The Logic Lifeline

A logical approach to sorting out world events. Where logic, opinion and speculation are combined to produce a reasoned, but entertaining reading experience. The unofficial hometown conservative blog of Woodridge, Il

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Misplaced outrage

Haley Joel Osment, famous child actor from The Sixth Sense, was formally charged today with possession of marijuana while driving, and a blood alcohol level greater than 0.15, having crashed his car back in July. I remember reading a little blurb about the incident when it happened, and now that he's been charged, I'm wondering, Where's the outrage? Yes, the outrage that we saw following a similar situation with Mel Gibson. I mean, both men were well over the legal limit and chose to get behind the wheel of a several-thousand pound vehicle, essentially carelessly wielding a deadly weapon. Both could very easily have plowed into an innocent pedestrian or a family with two small children in the back seat heading home from grandma's house. But I don't see any outrage in either case about this dangerous behavior. Instead, in a nation that guarantees free speech (stretched to include freedom of expression), people are more offended because a person says things that indicate he doesn't really like Jews, than they are about a person recklessly putting many people's lives in jeopardy with his detestable behavior. This is just one instance of misplaced outrage I've noticed in recent days.

posted by Return to Westernesse @ 10:36 PM  

12 Comments:

  • At 11:31 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    Nice to see young Osment enjoying life after puberty. Good choice of recreation, but bad decision to drive. Shoulda kept it in his house.

    Whispers of anti-semitism will of course raise the neckhairs of lots of people. But it's all a bunch of talk and demands for apologies. Gibson owes no one anything - but he should appear to sincerely apologize if he wants to promote more movies in the future. Now, if he were prosecuted for yelling jewslurs and aggressively complimenting sugarboobs there would be real cause for outrage.

    I've got problems with DUI laws. I think they've gone increasingly the way of nanny state slapping hands with a ruler at checkpoints rather than active policing for real hazards on the road, the really drunk people. And Osment certainly appears to have been one of them. I'm convinced it was all in his plan to somehow pay something forward...

     

  • At 12:49 AM, Blogger Jacob said…

    If Haley Joel Osment was a devout Christian who made a massively successful film about Jesus and then went on a drunken tyrade about Jews, THEN you might have a point to make. The press coverage is proportional to the amount of interest in the subject, and Gibson deserved every single criticism that he got. Haley made a stupid mistake. That is all.

     

  • At 5:51 AM, Blogger Joe Smoe: American Citizen said…

    ""But I don't see any outrage in either case about this dangerous behavior. Instead, in a nation that guarantees free speech (stretched to include freedom of expression), people are more offended because a person says things that indicate he doesn't really like Jews, than they are about a person recklessly putting many people's lives in jeopardy with his detestable behavior. ""


    Perfect example: if this Punk was busted and then launched into a Anti-semetic Tirade it would have been all over the media...but he didn't and hell for all we know he could have launched into an anti-Islamic rant. Kinda makes you think about who controls the media in the U.S. doesn't it?????

    ...yeah, I didn't think so.

     

  • At 6:14 AM, Blogger Jacob said…

    hehe... good point Joe.

     

  • At 8:05 AM, Blogger Joe Smoe: American Citizen said…

    THIS JUST IN:

    Enough time has past and the Vote is in: Bush, his Policies, and Neo Conservatism are a VERIFIED FAILURE..here's why:

    http://aconceptualkickintheass.blogspot.com/

     

  • At 9:02 AM, Blogger Return to Westernesse said…

    Mark,

    I agree with you about DUI laws in America. They are far too lenient. I don't have a problem with checkpoints, since that's one easy way to catch offenders. It's what happens after one is caught that needs to be more heavy-handed.

    I don't agree with you about Osment's choice of recreation being a good one. The problem is that when you choose to "recreate" in that way, you run the risk of losing the ability to properly choose whether to get behind the wheel.

     

  • At 9:06 AM, Blogger Return to Westernesse said…

    Joe,

    I have a feeling that if Osment had made an anti-Islamic rant, we'd know about it, and people would be irate. This has nothing to do with who "controls the media," but with people being more concerned about a person's thoughts coming out in his speech, than with his dangerous behavior.

     

  • At 9:08 AM, Blogger SkyePuppy said…

    Joe,

    if this Punk was busted and then launched into a Anti-semetic Tirade it would have been all over the media

    It wouldn't have been all over the media. It wasn't Mel Gibson's anti-Jewish-ness that stirred up the outrage. It was his Mel-Gibson-ness. Hollywood and the MSM already hated him and were overjoyed to have something with which to bring him down.

    When Michael Moore said anti-Jewish remarks--sober--the MSM ignored it, because they like the guy.

    Hypocrisy and double-standards are alive and well in Hollywood and the MSM.

     

  • At 9:35 AM, Blogger Return to Westernesse said…

    skyepuppy,

    Ah! the heart of the matter! Some people were probably hoping no one would come to it.

     

  • At 9:04 PM, Blogger Unknown said…

    R2W - let me clarify my confusing comment.

    you said - I agree with you about DUI laws in America. They are far too lenient. I don't have a problem with checkpoints, since that's one easy way to catch offenders. It's what happens after one is caught that needs to be more heavy-handed.

    What I had in mind by nanny state slapping hands was the government "taking care" of us much too heavily. Checkpoints result in arrests of a young man who's had two beers at dinner with his girlfriend - NOT a threat. But, the govt. gets about a thousand bucks from fines, and he pays 1500 for a lawyer. Plus he'll probably lose his license and will be marred with the stigma of being a "drunk driver" for ten years until he can expunge his record. What police should do instead is patrol the streets and look for legitimate hazardous driving.

    Also, you said - The problem is that when you choose to "recreate" in that way, you run the risk of losing the ability to properly choose whether to get behind the wheel.

    I disagree. There is such a thing as moderation and self control, and more people have it than the government and those who populate it thinks.

     

  • At 2:47 AM, Blogger Jacob said…

    Skye

    I've come back to this comment page after about half an hour of scowering the net for any anti-semitic remarks made by Michael Moore. As you can understand, I'm a more than a little exasperated. Could you point to a source or something? Thanks.

     

  • At 7:32 PM, Blogger SkyePuppy said…

    FKAB,

    I heard this about Michael Moore on the radio and TV (from conservatives), not from an article on the internet. So I just went hunting, and it looks like Moore is more anti-Israel than anti-Jewish.

    I believe the people I heard on the radio must have been quoting Michael Medved, who was on a TV panel discussing the Mel Gibson incident. Here's a link to an article that quotes Medved.

     

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