This newsbot site, while automated (true!) has always depended on the generosity of volunteers and visitors to keep it up and running. If this site has helped you, and you can afford to help us, then we ask you to give generously. And to those who have been helping to keep us running, a heartfelt THANK YOU!       Donate online: click here and help us out!

topical analysis

propaganda analysis

Sentence-By-Sentence Analysis

(1) The Straight Dope: A Telephone Conversation with Peter Hitchens By Matthew Walther on 11.13.12 @ 6:08AM After Colorado and Washington, an authoritative case against drug legalization .

re: "legalization" - The ancient and first commandment (Mat 22:38, Mark 12:28) is, "Thou shall not legalize the herb." (Gen 1:29-30) To be seen of men (Mat 23:5), thou shalt make thy righteousness (Isa 64:6) of thine holy rulers (1Chron 21:1, Mat 4:8, Luke 4:5, 1Jn 2:18) shine forth over the wickedness of marijuana! Pharmakeia evil-doers (that is to say, marijuana users - sorcerers and witches all; Gal 5:20,Rev 21:8,22:15), shall be arrested (Luke 12:11), scourged (Mark 15:15, John 19:1), imprisoned (Mat 25:36), and enslaved (1Tim 1:10, Rev 18:13), for ever and ever (Rev 19:3). For to punish marijuana users is like unto the Righteousness of the Saints. (Rev 19:8) Amen! (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) ) re: "against drug legalization" - Concern over arresting and jailing people for cannabis is converted into a cannabis "lover", a pot "advocate", a marijuana "supporter" or "enthusiast" or "promoter", who is "pro-pot", and so on. A weird and sinful "Legalization" bugaboo is emphasized; arrest, jail, and prison are minimized, dismissed, ... or weaseled away, like: "Virtually no single-charge, marijuana possession-alone caucasian females are tracked in the Federal Prison System, FY2011." (And so this is why people must always go to prison for pot.) (Dissent Attacked (propaganda theme 8) )

(4) His books include The Abolition of Britain, The Cameron Delusion, and The Rage Against God .

re: "Delusion" - The rhetoric of prohibition asserts that insanity, crime, and violence are caused by drugs, or are controlled by prohibition. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(5) He has also contributed to a number of other British and American periodicals, including the Spectator, the New Statesman, National Review, and the American Conservative .

re: "American" - Prohibitionists assert that the survival of the community, society, the nation, the world, etc. are at stake. Only continued and increased punishments for drug users can be contemplated, because, say prohibitionists, society will otherwise fall apart. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

(7) In his latest book, The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, Mr .

re: "Surrender", "The War We Never Fought" - Prohibitionists demonize the use of drugs and claim the use of drugs is "epidemic." Images of "war" are used by the prohibition propagandist to help whip up emotions. (Demonize, War (propaganda theme 6) )

(8) Hitchens argues that, despite the harsh anti-drug rhetoric of politicians, it has been four decades since British courts and law enforcement officials treated drug taking as a serious offense .

re: "officials" - "Even if drug law reformers manage to present their research findings to public policy makers, those officials are largely indifferent to facts about the issue. A senior official in one state frankly told me that he was simply demagoguing the issue to get votes. Prosecutors at the Nuremberg trials noted a similar attitude among Nazi conspirators, in which they promoted anti-Semitism not because they were concerned about a Jewish problem but because they felt anti-Semitism would be politically popular." (Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey, pg.32)

(10) In light of voters' decision to legalize marijuana in Colorado and Washington, I spoke with him via telephone about his new book, the roots of cultural and moral decline in the Anglosphere, the prospects for winning the war on drugs (hint: he's not optimistic), and the conservative case against drug legalization .

re: "war on drugs" - Drug users are evil fiends which (except for the noble drug "war") would multiply as the "epidemic" of drug use engulfs an innocent people. (Demonize, War (propaganda theme 6) ) re: "legalize", "legalization", "legalize marijuana" - Try to present a stark dilemma: a sinful "Legalization" foisted upon a gullible, simple and child-like people, versus a moral, Godly, sane, reasonable continuance of the current policy. Deny the current policy is to profit from the mass incarceration of millions for "drugs." Don't mention jail or prison at all, if avoidable. If anyone objects, weasel and claim few white women are in federal prison for marijuana possession, alone. (And this is why people must always go to prison for pot.) (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) ) re: "against drug legalization" - Re-frame questions about arresting and jailing people for pot, as some kooky "marijuana advocates", "pot lovers", "pro-pot", "dope legalisers", who just want to get high. Whip up fears over an abstract "Legalization" bogeyman; avoid the concrete issues of arrest and prison. If cornered, weasel, and deny knowledge of federal marijuana possession-alone caucasian prisoners. (And this is why people must always go to prison for cannabis.) (Dissent Attacked (propaganda theme 8) )

