2003-10-01 9:42 a.m.

The Stupidest Political Argument Ever

I just heard the stupidest political (well, legistative) argument ever.

Some drone from the American Telemarketers Association (or the American Teleservices Association, as they're apparently going to change their name to when this is all over) is on a local radio talk show this morning. He claimed that it was wrong for Congress to pass a law like the federal "Do Not Call" list and exempt themselves from its restrictions -- something I kind of agree with in principle, but there's no way this law would have been passed without that. (Besides, I'm guessing that after years of being besieged by telemarketers, lots of people not only find political calls benign these days but even amusing.)

He then went on to compare this to putting a "no left-handed solicitors" sign on your lawn, which would be horribly, terribly wrong. Clearly he meant to make a subtle link in people's minds between bigotry and the plight of the poor oppressed telemarketer, being kept from his "free speech rights" by The Man.

The point that this tool is missing, probably quite willfully, and that he's unintentionally reinforcing with his argument, is that I'd be totally within my rights to put a "no left-handed solicitors" sign out on my lawn. If I wanted to extend his analogy and be a dumb bigot, I'd also be within my rights to put out a "no black solicitors" sign on my lawn, though I wouldn't expect said home to stay standing for long. What's relevant here is that we're talking about my damn house, and if I only want to invite in left-handed solicitors, or white solicitors, or no solicitors at all, then that should be my choice and the choice of every other person on this planet.

Who did these people sell their souls to, and did they at least get a good price?

join my Notify List and get email when I update my site:
email:
Powered by NotifyList.com