Unpopular Opinions

[Mandy Lifeboats]

I once heard an humorous theory regarding a referendum on the death penalty. 

If we impose a death penalty we accept that there is a possibility that an innocent man will be wrongly killed.  Therefore we allow a referendum but anyone voting for the death penalty could be held responsible for any wrongful death.  This would take the form of a death lottery where one of those who voted for the death penalty is executed for allowing the murder of an innocent person. 

This is clearly ridiculous.  But it does fell right that those who vote for a particular action should bear responsibility for its consequences.  
 

[Mandy Lifeboats]

8 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

I agree with the career criminals thing.  There was a case recently for an Asian woman killed randomly by somebody who had 28 previous convictions and out on licence at the time.  I don't see how someone that prolific should be allowed out in society.

Agreed.  
Money is to blame.  People don’t want to be a victim of crime.  But not do they want to pay the taxes to fund prisons, rehabilitation and psychiatric care.  
The UK is one of the safest countries in the world.  But it has no right to be.  We just seem lucky.  

[sharkyvilla]

2 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Agreed.  
Money is to blame.  People don’t want to be a victim of crime.  But not do they want to pay the taxes to fund prisons, rehabilitation and psychiatric care.  
The UK is one of the safest countries in the world.  But it has no right to be.  We just seem lucky.  

Personally I'd just chop their hands off, a lot cheaper.  I think that was my earliest contribution to the thread!

[regular_john]

31 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

1.  49.9% of any population has below average intelligence.  Where are we drawing the line?   

2.  Prison is for people who are a danger to society.  Does a 99 year old gangster really pose a threat in most cases?  What about 98?  97?  Where are we drawing the line?

3.  Where are we drawing the line?   I’m just popping to Tesco to pick up a 6 pack of Heroin and Vodka Cocktails garnished with a rock of crack cocaine. 

4.  It is being intentionally destroyed.  That’s not failure.

5.  Religion is humanity’s worst idea. 

6.  Nope.  Renault 5 in beige with a velour interior. 

7.  Totally true. 

8.  Both are enjoyable. Neither is a classic. 

9.   No.  A talented man with severe mental illness who was self medicating unfortunately killed himself.  

10.  What’s this “Brexit” you speak of?  Never heard of it.  
 

 

1. I fear you have failed to understand standard deviation from the mean. Does that make you part of the 49.9%?

 

2. An old rotter is still a rotter. Prison. Or death. Or cake. Cake or death. Or prison.

 

3. Good question. No easy answers. Maybe take an almost 'drug clinic' approach. What is clear is that the current approach of keeping them illegal and waging a 'war on drugs' has failed and shows no sign of succeeding. Currently, the profits from drugs go exclusively to criminals. Drug users are also at risk from catastrophic health consequences from unknown and unregulated adulterants. Both problems go away with legalisation.

 

4. Yes and no. It has been managed atrociously at government level. Unfortunately, however, we have an increasingly unhealthy population with problems that are incredibly expensive to fix. The NHS was not designed to manage an obese, diabetic, alcoholic, hypertensive, cigarette smoking population. It is simply not possible to fund a service to fix these problems without raising taxes to a level that the population would find unacceptable.

 

5. Agreed

 

6. Fair point. Allow me to revise my statement. MOST of the best looking and coolest cars were US made pre 1970

 

8. Disagree. Both are classic. The Terminator is one of the all time great horror movies. T2 is one of the all time great action movies.

 

9. I disagree. He had enough heroin on board to slay a donkey and would have been unconscious when the trigger was pulled. There have been no recorded cases anywhere ever of an equal or even near equal heroin level that did not result in immediate incapacitation (needle still in arm). No chance he took that much heroin and remained conscious long enough to pick up a shotgun and use his feet to pull the trigger

 

10. I heard it's something the immigrants done

[Mandy Lifeboats]

1 minute ago, sharkyvilla said:

Personally I'd just chop their hands off, a lot cheaper.  I think that was my earliest contribution to the thread!