(12) Hitchens, the title of your latest book is The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs .

re: "Surrender", "The War We Never Fought" - Unless the drug "war" is fought, claims the rhetoric of prohibition, an evil "epidemic" of drugs would be unleashed upon an unwitting public. (Demonize, War (propaganda theme 6) )

(13) What do you say to critics who insist that successive British governments have been tough on drug users?

re: "tough on drug" - Governments use anti-drug public relations (read: prohibition propaganda) to increase their power. Many governments try to persuade people that drug users are bad, that using drugs is demonically harmful, unpatriotic, is a gateway to worse evil, will corrupt children, is against religion, and so on.

re: "drug users", "users" - The rhetoric of prohibition will try to use labeling and guilt by association to link drugs and drug users with hated groups. (Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) ) re: "drug users" - Prohibition propaganda claims that all use of any "drug" is abuse. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(16) The decision was made in the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act to treat drug possession differently from trading drugs and treat cannabis differently from other bogeyman drugs like heroin, cocaine, and LSD .

re: "Misuse of Drugs" - "This strategy equates the use and abuse of drugs and implies that it is impossible to use the particular drug or drugs in question without physical, mental, and moral deterioration." [W.White,1979] (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(18) In 1973 the Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham instructed magistrates to stop sending people to prison for possession of cannabis, even though they have the power to do so .

re: "prison" - In 1991 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the reasonableness of mandatory life imprisonment for simple possession of drugs. Indeed, the law considers drug offenses to be worse than murder. (Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey, 1996, pg.72)

(20) So the official maximum penalties have been slowly pushed down .

re: "official" - "If you maintain that the official documentation is wrong or a lie, that is up to you to prove. It is not up to the official to prove you are guilty. You are guilty by that official procedure establishing official information unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are innocent. " (Jack D. Douglas, Guesstimating the Truth in a Fascist Society, 2012) http://mapinc.org/url/0pfflSOC

(25) This is the extent to which drugs have been decriminalized .

re: "decriminalized" - Play up the seeming dilemma of an immoral, irreligious, heathen, dangerous, foreign "Legalization" foisted upon innocents; as opposed to the measured, reasonable, sane, helpful, and nurturing things which government does now about drugs. Avoid talking about arrests or jail; deny anyone goes to prison for pot; or, weasel, asserting nobody is in federal prison for mere "possession" -- and this is why people must always go to prison for pot. (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) )

(31) It's not a case of someone actively setting out to undermine the morals of society .

re: "society" - Because of prohibition (prohibitionists assure us), society is protected: the community is safe, and the nation is saved. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

(41) As people have attempted to maintain order in the absence of the morality that used to sustain it, the country has become much more authoritarian .

re: "the country" - The survival of society is assured, -- says the propaganda of prohibition -- as long as drug users are punished (jailed). (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

(46) Peter Lilley writes in Prospect A propos of The War We Never Fought that "there are only two logically coherent policies: prohibition and legalisation."

re: "The War We Never Fought" - Prohibitionists demonize the use of drugs and claim the use of drugs is "epidemic." Images of "war" are used by the prohibition propagandist to help whip up emotions. (Demonize, War (propaganda theme 6) )

(51) It would be quite easy do, but I have no influence whatsoever upon mainstream politics in this country .

re: "this country" - The health of the "community" (read: government) is assured, prohibitionists explain, because drug users are punished. Jailing drug users is thus painted as upholding society. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

(53) MW: Many defenders of drug legalization point to the unmitigated disaster of Prohibition in the United States .

re: "legalization" - Reframe the issue as one of some strange and dangerous pro-drug libertine "Legalization" - as opposed to the calm reason of a concerned community, seeking only to save the kids from death and depravity. Do not mention prison. Or if pressed, weasel: "Nobody goes to federal prison for 'possession'" -- which explains why people must always go to prison for pot. (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) )

