Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Controversial British Survey

Controversial British Survey via Badger On Fire.

"This has been going around for a while, but the version I'm doing here has been edited by [info]misspotsitt for a British audience as most of the questions were fairly USA-centric.

Here goes...

1. Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial British Survey?
Yes, why not?

2. Would you do meth if it was legal?
No, it has a reputation for being highly addictive (and tweaker-dom sounds pretty non-glamorous. Not that glamour is the basis of how I live life, haha, but you know...) For similar reasons, I wouldn't touch heroin. Legality isn't really top of my list on why not to do drugs.

3. Is the current abortion cut off point valid in your mind?
Yes, I am pro-choice. I'm very much against any reduction in time-limit and would support a change where two doctors' agreement is no longer required. I would also like to make sure that Northern Irish women had the services which currently they are entitled to, but find extremely difficult to access.

4. Do you think we would face the same difficulties we did in the 80s if the Conservatives came back into power at the next general election?
I don't want to see the Tories back in power. I don't feel that they have changed one iota from what they were, they just think Cameron's smarm makes him the perfect Blair replacement. While I have been disappointed in Labour, I don't want a Tory government in their place.

5. What do you think the best solution to our overcrowded prisons is?
Less criminals!
I think the alternatives to imprisonment, such as community service, should be used more often and properly enforced for "petty criminals".

6. Are you in favour of the reclassification of some drugs in recent years?
There are good legal reasons for reclassification, so that sentencing reflects the threat-level of the drugs concerned. Otherwise the judicial system would be too much of a blunt instrument.
I'm not sure that the media does the public any favours by its coverage of such reclassifications. Perhaps it should be announced in numbers of years/months you'd expect to serve if caught dealing instead of A grades (that's the really good stuff) and C (well, that's average), haha.
On the whole, I lean towards legalisation with heavy controls and taxation.

7. Are you for or against premarital sex?
Free love, baby.
I see no reason why consenting adults can't do what the hell they want with their bodies. I'd recommend safe sex, of course.

8. Do you believe in God?
No.

9. Do you think that same sex Civil Partnerships are a good thing?
Of course. I think a gay couple should have the same rights & protections as a straight one would do, so that they can make medical decisions for one another if necessary and be treated as next-of-kin automatically and so forth.
As far as I'm concerned it's marriage, and calling it a civil partnership is mere fudging. I see little difference between my own marriage at a registry office and a gay couple doing the same.

10. Do you think it's wrong that people from EU member states can move to the UK without barriers?
No, fine by me.

11. A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
It's hardly an ideal situation, but I'd want to enable her to look after her child if that was what she wanted.

12. Has the introduction of 24 hour licencing regulations had a positive impact on our drink related crime levels?
I doubt it has changed an awful lot. I think we're way off the cosmopolitan sniftering that this was supposedly to promote.
The benefits are staggered closing times, so that everyone isn't out on the street at once, which means less argy-bargy over food, taxis and pavement space at least.
I think it'll take a lot to change the "must-be-slaughtered-to-have-fun" mentality which seems pervasive.
On the bright side, we did change our attitudes to drink-driving, so it can be done. And the Europeans aren't as savvy about alcohol as their stereotypes go - their rates of alcoholism are pretty fearful too.

13. Should we have got involved in the military activities in the Middle East?
I think that our primary motivation was oil, and when greed is a motivator, it's bound to be a bit whoa-nelly. I mean we aren't that eager to get to "policing the world" when there's no oil pipeline to build or whatever, are we?
I also wonder whether the US Christian right's longing for the second coming and strife having to come from that direction might not be an influence in activities over there.
Or I do when I'm in conspiracy mode, haha.

14. Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?
It is illegal, agreed.
I think there is a case for euthanasia. Stories like that of Terry Schiavo, who eventually had to have her feeding tube removed, make me think it'd be far better to just overdose her and get it over with. I can't imagine the distress of her prolonged death caused her loved ones. While the fact that her body was kept going for so many years when her brain had largely liquefied - madness.
I think it should be a choice people can make legally, although obviously it would need controls. Perhaps a body to investigate for coercion etc beforehand.

