Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
Fighting Terrorism with Volunteerism (at Gunpoint)
Britain considers the John Edwards plan for moral betterment, social unity, and free labor:
Plans for every young person in Britain to enrol in a national volunteering scheme that could become compulsory are at the centre of a government report into improving social cohesion.
The possibility of mandatory community service is put forward today by Darra Singh, chair of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, the body created by Tony Blair after the 7 July bombings in 2005 to promote more unity. It echoes the concept of National Service, which ended in 1960, that required all men between the ages of 18 and 26 to serve in the military for up to two years.
Via Rational Review.
D.A. Ridgely|6.13.07 @ 11:34AM|#
Volunteerism just works better if it's mandatory, every Army sergeant knows that!
D.A. Ridgely|6.13.07 @ 11:36AM|#
The good news, however, is that all the drafted volunteers will get attractive brown shirts to wear!
|6.13.07 @ 11:40AM|#
In an article in today's Observer, Singh also suggests that
children taking GCSEs in citizenship should be asked to a special
town hall ceremony after passing the exam, to instill in them the
sense of what it is to be part of Britain.
Because the only way to know how special it is to be British is to
have someone fucking tell you.
dhex|6.13.07 @ 11:51AM|#
A SHORT LESSON IN THE MANNERISM AND MECHANISMS OF THOSE BEASTS
WE CALL TROLLS;
or, "A tale in which the heroes and heroines learn a valuable
lesson"
A troll, then, is much like an advertisement for aftershave or iced
creams; it seeks attention. To give attention, then, is to give
aftershave or iced creams life, animated via the currency in one's
wallet and the desire in one's heart. A Troll, then, is a similar
beast to aftershave or iced creams, in that it can only live when
attention (in this case we can call it "emotional currency") is
poured upon him in a manner similar to the gentle Japanese art
called 'bukkake.' This frothy shower of attention and vitrol gives
the Troll a purpose in life, just as a healthy lather is worked up
by mixing aftershave and warm water and lends that fine foam its
own purpose. Though one might happily bring iced creams to a social
event, much to the delight of women, children and men of a 'certain
character' and shaving cream is to be found in the medicine-shelf
of any man of good breeding and conscience (or any woman who
suffers from the stubble-laden heritage of the Mediterranean), it
is important to remember that we would not suffer either item to
control the ebb and flow of our day. But these items should serve
us, and never should we suffer otherwise.
Remember This Always: We should no more suffer a Troll to influence
the ebb and flow of social and intellectual discourse than we would
allow our shaving cream to take liberties with the tooth-cleaning
paste in a frothy display of vile lust and degredation.
|6.13.07 @ 11:53AM|#
I really don't understand. I'm unlikely to feel more unified with anyone who coerces my labor at gunpoint. Where do the warm fuzzy feelings come from?
|6.13.07 @ 12:01PM|#
Possible beneficial unintended side-effect: This could hasten
the end of the Monarchy.
Who the hell wants to be enslaved in the service of some wretched
old hag, her adulterous buffoon son and his horse-faced wife, and
two douchebag playboy princes who get more vagina in an afternoon
than the average bloke will see in a lifetime?
|6.13.07 @ 12:06PM|#
the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, the body created
by Tony Blair after the 7 July bombings in 2005 to promote more
unity
The idea is already working--young Brits of all backgrounds are
unified in thinking that the Commission is full of douchebags.
Episiarch|6.13.07 @ 12:17PM|#
These propositions are always put forward by people who are
older than the draft age. It's just like raising the drinking age,
or the driving age. It's easy for them to suggest, because they're
past the point where it matters.
That being said, I'm always surprised when politicians propose
these things. Young people tend not to vote, so you want to put
forward a proposal that will probably get tons of them to
single-issue vote against you?
Of course, this is all beside the point that this is involuntary
servitude, or, technically, slavery.
|6.13.07 @ 12:35PM|#
"
Who the hell wants to be enslaved in the service of some wretched
old hag, her adulterous buffoon son and his horse-faced wife, and
two douchebag playboy princes who get more vagina in an afternoon
than the average bloke will see in a lifetime?"
Thank God for Yorktown.
Jennifer|6.13.07 @ 12:36PM|#
So what penalties would British teens face if they didn't show up for their mandatory volunteer work, anyway? The article doesn't say.
|6.13.07 @ 1:09PM|#
Jennifer,
Perhaps failure to show up would require the delinquents to be put
on trains to Unity Camps, where they can work and live together in
perfect unity.
For their safety, and the safety of the children.
|6.13.07 @ 1:13PM|#
"Slaves cannot breathe in England: if their lungs receive our
air, that moment they are free; They touch our country, and their
shackles fall."
...oops, wrong century...
|6.13.07 @ 1:27PM|#
I think a fun game to play on H&R would be to add "at
gunpoint" to the end of selected sentences (similar to the "in bed"
game).
Then again, this appears to be a game that has been going on for a
while here. At gunpoint.
|6.13.07 @ 1:32PM|#
Remember, kids, if a foreign government forces it's citizens
into service, detains random folks indefinitely, eavesdrops and
actively spies on its citizens and uses enhanced interrogation on
suspects, it's an evil tyrrany that requires liberal application of
Allied bombs to impose democracy.
If a communist government does this and creates a network of vassal
states, they're an Evil Empire worthy of derision.
If the American or UK government does this, it's merely promoting
and imposing progressive democratic programs for the safety and
betterment of society.
|6.13.07 @ 2:22PM|#
Am I the only one who thinks that "a national volunteering scheme" that has "Plans for every young person in Britain to enroll" is already pretty fucking compulsory?
Jennifer|6.13.07 @ 2:35PM|#
Am I the only one who thinks that "a national volunteering
scheme" that has "Plans for every young person in Britain to
enroll" is already pretty fucking compulsory?
Nope. Somehow, that Orwellian use of language almost bothers me
more than the program itself. Just fucking call it compulsory,
instead of changing the meaning of "volunteer."
LarryA|6.13.07 @ 2:39PM|#
Possible beneficial unintended side-effect: This could
hasten the end of the Monarchy.
Why the monarchy? The PM's Commission and Parliament came up with
the proposal. Where's Guy Faulks when you need him?
Just fucking call it compulsory, instead of changing the
meaning of "volunteer."
Over here in the U.S., of course, we have high school students
"volunteering" for community service as a graduation requirement,
and criminals "volunteering" for community service under threat of
jail time.
Jennifer|6.13.07 @ 3:21PM|#
Over here in the U.S., of course, we have high school
students "volunteering" for community service as a graduation
requirement
Rrrrrrgh. Don't even get me started on that
high-school-graduation mandatory-community-service bullshit.
|6.13.07 @ 4:18PM|#
"Did I say Unity Camps? I meant Happy Camps!"
It's kind of like Tolerance Camp. There's finger painting.
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245