Enforcing conformity: Faust springs eternal

October 18, 4:14 PMAnchorage Libertarian ExaminerKevin Wilmeth

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  Comic from xkcd.

Folks, we simply can't seem to get enough of this mala prohibita feeding frenzy.  The control freaks now want to punish people who victimize...well, no one, actually:

A state prosecutor who handles child pornography cases wants sexually explicit drawings of children -- even computer-generated cartoons -- to be as illegal as photographs of actual abuse.

This is absurd, of course, no matter what sophistries that the controllers may come up with to convince us that.  If there is no victim, there is no crime, and it's simply laughable to suggest that a drawing or cartoon can somehow be victimized. 

The standard sell job for this sort of deal with the devil is that those who would gravitate toward such virtual content would probably be going after real children anyway--and we just gotta get 'em before they get there.  Well, that sure sounds good, but it completely ignores rather obvious unintended consequences.  For starters:  if there's no difference in risk or punishment if the "child" is real or not, what on earth is the incentive not to go for the real deal?  Aren't we supposed to be doing whatever we can to reduce victimization of real children?

The problem, as usual, is with the attitude that we can somehow enforce conformity.  Governments throughout history have sold us on the idea that they will cure our ills if we just let them have a monopoly on force, and the authorization to use it as they see fit, accountable only to themselves.  They fail, of course, always, but somehow manage to bamboozle us again, with the essential story, "well, we just need to do this little bit more."  And more bolt-ons to a failed idea produce--surprise--more failure.

When all this is nothing more than just absurd, many let it pass.  Problem there is, as Voltaire said so clearly, "those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."  History is pretty clear that this attitude degenerates over time--always.

The Trees (from Rush's 1978 release, Hemispheres)

There is unrest in the forest,
There is trouble with the trees,
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas.

The trouble with the maples,
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light.

But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made.
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade.

There was trouble in the forest,
And the creatures all have fled,
As the maples scream "Oppression!"
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights.
"The oaks are just too greedy;
We will make them give us light."

Now there's no more oak oppression,
For they passed a noble law,
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw.

That's a pretty clear image, and it's right on.

Can we work on that attitude a little bit, please?  Before cutting things that don't grow back?