On Friday, October 26, 2001, at 10:36 AM, Duncan Frissell wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Oct 2001, Steve Thompson wrote:
>
>> That would be my view. After all, mistakes do happen and so we should
>> all be
>> understanding of our and their all-too-human failings which
>> occasionaly lead
>> to minor inconveniences.
>
>
> Besides, "Prison is not punishment to the literate."
>
I've seen you quote this several times.
Since it's a generality ("the literate") and not just a statement about
your own personal view of prison, I dispute it. I'm literate, but prison
would indeed be punishment for me. For all of the usual reasons.
Being thrown in a jail cell and having reading material is no substitute
for liberty.
"How we burned in the prison camps later thinking: What would things
have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to
make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive?"
--Alexander Solzhenitzyn, Gulag Archipelago
