-Caveat Lector-
This is part of an increasing trend in the "justice" system.
Those of our fellow citizens who have run ins with the law, are now
often ordered to attend "anger management" classes....or "substance
abuse" counseling.
Shades of Maoist "community self confession!"
However I suspect that a lot of this psychobabble punishment has more
to do with the contracts that the "counselors" get from their political buddies.
flw
WASHINGTON TIMES
EDITORIAL . July 21, 2001
Smokey and the shrink
It's not enough to punish traffic violators - they're now to be analyzed,
interpreted and made to "get in touch with their feelings." Several localities, i
ncluding Arlington County in Virginia, as well as Prince George's and Montgomery
counties in Maryland, are sentencing those convicted of traffic offenses to "anger
management" classes rather than simply fining them and assigning points to their
DMV records. "We've got to look at their behavior and making the highways safer,
" Deputy Chief John Haas of the Arlington Police told The Washington Post. Toward
this dubious end, the Arlington traffic courts have been sending scofflaws to see
head-shrinker Steven Stosny, who leads the assembled road ragers in monk-like chants:
"I forgive myself for feeling disregarded, unimportant, devalued and powerless
when the driver cut me off. . ."
"I forgive myself for feeling disregarded, unimportant, devalued and powerless
when the driver tailgated me . . ."
And so on.
This is called "Compassion Power" and is ostensibly going to convert heavy-footed
gear-jammers into lambs o' the road. But it smacks more of political re-education than
anything else - and is thus fairly disturbing.
The Post quoted a man named "Chris" who was compelled to attend Dr. Stosny's
indoctrination seminar at $150 for 12-hours of sessions. "I guess they're trying to
make
everyone conform to slow driving," he said. This is an interesting - and arguably
valid - point. More than 20 years after the nation was cursed with the 55-mph National
Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL), which was subsequently repealed by Congress in
1995 - the nation has been browbeaten by self-appointed "safety" experts into accepting
the idea that anything other than the most timid behavior behind the wheel is
anti-social
and "dangerous." Often, this is far from the truth - such as, for example, when a
driver
does not accelerate quickly to merge onto a freeway, forcing other drivers to violenty
slow down or swerve to avoid him. Or when a driver in the left lane refuses to yield to
faster-moving traffic, creating a passive-aggressive "rolling roadblock."
All it takes in Maryland is five points on your driving record - hardly more than
one
ordinary ticket - to be sent to the shrink for re-education. Had Burt Reynolds filmed
"Smokey and the Bandit" today instead of in 1977, he'd be in line for a full frontal
lobotomy.
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