Well The Weird One, I think it is fair game in this context. What better way to point out the hypocrisy in the Kelly position then to point out that high ranking members of his own party are less than eager to have family members “outed” (if true)?
Wait, it isn’t exactly “rumor-mongering” to report the truth. Look, I know it’s never been confirmed publicly by the Vice-President’s family, but it is an open secret that his daughter’s secret identity is the mutant superhero “The Caped Avenger”, even if the republican party wouldn’t allow her to appear in costume on the podium at the convention.
I know that there are people in denial about her mutant status, but the inference is clear. She spent several years as liason for mutant affairs for several big businesses. Why would Coors beer hire a non-mutant for such a position? And of course, the VP’s daughter’s lesbian life-partner is the mutant known only as “The Destructress”. How many mutant lesbians do you know who are involved with non-mutant lesbians? Mutants invariably form all-mutant groups, right? What are the odds that The Destructress would be having a lesbian affair with a non-mutant? You can deny it all you want, but mutants stick with mutants.
The Destructress’s crimefighting partner is The Caped Avenger, her life-partner is the president’s daughter. People, the two are one and the same. My mutantdar goes off like crazy. She’s a mutant. Yeah, maybe she does dye her hair that shade of blue. Every day? Since she was 13? If you don’t realize she’s a mutant you’ve led a pretty sheltered life.
Your bigotry sickens me.
Bricker, the most compelling argument I’ve read so far against your scheme is one which I don’t believe you’ve so far addressed.
Namely, registration can take one of three forms:
- Required registration with required description of powers. This is a form which is most useful to law enforcement, but which is also most intrusive into civil liberties, and is therefore a form which you (rightly, IMO) reject.
- Required registration with voluntary description of powers. This form is only useful to law enforcement when the mutant volunteers a description of powers: the required aspect of it is virtually useless to law enforcement (and is far less useful than, say, a required registration of folks’ hair colors, an aspect of a person which is more germane to solving more crimes than the mere presence of an X-factor). It has a much gentler intrusion into civil liberties, but carries a risk (by no means a certainty) that, with a change in government, a nasty tool could be put into the hands of an anti-mutant authority.
- Voluntary registration with voluntary description of powers. This method seems to me to be almost precisely as useful to law enforcement as the previous method, with zero intrusion into civil liberties.
You gave some examples in which #1 would be more useful to law enforcement than #2 or #3–but you don’t support #1. Can you give some examples in which #2 would be more useful to law enforcement than #3?
Daniel
[QUOTE=Left Hand of DorknessYou gave some examples in which #1 would be more useful to law enforcement than #2 or #3–but you don’t support #1. Can you give some examples in which #2 would be more useful to law enforcement than #3?
[/QUOTE]
It all depends on what happens. I think most people will voluntarily share the information about their power, especially if registration happens during adolescence. Few people at that age see themselves as “bad guys;” most will be willing to share information about themselves. They may regret that decision if they later turn to lives of crime, but I believe a voluntary system would be nearly as useful as a compelled one in collecting information on powers.
And, should it turn out not to be the case, I’d have no problem with repealing the law down the line. No law is carved in stone. If it didn’t work, I’d support repeal.
Then again, why not make the whole system voluntary? Wouldn’t that be precisely as useful, and risk no civil liberty infringements?
Daniel
No.
If the burden ia on people to voluntarily wander in off the street, many will regard it as on par with voting registration, the apathy for which is already self-evident.
To require testing forces the issue to the forefront, and impacts every person equally: everyone must be tested. The results of that testing include the registration of those with the X-factor and a voluntary interview to discern what powers or abilities may exist. That’s a fair and reasonable balance of civil liberties and prudent protection of society.
Are you proposing that the testing happens at adolescence, then, or at birth?
Daniel
Adolescence. I picture a mechanism similar to the Selective Service registration.
Hmm… I’m against any medical treatment because of my religion, this includes any type of “test” that reguires blood being drawn or any type of material being removed from my or my families bodies.
Does the government force me and my children to be tested? If i refuse, am I arrested?
Yep, just like a gun that only actually fires a bullet every sixth time you pull the trigger, so to speak. Martial Arts are sometimes very, very martial indeed, so I thought it was a good idea. Interestingly enough, a lot of police was trained by this same teacher.
Okay, I agree now that there is a value to mandatory testing, coupled with voluntary admission of ability.
Is there a value to mandatory testing, and mandatory collection of data linking positive tests to individuals, coupled with voluntary admission of ability?
Remember, I and others are afraid that given the cultural climate, this data, once collected, could be badly misused by a future administration. Unless there’s a public interest in the involuntary collection of information about who has the X-factor (not linked to information about what abilities that individual has), we’d prefer to see it not happen.
If you modify your proposal slightly–if everyone must go in for testing in order to be able to use a federal service after the age of, say, 13, but the results of the test are simply revealed to the testee and then destroyed unless the testee agrees to the collection of further data–then I’ll agree with it.
Daniel
In this case, I don’t know. It’s unclear to me what the precise mechanism for testing for the X-factor is. If it is some sort of passive scan, then your concerns are groundless. But assuming it does involve blood or body sampling, then I would say that you should be required to submit to this minimal intrusion into your religious beliefs, just as people are today who have been arrested, or who must undergo DNA testing to settle a paternity claim, etc.
Ah – you’re saying that a testee who does not admit to any particular power has no value in the database.
I agree with that. If the testee does voluntarily share his particular ability, then obviously a record is kept; that’s the purpose of the test. But if the testee declines to share information about his personal ability, then of what value is merely recording the fact that he’s X-positive?
I agree. No data gets permanantly collected unless the individual chooses to reveal his ability.
(Ohmigod. Did Great Debates actually work this time? It appears like both “sides” have moved to a more reasonable central compromise! Amazing!)
I like where we’re at. Mandatory testing, recording of volunteered information, destruction of actual individual test results. Informs people of an X-factor they may have been previously unaware of, allows the government to track general X-factor trends, allows for government or private access to X-persons for a one time shot at offering social or training services (like handing them a brochure with their test results), doesn’t create a registry of useless information, and doesn’t create a registry of innocents. Cool.
Next question: If my teenager is found “X positive,” will I be informed? Do I decide if his information is recorded, or does he?
It’s already been noted that the “protection of society” element is fatally compromised unless the nature and extent of powers (in addition to the mere existence of mutant genes) are part of the mandatory registry. Thus, your argument for mandatory registry of the latter but not the former doesn’t hold up.
OK, that addresses the problem I noted in the previous message – if the whole thing (including recordation of the mere existence of mutant genes) is voluntary, there’s no problem.
I think a minor’s rights in this area must be subordinate to the parent’s rights to know and decide what to do.
The authoritative texts have indicated that passive scans are all that is needed.
Another idea for the proposal:
Big Government Spending!
Specifically, I am less optimistic than Bricker is that people will voluntarily register their powers with the government; I suspect most people won’t. However, there’s a way to lure them into doing so, and at the same time make everyone’s lives better.
When someone tests positive for the X factor, offer them government-subsidized care for this condition. At no charge, they may receive a full body of tests to determine the nature and extent of their power, and if necessary, they may receive therapy in how to control the power.
There would be one (or possibly two) catches. First, receiving this care is contingent on registering their power with the government. Second, if providing such care proves to be prohibitively expensive, there may end up being some rule that those who have undergone the care face higher tax-brackets once they become upper-middle-class or beyond; this way, those who benefit from the care the most end up repaying the cost.
Daniel