In my opening post yesterday, I mentioned the story of the Emperor's New Clothes (see below), so now is a good time to mention two outstanding examples of the same phenomenon in the modern world.
1. Cannabis "Everyone knows" that cannabis is bad, and that there should be laws strong enough to eliminate its use completely, but I have yet to meet anyone who can tell me in what way it is so evil. I have never used it myself, but study after study supports the idea that cannabis is no more a threat to anyone than either alcohol or tobacco, but time after time governments overrule or ignore such findings. Why? (As a friend of mine used to say: "You never hear of anyone going home and beating up his wife after smoking weed, and that is more than you can say about alcohol")
2. Nuclear Deterrent "Everyone knows" that countries like UK and USA need to spend vast amounts of money to maintain a "Nuclear Deterrent", but no one (not even those whose job is to actually make such decisions) has any idea who might conceivably be deterred, or from doing what. Does anyone really believe that any western democracy would ever actually USE such a weapon? Surely the very idea is unthinkable, but if no one believes that such a weapon would ever actually be used, then how can it be a "deterrent" ? Are there not many better uses for all that money? (Imagine for example the effect of spending the same vast amount of money on the conventional forces that we do actually use.)
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