(62) Prohibition was viewed, not unreasonably, by German and Italian Americans as an attack on their culture by Puritans and WASPS .

re: "Americans" - O'Brien: "The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again." (Orwell, 1984) (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

(69) MW: You have occasionally made reference to recent scientific findings about the effects of cannabis use .

re: "cannabis use" - Prohibitionists try to hammer in the idea that 'all use is abuse.' The rhetoric of prohibition needs to deny that many people can use currently illegal drugs without abusing them. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(74) You can say someone has cancer of the lung or emphysema or degenerative heart disease because of a series of objective tests, which can be repeated by other doctors .

re: "cancer", "disease" - Prohibitionist propaganda claims that horrible dangers are caused by "drugs." (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(75) The definitions of terms like schizophrenia and psychosis are vague .

re: "schizophrenia", "psychosis" - Drugs, the prohibitionist explains, are a wicked bane on modern man. If not for the noble drug war (i.e. jailing drug users), exclaims the propagandist, then people will run amok, and violence, death, psychosis, and plague shall cover the land. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(76) The only research which is firm on this is a recent study which shows a strong correlation between cannabis use and a decline in measured intelligence among school-aged children .

re: "cannabis use" - The rhetoric of prohibition will assume that "use" and "abuse" are identical. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "children" - Prohibitionists are champions of "the child", "kids", "children", etc. Only continued or increased punishments of all adults caught using "drugs" will send the correct "message" to children. (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) )

(78) There is a huge amount of so-called anecdotal evidence that suggests that cannabis affects the brain, the mental health, of those who use it .

re: - Prohibitionists claim use of currently illegal drugs causes crime, death, illness, lunacy, mania, melancholy, and all means of sin and degradation. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "cannabis affects the brain, the mental" - Central to the demonizing of cannabis users is the insinuation cannabis "causes" mental illness, or that cannabis prohibition somehow contains or limits mental illness.

(80) What research we have tends to be correlative as opposed to causative, but it seems to me that, since we have a drug that has been correlated with mental illness, especially among the young, we should be very cautious about licensing it for widespread use .

re: "mental illness" - It is prohibition, claim prohibitionists, that saves people from drug crazed, whacked out, high flying drug users. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(88) There will be more people, especially more young people, going irreversibly mad .

re: "irreversibly mad" - Drugs, claim the prohibitionist, cause insanity, violence, and terrible sickness. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) ) re: "young people" - "Chemicals have long been inextricably linked in prohibitionist literature with the ... corruption of young people." [W.White,1979] (Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) ) re: "irreversibly mad" - The German experience, however, raises the question of who needs treatment at all. Jewish neurologist Arnold Merzbach studied hundreds of Jewish children during the first eighteen months of the Nazi regime. In the first half of 1933 he found "restlessness, irritability, and increased squabbling. Some youths were refusing to eat; the more intelligent ones were sleeping fitfully and given to brooding." Similar behavior continued throughout the year, "as well as many neurotic symptoms." He noted, "older children thought themselves objects of special attention when outdoors."51 We typically find Jewish adults, too, drawing into themselves, exhibiting despair, and developing problems in relating with people as one formerly supportive group after another (employers, insurers, landlords, police) prevented them from living normally in society. These sorts of Jewish behavior mimic the "drug user personality," suggesting that the behavior may be a response to persecution from society rather than an expression of someone's inherent personality -- particularly since most users of socially approved drugs such as alcohol and nicotine do not exhibit "drug user symptoms" despite those drugs' potency and danger. In many cases, the proper course of treatment of drug users may simply be to cease persecuting them. (Drug Warriors and their Prey, Richard Miller, pgs.173-174)

(90) Buckley Jr. is perhaps the most prominent American conservative to have argued for drug legalization .

re: "American" - Because of prohibition (prohibitionists assure us), society is protected: the community is safe, and the nation is saved. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) ) re: "legalization" - Try to present a stark dilemma: a sinful "Legalization" foisted upon a gullible, simple and child-like people, versus a moral, Godly, sane, reasonable continuance of the current policy. Deny the current policy is to profit from the mass incarceration of millions for "drugs." Don't mention jail or prison at all, if avoidable. If anyone objects, weasel and claim few white women are in federal prison for marijuana possession, alone. (And this is why people must always go to prison for pot.) (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) )

