laupäev, mai 01, 2004
Prison Rape
Matthew Yglesias makes a very good point about the treatment of prisoners.
You know, me and my friends, we joke a lot about people getting raped in prison. Well, not a lot, but frequently. But when you think about it, it's pretty awful that Americans just accept that things like that happen. And it's not surprising that some of us are equally dismissive of the welfare of Iraqi prisoners. But they get upset about that because it gives people in other countries another reason to hate us.
But for those of us who do care, why isn't there the same outrage, which, by the way, is entirely appropriate, every time prison guards in the US allow prisoners to be beaten and raped? I don't really have an answer for this. I just find it interesting.
On a side note, one of the programs Bush cut in his Herculean effort to knock about $4 billion off the budget for 2005 was a $30 million (I think) program to fight prison rape. Really, I can't say I minded that money being spent. It's not much by federal budget standards and these guys are Americans with rights too.
Note: Updated to make sense
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Matthew Yglesias makes a very good point about the treatment of prisoners.
You know, me and my friends, we joke a lot about people getting raped in prison. Well, not a lot, but frequently. But when you think about it, it's pretty awful that Americans just accept that things like that happen. And it's not surprising that some of us are equally dismissive of the welfare of Iraqi prisoners. But they get upset about that because it gives people in other countries another reason to hate us.
But for those of us who do care, why isn't there the same outrage, which, by the way, is entirely appropriate, every time prison guards in the US allow prisoners to be beaten and raped? I don't really have an answer for this. I just find it interesting.
On a side note, one of the programs Bush cut in his Herculean effort to knock about $4 billion off the budget for 2005 was a $30 million (I think) program to fight prison rape. Really, I can't say I minded that money being spent. It's not much by federal budget standards and these guys are Americans with rights too.
Note: Updated to make sense
