As IF Times

link Ashleigh Banfield: Philip Seymour Hoffmans Dealer Deserves To Go Away For Life.

Notwithstanding the outpouring of sympathy expressed at Hoffman’s untimely death by drug misadventure, the real tragedy that is missed by most pundits is that the guy chose to risk his life despite the consequences to his family.  Well that was cold.  But few are willing to say it. Hoffman had it all going for him; a small family, a good and lucrative career, respect and admiration by his peers.  However like many afflicted artists before him, the lure of the altered state was too much to overcome.  An admitted long time substance abuser, he was trapped in the real life role he couldn’t quit. Maybe he thought drug addiction only happened to others.

Hardly a year goes by without an incidence of yet another entertainer succumbing to misadventure by recreational drug use.  But for every famous entertainer that is overwhelmed by drug tragedy, there are probably hundreds if not thousands of regular folk that suffer without the attendant publicity.  Their families suffer in silence.   It’s tragic.  But it’s free choice.  Hoffmann at least had the means to get help.

It’s fashionable these days to embrace the live and let live view of a truly libertarian society.   People can do what they want and indulge in virtually anything without fear of public judgement from others. It’s like hedonism is the new black. Those that can afford it will indulge in things not accessible to those of more modest means.   Recreational drugs seem to be at the top of the wish list judging by the clamor to liberalize pot laws in many states.  Paradoxically, cigarette smokers continue to be socially marginalized whereas the acceptance of pot smoking grows.   Smoke is smoke.  What’s the difference?  Cocaine and increasingly, heroin seem to be the choice of the chic set.

Just recently, an accomplished Calgary medical doctor named David Stather was killed while pursuing his hobby of BASE jumping when his winged suit’s parachute malfunctioned. This sucks of course.  But at least the guy was free to do what he wanted and that activity satisfied his adrenaline craving.   People die from parachute jumps, bungee cord leaps, mountain climbing, car racing, deep sea fishing, surfing, skiing and even the ridiculous ‘sport’ of longboarding.  If you are of the libertarian mindset, as we all think we are, then people should be allowed to do whatever they want, no matter the incumbent risk.  Just don’t blame others when things go awry.

Unless Hoffman (or anyone) was entirely clueless and naïve, he knew that narcotics were harmful and dangerous beyond any recreational amusement derived from its use.  From the very first experience, to the next or the one after that, it must have occurred to him that heroin would be addictive.  As the old saying goes, when wrestling with a gorilla, it stops when the gorilla feels like stopping.  No doubt, like many, he probably fell into drug use because of peer pressure and fashion. While Ms. Banfield’s sentiments are expected, they are misplaced.  She is right, the dealers do deserve to go away for life; they illegally sell dangerous substances.  Hoffman however was free and able to do as he wished, there can be no guarantee that there wouldn’t be consequences.  It’s like blaming the ground when someone falls from a tree.  Blaming the drug dealers, however odious they are, is shifting the blame for Hoffman’s risky behaviour from himself, where it belongs, to them.  Drug dealers are not boy scouts.  It’s in vogue these days for people to claim personal rights but then to blame others for the  consequences.  It’s immaturity or it’s an a abundance of lawyers, or both.

Only so many figurative warning signs can be put up in life before it no longer remains a free society.  People will gamble their life savings on red 22, or sell their homes for Bitcoins.  Prudent? Maybe not, but there is no law (yet) that you have to make smart decisions.   Of course it’s tragic when someone passes before their time. But it’s much more tragic for those that have no say in the matter.  Hoffmann was not one of those.

link Doomsday clock set at 5 to midnight – CBS News.

We last visited this doomsday clock back in 2010. http://asiftimes.com/2010/01/14/thats-a-relief/  Over the many years since they first brought out this metaphorical measure of human extinction back in the early 1950’s, you’d think that the purveyors would have worn out the skin on their hands from all the wringing.

While it’s hard to argue with the reality that since the 1950’s when only two parties had access to the big kaboom, today there are many nations with nuclear bomb making capability.  No longer the exclusive domain of the Americans and the Soviets, the new players include the 17th century nations of North Korea and Pakistan.  Pakistan of course got the bomb because arch rival India got it years ago.  Nations that house their people in tin roofed shanties nevertheless have the capability to ixnay their neighbors if they were to go all Richard Sherman one day.  Iran has aspirations to join this exclusive circle as well, so the players keep a-comin’.   Despite this arms buildup, it’s unlikely that any of them would be dumb enough to fire the first shot, since that would likely mean a large mushroom shaped cloud would in turn be directed their way in minutes not days.

The stated reason for the metaphorical clock is to warn against a “civilization threatening catastrophe” which in the day meant an atomic bomb event.  If you ask me, the word “civilization” strictly speaking  doesn’t just mean people in general, as those living in Syria, the Sudan or North Korea will attest.  There is no civilization if people are oppressed, enslaved, starved and unable to enact free will.  There is just a large majority being pushed around by a very small minority.

In nations such as those, there is no long history of democratic free will or the establishment of ‘civilized’ protocols for its citizens.  Education and information flow is both low and controlled, so people can be more easily repressed.   Instead, their histories are marked by autocratic rulers who determined the rules of society as they saw fit to enact.  Typically, violence is the preferred method of enforcement.  Life is miserable anyway, so nuclear angst is probably low.

Therefore when they talk about ‘civilization ending catastrophe’, they really mean western civilization, because in parts of the world where despotism prevails, no one spends their days worrying about anything other than getting through their day alive and fed.  However, even in the ‘enlightened’ western world, the angst of imminent doomsday, nuclear or otherwise, is a bit down the list of concerns for the average Joe, perhaps adjacent to how they get the caramel in a Caramilk bar.

Unless of course you are in the professional doomsday business.  While nuclear warfare may exist as a theoretical possibility, that dynamic has evolved into a circular firing squad, so the chances of an event are slim.  Over the years, numerous other imminent world ending scenarios have had their turn in the spotlight as the pending disaster du jour.   Remember global overpopulation?  Bioterrorism?  Today, there is  the possibility of the earth colliding with a wayward asteroid; massive volcanic eruption; or solar flares.  Let’s not rule out alien invasion.  Of course we can’t forget the current imminent disaster headliner; climate change.

I think that the doomsday crowd should pay some attention to the real civilization ending event(s) that are going on right now.  This dynamic has been going on forever and is as prevalent now as it has ever been.  As mentioned above, this is where the small minority are pushing around and enslaving the large majority.   It’s the dumb preying on the dumber.