(92) What is the moral case, not only against legalization but against drug use altogether?

re: "drug use" - Any use of an illegal drug is deemed to be "abuse," weasels the propaganda of prohibition. (After all - it is illegal!) (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) ) re: "legalization" - Play up the seeming dilemma of an immoral, irreligious, heathen, dangerous, foreign "Legalization" foisted upon innocents; as opposed to the measured, reasonable, sane, helpful, and nurturing things which government does now about drugs. Avoid talking about arrests or jail; deny anyone goes to prison for pot; or, weasel, asserting nobody is in federal prison for mere "possession" -- and this is why people must always go to prison for pot. (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) )

(96) I could say that by using drugs people risk making themselves a terrible burden upon those who love and care for them .

re: "using drugs" - Prohibitionist propagandists repeatedly assert that "use is abuse." Details about "using" as opposed to "abusing" drugs are ignored. (Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) )

(98) You can by doing what you like with your own body destroy your sanity and make yourself absolutely dependent upon the care of others for the rest of your life, which is immoral by practically any moral code you could devise, with or without God .

re: "immoral" - The ancient and first commandment (Mat 22:38, Mark 12:28) is, "Thou shall not legalize the herb." (Gen 1:29-30) To be seen of men (Mat 23:5), thou shalt make thy righteousness (Isa 64:6) of thine holy rulers (1Chron 21:1, Mat 4:8, Luke 4:5, 1Jn 2:18) shine forth over the wickedness of marijuana! Pharmakeia evil-doers (that is to say, marijuana users - sorcerers and witches all; Gal 5:20,Rev 21:8,22:15), shall be arrested (Luke 12:11), scourged (Mark 15:15, John 19:1), imprisoned (Mat 25:36), and enslaved (1Tim 1:10, Rev 18:13), for ever and ever (Rev 19:3). For to punish marijuana users is like unto the Righteousness of the Saints. (Rev 19:8) Amen! (Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7) )

(100) These people are arguing in favor of the suffering of others for the sake of their own pleasure .

re: "suffering" - Prohibition propaganda rarely misses an opportunity to link crime, violence, and insanity with "drugs". The propagandist insinuates that prohibited drugs cause evil, and if it weren't for "drugs" bad things would not exist. (Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) )

(102) There is a ridiculous confusion between the so-called freedom to render yourself insensible and the ancient, hard-won freedoms of speech, thought, and assembly .

re: "freedom", "freedoms" - O'Brien: "The heretic, the enemy of society, will always be there, so that he can be defeated and humiliated over again." (Orwell, 1984) (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

(104) Freedom to smoke dope doesn't seem to me to be freedom for anyone .

re: "Freedom" - Because of prohibition (prohibitionists assure us), society is protected: the community is safe, and the nation is saved. (Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) )

Text Analysis - Article (Excerpt)

The American Spectator : The Straight Dope: A Telephone Conversation with Peter Hitchens The American Spectator : The Straight Dope: A Telephone Conversation with Peter Hitchens

The American Spectator home

Special Report

The Straight Dope: A Telephone Conversation with Peter Hitchens

By Matthew Walther on 11.13.12 @ 6:08AM

After Colorado and Washington, an authoritative case against drug legalization.

Peter Hitchens is an English journalist and author. He covered the fall of the Soviet Union and Clinton-era Washington for the Daily Express of London under that newspaper's former ownership and now writes a column for the Mail on Sunday. His books include The Abolition of Britain, The Cameron Delusion, and The Rage Against God. He has also contributed to a number of other British and American periodicals, including the Spectator, the New Statesman, National Review, and the American Conservative. In 2010, he won the Orwell Prize, one of Britain's highest awards for journalism.

In his latest book, The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs, Mr. Hitchens argues that, despite the harsh anti-drug rhetoric of politicians, it has been four decades since British courts and law enforcement officials treated drug taking as a serious offense. He surveys the impact of this de facto decriminalization and concludes that it has been disastrous. In light of voters' decision to legalize marijuana in Colorado and Washington, I spoke with him via telephone about his new book, the roots of cultural and moral decline in the Anglosphere, the prospects for winning the war on drugs (hint: he's not optimistic), and the conservative case against drug legalization.

