Word: decay
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Does society not like drugs because they are bad, or are drugs bad because society does not like them? In his column of April 23, "Ignoring Internal Decay," Joshua Kaufman offers several arguments condemning drug users and drug dealers. He concludes that Blankenship and David, two students accused of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, LSD, mushrooms and ecstasy, deserve punishment if guilty. But to agree that society should condemn the actions of such students, one should examine which of Kaufman's arguments rest on bad qualities inherent in drugs and their dealers, and which rest on society's dislike...
...culture that accepted these drugs (both were known to enjoy raves; one even wrote his senior thesis on raves), and sold only to a few friends and not for profit? Were these two (one of whom was a director of a homeless shelter) an example of the decay in our community? Or should we feel sympathy for two bright futures (one was planning to go to a top-notch grad school) potentially being destroyed because every politician wants to look tough on drugs and they were unlucky enough to be within 1,000 feet of an elementary school...
...many Republicans, abortion is merely one of a host of issues--the death penalty, school choice, flag-burning--that supposedly stand for a commitment to values in the face of moral decay in America. These people, Bob Dole among them, don't believe in the sanctity of the human fetus, and they compromise in the cases of rape and incest...
...consciousness, and whether or not we succeed is up to the people." But what would bring about revolution? It is the Japanese way to face adversity with a simple appeal to gaman, which translates more or less as "hang tough and don't complain." Perhaps anguish over Japan's decay will push people beyond gaman and put wind at the back of radicals like Ozawa and other reformers. Failing that, Japan could turn into a graying has-been of the industrial world...
...salesman in trouble and in debt. As his wealthy father in-law won't knowingly help, Jerry decides to kidnap the in-law's daughter, his own wife. He expects the ransom money will solve most of his problems. This twisted idea is emblematic of the moral decay that contaminates many characters in "Fargo...