Personally I would introduce sentences based upon unpaid work.  
 
Someone who committed a minor offence would do work similar to Community Service.

Someone who committed serious crime would be placed in a secure room with a task to complete.  If they undertook the required task to the required standard it would be a day of their sentence served.  If not, no time has been served.  

If they co-operated they would be given more interesting tasks that would build their employment skills. 

Good behaviour and genuine progress towards rehabilitation would be rewarded with a day of work being credited as more than 1 day of time served. 

 

[tonyh29]

9 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Agreed.  
Money is to blame.  People don’t want to be a victim of crime.  But not do they want to pay the taxes to fund prisons, rehabilitation and psychiatric care.  
The UK is one of the safest countries in the world.  But it has no right to be.  We just seem lucky.  

People pay taxes , it’s that governments then waste that money , that causes the problem isn’t it ?

Maybe that why the government have cut police funding , fewer arrests and thus fewer people in prison so save on the prison and rehab budget .

My simplistic take on it is that governments knee jerk based on what’s making the most noise , when the voters start saying we want prison reform, rehabilitation and psychiatric care , then the government will find the money for it … and probably have a mate who just so happens to have a contract in place 

 

[tonyh29]

3 minutes ago, regular_john said:

. I disagree. He had enough heroin on board to slay a donkey and would have been unconscious when the trigger was pulled. There have been no recorded cases anywhere ever of an equal or even near equal heroin level that did not result in immediate incapacitation (needle still in arm). No chance he took that much heroin and remained conscious long enough to pick up a shotgun and use his feet to pull the trigger

I think Love could have just divorced him tbh don’t think she needed to blow his head off after having forced him to write a suicide note 

Cobain was a tortured soul , he’s was sadly always going to die young and at his own hand … I don’t know if he could have been saved with therapy and the right people around him …   

 

[Mandy Lifeboats]

2 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

People pay taxes , it’s that governments then waste that money , that causes the problem isn’t it ?

 

Yes and no.  There is huge waste in government.  I see it every day. 

But people consistently vote for people who make totally unrealistic promises.  
 

People want a great NHS, strong military, well maintained roads, old aged pensions, to be free from crime, care when they are elderly, low interest rates for loans but high interest rates for savings, cheap electricity and much more.  
 

Any political party that delivered a truthful and realistic manifesto would never be elected.  People like to hear “Build Back Better” or “Make America Great Again”.  

[regular_john]

1 minute ago, tonyh29 said:

I think Love could have just divorced him tbh don’t think she needed to blow his head off after having forced him to write a suicide note 

Cobain was a tortured soul , he’s was sadly always going to die young and at his own hand … I don’t know if he could have been saved with therapy and the right people around him …   

 

And herein lies the rub - they had signed a prenup. In the event of divorce, he gets what is his ($millions) and she gets what is hers (naff all). If he dies, she gets it all.

 

Guess what they were in the process of when he died? Divorce

 

He had already had her removed from his will but died before he could sign the amended version.

 

I've known trout that have smelled less fishy

[sne]

I think England will win the WC.

[Xela]

41 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

I once heard an humorous theory regarding a referendum on the death penalty. 

If we impose a death penalty we accept that there is a possibility that an innocent man will be wrongly killed.  Therefore we allow a referendum but anyone voting for the death penalty could be held responsible for any wrongful death.  This would take the form of a death lottery where one of those who voted for the death penalty is executed for allowing the murder of an innocent person. 

This is clearly ridiculous.  But it does fell right that those who vote for a particular action should bear responsibility for its consequences.  
 

What is worse. Being executed for a crime you didn't commit, or spending 20/30/40 years in prison instead, for a crime you didn't commit?

[tomav84]

51 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Reading between the lines ,  the argument being put forward is  that lots of people are too dumb to be given a vote , do you  think a questionnaire is the solution ? 


 

 

intelligence shouldn't be a factor IMO. just that too many support political parties like it's a football team. they'll never budge, regardless of who's in power.

[penguin]

21 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

People pay taxes , it’s that governments then waste that money , that causes the problem isn’t it ?