MW: Mr. Hitchens, the title of your latest book is The War We Never Fought: The British Establishment's Surrender to Drugs. What do you say to critics who insist that successive British governments have been tough on drug users?

PH: It's demonstrably untrue. There has been a salami-sliced but observable decriminalization, particularly of cannabis but also of other drugs, stretching over forty years. The decision was made in the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act to treat drug possession differently from trading drugs and treat cannabis differently from other bogeyman drugs like heroin, cocaine, and LSD. Both decisions have been amplified by the practice of the police and the courts. In 1973 the Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham instructed magistrates to stop sending people to prison for possession of cannabis, even though they have the power to do so. (Such instructions are generally taken pretty seriously by magistrates.) So the official maximum penalties have been slowly pushed down. Now if the police catch you in possession of cannabis, if they bother to do anything at all, they issue you what's called a cannabis warning. It involves no penalty. There was a rather bad rock singer called Pete Doherty who was actually caught in a courthouse in possession of a quantity of heroin, which he dropped on the floor. He walked free from that building. This is the extent to which drugs have been decriminalized. If the courts don't impose severe penalties, the police in England, who are terribly constrained by bureaucracy, pretty quickly get the signal that it's not worth their while to go through the paperwork involved in instigating a prosecution. The act of arresting someone can tie up an officer for an entire day, so you can see why police might be reluctant to proceed with something that will amount to a minor fine.

MW: The subtitle of your book is also intriguing. In what sense have elites "surrendered to drugs" over the years?

PH: Almost all the moral decline in the Anglosphere countries comes from the same source, which is the collapse of Christianity as a major force in public life. It's not a case of someone actively setting out to undermine the morals of society. Protestant Christianity, with its rules on delayed gratification, self-discipline, and personal responsibility, is very hard to maintain because it inconveniences people. As it declines, the default position not to defer gratification and to pursue pleasure at the expense of others becomes stronger, and this affects politicians, media figures, university lecturers, school teachers, police officers, and everybody else.

MW: In The Abolition of Britain you surveyed the cultural changes that have taken place in Britain since the 1960s. To what extent have these shifts in people's attitudes towards morality been independent of the state? How much of the blame can be put on politicians?

PH: These changing attitudes were prevalent among a very small intellectual elite in the 1920s and 1930s. They began to take concrete form in the 1960s, but they have their roots in events many, many years earlier in the attitudes of Bloomsbury. Broadcasting in the 1960s enabled these ideas to be spread to a large de-Christianized population. When morality declines people tend to reach for the state to make up for the absence of conscience, and this is the problem that Britain faces. As people have attempted to maintain order in the absence of the morality that used to sustain it, the country has become much more authoritarian. There is more surveillance. So it is what Marxists would call "dialectic": ordinary people are not more or less responsible than the state. Both influence one another.

MW: The Right Hon. Peter Lilley writes in Prospect A propos of The War We Never Fought that "there are only two logically coherent policies: prohibition and legalisation." What steps do you think are necessary to put Britain back on the path towards an effective prohibition of drugs? Steeper penalties?

PH: I have absolutely no hope at all. There is no point in suggesting practical steps. It would be quite easy do, but I have no influence whatsoever upon mainstream politics in this country. All I'm doing now is recording my nation's decline so that when it finally sinks giggling into the sea people will be able to read what actually happened.

MW: Many defenders of drug legalization point to the unmitigated disaster of Prohibition in the United States. Is this a reasonable analogy?

PH: No. There is one parallel: an attempt to interdict supply without interdicting demand. Prohibition in the United States was directed against manufacture, supply, transportation, and sale, but not against possession or consumption of alcohol, just as there is no really effective law against possession or consumption of cannabis in Britain. I don't think Prohibition could have succeeded. The United States is a huge country with vast internal unpoliced spaces, two enormous seaboards, and long borders with two countries that were not imposing prohibitions on alcohol. Alcohol is enculturated. The drinking of alcohol is part of the central ceremony of the Christian religion. Prohibition was viewed, not unreasonably, by German and Italian Americans as an attack on their culture by Puritans and WASPS. It was doomed to fail. Compare this with the spread of cannabis, which is not a part of our culture and is still only used habitually by a small minority. The use of Prohibition in reference to cannabis is just dishonest propaganda. Most people when they hear "Prohibition" think of Eliot Ness and The Untouchables, chopping up beer barrels with axes and raiding speakeasies. They have no idea just how feeble the enforcement actually was, never mind the difference between alcohol, a substance consumed legally for millennia, and cannabis, which has never been in mass use in either the United States or Britain. Even when cannabis was legal it was not used.

