Comments on: Away games

By: r4 card

r4 card — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:26:08 +0000

Well….
I don’t know anything about ACS Blog Away games…
Is there any kind of help for me…?
Is there any ideas about rules and regulations of that game…?
If yes, post here…..

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:47:27 +0000

If you’re talking about enforcing drug laws, or reducing prison population in a nation where much of that population is there because of drug laws, denouncing drug prohibition is always relevant.

By: Justin_Anderson

Justin_Anderson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:55:19 +0000

I plan on going to take a gander, but doubt I’ll participate. As noted above, it’s somewhat difficult convincing a largely torture loving crowd that brute force just might fail.

Also, off topic, but I did a short book review on my blog. http://heterodoxthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/kleiman-on-crime-control/

By: koreyel

koreyel — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:56:55 +0000

I think your Volokh post is engaging and fair-minded.
But consider this: For those that believe in torture, brute force never fails.
And most of the commenters over there I suspect adhere to torture.

So here is the rub:

You are preparing the ground for an economic/scientific argument, but:
Are the minds of people who torture, or countenance torture, open to a hypothesis that strikes at that core belief?
I think not. It is like trying to convince an atheist that god is real or a Christian that the devil is a hoax.
Very few are movable to a new view.

Obviously I think torture is a sort of deep litmus test.
I don’t think you believe in torture because of an argument.
And I don’t think you oppose it because of an argument.
The arguments pro and con are just decorations for what is in your genes.

Intellectually I am very curious to hear your arguments for how brute force fails.
You’ve made it into a bit of a rational game with a hint of max/min mathematics…
But also, I oppose torture. Not because of the arguments against it.
But because my personality runs high on the empathy scale…

By: Steve Clay

Steve Clay — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:21:11 +0000

@Martin, agreed. The intro post was kind of scattershot (hitting a lot of sensitive areas for libertarians steeled against liberals-takin-my-liberty), but essential background.

By: Martin

Martin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:54:13 +0000

In fairness to the Volokh commentariat, you haven’t specifically or forcefully presented your concrete proposals yet, so (one hopes) you are just getting a sort of background noise.

By: Bernard Yomtov

Bernard Yomtov — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:48:51 +0000

Hi Dwight.

Hey. It’s fun over there. Glad to see Mark preaching to the very definitely unconverted.

By: dwight meredith

dwight meredith — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:29:17 +0000

I just read the comment thread at the Volokh Conspiracy. My personal favorite was the one in which a commenter advocated training police officers to kill suspects rather than arrest them. I guess that would reduce our prison population.

I wish you well in your week there. I think I’ll now go take a shower.

By: Robert Waldmann

Robert Waldmann — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:15:23 +0000

Well now that you have restored comments here, you can hope to read such grade A utterly hilarious ~~idiocy~~ opinions right here without leaving the comfort of your own blog.