Um, just a minor point. The guy, William something, who wrote a reply that’s included in the Hemp article, made a stupid point of using russia’s growing lots of hemp as a argument for it. Look how screwed up and bass-ackward russia is these days! I personally think it’s kinda dumb to use the fact that they do something as part of an argument for doing it. Sorry, had to get that off my chest, and there was no e-mail address even though the guy replied on the internet.
I hope you don’t really expect Cecil to publish e-mail addresses of people that send him in questions! I think the people who write to Cecil can reasonably expect their privacy to be respected.
Just because a country is going through tough economic times isn’t a valid argument for criticizing one of their industrial practices.
Gah! I can’t even remember posting this thread, but anyway…
You say it’s unfair to criticize Russia’s use of industrial hemp based on the economic troubles they were suffering? Funny, I would think that a Nation’s economic troubles are precisely the reason to criticize their industrial practices, considering that it is a primary determinant of their economic status.
I realize the Space program comment was just to be smart-alacky, but that wasn’t about economic issues, like the subject I was speaking to. The argument for using hemp for indutsrial purposes was couched at least in part in economic terms, so I was pointing out that using a country with severe economic trouble as an example of why it would be a good idea, is not a wise move for constructing an argument.
The Space race was all about prestige, technological developments, and serious security concerns about the potential uses of satellites and orbital craft during the Cold War. It’s largely divorced from the issue of sound economic policy.
on this issue. Just wanted to state my opinion, this is not intended to be a Great Debate or anything (or I would back this all up with research and Economic theory).
You’re talking out of your ellipsis? Never heard that one before. It seems to me that it would make more sense to say that you’re talking out of your :
You wouldn’t reckon it had more to do with a crushing military budget, overextended empire, and collapsing centrally planned economic system, would it?
Who knows, hemp might have been the only good thing they had going for them.
I was not saying that use of industrial hemp was the cause of their problems, but generally speaking, if you’re arguing for the industrial use of something, it seems to me like a really bad idea to use a country with a devastated economy as your major example.
True enough, but we also don’t know enough about the role hemp plays in the Russian economy. I think it is swamped by the aftereffects of the Soviet collapse, the rise of organized crime, and the general ineffectiveness of the Russian police force in maintaining a law-based society, but I could be wrong.
(I’m not trying to sound brusque, I just think any reasonable person would look at the general context of ‘Russia the Screwed-Up Ex-Superpower’, not ‘Russia the Hemp Fiend’.)
gaaah! Just forget it for crying out loud, I already said I was just talking out my (can we say ass here?). I believe I only originally posted this as getting an opinion off my chest, and was just additionally posting to try to clarify the reasoning behind it. Not trying to argue a point of Hemp being a big thing in Russia at all. Just saying the guy could’ve chosen better examples.