MW: You have occasionally made reference to recent scientific findings about the effects of cannabis use. Would you mind summarizing some of the conclusions at which researchers have arrived?

PH: Well, I'm very cautious about this. Correlation is not causation, and only a very small amount of work has been done in these areas. Categories in mental health are extremely subjective. You can say someone has cancer of the lung or emphysema or degenerative heart disease because of a series of objective tests, which can be repeated by other doctors. The definitions of terms like schizophrenia and psychosis are vague. The only research which is firm on this is a recent study which shows a strong correlation between cannabis use and a decline in measured intelligence among school-aged children. Because IQ is a generally accepted measure of intelligence, this is very nearly objective. There is a huge amount of so-called anecdotal evidence that suggests that cannabis affects the brain, the mental health, of those who use it. It wouldn't be a huge surprise, would it, if a powerful mind-altering drug had the capacity to affect the brain adversely or to unhinge people's minds? What research we have tends to be correlative as opposed to causative, but it seems to me that, since we have a drug that has been correlated with mental illness, especially among the young, we should be very cautious about licensing it for widespread use.

MW: Residents of Washington and Colorado recently voted to legalize cannabis. A number of states, including Alaska, California, and New York, punish cannabis possession with small fines. A host of others allow cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes --

PH: Alleged medicinal purposes. Let's be very careful about whether there are any legitimate medical uses for cannabis.

MW: Indeed. What do you think we can expect the impact of outright legalization (as opposed to decriminalization) to be?

PH: I think there will be more mad people. There will be more people, especially more young people, going irreversibly mad.

MW: William F. Buckley Jr. is perhaps the most prominent American conservative to have argued for drug legalization. Buckley made what looks like a utilitarian case for legalization. What is the moral case, not only against legalization but against drug use altogether?

PH: There is a problem here. I could argue from a Christian position that one should not throw away the gifts of perception and thinking. I could also argue that you should not put yourself into such a state that you are no longer responsible for your own actions. I could say that by using drugs people risk making themselves a terrible burden upon those who love and care for them. Certainly baseless is the argument that "I can do what I like with my own body." You can by doing what you like with your own body destroy your sanity and make yourself absolutely dependent upon the care of others for the rest of your life, which is immoral by practically any moral code you could devise, with or without God. Wealthy, comfortably off people advocate the legality of a drug, which they imagine they might use themselves without harm, that will undoubtedly destroy the lives of others poorer and less fortunate than themselves. These people are arguing in favor of the suffering of others for the sake of their own pleasure. This is disgusting, and how anybody can call himself a conservative and take this position escapes me. There is a ridiculous confusion between the so-called freedom to render yourself insensible and the ancient, hard-won freedoms of speech, thought, and assembly. I think it is very much in the interest of any authoritarian state to have a stupefied, drug-taking population. Freedom to smoke dope doesn't seem to me to be freedom for anyone.

- - - - [non-drug -related portions, snipped] - - - -

Copyright 2012, The American Spectator. All rights reserved.

analysis of article text

prohibitionist	prohibition_agency	drugwar_propaganda	legalization	drug_reformer
reform_referenda	cannabis	stimulant	narcotic	hallucinogen

incarceration/prison mentioned? yes .