Maybe that why the government have cut police funding , fewer arrests and thus fewer people in prison so save on the prison and rehab budget .

My simplistic take on it is that governments knee jerk based on what’s making the most noise , when the voters start saying we want prison reform, rehabilitation and psychiatric care , then the government will find the money for it … and probably have a mate who just so happens to have a contract in place 

 

One of the drawbacks of short-term government election cycles. It encourages these knee-jerk policies, and a host of empty promises, to win the next election whilst unpopular but necessary actions are incentivised to be left to the next guy or simply left to rot.

What an alternative would be though, I don't know.

Edited December 3, 2022 by penguin

[tonyh29]

11 minutes ago, Mandy Lifeboats said:

Make America Great Again

Hey , they made their choice , no way we are making them a British colony again 

[Mandy Lifeboats]

18 minutes ago, regular_john said:

1. I fear you have failed to understand standard deviation from the mean. Does that make you part of the 49.9%?

4. Yes and no. It has been managed atrociously at government level. Unfortunately, however, we have an increasingly unhealthy population with problems that are incredibly expensive to fix. 

10. I heard it's something the immigrants done

1. Two many big wurds. 

4.  I grew up in the 70s.  Everyone smoked.  Those who didn’t still had to sit in smoke on buses, planes and in restaurants.  Asbestos was everywhere and really kept my hot water tank warm.  Seatbelts were dangerous because it was safer to be thrown out of the car in an accident.  Children’s playgrounds were concrete.  Miners spent all day breathing coal dust.   I am slightly magnetic due to all the lead I breathed in from petrol fumes.  The NHS seemed to cope with that.  
 

10.  Immigrants bring too much of their culture to the UK. We should stick to keeping British Traditions for British People.  Truly British things like  Christianity, the Mini the royal family and sitting on your veranda on an autumn day around the Chimera drinking a nice Chardonnay or a cup of tea.   British inventions for British people to enjoy.  
 

[Mandy Lifeboats]

12 minutes ago, Xela said:

What is worse. Being executed for a crime you didn't commit, or spending 20/30/40 years in prison instead, for a crime you didn't commit?

Execution. 

[Mandy Lifeboats]

5 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Hey , they made their choice , no way we are making them a British colony again 

They will come crawling back eventually. New York will be renamed Bridlington-Upon-Sea and we’ll open a Wetherspoons in every county.  

[MakemineVanilla]

On 01/12/2022 at 10:27, Wainy316 said:

Granny Smith are the best apples

I have always prefered Cox's and Worcesters but you can't get them these days, not since the big chains killed off the small greengrocers.

The one justification for capitalism is that it is supposed to increase choice but the choice of fruit and veg has become narrower, under the jackboot of global capital.

Golden delicious epitomise the trend in the fruit market.

Most of the items listed in the Python sketch, "How to defend yourself against a person armed with fruit" sketch, are unobtainable.

 

[TreeVillan]

3 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said:

I have always prefered Cox's and Worcesters but you can't get them these days, not since the big chains killed off the small greengrocers.

The one justification for capitalism is that it is supposed to increase choice but the choice of fruit and veg has become narrower, under the jackboot of global capital.

Golden delicious epitomise the trend in the fruit market.

Most of the items listed in the Python sketch, "How to defend yourself against a person armed with fruit" sketch, are unobtainable.

 

Supermarkets bring greater variety with regards to imported fruits we didn't have access to before etc. The flip side being local producers/traditional products being pushed aside. 

[Rds1983]

7 hours ago, Xela said:

What is worse. Being executed for a crime you didn't commit, or spending 20/30/40 years in prison instead, for a crime you didn't commit?

You could ask the Birmingham 6 (I think some are still alive) what they think about it and if they'd have preferred to have been executed. 

You can always release an innocent man who has been locked up and try to make it up to him. 

You can't bring someone back from the dead. 

The death penalty would be used for the most extreme cases, but by nature these are the cases with the most pressure and likelihood of something going wrong.