What We Have Here Is... Failure To Communicate
This still is from the most famous part of the movie “Cool Hand Luke,” when Strother Martin utters the line after beating Paul Newman for smarting off to him. We all remember the line (and good grief, if you don’t remember it, put it in your NetFlix queue immediately if not sooner).
Luke has been brought back after escaping – I think it’s the first escape, because after the second escape they beat him more severely and make him dig and fill that grave again and again. He is paraded in front of the chain gang in leg irons, and he is being made an example for the others.
But what was it exactly that got him the billy club strike from the warden? I caught it on AMC recently, and here’s what precedes the line we all know by heart.
Strother Martin (Warden): You’re gonna get used to wearing them chains after a while Luke. But you never stop listening to them clinking. They’re gonna remind you of what I’ve been saying: they’re for you own good.
Paul Newman (Luke): I wish you’d stop being so good to me, Captain.
War on Drugs – it just popped into my head when I heard those lines again.
There are 2 basic responses I hear when I evangelize about trying to end the war on drugs.
The first is cyclical and illogical. “They deserve to be in jail à They knew it was illegal à They committed a crime à Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time à …”
OK, but the question was, “Why is it criminal to possess drugs for personal use?” I could respond with “If marijuana is criminalized, only criminals will possess marijuana,” but I’m afraid humor is ineffectual here. The person I’m having the conversation with is not going to listen to reason.
But the more frustrating counter argument I hear is some sort of variation on the theme, “Drugs are Bad For You”. Well, maybe ‘more frustrating’ is the wrong way to put it.
I’m actually encouraged when I hear someone say that, because I know that, given enough time, I can turn them around. At least turn them around 85%. Because no one who thinks about it can reasonably believe that giving enhanced three strikes and you’re out (25 to Life) sentences for ‘simple’ possession is ‘for the defendant’s own good’. It’s clearly not.
But the frustrating part is knowing I can’t have this conversation with most folks that think this way. And too many people thinking like Strother Martin, that we’re imprisoning people for their own good? That would lead to America leading the world in number of prisoners.