propaganda analysis

EXP - explicit prohibition propaganda (explicit_propaganda)	GRP - hated group (propaganda_theme1)	MAD - madness, violence, illness (propaganda_theme2)
SOC - survival of society (propaganda_theme3)	USE - gateway, use is abuse (propaganda_theme4)	KID - children (propaganda_theme5)
WAR - demonize, war, epidemic (propaganda_theme6)	TOT - total prohibition (propaganda_theme7)	DIS - dissent attacked (propaganda_theme8)

concept		evidence	hits	links
	drug of abuse implied / mentioned drug related [news] [concept]	illegal drugs prohibition legalization
	propaganda drugwar propaganda [news] [concept]	explicit propaganda propaganda theme1 propaganda theme2 propaganda theme3 propaganda theme5 propaganda theme6 propaganda theme7 propaganda theme8 propaganda theme4		•Why Are Americans So Easy to Manipulate? (Bruce E Levine, 2012) •Classic Modern Drug Propaganda •Themes in Chemical Prohibition •Drug War Propaganda (kindle edition)
	explicit prohibition propaganda explicit propaganda [news] [concept]	"tough on drug" "blast" "propaganda"	3	•SourceWatch: War on Drugs •dare.procon.org •Write What You're Told •Lippmann, Walter; Public Opinion (1921) •Bernays, Edward; Propaganda (1928)
	hated group propaganda theme1 [news] [concept]	"minority" "drug users" "users"	4	•Hated Groups (propaganda theme 1) •drugwarfacts.org/druguse.htm •drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm •America's Racist Drug laws •narcoterror.org/ •Labeling theory
	madness, violence, illness propaganda theme2 75% [news] [concept]	"crime" "harm" "destroy" "cancer" "problem" "schizophrenia" "mental illness" "psychosis" "Delusion" "perception" "disease" "suffering" "fearsome" reefer madness	15	•Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) •drugwarfacts.org/crime.htm •drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm •Distortion 18: Cannabis and Mental Illness
	survival of society propaganda theme3 75% [news] [concept]	"society" "freedom" "freedoms" "American" "Americans" "America" "this country" "the country" "the economy"	28	•Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3)
	use is abuse use is abuse [news] [concept]	"Misuse of Drugs" "drug users" "drug use" "using drugs" "cannabis use"	6	•Use is Abuse (propaganda theme 4) •drugwarfacts.org/addictiv.htm
	gateway, use is abuse propaganda theme4 [news] [concept]	use is abuse		•Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4)
	children propaganda theme5 60% [news] [concept]	"children" "young people"	2	•Children Corrupted (propaganda theme 5) •drugwarfacts.org/adolesce.htm
	demonize, war, epidemic propaganda theme6 90% [news] [concept]	"war on drugs" "Battle" "Surrender" "surrendered" "The War We Never Fought"	8	•Demonize, War (propaganda theme 6) •List of wars on concepts •Perpetual war •The Failed War on Drugs (2012)
	total prohibition propaganda theme7 [news] [concept]	"immoral" "morality" "legalization" "legalize" "legalisation" "decriminalization" "decriminalized" "legalize marijuana" "first steps" "legalization (as opposed" legalization	21	•Total Prohibition or Access (propaganda theme 7)
	dissent attacked propaganda theme8 80% [news] [concept]	"against drug legalization"	2	•Dissent Attacked (propaganda theme 8) •ONDCP law: studying legalization disallowed
	drug of abuse illegal drugs [news] [concept]	"drug taking" "drug-taking" cannabis various illegal drugs stimulant hallucinogen narcotic	2
	drugs 95% [news] [concept]	various drugs
	oft-mentioned drug warrior mouthpieces prohibitionists other 75% [news] [concept]	"Peter Hitchens"	4	•Axis Sally •Lord Haw-Haw •Tokyo Rose •Joseph Goebbels •Julius Streicher
	legalization [news] [concept]	"drug legalization" "legalize marijuana" "drugs have been decriminalized" "legalization but against drug" "decriminalization" "decriminalized" "legalization" "legalisation" "legalize"	25	•mapinc.org/decrim.htm
	prohibition [news] [concept]	"prohibition" "prohibitions" "prohibition of drugs" "anti-drug"	11	•whyprohibition.ca •An Address By Senator Pierre Claude Nolin •ACLU Brief: Against Drug Prohibition •The Secret Of World-wide Drug Prohibition (PDF) •History of Alcohol Prohibition •Milton Friedman: Prohibition and Drugs •thedea.org/prohibition.html •Prohibition
