X-Message-Number: 4323
Date: 01 May 95 00:18:23 EDT
From: Jim Davidson <>
Subject: Laughter for longevity

I would like to extend my thanks to Mike Darwin and David Crippen, MD, for the
delightful post of Dan Quayle memorabilia.  I don't remember the last time I
laughed that hard, nor the last time reading a post made me feel so good.  "Oh,
brave new world, that has such people in it."  Plausibly, my thanks should also
go to Dan Quayle for being so amusing.  

Although it fit in well with the other quotes, I must note that I completely
agree with one statement:
>>"When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and
>>the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to
>>blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the
>>killings? The killers are to blame."
>>                -- Vice President Dan Quayle

It is essential to establish responsibility with the person who acts and not

shift responsibility.  President Clinton did a great disservice to the nation in
trying to focus blame for the Oklahoma tragedy on people who did not build and
explode the bomb outside the Federal building.  It is an ominous concept that

"voices" on the radio and television are to be blamed for the actions of killers
and madmen.  Equally ominous is the idea that groups which organize themselves
to keep and bear arms are a threat because they exercise such rights in the
_absence_ of an overt threat to their freedom.

Quayle's concept that responsibility for tragic acts begins and ends with those
who make them happen is a sound one.  We should not accept the attribution of
blame to wider and wider groups.  That concept of personal responsibility is
essential for the success of business ventures, for the success of individuals,
and for the success of societies.


The idea that someone who spills coffee in her lap should be awarded millions of

dollars from the company that sold her some exceptionally hot coffee is directly
related to the idea that someone besides a mad bomber (or two) killed all the
people in Oklahoma.  That same attitude contributes to very high medical
malpractice insurance costs, contributes to very high costs for chemicals and
pharmaceuticals, and ties up our civil courts making them painfully slow and
largely useless for the rest of us.

We'll live a lot longer if we support the idea that individuals are responsible
for their acts individually and not collectively.  Ultimately, it is acceptance
of personal responsibility that creates our sovereignty over our bodies and
minds.  


If we accept the concept that others are responsible for our acts, we must grant

them some measure of control over our behavior.  As someone who wishes to behave
in very non-standard ways (having my body frozen after death, supplementing my
diet with unusually large doses of vitamins, taking unusual medicines in order
to live a lifespan several standard deviations beyond the mean), I am very
concerned about the popular notion that responsibility for the acts of an
individual is shared by anyone else.  That way lies madness and death.

Jim


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