, the handicapped, the illegal immigrants...does any of this get your attention? It's all been done before. Next it was the Jews. It's about time YOU speak up for ANY of the disfranchised, because if YOU don't, who will? We're all in this together, and those don't see that will be left behind.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
-Pastor Martin Niemöller
Anyway, so ends my rant.
Much Love,
Chris
Ginger forwarded my response to Marianne. Marianne replied via Ginger. Look what I started.
From Ginger;
Had to share her point of view.. See in MS your neighbors are miles from you.. Not in a standard neighborhood such as we are used to here in civilization! But she has her point too!
She's a great gal..
Forwarded from Marianne;
This is a felon finder an not everyone on it is a sex offender. I have kindappers and attempted murderers near me and that is info I like to know. Isn't it nice to be prepared for what lies in your surroundings instead of someone trying to harm you or your family and saying "Oh I wish I had known that person lived so close so I could have paid better attention to my surroundings".
igilantianism is not what I was thinking of in anyway when I forwarded this info, but the peace of mind we can all have knowing who surrounds us. And in no place on that site does it state being a tool for vigilatianism...I am all for people deserving a 2nd chance but think it best to be aware of my surroundings.
Disenfranchised? Are you kidding me? He is comparing the Jews to FELONS? Felons had a choice in what they did. The Jews were victims...
Feel free to pass this along...
I replied directly to Marianne this time and sent cc: to Ginger.
Marianne I appreciate your commentary. The right to express one's opinion is the cornerstone of society. The point that I make is not the direct relationship between Jews and felons. The relationship I define is that of once we make it acceptable to strip the rights of one group, it doesn't sting so much for the next. The "so long as it's not me," attitude is what I abhor. Those are identical stepping stones the Nazi's took in Germany; they started small with people society didn't like and slowly chipped away. Did you know that beyond the Jews, millions more regular Germans found the same fate, before them? The pattern was always the same too, you have to be registered and thus tracked. This is the same situation most gun owners fear with registering fire arms
The last line of that poem says, "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." reads the same as, "He who surrenders liberty in the name of security will have neither." (Benjamin Franklin). Once you strip liberty from one party, you unknowingly take it from yourself. In a world where our freedoms are chipped away at everyday, we have to fight for what what freedom still exists. Once it's gone it's not like they'll just give it back. A police state is not what the United States of America was built on. If I recall correctly it was "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." At least that's what it said on the Declaration of Independence.
One last thing regarding your comment on people saying if only they knew more about their surroundings; when my daughter was molested it was by a person who was on no such registry. Yeah the guy is one big piece of shit and life will deliver to him what he has earned. I get to hear about it every time he's released or gets sent back to prison and just as I respect you and your freedom to speak your mind regardless of actions or opinion, I will not impose myself or be grateful for another trampling on another's Forth Amendment Rights.
Yes we are guaranteed the life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness, but no one has the right to do so at the expense of another. Everyone has that right.
OK so I screwed up on my pronoun usage, but meh. . . points been made. I'm curious for what's next.
Ginger replies to her cc:
As prepared as we can make ourselves (with or without those sights) we can still fall victim to those awful things we try so hard to stay away from.
Are you a Republican? You seem to fit the part.. I can say I am more of a Libertarian... Not totally Republican .. Not totally Democratic and I really enjoy your input Chris!
Thanks for sharing..
Much admiration..
Ginger
My response to Ginger:
I'm neither Republican nor Democrat, Libertarian or anything else. I vote my conscience. So far I have argued against all sides. The Republicans want to keep their guns, but trash the Bill of Rights to make sure we're all sane and the state has the advantage. The Democrats seem to want to preserve the rights of the individual while leveling the playing field, which involves some losing their rights. Then there's the whole patronizing the Jesus fan base they do, I think it's all bullshit really. The only truth left to our system is what we started with.
Though perhaps similar to the core Libertarian ideals of Anarcho-Communism (seriously that's where that started) I would consider myself more a Prescriptive Constitutionalist as identified by philosopher Wil Waluchow, "the idea … that government can and should be legally limited in its powers, and that its authority depends on its observing these limitations. This idea brings with it a host of vexing questions of interest not only to legal scholars, but to anyone keen to explore the legal and philosophical foundations of the state."
I do enjoy Waluchow, but I mostly prefer John Locke and his Second Treatise of Government. Much early colonial and revolutionary though was based on this man's writing. The Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence are both direct manifestation of his book and both actually contain much reference to it.
Politics should be more about a philosophy rather than an unwavering value. Things done in the name of "values" in this country is part of what cripples us. Things we do in other countries under the same banner only aggravates the condition. Obviously from this whole conversation you can see that we don't share the same brands; it works the same everywhere. Capitalism is great, Communism is evil is what I was taught growing up and yet our system has been left in the dust by a communist country who owns more of the United States that most care to admit.
As of 18 Jun 2008 at 09:14:18 PM GMT the U.S. national debt is $9,398,060,704,952.96. Almost a third of that is held by China. Our system has put us in a position that another country could literally ruin us without firing a shot. All they have to do is call on that debt. Seriously it is the equivalent to being delinquent on your power bill. They can turn off the lights at anytime.
All this politicking, all this learning to hate thy neighbor. . . none of it helps us and only serves as a smoke screen to our greater domestic problems. This Byzantine system we live in only serves to limit and segregate society. Political affiliations are a fine example; we are encouraged to cluster and foster an us versus them attitude. If we can put a finger on it, if we can label it, we can control it. The bullride is over; the west was won. We've tamed that beast and yet we're mostly still living in these false realities. It's time to evolve and elevate ourselves above this linear thinking and look outwards at what we as individuals can truly do to change. . . shit, anything. No politician is going to do that for us. No regulatory agency is going to make life better. No law is going to make you safer. It's a group of individuals working to clean up their own little corner of the world that incites change.
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