	hallucinogen [news] [concept]	psychedelic		•MAPS.org/ •erowid.org/ •lycaeum.org/ •mapinc.org/hallucinogens.htm •Wikipedia: Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants
	psychoactive chemical chemicals [news] [concept]	alcohol cocaine heroin LSD opiate		•erowid.org/chemicals/chemicals.s...
	psychoactive plant plants [news] [concept]	cannabis		•erowid.org/plants/plants.shtml
	euphoric depressant [news] [concept]	heroin opiate
	euphoric stimulant [news] [concept]	cocaine
	analgesic [news] [concept]	heroin opiate
	psychedelic [news] [concept]	LSD		•maps.org/ •Psychedelic •psychedelic-library.org/
	intoxicant [news] [concept]	cannabis
	depressant intoxicant 50% [news] [concept]	alcohol
	stimulant [news] [concept]	cocaine
	narcotic [news] [concept]	opiate		•Managing Pain
	opiate [news] [concept]	heroin		•Managing Pain
	alcohol 50% [news] [concept]	"alcohol" "beer"	6	•Stanton Peele Addiction Web Site •drugwarfacts.org/alcohol.htm •Pot Threatens Booze Profits
	cocaine [news] [concept]	"cocaine"	1	•mapinc.org/coke.htm •drugwarfacts.org/cocaine.htm •erowid.org/chemicals/cocaine/
	heroin [news] [concept]	"heroin"	2	•mapinc.org/heroin.htm •drugwarfacts.org/heroin.htm •Managing Pain
	lysergic acid diethylamide LSD [news] [concept]	"LSD"	1	•erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/
	cannabis [news] [concept]	"marijuana" "cannabis" reefer madness	18	•Cannabis: Religious and Spiritual Uses •Cannabis-Driving Studies •MAPInc.org Cannabis Link DB •medicalmarijuanaprocon.org •cannabisnews.com/ •cannabisculture.com •Schaffer Library: Marijuana •drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.htm •mapinc.org/pot.htm
	reefer madness reefer madness 50% [news] [concept]	"cannabis affects the brain, the mental"	1	•Link Between Marijuana and Mental Illness •Relief from Schizophrenia using Cannabis •Study Indicates Cannabis-Associated Psychosis Risk Is Minimal •Study: Pot Doesn't Exacerbate Schizophrenia •Cannabis Use May "Improve" Brain Function In Schizophrenics, Study Says •Distortion 18: Cannabis and Mental Illness •"Reefer Madness" •"Reefer Madness" 1936 screenplay •Hypnosis and "Reefer Madness" •mapinc.org/topics/psychosis •mapinc.org/find?252 •Behavior Under Nazi Regime, vs Drug User Personality •Study: Marijuana Linked to Lower Mortality Rate for Patients with Psychotic Disorders (2012)
	various drugs 95% [news] [concept]	"drug" "Drugs" "drug-taking"	37
	various illegal drugs [news] [concept]	"drug users" "war on drugs" "mind-altering" "Dope"	7	•mapinc.org •drugwarfacts.org •DEA's Drugs of Abuse booklet •drugwarfacts.org/drugtest.htm
	incarceration [news] [concept]	"prison"	1	•Prison Hell in America (Stephen Lendman, Oct. 2011) •Understanding the U.S. Torture State •this is what a police state looks like •Torture and the United States •drugwarfacts.org/cms/Prisons and... •aclu.org/combating-mass-incarcer... •november.org •mapinc.org/prison.htm •hermes-press.com/prisons drugs.htm •Profit Driven Prison Industrial Complex (2012) •The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal •Sing a Little Louder
	youth 60% [news] [concept]	propaganda theme5		•ssdp.org/ •mapinc.org/youth.htm
	school [news] [concept]	"school" "school-aged" "College" "university"	4	•ssdp.org/
	aggrandizing government aggrandizement [news] [concept]	"officials" "official"	2	•What is Statism? •Conservapedia: Statism •Wikipedia: Statolatry •Bought Priesthood •Worship of the U. S. Government (2011) •Bureaucratic Thrust •Tyranny of Experts •The Threat of Authority (2012) •The Media As Enablers of Government Lies •The Statist Mindset (Jacob Hornberger, 2011) •Thinking Critically about Experts and Authority •Michael Levine, Mainstream Media: The Drug War Shills •Statism, Stalinism, and Satanism - What are the Limits?

st:0.01 fo:0 s:0.01 d:0.07 c:0 db:0.067 a:1.61 m:2.89 t:5.07 (f)

text of article used for CRITICAL ANALYSIS, under FAIR USE provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, et al.

as .txt file