Stay Classy, Justin
Occasional interlocutor Justin Katz of Anchor Rising has really outdone himself this time. The Rhode Island General Assembly has passed a law intended to reduce dating violence:
Named after a 23-year-old North Kingstown woman who was brutally murdered in fall, 2005, by her former boyfriend, the “Lindsay Ann Burke Act” will require every school district in Rhode Island to develop a model dating violence policy and a policy to address incidents of dating violence involving students. Each school district will also be expected to provide dating violence training to school staff who have significant contact with students, with such training to include basic principles of dating violence and warning signs of dating violence.
The state is adding new educational requirements even as it is cutting education funding for many cities in Rhode Island; it’s definitely a non-optimal situation. Justin’s response? To compare passing the legislation to date rape. Yup.
(In comments over yonder, Justin demands that I explain why I find the comparison so offensive. I won’t bother to repeat it here.)
UPDATE! Justin’s response: It’s OK to trivialize rape because state employees make too much money and Rep. Charlene Lima is fat.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Oh geez. The funny thing is that some of Justin’s points are reasonable, especially in his follow up in the comments. I certainly don’t agree with them wholeheartedly, but I agree with them more than I do most of the time he posts. However, his choice to insist that the actions of the government here are the equivalent of the bodily rape of an individual makes it impossible for me to be sympathetic to him. (By similar reasoning, if the governor were to veto a bill about gun control, should I argue that he is essentially perpetrating murder on the citizens of this state? The General Assembly loves power — just like rapists love power! The governor killed a bill — just like murderers kill people!)