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Freedoms lost on fanatics.
If what I read about the latest fanatical plot to upset the peace is true then we are all in for a rough ride. As the ethical and moral boundaries of society unravel it is inevitable that like a drug addict the fanatics will look to something more extreme to shock the audience with. What will cause them to stop and say this is too far, I fear that for the hard-liners it may be too late.
Suicide bombers cross the final line when they press the trigger, up till that point they are still able to be turned back. In some strange way the fate of the person is better explained by quantum physics where the person is in an indeterminate state until he presses the trigger, ie. no one knows what he will do until he has done it. People have many reasons for doing what they do and free will is far more restricted than most would believe. If we believe that our outcome is fixed, then we also believe that free will is non-existent, if however we analyse this further we come to the conclusion that it is far from simple. More importantly we find that the journey we take is only controlled by us as we travel along its path, the control is relinquished once we arrive at our destination.
I believe that free will is much like a journey we take from, for examples sake, London to Newcastle. You know that you will end up in Newcastle, but along the way you will make a multitude of changes that could influence your travel plans. I know there are those out there saying, what if you died along the way, but that just shows that even though your plan was to travel from London to Newcastle, the overall outcome was not within your control.
Narrow minded individuals who fail to grasp even this deceptively simple concept will always fall for the aggressive intimidation. It gives them a sense of power that they would otherwise not have and in some lives this is more powerful than any drug. Others just act on impulse only to see what they did from another perspective, wholly regretting the incident.
The freedoms we have in this country are as a result of many centuries of history and conflict, and yet within a decade they have been largely turned on their head by a Government afraid of acting and small minorities prepared to go to any length to cause fear. In some ways Governments have always disliked the freedoms we hold so dear, in a strange kind of panic they seem to be burying their heads in the sand and waiting to see what will happen next. By the time they wake up and lift it above the parapet it could well be too late.
When is it too much.
It is interesting how if you drink alcohol you are somehow less responsible for your actions than if you don't. Then, if the person who drank to much alcohol is driving a vehicle they will get a very lite sentence as obviously the drink was in charge of their actions. Drink does not have a life of its own, contrary to popular the opinion of drunks and the justice system, it just modifies the attitudes and actions of those that imbibe it.
Now it seems that if you drive carelessly and cause death, you can get away with absolutely anything. If you then drive a vehicle again, this is seen as a minor transgression and your sentence is cut down to a remedial slap on the wrist. Too many careless and dangerous drivers are out on the road, but it seems the law is unwilling to deal with them harshly when they are hauled in to answer for their reckless actions.
Ryan Frayne is a case in point, a driver who through his own actions, under sober conditions caused the death of a three year old child who happened to be riding her tricycle on the pavement. His penalty was a ban for 12 months for careless driving and some arbitrary fines. Not exactly telling, seeing as a fatality happened at the time, this could hardly be called an adequate sentence that made the family with the loss feel any kind of justice had been done.
To add insult to injury he was then caught 8 months later driving without a licence. I believe that if a person who has been successfully tried for something like this and breaks the terms of the order they should face the full force of the law. Basically he should be done for Manslaughter, the child will never know what it was like to be 4, he however will live his life out, apparently without remorse.
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