15. The Scottish executive have made it illegal to spank children under the age of three, do you think that English and Welsh parliaments should follow suit?
Yes. Smacking a child under 3 teaches him or her nothing but hitting is ok. Distraction, or simply removing child from the source of the problem, or vice versa - or unexpected parental bellows work well.
I don't think smacking's an effective disciplinary measure after that age either, I think there are always better alternatives.
Of course, no parent is perfect and I understand it can seem the only thing to do, and I'll even hold my hands up and say I have smacked my child - but when I did, it said more about me being at the end of the tether than about what my child had done.
And spanking is never ok.*

16. Would you burn UK currency for a million dollars (OK, kinda weird...)?
As long as it wasn't a sum worth more than the million dollars would be, haha. And as long as it wasn't my money or that of someone or an organisation I approved of.

17. Who do you think would make a better Prime Minister, Brown or Cameron?
Brown. Cameron's an arse.

18. Do you think we should continue to pay a TV licence fee?
Yes, the Beeb does alright. I think it's the only way to keep regional news and programming alive. The local ITV branch is shutting down and all our "local" programming is going further and further away, presumably because there's not enough money in it. But the Beeb will continue to provide these services.

19. Do you think that the word 'chav' should be driven out of usage as it may have its roots in Romani vocabulary and thus be a racial slur?
It's very hard to drive words out of usage. I wouldn't use it myself.

20. Do our think our current accepted vocabulary for dealing with racial minorities is adequate?
I'm not sure. I'd like it spelt out and set in stone.

21. What do you think of Chris Moyles?
He's quite irritating on the radio so I never listen to him. Other than that I don't know much about him.

22. Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Judge me for what? I don't mind disagreement, questions, am even prepared to be asked to re-think or think through things better, but meh, not too bothered on being judged on the contents of this post.

I'd be interested in seeing your answers."


* Except in role-play where children are definitely not involved, but the making of them might be, if you know what I'm saying, mwhahaha.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there,

I disagree about the euthanasia thing, for one thing cos I'm totally programmed to do it but I want to do it too, being a Christian and all, but also, I have heard various doctors at seminars talking about this and they say that in countries that have legal euthanasia, palliative care is virtually unknown. So in other words, when people get old and are no longer deemed useful to society they are expected to want to do away with themselves. I can think of many quiet, unprepossessing elderly people who would rather euthanise themselves than go on living an expensive life, thinking of passing on their inheritance to grasping children etc. Such elderly folks are very vulnerable and need to believe that their lives are valuable... they should not be coerced by societal expectation to think they ought to die. Because as soon as you place value on human life and have cut off points, how far does that go? People would be committing authanasia in their teens because of depression, things it is possible to medicate and recover from.... I'm not keen. Abster x

Mephitis said...

Were these seminars medically or religiously based?

I'm not in favour of euthanasia for the simply old or for it to be too readily available. I am in favour of it in specific and pretty well thrashed-out circumstances with a independent body making a ruling about it. I don't think it needs to be a slippery slope to Futurama's suicide booths :).

Anonymous said...

It was a religious seminar, and the experts speaking were doctors.

Many good Christians are doctors. If euthanasia became acceptable in law then a lot of Christian medical students would have to give up their medical careers because of the conscience issue. I think it would be a great shame if there were no Christians represented in the medical profession because of euthanasia being legalised. This is a side effect of euthanasia that I guess not many people think about.

Anyway.... I don't think anyone would want to have the job of "Judge Death", which is what it would be. So, the law would become one of those nominal things where supposedly it would go before an independent panel, but I bet they would be so cowed by high profile cases in the media that they would be toothless when it came to making hard decisions, they would just say yes every time. I think in terms of the law, the easiest and least complex option is to make a blanket ruling, all life is sacred, full stop. Good job I'm not a lawyer or politician really. Abster x

Mephitis said...

I see no reason why a Christian doctor who didn't agree with euthanasia couldn't recuse himself in the same way as an RC doc can currently do if a woman needs/wants a termination, for example.

As long as a doc is open about his/her beliefs and does not obstruct patients who don't follow the same from finding the treatments they want elsewhere, there need be no reason a doc can't follow their own conscience.