Do you REALLY believe in "personal responsibility?"?

Question

I mean -- do you REALLY?
Remember Mr. Speaker who had a rare, extremely deadly form of TB? Resistant to antibiotics? Who said, "To hell with it, I'm getting on the plane anyway?"

Do you think he should be personally responsible for all the people he infected?

Because personally, I think he should go to jail.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19734910/

To "BigWhoop" -- OK, it wasn't a FAUX entertainment story, I'm really sorry. But the FACTS are still the FACTS, no matter WHO reports those FACTS.

All but ONE of the people WERE ON THE PLANE WITH MR. SPEAKER.

See?

THIS is why bush has been able to morph into a dictator. People like this really and truly can deny reality.

Up is Down.
Black is White.
Peace is War.
Ignorance is Strength.

I'll bet a million dollars you have a flag decal on your car, don't you?

Hey, pssst! Mr. BigWhoop! You don't like the MSNBC site? Here, TAKE YOUR PICK:

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-17,GGLD:en&q=speaker+tuberculosis&um=1&ncl=1118097466&sa=X&oi=news_result&resnum=4&ct=more-results&cd=1

Answer 1

Jeffrey Goines: You know what crazy is? Crazy is majority rules. Take germs, for example.
James Cole: Germs?
Jeffrey Goines: Uh-huh. In the eighteenth century, no such thing, nada, nothing. No one ever imagined such a thing. No sane person, anyway. Ah! Ah! Along comes this doctor, uh, uh, uh, Semmelweis, Semmelweis. Semmelweis comes along. He's trying to convince people, well, other doctors mainly, that's there's these teeny tiny invisible bad things called germs that get into your body and make you sick. Ah? He's trying to get doctors to wash their hands. What is this guy? Crazy? Teeny, tiny, invisible? What do you call it? Uh-uh, germs? Huh? What? Now, cut to the 20th century. Last week, as a matter of fact, before I got dragged into this hellhole. I go in to order a burger in this fast food joint, and the guy drops it on the floor. Jim, he picks it up, he wipes it off, he hands it to me like it's all OK. "What about the germs?" I say. He says, "I don't believe in germs. Germs is just a plot they made up so they can sell you disinfectants and soaps." Now he's crazy, right? See? Ah! Ah! There's no right, there's no wrong, there's only popular opinion.

Also regarding BigWhoop:
Jeffrey Goines: "You are a total nutcase, completely deranged, delusional, paranoid. Your thought process is all f***ed up. Your information train is jammed, man!"

As for the rest of it, why wasn't that guy quarantined in the first place? Sheesh. Can you imagine a guy running around with weaponized Spanish Influenza on a flight to London via New York from Atlanta? All that talk about security and they still monkey around...

Answer 2

I find the responsibility question extremely interesting. I agree that that man with TB should not have done any traveling outside his home until the TB was in dormancy. He knowingly put others lives in danger. He should be held responsible. I liken it to another scenario. What if it had been a story of somebody knowingly had sex with somebody else, but forgot to mention that he had the killer disease HIV - AIDS. In court that person would be punished for knowingly putting others lives in danger.
I think the bigger picture is the responsibility part of the question. I have a theory that people who are fanatically religious and believe that God will be taking care of all of the problems in the universe, that these people have given up their responsibility to someone else, an entity. This gives these fanatics no real reason to take responsibility for themselves or others. Just a rant! I'll try not to rant next time...

Answer 3

Hey, BigWhoop, how do you know that he didn't infect anyone. TB sometimes can take years to show up. It was irresponsible to get on that plane and risk others developing the disease. We live in this world together, not that he thinks so or cares.

Blueridge, I agree totally, that he should do jail time. He put a lot of people at risk. If it were someone from another country, a Muslim perhaps, I wonder if BigWhoop would feel the same.

Answer 4

'blueridge' - Your Q is well-founded. I don't believe that there are many people out there who would disagree with you.

Your research is impeccable.

Remember though, due process has to have its day !!

Reporting the 'facts' is a good thing. This not an anarchy and unfortunately the 'system' cannot change what this man has done.

He WILL be punished and just may go to jail, but he must be isolated at all times from now on for obvious reasons - probably for the rest of his life, for all I know.

I understand that now its been discovered that the 'strain' of TB that he has is not as nearly 'deadly' as first reported.That's a good thing(I guess).

I must admit that all the people he potentially infected have their lives in a mess now, and who knows how long it will take for them to get back to normal - years maybe - they are literally 'isolated' from everyone in their lives too !!

You've got to move on now on this. People cannot 'prosecute' this man on Y!A any more than the media can. He's done what he's done - you can't 'hang' him from the highest tree without due process.

You've had your say and will get lots of stars and answers.

You've asked for me to be the proverbial Y!A 'pen-pal'. At age 62, even I have learned(somewhat) to let such issues play out on their own.

We should stick to 'rammin' W. and the repubnuts, and go head-to-head with anyone who defends him and them. That affects millions of voters, if our opinions and proffers get around. To dwell on one sad, stupid man is not a good idea, at least to 'campaign' for his 'head' ad nauseum.

My best again - Mark B.

Answer 5

I do believe in personal responsibility, however, there was also a responsibility on the part of the health officials who told him that he didn't pose a risk and who didn't quarantine him earlier.

As to the lawsuits, there should be some actual injury, i.e. infection, before there is a lawsuit.

Answer 6

Most definitely without a doubt.

Mr Speaker merely sought to avoid hospitalization\isolation in a foreign country and then attempted to avoid detection by entering the country via Canada.

Any prudent person would have turned himself in.

Answer 7

I agree-- he came here THINKING he had the worst strain of TB-- only once he was here & checked out-- did he find out different-- The fact was- even "thinking" he was incurrable- his only regard was for himself- none of the thousands of innocent victims he "could" have infected. YES he SHOULD be held responsible--- for the taking that chance--

Answer 8

Absolutely.

Answer 9

My question is: Why they let him in the plane??? In some other case there could be a terrorist who intentionally bring some terrible disease into the plane and spread it through continents. So it is definitely not up to him to decide. He is not a doctor. So for me he is 100% innocent. Period

Answer 10

Yes I do believe in personal responsibility and I also believe it should start at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington DC.

~